You’ve definitely been there. You just stepped off the Great Plateau, the world is massive, and suddenly you hear that rhythmic, pig-like snorting. Before you can even check your map, a red goblin-looking thing is sprinting at you with a tree branch. It's the bokoblin breath of the wild players first encounter—the quintessential "first enemy."
Most people treat them like speed bumps. Honestly, that’s a mistake. While they seem like simple-minded minions of Ganon, the AI and biology behind these creatures are arguably more complex than the bosses they serve.
The Weirdly Human Side of a Monster
If you spend five minutes wearing a Bokoblin Mask from Kilton, you’ll see it. They aren’t just waiting for you to kill them. They have lives.
They hunt boars. They roast meat over open flames. You can actually see them celebrate when they take down a deer, jumping around and cheering like they just won the lottery. They even have a sleep schedule, hitting the hay at 10:00 PM and waking up at sunrise. Unless, of course, it's a Blood Moon, which basically acts as a monster espresso shot, keeping them awake until midnight.
What really gets me is their social bond. If you head up to the Gerudo Highlands, you can find Bokoblins trying to thaw out their frozen buddies with fire rods. It’s almost touching, right before they try to bash your skull in. They communicate in a guttural language, they get angry if a comrade steals their food, and they’ve even been known to kick a remote bomb back at Link like a deadly game of soccer.
Why the Colors Actually Matter
Nintendo didn't just pick colors out of a hat. The hierarchy is strict.
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- Red Bokoblins: These are the babies. 13 HP. They’ll run at you with a torch or a soup ladle.
- Blue Bokoblins: A massive jump to 72 HP. They’ve actually figured out that they can kick your bombs away.
- Black Bokoblins: 240 HP. Now they’re using Dragonbone weapons. They don't mess around.
- Silver/Gold Bokoblins: These are the endgame. Silvers have 720 HP and the Golds (exclusive to Master Mode) sit at a tanky 1080 HP.
If you’re farming for money, the high-tier ones are your best friends. Silver and Gold variants are basically walking piggy banks. They drop Sapphires, Rubies, and even Diamonds. If you’re lucky, you might even see a Silver drop a Star Fragment, though the math on that is roughly a 1% chance.
The Combat Mechanics Nobody Tells You
Most players just "spin to win" with a two-handed sword. It works, but it’s boring. The bokoblin breath of the wild encounter is actually a playground for physics.
Did you know they can catch boomerangs? If you throw one and don't catch it on the return, a Bokoblin can snag it out of the air and use it against you. They’re also surprisingly good at teamwork. In camps, the ones on the towers act as lookouts, blowing horns to alert the heavy hitters below.
If you want to be efficient, stop wasting your good swords.
Use the environment.
Metal crates are your best friend.
Dropping a large metal crate on a Golden Bokoblin using Magnesis can do over 1000 damage in a single hit. That’s enough to nearly one-shot the toughest enemy in the game without losing a single point of weapon durability.
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The Stalkoblin Nuisance
We have to talk about the skeletons. Stalkoblins are the reason everyone hates traveling at night. They only have 1 HP, but they’re annoying because they won't die until you crush the head.
Pro tip: If you’re tired of fighting them, just pick up the head and throw it into a body of water. Or better yet, wait for them to kick each other’s heads. Sometimes a Stalkoblin will accidentally pick up a head that isn't his, and he’ll just stand there, confused, trying to make it fit.
Hidden Intelligence or Just Luck?
There’s a debate in the Zelda community about whether Bokoblins are "smart" or just programmed with funny quirks.
I’d argue it’s the former. They exhibit "environmental awareness." They’ll pick up rocks to throw if they lose their weapon. They’ll light their wooden clubs on fire to deal extra damage. If they’re near a cliff, they’ll actively try to avoid falling off—unlike the Mobs who often just charge blindly into the abyss.
One of the rarest things you’ll ever see is a Bokoblin stealing Link’s horse. It’s uncommon because tamed horses usually buck them off, but if your horse is just standing there and a Bokoblin is nearby, he might just hop on and ride away. It’s humiliating.
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How to Master the Boko-Grind
If you’re looking to upgrade your Hylian or Soldier armor sets, you’re going to need a lot of Bokoblin Guts. They only drop from Blue variants and higher.
Don't just run into a camp.
Be smart.
Wait for night.
Equip the Stealth Set (the Sheikah gear from Kakariko Village) and use "Sneakstrikes." A Sneakstrike deals 8x the damage of a normal hit. For a Black Bokoblin, that’s usually an instant kill. It saves your weapons and your health.
If you’re dealing with a massive crowd, use elemental interactions. Rain makes shock arrows do AOE damage. An ice arrow will freeze a target solid, and the next hit you land will do triple damage. It’s basically the "cheat code" for taking out Silvers early in the game.
Actionable Takeaways for Your Next Session
- Mark the "Skull" Camps: Use your map pins to mark the large skull-shaped hideouts. These respawn every Blood Moon and are the most consistent way to farm gems from Silver Bokoblins.
- Keep a Korok Leaf: It sounds stupid, but a Korok Leaf is a top-tier weapon against Bokoblins near water. One puff of air sends them flying into the lake, where they instantly drown. No weapon durability wasted.
- Check the Cooking Pots: If you sneak into a camp before they see you, check the pot. Sometimes there’s seared steak or roasted fruit just sitting there. Free healing.
- Save Your Guts: Do not sell Bokoblin Guts for rupees early on. You need dozens of them for high-level armor upgrades at the Great Fairy Fountains. Use the Horns and Fangs for selling or making elixirs instead.
The bokoblin breath of the wild experience is what makes the game feel alive. They aren't just targets; they are the actual inhabitants of Hyrule, and once you start watching them instead of just hitting them, the game changes completely.