You’re standing on the Great Plateau. The wind is howling. You see a stick, a couple of apples, and a vast, terrifying horizon that feels like it’s mocking you. Honestly, the first time I played The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, I spent forty minutes trying to climb a wall in the rain just to see what was at the top. Spoiler: nothing but a very wet Link and a lot of frustration. Most people treat a guide breath of the wild as a checklist of shrines or a map of Korok seeds, but that’s basically missing the point of why this game changed everything.
It’s about the "chemistry engine." That sounds like a boring college elective, but in Hyrule, it means if you drop a metal sword during a thunderstorm, you aren't just losing a weapon—you're creating a lightning rod. If you light a fire under a spicy pepper, you get an updraft. The game doesn't tell you this in a pop-up menu. You just have to be curious enough to fail.
The Great Plateau is Actually a Genius Trap
Most players rush. They want the paraglider. They want to get off the tutorial island and see the "real" game. But the Great Plateau is the most dense part of any guide breath of the wild because it teaches you how to survive without the master sword. If you can’t kill a Blue Bokoblin with a pot lid and a well-timed parry here, the rest of Hyrule is going to chew you up.
Hidetaro Fujibayashi, the game’s director, famously mentioned in a Nintendo Power podcast that the team spent months just refining how Link climbs. It wasn't about the height; it was about the stamina bar. That little green circle is your actual health bar. Forget the hearts. If you have enough stamina, you can outrun, outclimb, and outmaneuver anything Ganon throws at you.
I've seen people restart the game because they felt they "messed up" their build by picking stamina over hearts. Don't. You can literally swap them later at a creepy statue in Hateno Village. Just keep moving. The Plateau is designed to make you feel small so that when you finally jump off that cliff with your paraglider, the scale of the world actually hits you.
Why You Should Stop Hoarding Your Best Weapons
We all do it. You find a Royal Broadsword with a +10 Attack Up modifier and you tuck it away. "I'll save this for a boss," you tell yourself. Then you spend the next ten hours fighting with wooden mops and rusty claymores while that beautiful sword gathers dust in your inventory.
Stop.
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The weapon durability system is the most hated and most misunderstood part of the game. But here is the secret: the game scales with you. As you kill more enemies, the world "levels up" (a hidden mechanic called World Level or XP). Suddenly, those rusty swords turn into Soldier’s Gear, then Knight’s Gear, then Royal Gear. If you don't use your good stuff, you're just making the game harder for no reason.
Also, Lynels. Everyone is scared of Lynels. But if you want the best gear in any guide breath of the wild, you have to hunt them. A Savage Lynel Bow fires three to five arrows at once but only consumes one from your inventory. It’s basically a cheat code. The trick isn't being good at combat; it's using Stasis+ to freeze them, hitting them in the face with an arrow, and mounting them like a horse. Fun fact: weapons don't lose durability when you're hitting a Lynel while mounted on its back.
Cooking is Not Optional (And Most People Do It Wrong)
You’ve probably tossed five random ingredients into a pot and ended up with "Dubious Food." It looks like a purple pixelated mess. It’s useless.
The math of cooking is actually pretty straightforward once you stop guessing. Hearty Durians are the GOAT. Cook one—just one—by itself. It full-heals you and gives you four extra yellow hearts. There is a plateau near Faron Woods (specifically the Faron Tower) where these things grow like weeds. If you spend ten minutes farming them, you are effectively invincible for the next three hours of gameplay.
Don't mix effects. This is the biggest mistake I see. If you mix a "Zappy" ingredient with a "Hasty" ingredient, they cancel each other out. You get no buffs. Just a mediocre meal. Stick to one "prefix" per dish. Want to go fast? Five Fleet-Lotus Seeds. Want to resist heat? Four Chillshrooms and a Dragon Horn.
Speaking of Dragon Horns, they are the secret sauce. Most players see Farosh or Naydra and try to kill them. You can't. You just need to nick them with an arrow. A Dragon Horn shard added to any meal boosts the duration of the buff to 30 minutes. Imagine having high-level attack power for half an hour straight. It changes the game.
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The "Correct" Path vs. Your Path
Nintendo wants you to go to Kakariko Village first. Impa gives you the main quest. It makes sense. But honestly? You can go straight to the desert. You can go to the volcano. You can even walk right into Hyrule Castle and steal the Hylian Shield within twenty minutes of starting the game.
There is a massive misconception that you need to follow the Divine Beasts in a specific order. Most people suggest Vah Ruta (the elephant) first because Mipha’s Grace—the ability that revives you—is a massive safety net. It's a solid choice. But if you're struggling with exploration, go for Vah Medoh (the bird) in the Northwest. Revali’s Gale lets you launch yourself into the air. It trivializes 90% of the climbing in the game.
Shrines, Physics, and Cheating the System
There are 120 shrines in the base game. Some are "Test of Strength" combat trials. Others are puzzles. The "Apparatus" shrines—the ones where you have to tilt your controller to move a platform—are universally loathed.
Here is a pro-tip: you can often just flip the controller upside down. The bottom of the platform is usually flat and much easier to use than the maze on the top.
The developers at Nintendo, including Eiji Aonuma, have gone on record saying they love when players "cheese" the puzzles. If you can bridge a gap by dropping all your metal weapons on the floor to conduct electricity instead of finding the power cube, do it. The game doesn't care how you win. It only cares that you solved the problem.
A Note on the Master Sword
You need 13 red hearts to pull the Master Sword. Yellow hearts don't count. Don't even try. If you've been putting all your points into stamina, just head to the Hateno Statue, swap your stamina for hearts, pull the sword, and swap them back. It's a little bit of a chore, but it's the fastest way to get the only weapon in the game that doesn't (technically) break.
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Hidden Mechanics Most People Miss
- Fire Chuchu Jelly acts like a remote-detonated gas tank. Drop it, shoot it, and you’ve got a massive AOE fire blast.
- Octo Balloons can be attached to heavy slabs or even rafts to make them float.
- Horses follow paths automatically. If you're on a road, just let go of the stick. Link will stay on the path while you look around for Koroks.
- Sledding (Shield Surfing) is faster than running but eats your shield's durability. Unless you're on snow or sand. On those surfaces, your shield doesn't take damage.
The Reality of the "End Game"
When you finally face Calamity Ganon, the difficulty depends entirely on how much of the game you actually played. If you beat all four Divine Beasts, Ganon starts the fight at half health. If you didn't, you have to fight the bosses you missed right there in the throne room.
It’s an anti-climax for some. But the real "ending" isn't the credits. It's the moment you realize you know Hyrule like your own backyard. You know where the silent princesses grow. You know which bridge has a Hinox sleeping under it. You know exactly how many arrows it takes to bring down a Guardian Skywatcher.
How to Actually "Finish" the Game
If you're looking for a definitive way to wrap up your experience, don't just hunt for 900 Korok seeds. That's a path to burnout. Instead, focus on these actionable steps to feel like a true master of the wild:
- Find the Memories: The story is buried in the landscape. Finding all 13 memory locations provides the emotional context for why Link is even doing this. Without them, Zelda is just a voice in your head; with them, she's a character you actually want to save.
- Complete the Tarrey Town Quest: Go to Hateno, buy the house, then talk to Hudson. This is arguably the best side quest in the game. You literally build a town from scratch. It’s rewarding, heartwarming, and gives you access to a shop that sells rare armor.
- Upgrade Your Armor: Visit the Great Fairy Fountains. A full set of upgraded Ancient Armor makes you nearly invincible against Guardians.
- Master the "Perfect Guard": Go to a field with a stationary Guardian. Stand in front of it. Wait for the beep. The second you see the blue flash in its eye, hit the A button. Reflecting that beam back is the most satisfying feeling in the world.
- Explore the Hebra Mountains: Most people skip the snowy Northwest because it's cold and empty. It's not. It's full of hidden shrines and some of the best shield-surfing spots in the game.
The beauty of this world is that it doesn't need a guide breath of the wild to be enjoyed, but knowing the "rules" helps you break them more effectively. Take your time. Don't use a map for everything. Turn off the UI (Pro Mode) in the settings if you really want to get lost. Hyrule is a lonely place, but it's a beautiful one if you stop trying to "beat" it and just start living in it.
Get out there. Experiment. Break a few swords. Build a town. And for the love of Hylia, stop trying to climb in the rain. Just find a cave, start a fire, and wait it out. It's more peaceful that way.