Best Weapons in Breath of the Wild (2024)

Every now and then new players join this community andshare their moments of picking up abnormally strong weapons.This comes with the eternal debate about what the best weapons in BotW are.And I hope I can settle this.

Before we go through the big list of weapons,let us assume the speedrun rule:you can use any glitch to obtain and maintain weaponsas long as you are not directly modifying the save file/game executableto give yourself an 65535 attack Master Sword etc.

The following list of glitches is what I found handy.

• Menu overloading to duplicate weapons.
• Menu overloading to transfer weapon durability.
• Shock trap + camp fire to extract multiple copies of enemy weapons.

The following are not glitches, but sometimes players consider them cheating.For our convenience, they are allowed.

• Save-scumming.
• Using amiibo.

Besides, I assume you are pretty late in the game,so everything that can possibly receive a yellow modifier will have one.I don't assume you have DLCs,but farming weapons in master mode is more challenging.Plus, there are two instances where DLCs make your life easier.

One last rule:

• Avoid opening any treasure chest because they are unsustainable sources.

To compare weapons, you also need to know how damages are calculated.For instance, Ancient Proficiency is a 1.8x multiplier andis independent of the 1.5x multiplier from the level 3 Attack Up bonus.So it is fair to compare the attack of an ordinary weapon with1.8 x the attack of an ancient/guardian weapon.

Best Weapons for Durability

Weapons with the highest durability are usedto transfer their durability to others.So it is essential to know the limits of durabilities.

• Spring-Loaded Hammer from Fang and Bone has a durability of 80. (Weapons from NPC don't receive any modifier.)
• Biggoron's Sword from OOT Link amiibo has a base durability of 60. With yellow Durability Up the max is 111. I've proposed a fast strategy to farm amiibo items. <https://www.reddit.com/r/Breath_of_the_Wild/comments/eaf7dd>. See also <https://www.reddit.com/r/Breath_of_the_Wild/comments/af3kdu/>.
• You might consider Lightscale Trident (70) as an early game alternative. You can obtain a copy of this by opening the chest with full inventory, and then talk to the weaponsmith to craft a new one.
• Overall, all other weapons have 110 durability (or 79 or 68) after transferring. There are a few exceptions.
• One-Hit Obliterator has 40 durability while every hit costs 0 durability. That means, technically, OHO has infinite durability. But even if you manage to smuggle it out of Maz Koshia's trial, it deals 1 damage per hit.
• Vanilla Master Sword has 40 durability while every hit costs 1 durability. After you complete the Final Trial of the Sword its durability remains 40 while every hit costs 0.2 durability. So usually we say Glowing Master Sword has 188 durability. Moreover, if you transfer Biggoron's Sword's 110 durability onto it, it lasts 538 hits.

Best One-Handed Weapons for Attack

• Savage Lynel Sword has a base attack of 58. With yellow Attack Up the max is 100. There is no easy way to obtain this except save-scumming. The probability to get an attack-100 sword is about 1/63. You need ~10 seconds of spinning to kill a Golden Lynel, so good luck. <https://twitter.com/Xymbol_1/status/1261748634657251329>
• Guardian Sword++ has a base attack of 40. With yellow Attack Up the max is 60. With Ancient Proficiency this is equivalent to 60 x 1.8 = 108. This is already better than Savage Lynel Sword. To farm this item, save-scum any Guardian Scout IV that holds a sword. The probability to get an attack-60 sword is about 1/60. <https://streamable.com/begg1s> and <https://twitter.com/Xymbol_1/status/1263149952076664832>
• For the record, Royal Guard's Sword has 81 max attack.
• Dragonbone Boko Club has 50 max attack, which means 90 with Radiant Set.
• Ancient Short Sword has 40 attack, which means 72 with Ancient Proficiency.

Best Two-Handed Weapons for Attack

• Royal Guard's Claymore has a base attack of 72. With yellow Attack Up the max is 116. To farm this item, apply shock trap to the (presumably Golden) Moblin in Guards' Chamber, Hyrule Castle.
• Ancient Battle Axe++ has a base attack of 60. With yellow Attack Up the max is 75. With Ancient Proficiency this is equivalent to 75 x 1.8 = 135. This is the ultimate weapon that deals the most damage per hit. To farm this item, the best place is the DLC shrine Ruvo Korbah on Great Plateau. During the OHO trial, you can one-hit the Scout. That means you get an axe per 40 seconds. The probability of getting 75 is about 1/21. <https://twitter.com/Xymbol_1/status/1257176793930272768>
• Savage Lynel Crusher has a base attack of 78. With yellow Attack Up the max is 108. This is sometimes considered the ultimate weapon due to the poor durabilities Royal Guard's Claymore and Ancient Battle Axe++ used to have. After the durability transfer glitch, the latter two are simply superior. Nonetheless, considering its size, this item is good for pushing the Decayed Guardian for the ancient parts fountain glitch. To farm this item, the Lynel on the Great Plateau (Master mode only) is fixed at White-Maned (4000 HP) but drop Savage Lynel Crusher and Bow with yellow modifiers. The probability is about 1/45.
• For the record, Dragonbone Moblin Club has 65 max attack, which means 117 with Radiant Set. This one can be useful because it does not attract lightning.
• Ancient Bladesaw has 55 attack, which means 99 with Ancient Proficiency.

Best Spears for Attack

• Royal Guard's Spear has a base attack of 32. With yellow Attack Up the max is 57. This is the best spear in the whole game. To farm this item, apply shock trap to the (presumably Golden) Moblin underneath Princess Zelda's Study, Hyrule Castle.
• For the record, Ancient Spear has a base attack of 30, which is 54 with Ancient Proficiency.
• Guardian Spear++ has 28 max attack, which is 50.4 with Ancient Proficiency.
• Savage Lynel Spear has 44 max attack.
• Dragonbone Moblin Spear has 22 max attack which means 39.6 with Radiant Set.

Elemental Weapons

• Hyrule Castle has a Great Flameblade (Dock), a Great Frostblade (next to Library), and a Blizzard Rod (Lockup) that receive modifiers. Castle weapons map: <https://i.imgur.com/3LZlOX4.png> from <https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/189707-the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild/75625686>
• The Stalnox in Hyrule Castle (the one guarding Hylian Shield) drops Great Thunderblade that receive a modifier.
• Other elemental weapons (blades, spears, and rods) in the overworld don't receive any modifier. Some weapons on Stalnoxes' neck do receive modifiers. However, Stalnox is tedious to save-scum. (It doesn't stand up if you are right next to it upon reload. The castle one is an exception, though.)
• Treasure chests contain some elemental weapons with modifiers, but I want to avoid chests at all costs. Exception: Meteor Rod, Thunderstrome Rod, and Frostblade are available in dynamic iron chests; these chests are sustainable resources because you can apply the infinite guardian parts glitch.

Weapons Misc

• Torch is helpful for farming dragon's horns. There is a torch with a modifier in Divine Beast Vah Rudania. Use the moon jump wrong warp glitch to enter Vah Rudania if you completed the main quest.
• Bring a Blizzard Rod to the apple farm on Satori Mountain.
• Thrown Boomerangs that don’t break have a 1.5x multiplier.
• Windcleaver and Korok Leaf can be fun.

Best Bows for Durability

Bows having the highest durability are usedto transfer their durability to others.

• Ancient Bow from Akkala Ancient Tech Lab has a base durability of 120.
• Twilight Bow from SSB Zelda amiibo has a base durability of 100 and max 145.
• You might consider Royal Bow (60+30), Golden Bow (60+30), and Great Eagle Bow (60) as early game alternatives.
• All other bows have 144 durability (or 119 or 59) after transferring. Bow of Light is an exception but how about we ignore that?

Best Bows for Attack

• You might think that Savage Lynel Bow with Five-Shot Burst is the best. True that it deals plain damage 32 x 5 = 160 and is the highest among all bows.

• However, there is at least one scenario where a Savage Lynel Bow with max Attack Up (50 x 3) deals more damage than 32 x 5 does. When shooting ice arrows, the damage each arrow does is > 50+10 elemental extra
  > 50x3 breaking ice
  > 50 the third arrow behaves like a wooden arrow.

  The total is 260. On the other hand, 32 x 5 deals > 32+10 elemental extra
  > 32x3 breaking ice
  > 32 the rest behaves like wooden arrows
  > 32
  > 32.

  The total is 234.

• For the record, the one-shot bow with the highest attack is Royal Guard's Bow, 70 max attack. (Remember that we ignore Bow of Light (100 attack).)

• Ancient Bow has 44 attack, which means 79.2 with Ancient Proficiency.

Best Bows for Yahaha and Other Reasons

• I consider Twilight Bow with Quick Shot the best bow for solving Korok puzzles because the arrows go in a straight line.
• Royal Guard's Bow has a range of 30. Phrenic Bow, Golden Bow, Swallow Bow, Falcon Bow, Duplex Bow, Great Eagle Bow, and Ancient Bow have a range of 40. Data mining also shows that Silver Bow, Twilight Bow, and Ancient Bow have something to do with gravity. Overall, Ancient Bow is the second best bow for precision.
• Phrenic Bow and Golden Bow are equipped with scopes. This could be annoying if you are shooting enemies nearby. This could be pleasurable when farming dragon horns.
• According to data mining results, Swallow Bow, Royal Guard's Bow, Forest Dweller's Bow, Falcon Bow, and Great Eagle Bow shoot faster than normal bows do (but not necessarily in this order). They shoot even faster with Quick Shot modifiers. However, there is no general way to tell the actual speed of a bow. The only exceptions are: amiibo bows, when receiving Quick Shot, receive the best possibility; and Great Eagle Bow comes without any modifier.

Duplex Bow

I want to give Duplex Bow a special place because of the following:

• It is a multi-shot bow, this means that you can perform menu overloading with it.
• It is everywhere. Considering that how limited other multi-shot bows are, Duplex Bow can very well be your starting point of weapon duplication.
• It is long range; very good for yahahas in early game.

Best Shield for Guard and Durability

• Hylian Shield
• You can have a guard-90 and a guard-144 Hylian Shields at the same time. Open the chest with full inventory and buy a guard-90 one from Granté. And then head back to the castle to claim a guard-144 one.
• To the best of my knowledge, the only easy way to measure the durability of a Durability Up Hylian Shield is to transfer its durability to the worst shield (Pot Lid) and bomb the latter til it breaks.

Best Shields for Shield Surfing

• Radiant Shield is the slickest shield among all. Ancient Shield is the runner-up. Shield of the Mind's Eye is the next. To farm Radiant Shield (peaks at 48 guard), save-scum the Molduking. (Or maybe Molduga is enough?)
• Comparing to other shields, shield surfing on Gerudo Shield (0.7), Radiant Shield (0.6), Daybreaker (0.5), Steel Lizal Shield (0.5), or Ancient Shield (0.2) costs less durability per four seconds.

Other Interesting Shields

• Selmie once commented that Royal Guard's Shield is bad for shield surfing. This is because surfing on it costs 3 durability per four seconds.
• Selmie's top reward is Royal Shield. She also commented that this is the best design for surfing. Quite oppositely, Royal Shield is of nothing special.
• Kite Shield is the only unsustainable shield. It possesses nothing special except rarity.
• Lynel's shields deals damage while parrying. For perfectionist, Savage Lynel Shield peaks at 84 guard. Probability ≈ 1/33.
• Ancient Shield auto-reflects Guardians' laser. Guardians' shields deflect lasers too.
• Rusty Shield is used in a Korok puzzle near the castle and in a shrine quest in the forest. There are five Rusty Shields with modifiers in the map, all are in the castle.
• Traveler’s Shield appears to be the official shield featured in many BotW trailers’ scenes.
• Pot Lid is mentioned in Daruk's Training Journal. It is also, for instance, the only shield being picked up in the current Any% route. There are some Pot Lids in enemies' hands that receive blue modifier by chance. Find them in the object map.

• Radiant Set (Bone Attack Up) is never an option when talking about the highest damage.
• Ancient and guardian weapons deal more-than-it-appears damages toward ancient enemies. This means Royal Guard's Spear is not always the best spear. But let's not get that far.
• There are other scenarios where the listed weapons are not necessarily the best. For instance, a group of weapons called mining weapons deals extra damages toward stone enemies. Shock attacks deal extra damage (7.5x) toward Molduga and Molduking. I didn't cover them here.
• You need about six multi-shot bows to menu-overload consistently. Don’t bother to collect too many one-shot bows.
• Shooting shock arrows onto metallic surfaces does AOE damage. With multi-shot bows the total damage is way higher than any other weapon does per unit time.
• My inventory right now: <https://twitter.com/Xymbol_1/status/1263935095301234688>
• After all, enjoy the game the way you like it. Don't let someone on the internet tell you to collect something or not.

• Weapon stats by HylianAngel <https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/189707-the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild/75445618> and <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NqJoQxZQJ_8UCLStiqGwgAOPN1V0Z9uCoq9lW_LYGKo/pubhtml>
• Misc info by HylianAngel <https://www.reddit.com/r/zelda/comments/6jidrs/botw_some_resources/>
• A table of some hidden variables by leoetlino. <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSmRL13Sc5YQ27TSK5kDywrVq2c2AUIBlRDpb3C3DpTOJ7f5QG_5bVmbz8ksDSA1N5X9c76TWVxDNz5/pubhtml>
• BotW object maps by leoetlino <https://objmap.zeldamods.org/>
• Difficulty scaling by leoetlino <https://zeldamods.org/wiki/Difficulty_scaling>
• Menu overloading by Kleric <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW-NVsIAY6o> and <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McgsHEwlNG8>
• Explanation of elemental things by Croton <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Eh9OyucL94>
• More details about how damage are calculated <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QiaqiORIK0BVTRjO-PtHKyAL5nTT8QushYDIWozNwoo/>
• About shield durability <https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/189707-the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild/75604610>

Proofread by Justin T