You’ve probably been there. You finished the Divine Beasts, you’ve got a decent amount of hearts, and you’re feeling pretty good about your Link. Then you download The Zelda Champions Ballad DLC and the game basically laughs in your face. It starts with the One-Hit Obliterator. You have half a heart. Anything—a stray bee, a spike, a confused Bokoblin—kills you instantly. It’s frustrating. It’s brilliant.
Breath of the Wild was already a masterpiece, but Nintendo's second expansion pack, released back in late 2017, changed the DNA of the endgame. Most DLC feels like a victory lap. This felt like a final exam. It wasn't just more content; it was a character study of the four pilots we only saw in grainy flashbacks. It gave us Mipha, Revali, Daruk, and Urbosa as people, not just ghosts in the machine. Honestly, without this DLC, the story of the Calamity feels a bit hollow.
The Brutal Reality of the One-Hit Obliterator
Let's talk about that opening. You head back to the Great Plateau, pick up a glowing pitchfork, and suddenly you’re the most fragile thing in Hyrule. You have to clear out four monster camps. If you try to play this like a standard hack-and-slash, you’re going to see the "Game Over" screen more times than you’d like to admit.
It forces a complete shift in tactics. You start using Majora’s Mask to sneak around, or you sit on a high ledge and rain down bomb arrows like a coward. It's great. Nintendo took the most powerful version of Link and made him vulnerable again. This wasn't just a gimmick; it was a way to make the familiar terrain of the Plateau feel terrifying. You aren't the hero of time here. You're a glass cannon.
The shrines that follow this segment are arguably some of the best in the entire game. They rely less on "how do I get over there" and more on "how do I not die while getting over there." The Rohta Chigah Shrine—the one with the "Stop to Start" title and the floor of spikes—is legendary for tilting players. It’s tight. It’s precise. It’s exactly what the base game shrines lacked in their later stages.
Why We Still Care About the Four Champions
The meat of The Zelda Champions Ballad DLC is the deep dive into the lives of the Champions. Once you finish the Plateau, the quest splits into four distinct paths near the Divine Beasts. You’re looking for stone pillars with maps on them. Kass, the Rito bard who somehow finds his way into every corner of the world, is there to provide the soundtrack.
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Each Champion gets a series of trials. Some are combat-oriented, like killing a Molduking in the desert, while others are environmental, like sliding through blue rings on the slopes of Hebra. But the real prize isn't the Spirit Orbs. It's the memory fragments.
We see Mipha teaching a young Sidon how to swim up waterfalls. We see Urbosa acting as a surrogate mother to Zelda. We see Daruk’s fear of dogs (which is adorable) and Revali’s crushing insecurity masked by his massive ego. It humanizes them. In the base game, they were just archetypes. Here, they are tragic figures who failed to save their world. When you re-fight the Blight Ganons with restricted equipment—the "Illusory Realm"—it feels personal. You’re literally fighting their nightmares.
That Final Dungeon and the Reward Nobody Expected
After you’ve done everything else, you go back to the Shrine of Resurrection. There’s a fifth Divine Beast. It’s a massive, gear-filled underground complex that combines elements of all four previous beasts. It’s arguably the most "classic Zelda" dungeon in the whole game. There are no shortcuts. You have to manipulate the rotation of the entire facility to progress.
And then there’s Monk Maz Koshia.
Most people expected another Ganon clone. Instead, we got a boss fight that rivals anything in Elden Ring for sheer spectacle. The Monk stands up from his sitting position and starts teleporting. He creates clones. He grows to the size of a building. He throws giant metal balls at you. It’s the ultimate test of every mechanic you’ve learned—flurry rushes, parrying, Magnesis, and rune management. It’s the hardest fight in the game, hands down.
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The reward? The Master Cycle Zero.
A motorcycle. In a fantasy game. It sounds like it should ruin the immersion, but it doesn't. Fueling it with monster parts and apples while drifting across the Hyrule Field is the most fun you can have in the post-game. It changes how you explore. You aren't worried about stamina or horse paths anymore. You’re just a guy on a bike, looking for the last few Korok seeds you missed.
What Most People Get Wrong About the DLC
There’s a common complaint that The Zelda Champions Ballad DLC is just "recycled content." Critics point to the repeated boss fights and the familiar locations. They're wrong.
While the assets are familiar, the context is entirely new. The Illusory Realm fights aren't just rematches; they are puzzles. How do you beat Waterblight Ganon with only three spears and limited arrows? You can't just brute force it. You have to use Cryonis offensively. You have to time your throws. It forces a level of mastery that the base game rarely demands outside of the Trial of the Sword.
Also, the narrative weight of the final photo is often overlooked. When you finish the quest, Kass gives you a picture of all the Champions together. You can hang it in Link’s house in Hateno Village. It’s a small, quiet moment, but it’s the emotional closure the game needed. It acknowledges that while Link won the war, he lost his friends. It adds a layer of melancholy that defines the "Breath of the Wild" era.
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How to Actually Beat the Champion's Ballad Without Losing Your Mind
If you’re jumping back into this in 2026, maybe because you’re feeling nostalgic or you finally finished Tears of the Kingdom and want to see where the bike came from, here’s the reality.
First, don't rush the One-Hit Obliterator. Use your bow. Ancient Arrows are your best friend here. Don't feel guilty about using them on a single Moblin; the game gives you enough. Second, when you get to the Illusory Realm bosses, eat a triple-attack power meal before you enter the dream. The buff carries over. It makes the limited weapon durability much less of a headache.
For the Master Cycle Zero, don't waste your "expensive" materials for fuel. Honestly, five pieces of salt or five apples work perfectly fine. Basically, treat it like a trash compactor for all the random loot you've been hoarding.
The Lasting Legacy of the Ballad
The Zelda Champions Ballad DLC set a weirdly high bar. It proved that Nintendo could do "hard mode" without just bumping up enemy health bars. It showed that Link’s story is better when he has people to care about. Even years later, the Master Cycle Zero remains one of the most iconic "secret" unlocks in gaming history.
It isn't perfect. The intro is punishing. Some of the shrines are cryptic. But as a package, it’s the definitive way to say goodbye to the world of the Wild before moving on to the heights of the sequel. It’s a grind, sure, but it’s a grind with heart.
Next Steps for Your Hyrule Journey
- Audit your inventory: Before starting the DLC, ensure you have at least 50+ Ancient Arrows and a fully upgraded Ancient Armor set to mitigate the difficulty spikes in the final dungeon.
- Locate the Hateno House: If you haven't bought the house in Hateno Village from Bolson, do it now. You cannot display the final reward—the Champion's Picture—without it, and the emotional payoff is half the reason to play.
- Master the Flurry Rush: Practice your dodge timing on Guardians and Lynels. The final boss of the DLC, Monk Maz Koshia, is nearly impossible to beat without consistent perfect dodges.