Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a massively open-world game whose main focus is players’ choice. The same design philosophy also applies to combat encounters in the world of Hyrule. A huge variety of enemies roam the land, depths, and skies of Hyrule. Link needs to be fully prepared, or he can be killed even by the weakest enemies. Below are some combat tips and tricks I have been using during my playthrough of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
They have saved my hide more times than I can count. I hope they will serve you well and help you overcome any odds on your journey to save Hyrule. While the combat mechanics are easy to pick up, mastering them requires some effort and good tools. Before you attempt to tackle high enemies, make sure you have the best possible equipment for your level.
The combat tips we have created for you are helpful, but they aren’t guaranteed to help you win in Zelda: TotK if you are armed with poor-quality weapons and armor.
Activate Flurry Rush
By dodging the enemies’ attacks at the right time (jump backward right before the attack connects) activates Flurry Rush. It slows the time down and allows Link to hit the enemy multiple times in a row. This can be a lifesaver against difficult foes like Lynel.
Parry is your best Friend
Link can parry every attack with his shields. Some more powerful attacks, like Lynel’s blast attack, can only be parried with better shields. Hold the shield up with ZL and press A right before the attack connects. Parrying a melee attack usually stuns the enemy for a few moments.
Stealth attacks
Sneak up on your enemies and hit them from behind. This causes a lot more damage than normal attacks from the front. Almost every strike from behind is s critical strike.
Headshots only, Please
A well-placed headshot with arrows can stun any enemy in the game, including Silver Lynel and Black Moblins. Try to gain some altitude during a fight and slow down time by pulling out the bow during the fall. This gives Link ample time for a perfectly placed Headshot.
Use Thunderstorms to your Advantage
Throw your metallic weapons or shields toward the enemies during rainy weather with Thunderstorms. These items attract thunderstrikes that can one-shot most of the enemies in the game.
Mirror Shield plus Sunlight, an Instant Win Combo
Mirror Shield reflects sunlight and can blind your enemies. They also get stuck in their place once blinded, allowing your companion sages to attack them at will. The only drawback is that you will need a source of
Save your arrows
Most of the combat items in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom can be thrown at enemies without using your precious arrows. Press R to put the Link in the weapon-throwing animation. Now press the D-pad up to open the items menu. Selecting an item will replace the weapon with it.
You can throw fire flowers or bomb flowers at enemies, and they will work exactly like they do when combined with arrows.
Gibdo Bones are for Arrows only
When the items are arranged by their fuse power, Gibdo bones have the highest rating. Sadly, they are extremely brittle and decrease the weapon’s durability if attached to them. Attach Gibdo’s bones to arrows to massively increase their attack power. Don’t waste your melee weapons.
Return to Sender
Use the Recall ability to return the projectiles back to the enemies. This is particularly useful against Octoroks and Talus enemies. This doesn’t cost a dime, and you don’t have to use any arrows or weapons. A win-win situation.
Monster Parts and weapons are a match made in heaven
Any item that is attached to an arrow is lost with one shot. Instead of wasting the monster parts with arrows, combine them with your melee weapons to create some really powerful and durable weapons.
Keese Eyeballs are the best cheese
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom offers a unique arrow, Homing Arrow, that can only be crafted by combining arrows with Keese Eyeballs. They follow their enemies and always hit their weak points. Having trouble taking down a Gleeok? Just use a lot of Homing arrows to win the fight easily. Hinox can no longer save their eyes from your arrow attacks.
Spring Shield
Have trouble parrying enemy attacks? Just fuse an ancient spring to your shield. It will deflect any incoming attacks back to the attacker. Enemies will be thrown backward if their attacks hit your spring shield. You can also use the spring shield to gain some altitude (ZL followed by X and then A).
Bomb Barrels
You can fuse bomb barrels with your weapons to create a makeshift bomb. Use your damaged weapon for this purpose. Throw the weapon fused with a bomb barrel at enemies. It will explode on contact, causing massive damage.
Don’t fuse Zonai Devices with Weapons
Weapons break in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and the fused ones are no exception. Instead of fusing the Zonai Devices to your weapons (like flame throwers) and losing them, activate and use them with Ultrahand. You can create an infinite flame thrower in this way.
An army of your own
Fire muddle buds attached to your arrows to confuse enemies and make them fight for you. Simply target the strongest enemy in the group and spectate the fight from a distance. Or you can interfere in the battle as a non-neutral referee and change the results in your favor.
A Smokescreen to aid your escape
Getting overwhelmed by the enemies or running out of supplies? Use arrows combined with puffshrooms. This creates a cloud of spores that makes it impossible for the enemies to detect Link. Use this opportunity to make your escape.
Blind thy Enemies
Arrows fused with Dazzlefruit can blind enemies for a short period of time. Strangely, this combination can destroy the purple buds (from which the gibdos spawn) without the help of Riju’s ability.
Attach a rock to your shield
Clearing the caves of breakable boulders can be a daunting task, and Link ends up losing a lot of his weapons. Simply attach a rock to your shield and hit the boulders with it (ZL plus A). Shields are way sturdier than weapons, and this attack destroys boulders faster than Rock-fused weapons.
Bomb Shield
Attach bomb flowers to your shield for a nice surprise. Use the shield surfing trick (jump, A, X) to slam the bomb flower on the ground. This will create a massive explosion and propel Link into the air without taking any damage. Perfect for crowd control.
Use elemental weapons to your advantage
Enemies with special elemental powers in Zelda: TotK can be killed with just one shot if you use a weapon with different elemental properties. Ice Lizalfos can be killed with a fire weapon instantly. Craft an ice weapon by the horn dropped by Ice Lizalfos and use it to kill Fire Lizalfos.
Shock weapons can save Link
Shock weapons make the inflicted foes drop their metallic armaments. If you come across a large group of enemies, use shock arrows (shock fruit) to make them drop their weapons. This gives you enough time to plan your next move.
Gemstones Shields
Ruby, Sapphire, and Topaz have unique elemental abilities. Simply fuse these gemstones to your shields to inflict the enemies with specific elemental effects. Blocking an incoming attack with a Ruby-fused shield will always create a fire explosion. Topaz produces shock, and sapphire is used to freeze enemies.
Master Sword Fusion is the best
The Master Sword in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom shoots horizontal lasers at the enemies. If you combine it with any elemental object like Yellow Chuchu jelly, those lasers will turn into electric lasers causing massive shock damage. You can try other combinations too.
Make the enemies fly
Fuse your weapons with mushrooms to create funny-looking weapons. But these weapons have extra powerful charged attacks and can throw enemies far away. Not so funny anymore, eh?
Craft airbombs
You can use Ultrahand to fuse bomb barrels and save this construct for Autobuild. When this construct of multiple bomb barrels is dropped from a height, it acts like a massive bomb. Use the Autobuild ability to create these air bombs repeatedly and annihilate your enemies.
Elemental Sceptre
Combine your scepters with gemstones to grant them elemental powers. This also enhances their ability to fire more magic balls (3) with each attack. Hold down the attack button for a powerful charged attack and this will cause the scepters to fire elemental magic balls in all directions. Fuse a ruby and put all the enemies surrounding you on fire.
Dazzlefruit is Stal Enemies’ Bane
By fusing a Dazzlefruit to your arrows, you can kill any Stal enemy with a single hit. These arrows have the same impact as the ice arrows on Fire Lizalfos.
Fuse One-Time Use Items to Forest Dweller Weapons
One-time use-only items like Gibdo bones and puffshrooms can be attached to the Forest Dweller weapons, and you can use them until the weapon breaks. This allows you to save some precious arrows when wreaking havoc on enemy groups.
Remove the Flux Construct Limbs
Flux Construct III is a really formidable foe. You can incapacitate it by removing the blocks from its hands and feet using Ultrahand.
This will stop the Flux Construct from landing an attack on you, and you can easily remove its core without the fear of being attacked.
