Weapons

Every weapon in Tears of the Kingdom is going to break, and the only question worth asking before you commit to one is what it costs to hold it again afterwards. Our 52 weapon pages answer that question in seven different ways. One blade never breaks at all. Six come back from a statue for a fixed number of Poes. One can be repaired by an octopus. A handful are recipes you can cook again from a horn and a stick. Some have a pristine twin waiting in the Depths, most respawn at a known spot every Blood Moon, and one sits in a chest that never refills. That ladder, from free to gone, is how this guide is arranged. Damage and durability are noted where our pages give them; the weapon modifiers guide explains the rarity tiers on top.

Free forever: the Master Sword

The Master Sword is the only weapon on our pages that does not lose durability with hits. It runs out of energy instead, and then it is unusable for ten minutes before it comes back on its own. The price is paid up front: our page works out that pulling it from the Light Dragon's forehead needs two full stamina wheels, which is 20 Lights of Blessing from shrines, and the Light Dragon has to be brought down out of the sky by rescuing the Great Deku Tree first. Its base damage is never shown; fuse a gem or a monster part to it and the number you see is the fused item's attack. It also glows in the Depths and hits Gloom Hands harder. Our best swords roundup ranks it first for the obvious reason.

Bought back with Poes: the seven statue weapons

Seven legendary weapons share one rule: get them once, by quest, chest or amiibo, and every Bargainer Statue in the Depths will sell you another for a fixed number of Poes. The amiibo route is a daily roll on most of them, so the statue is the reliable way. Prices are as our pages give them.

Repaired by a Rock Octorok: the Daybreaker

The Daybreaker Shield, Urbosa's shield at 48 defense, is crafted by Cara after Isha is rescued, and the recipe is steep: ten Flint, four Diamonds, a Gerudo Scimitar and a Gerudo Shield. Our page's shortcut is the one repair mechanic in the game. Drop the worn shield in front of a Rock Octorok, such as the one near Momosik Shrine northeast of Death Mountain, let it suck the shield in and spit it out, and it comes back fully restored. That trick works on any weapon or shield, and the modifiers guide covers the bonus it can attach, but the Daybreaker is the weapon our pages send you to the Octorok for by name.

Forged again by a craftsman

Three weapons are quest rewards with a blacksmith attached, so a broken one is a shopping list rather than a loss. Fugo in Goron City makes the Boulder Breaker from a Cobble Crusher, Flint and Diamonds once Soul of the Gorons is done. Dento in Zora's Domain makes the Lightscale Trident, 22 base attack that doubles when Link is wet, from Flint, a Diamond and a Zora's Spear, and Bazz hands over that spear if you free him from the muck below the Upland Zorana tower. The Scimitar of the Seven needs two Gerudo side quests and a Gerudo Scimitar, which Black Lizalfos in the desert carry and drop again after each Blood Moon. Our best spears roundup puts the trident at the top of its class.

Fused again from a horn

Six of our weapon pages describe recipes rather than drops, and a recipe cannot break. The Boko Reaper is any one-handed weapon plus a Bokoblin Horn. The Captain I Reaper is a Captain Construct I Horn on a one-handed sword, worth the base weapon's attack plus 5, or plus 15 on a Zonaite Sword, and it still leaves a hand free for a shield. The Lizal Reaper is a Lizalfos horn on a blade for plus 8, with an element if the horn had one. The Soldier III Blade is a Soldier Construct III horn on a two-handed weapon, and also turns up in Wind Temple and South Lomei chests. The Rock Hammer is a rock on a stick, and our page's warning is that stone on a stick gives you an axe instead, which is exactly what the Stone Two-Handed Axe page describes. The best Fuse combinations roundup goes further down this road.

A Pristine twin in the Depths

Three pages explain the game's quiet replacement scheme. Once you have found a decayed weapon on the surface and broken it at least once, a Pristine version of it starts appearing on the stone pillars of the Depths, undamaged and with much higher base damage. The Knight's Halberd, a polearm that hits hardest when you are on your last hearts, has its pristine copy on the west side of the Depths; the Traveler's Claymore, 6 attack decayed, is a fusion base in either state; and the Zora Spear comes decayed from Black Lizalfos and the Mired in Muck quest, pristine from the Depths, or free from Mipha's amiibo once a day. The Pristine weapons guide has the seven-day Blood Moon timing.

Back with the Blood Moon: thirty weapons at a known spot

Most weapons cost nothing but a return trip. Anything lying on the ground or carried by an enemy comes back with the Blood Moon, and our pages give the coordinates. Chest contents do not refill, so where a page lists both a chest and a camp, the camp is the renewable one. The Blood Moon guide explains the timer.

Two of these tell you something about the whole system. The Demon King's Bow is a fixed drop from Phantom Ganon every time, which makes Gloom Hands a bow dispenser rather than a threat once you can kill them. And the Strong Zonaite Longsword page notes that the game quietly upgrades the world's Zonaite gear to Mighty as the story moves on, so a weapon can stop respawning not because you took it but because Hyrule changed. Our early weapons and early shields roundups pick the best of this table for the first ten hours.

Gone for good: the Hylian Shield

The Hylian Shield is the strongest shield on our pages at 90 defense, and it is the one weapon in this guide our page says will not come back after a Blood Moon, because it is a treasure chest drop. It sits in the Hyrule Castle Docks behind a torch puzzle guarded by Gloom Hands, and once the chest is open that is the only copy the world will give you. Treat it as the Master Sword's opposite: the sword costs everything up front and nothing afterwards, the shield costs one cheap trip and everything afterwards. Which is the whole game's economy in two items.

Frequently asked questions

Does the Master Sword break in Tears of the Kingdom?

No. It loses energy and rests for ten minutes, then returns to your inventory. It is the only weapon on our pages with no durability.

Where do I buy back legendary weapons?

At any Bargainer Statue in the Depths, once you have owned the weapon once. The Sword of the Hero and Sea-Breeze Boomerang cost 100 Poes, the Dusk Claymore and Sea-Breeze Shield 120, Biggoron's Sword 150 and the Fierce Deity Sword 160.

Do chest weapons respawn?

Not from the chest. Weapons lying on the ground or carried by enemies return with the Blood Moon; a chest opens once. Several pages above list both kinds of spot for the same weapon, and the camp is the one to remember.