The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has been unleashed upon the world, forever changing the gaming landscape just as Breath of the Wild did before it. In this impossibly massive game, you’ll have a variety of weapons at your disposal to combat enemies, protect yourself, and maybe even solve a few puzzles if you’re clever.
Today, we’re going to be breaking down the many different weapons and the systems that influence them in this Ultimate Weapon Guide. So grab your favorite sword (or staff), and let’s get started!
Weapons Types
To start, let’s talk a little about the different weapon types there are in Tears of the Kingdom. For melee weapons, there are only three: Heavy, Light, and Pole weapons.
Heavy weapons tend to be two-handed weapons like claymores and clubs. These weapons hit hard, but the attack animations they all share are quite slow. If you’re up against a faster enemy and your timing is off, they can easily stun you out of an attack, which isn’t a great position to be in. A charged attack with a heavy weapon turns Link into a spinning cyclone of doom that lasts as long as you have stamina, followed by a strong overhead smash at the end of the attack.
Here are a couple of the best heavy weapons to keep an eye out for:
- Boulder Breaker
- Royal Claymore
Light weapons are one-handed weapons like basic swords, sticks, and torches. The Master Sword also falls into the light weapon category despite its power. These weapons are far more nimble than their heavier counterparts, so they attack much faster and have a standard 4-hit combo. A light weapon charge attack isn’t as active as the one heavy weapons have. Instead, Link is vulnerable while the attack charges, and then can unleash a single, powerful spinning attack. This is great for creating some space when you’re surrounded.
Here are a couple of the best light weapons to keep an eye out for:
- Master Sword (DUH)
- Royal Guard’s Sword
Pole weapons are great for when you want to keep your distance from an enemy thanks to their excellent reach. These weapons aren’t ideal when fighting groups of enemies due to their narrow area of attack, but if you only have to focus on a single target, a pole weapon is perfect. The attack pattern of a pole weapon is a series of stabbing thrusts, and a charged attack unleashes a flurry of thrusts that can do considerable damage.
Here are a couple of the best pole weapons to keep an eye out for:
- Royal Guard’s Spear
- Lightscale Trident
Of course, this wouldn’t be a Legend of Zelda game without bows, and Tears of the Kingdom has plenty of those as well. In fact, there are 30 different bows to find and use throughout the game!
Here are a couple of the bows to keep an eye out for:
- Savage Lynel Bow (good luck getting this)
- Great Eagle Bow
Weapon Degradation and Gloom
Like Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom also employs a weapon degradation system to keep you on your toes and trying new techniques. Not everyone likes this, and it definitely does leave you in bad situations when your best weapon breaks on you after only a few strikes, but there are ways around this which we’ll get around to later in this guide.
When you step into Tears of the Kingdom, you’ll find that Hyrule has been consumed by a creeping, inky evil called Gloom. If Link stands on it too long it’ll claim one of his hearts, and occasionally patches of Gloom will spawn terrifying Gloom Hands. The stuff is just a pain to deal with. To make matters worse, another side effect of Gloom is that ALL of the weapons in Hyrule have been affected by it, causing them to become decayed and even more brittle than they were in Breath of the Wild. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t find weapons that are in better condition if you know where to look…
Pristine Weapons
Ok, so you’re sick of the terrible, rusted, decayed weapons you keep picking up. That’s fine, toss them out, you don’t need them. If you’re feeling brave or just crazy enough to brave the extreme dangers of The Depths, then it's possible to get a “pristine” version of whichever kind of weapon you prefer.
As you traverse The Depths, you’ll come across piles of stone that are topped with a ghostly statue holding a weapon. There are many of these statues, and the weapon they hold will ALWAYS be a pristine weapon, or one that is more durable and does more damage. It’s a pretty great solution. If you aren’t afraid of the dark, that is.
Every time you take a weapon from these statues, they disappear. But don’t worry! After each Blood Moon, they respawn and bring a different weapon along with them. The type of weapon they hold will never change, so if you pick up a pole weapon from a statue, it will always come back with a pole weapon, just a different version.
If I have one tip to give you regarding these statues and pristine weapons, it’s this: always pick up a weapon from a statue when you come across it, even if it’s a weapon you don’t want. Just pick it up and drop it. If you skip it because it doesn’t have a weapon you want, it’ll never get a chance to respawn with something better. Oh, and mark them on your map as you find them. It’ll make coming back to them much easier!
Weapon Restoration
Now, as for the weapons you scrounge up in your regular, ground-level play, it’s possible to keep those strong and unshattered if you have a little bit of discipline and a lot of patience. It’s not necessarily an easy or time-efficient process, but it can be done!
When you receive the warning that your weapon is about to break, stop using it. It probably only has two or three strikes left before it breaks by that point. If you care about repairing that weapon at all, you can take it up to Death Mountain. It’s ok, it’s not as scary as it sounds, although it is super hot up there and you’ll need some heat protection to explore the area comfortably.
Now that you’ve reached Death Mountain, you’re going to want to find a Rock Octorock. These can be found all over Death Mountain, but the best and most efficient place to find them is around the cart track that surrounds the base of the mountain. Go for a jog along the tracks until you find one, and get ready to dodge its ranged attack. It’s just going to spit rocks at you. Then, drop whatever weapon you want to repair so that it is within range of the Octorok’s inhale move. It’ll suck up the weapon like Kirby, munch on it for a second, and spit out a fully repaired weapon. Good as new!
Now, a Rock Octorok is only good for repairing a single weapon, but there are plenty of the enemy creatures that line the path of that track. So if you have more than one weapon you want to repair, just move along the tracks until you find the next one.
Side note: this method also works for shields and bows too, so feel free to make use of this technique for anything you want to hold on to.
Fusion
Another awesome new system that was introduced in Tears of the Kingdom is the Fusion ability. It allows Link to fuse just about anything to whatever weapon or shield he’s currently holding.
And when I say anything, I mean ANYTHING. Items, objects, other shields, anything you see in an environment can be fused, and the creative implications that holds are pretty impressive. Players have even used Fuse to get special Zonai parts out of shrines for use out in the open world, but that’s an advanced technique for another guide.
In terms of melee weapons, there are a few basic Fuse combos you should be aware of. They are: rocks/boulders to create a hammer, sharp rocks to form an axe, and Zonai parts to greatly increase that weapon’s damage output. When using a bow, you can also fuse just about anything to the arrow you have notched, which can have a plethora of benefits. Keese Eyes ensure you never miss a shot, Chu Chu jellies with different elements will imbue the arrow with whatever element you give it, and, most importantly, bomb arrows turn your lowly arrows into highly explosive missiles. You’ll be using that one an awful lot.
The system also applies to shields! Fusing bomb flowers to your shield will give your enemies a nasty surprise when they attack you, and you can also do things like fuse a Zonai rocket to your shield to fly straight up into the air for a short time. If you’re a fan of shield surfing, you can fuse things like Zonai sleds to your shield so that it doesn’t take damage when you’re tearing up a hill.
The Fuse system goes so deep that just about everything in your inventory has a “Fuse Attack Power” rating that can be found under its name, which you can use to make a mental note of what the best materials are for Fusing.
In general, the more powerful enemies you take down, the better their parts will be. That means you’ll probably want to stock up on Lynel horns and Flux Construct parts, as scary as that seems. As with anything, practice makes perfect, and before too long these battles won’t seem as scary as they do right now. It doesn’t mean your heart won’t drop when you see a Lynel on the horizon, it just means you’ll be more prepared to take it on.
Legendary Weapons
In addition to the standard array of weapons you’ll find in your travels, there are also a number of “legendary” weapons that serve as easter eggs from previous games in the series, but also tend to be considerably stronger than normal weapons.
Unfortunately, these weapons are also subject to weapon degradation and breakage, but they’re special in that you can actually purchase them back from Poe statues. If you have the poe spirits to afford them, that is.
Here is a quick rundown of the Legendary Weapons in Tears of the Kingdom:
- Master Sword
- Scimitar of the Seven
- Great Eagle Bow
- Boulder Breaker
- Lightscale Trident
- Fierce Deity Sword
- Biggoron’s Sword
- Sword of the Hero
- Dusk Bow
- Dusk Claymore
- White Sword of the Sky
- Sea-Breeze Boomerang
- Sea-Breeze Shield
- Hylian Shield
- Daybreaker
Some of these weapons can be found in The Depths by just exploring them, but many of them are actually tied to quests that need to be completed before you can obtain them. If you happen to have Amiibos, those are another easy way to get some of these legendary weapons.
Passive Abilities
The passive abilities of various weapons are easy to overlook when you’re in the thick of things, but don’t make the mistake of ignoring them altogether. There are 15 different passive abilities a weapon can have.
Here is a quick breakdown of all of them:
Breaking Point
Damage increases before weapon breaks
Charged Attack Stamina Up
Charged attacks use less stamina
Demolisher
Weapon can be used to break cracked walls and rocks/ore
Desperate Strength
Sharp damage increase when Link has one heart
Extra Durable
Weapon has extra durability
Fuse Recycling
Materials fused with this weapon can be used multiple times
Gloom Toll
Weapon is imbued with Gloom
Improved Flurry Rush
Flurry Rush power increased
Quick Charge
Charged attacks charge up faster
Revitalized Sword of Legend
Exclusive to Master Sword, allows it to regenerate when it breaks
Strong Fusion
Makes fusion more powerful but not more durable
Water Warrior
Attack power increases when weapon is wet
Wind Burst
Weapon creates a gust of wind
Wind Razor
Vacuums are formed on every attack
Zonaite-Powered
Attack power increases when fused with a Zonai device
