You’re standing there. Naked. Well, Link is. No Master Sword, no Hylian Shield, and definitely no Mipha’s Grace to bail you out when a Blue Bokoblin decides your skull looks like a golf ball. This is the EX Trial of the Sword, the crown jewel of the The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild DLC, and honestly? It’s the most honest the game ever gets with you.
Most players stumble into the Great Hyrule Forest thinking they’re hot stuff because they just took down a Divine Beast. Then the Master Trials happen. Suddenly, that 60-damage glowing blade you worked so hard for is stripped away, and you’re left scavenging for a tree branch like it’s the first ten minutes of the game again. It’s brutal. It’s frustrating. It's also probably the best piece of level design Nintendo has produced in the last decade because it forces you to actually use your brain instead of just spamming Urbosa’s Fury.
The Brutal Reality of the Master Trials
Let’s be real for a second. By the time most people reach the endgame of Breath of the Wild, they’re basically a walking tank. You’ve got Ancient Arrows, five-shot Lynel bows, and enough cooked hearty durians to survive a direct hit from a meteor. The EX Trial of the Sword deletes all of that. It’s a 45-floor gauntlet—divided into Beginning, Middle, and Final Trials—that resets the power scale. You enter with nothing but your Sheikah Slate runes and your wits.
The Beginning Trials are, ironically, the hardest for many. Why? Because you’re weak. In Room 10, you’re forced to deal with two Silver Lizalfos on a wooden pier. If you don’t have a plan, they’ll spit water at you until you drown or just poke you into oblivion. There is no "brute force" here. You have to learn the AI. You have to learn how to chain-sneakstrike. You have to realize that a single fire arrow is worth more than a dozen rusty broadswords in the right context.
Nintendo didn't just make the enemies harder; they made the environment the enemy. In the Middle Trials, you’re dealing with verticality and darkness. In the Final Trials, you’re navigating extreme heat and cold while a Stalkoblin on a skeletal horse tries to lance you. It’s a test of inventory management as much as combat skill. If you eat your best meal in Room 3, you’re probably going to see the "Game Over" screen by Room 12.
Why Room 10 Still Haunts Your Dreams
Ask any Zelda veteran about the EX Trial of the Sword, and they’ll likely mention the Lizalfos room. It’s the ultimate filter. On Master Mode, this specific floor is borderline unfair because of the health regeneration mechanic. If you knock a Lizalfos into the water, it stays there, regenerates all its health, and snipes you with water shots.
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To beat it, you have to use "The Strat." You know the one. You hit a Lizalfos with a headshot, sneak up behind it, hit it once, move to where it’s facing, and hit it again. It’s a loop. It feels like cheese, but in the Trial, it’s survival. This is where the game stops being a relaxing exploration sim and starts being a tactical survival horror.
The beauty of these trials is that they don't give you new tools. They force you to master the ones you’ve ignored for 80 hours. Remember Cryonis? You’ll use it to create cover from Guardian beams. Remember Stasis+? It’s your only way to freeze a Lynel long enough to get a single arrow off. You stop playing "Hero of Hyrule" and start playing "Scavenger of the Forest."
The Gear Gamble
You get "Rest Floors" every few rooms. These are your only breathing spots. There’s a couple of chests, some fish, and maybe a stray fairy if you’re lucky enough to sneak up on it. Here’s the thing: do you cook those three Hearty Truffles one by one to maximize full heals, or do you toss them all in a pot for a massive temporary heart boost?
Most people mess this up. They cook everything at once. Big mistake. In the EX Trial of the Sword, quantity of heals often beats quality. One cooked apple can stop the "low health" beep and give you one more hit's worth of life. Wood is food. Seriously. If you’re desperate, you can bomb trees, collect the wood, and cook it one by one to get a quarter-heart "Rock-Hard Food." It’s miserable, but it works.
Breaking Down the Three Tiers
It isn't just one long slog; it's a three-act play.
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- Beginning Trials (12 Floors): Focuses on basic combat and environmental awareness. Lots of forest and water themes. The biggest challenge here is the lack of high-damage weapons. You’re mostly using clubs and rusted blades.
- Middle Trials (16 Floors): Introduces verticality. You’ll be using paragliders and updrafts. Then it goes pitch black. You have to fight enemies you can barely see, lit only by the glow of a fire arrow or a Guardian Scout's eye.
- Final Trials (23 Floors): The grand finale. Rain, lightning, lava, and ice. You’ll need to manage your temperature-resistant gear (which you have to find) while fighting the hardest mobs in the game, including multiple Guardians and a Lynel.
The Final Trials actually feel easier to some people because the game finally gives you Ancient Arrows. If you save them, you can delete the Lynel instantly. If you waste them on a Red Bokoblin because you panicked? Well, enjoy the 15-minute duel with a centaur that can one-shot you through your armor.
Misconceptions and Pro-Tips
A lot of players think they need to wait until they have 30 hearts to start the EX Trial of the Sword. You don’t. In fact, since most enemies in the later floors deal massive damage anyway, having "enough" hearts is often better than having "max" hearts.
The Yellow Heart Hack: Before you pull the sword to start the trial, eat a meal made of 5 Hearty Durians. This gives you 20 temporary yellow hearts. Those hearts stay with you when you enter the trial. The same goes for buffs. Drink a "Dragon Horn" 30-minute attack or defense buff right before you start. It carries over. This is basically the "legal" way to cheat the trials.
Also, don't sleep on the Rusty Shield. It's better than nothing. And for the love of Hylia, use your bombs. Square bombs and round bombs don't share a cooldown. You can juggle them to keep enemies knocked back indefinitely without ever dulling your blade.
The Reward: Is a 60-Damage Master Sword Worth It?
When you finish the Final Trials, the Master Sword stays in its "awakened" state permanently. It hits for 60 damage, has massive durability, and doesn't run out of energy nearly as fast. Is it worth the ten hours of gray hair and broken controllers?
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Strictly speaking, you don't need it to beat Calamity Ganon. You can beat the game with a pot lid and a soup ladle if you're good enough. But the EX Trial of the Sword isn't about the reward. It's about the mastery. It’s about looking at a Guardian Stalker and not feeling fear because you spent the last hour parrying lasers with a pot lid while standing in a puddle.
Practical Steps for Your Next Attempt
If you're going back in today, do these three things first:
- Find all the Korok Seeds needed to expand your bow slots. You will need every single bow you can carry in the Final Trials.
- Set your Sheikah Sensor+ to Treasure Chests. There are hidden chests in the trials (some underwater or buried) that contain Ancient Arrows. If you miss them, the Final Trials become twice as hard.
- Cook for duration, not just power. A 30-minute defense buff is the difference between a mistake being a "lesson" and a mistake being "back to floor one."
The EX Trial of the Sword remains the ultimate litmus test for Zelda fans. It strips away the fluff and leaves you with the core mechanics. It's frustrating, it's peak "Nintendo Hard," and it's the most satisfying "Victory Achieved" screen you'll ever see in Hyrule. Just watch out for the trees. Sometimes they have eggs in them. Sometimes they have nothing. Usually, they're just there to be turned into firewood when you're down to your last quarter-heart.
Go get your sword. You've earned it.
Next Steps for Mastery:
Focus on clearing the Beginning Trials first using the 30-minute Defense Up buff (4 Ironshrooms + 1 Dragon Horn). Once you’ve secured the first 10-point upgrade to the Master Sword, practice the "shield parry" timing on Guardians in the Central Plain before attempting the Middle Trials.