In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the Master Sword is undoubtedly one of the most potent weapons and you can upgrade it further to increase its damage output. Of course, upgrading one of the best weapons in the game won’t be easy and requires you to be at the top of your game in Zelda Breath of the Wild.
This guide will help you upgrade your Master Sword in Zelda Breath of the Wild, including where it is found, what prerequisites you need, and what exactly you need to do in order to bring it to its maximum potential.
Breath of the Wild Master Sword Location
Before you can start upgrading the Master Sword in Breath of the Wild, you need to locate it. The Master Sword is found in the Lost Woods in the Korok Forest area. That is located in the southwestern area of Goron Village.
Once you enter the forest, you’ll notice a thick fog in the area and a couple of torches illuminating the path ahead of you, follow them until you come upon the Deku Tree.
The Deku Tree doesn’t specifically highlight how you can retrieve the sword, but you need a total of 13 hearts to be able to do so. If you’re short on hearts, you will not be able to pull it from the rock it’s lodged in so you may need to come back at a later time with the proper prerequisites.
The Master sword boasts extremely impressive stats. It has a base damage of 30 and a special beam ability that casts a ray of damage toward your enemies, however, the beam ability requires you to be at full health and needs to recharge once it has been used.
The master sword will blink red before it is about to break all other weapons, however, you can upgrade the sword to increase its durability and make it unbreakable.
Zelda: Breath of the Wild Master Sword upgrades
Unlike other weapons, you cannot upgrade Master Sword by visiting any blacksmith in Hyrule. Instead, you must undergo several trials to upgrade your Master Sword. Of course, these are some of the most challenging trials in the entire game.,
The trial in the game is called the Trial of the Sword challenge. This trial is only available to players who have purchased The Master Trials DLC. This is the only trial in the game that allows you to upgrade your Master Sword.
To start the trials, you will need the Master Trial DLC. After that, talk to Great Deku Tree to start the Zelda BOTW Trial of the Sword. This tree is in the Korok Forest. The Great Deku Tree will guide you to the location of the trials.
Trial of the Sword Challenge tiers
Trial of the Sword challenge in Zelda BOTW has three tiers. The beginner floors range from floors 1 to 12; the middle floors, from floors 13 to 16; and finally, the final floors range from 17 to 23.
All of these floors need to complete from start to finish in a single run since there is no save point between any of these. The reward for each difficulty level is set, and for every difficulty you clear, Master Sword in Zelda Breath of the Wild is upgraded, and its damage increases.
In total, you can upgrade the Master Sword three times:
- For Beginner, Master Sword damage increases to 40
- For Middle, Master Sword damage increases to 50
- For Final, Master Sword damage increases to 60 and becomes unbreakable.
Other than the fact that the challenge has no save points for you to restart from if you fail, you start the trial all over again; you also start the trial with nothing.
Of course, you have no control over what you get. You have to make it through 23 floors of enemies to get all the upgrades for Master Sword in Zelda BOTW without dying once. So it’s best that you use whatever you get sparingly effectively.
The Beginner floors of the trial are pretty straightforward. You will be breezing through this area, and it’s best to save up on whatever you get during these floors for the subsequent floors.
Luckily, a few break floors drop abundant supplies instead of pushing enemies’ waves at you. It’s best to stock up on these safe floors and ensure you are ready for heading to the next wave.
Your Master Sword in Zelda Breath of the Wild will deal 60 damage on a successful hit once you complete all 23 floors to upgrade it.
At the final level, it also becomes unbreakable, meaning you do not have to repair it, however, you need to recharge the sword after every few hits. It takes a total of 10 minutes to recharge the Master Sword.
The Master Sword can be made even more powerful if you acquire the Armor of the Wild by completing all 120 shrines found within the game. the Armor of the Wild, when fully upgraded enhances the Master Swords Beam Up ability, allowing it to inflict even more damage.
Can you upgrade the Master Sword without the Master Trials DLC?
As we established above, upgrading the Master Sword without the DLC is impossible. It is possible to experience the full might of the sword without owning the DLC, but that can only be done if you’re near Guardians. The Master Trials DLC upgrades the Master Sword to full power regardless of your location.
While technically you can’t upgrade the Master Sword to its full power, you will be able to experience it from time to time. Furthermore, the game gives you better weapons regardless if you have the DLC or not, so if you’re trying to get a powerful weapon, you’ll get it regardless.
How to perform the Master Sword Glitch in Zelda: BotW
If you’re someone who’s impatient and does not want to upgrade Link to 13 hearts in order to acquire the Master Sword, there is a glitch that allows you to retrieve the sword early on in the game without performing any character upgrades.
To perform this glitch, make sure you have two pieces of wood in your inventory along with a Firestarter. Next, head over to the Master Sword’s location as we’ve described above, and stand on it.
The next few steps are a little technical so make sure you’re following them precisely as they are described.
Look towards the south then open your camera and look at the Korok who’s located towards the left of you. Next, move towards the Korok until you can see the rightmost edge of its propeller.
Next, move north while keeping a close eye on the rock the sword is embedded in. Keep moving until its triangular shape points directly at you. After this, tap ZR to reposition your camera and then immediately save your game.
Once you’re done saving, open up your inventory throw down a piece of the wood, and set it on fire. Throw another piece of wood on there position your camera close to Link and look up. The camera should be positioned in such a way that Link becomes invisible but you can still see the sky.
After this simply rest and keep on pressing the A button until Link draws the sword from the rock and this should do the trick. If this glitch does not work, try reloading a recent save file and try again until it works.
