If you have ever stared at a Lynel and thought you might win this time, only to be sent back to a loading screen while the Lynel calmly roars into the wind, then welcome. Building a truly powerful Link in Breath of the Wild is a journey that sits somewhere between clever preparation and the refusal to die again out of sheer stubbornness.
This guide walks through everything that turns Link from a guy with a tree branch into a walking natural disaster.
Picking Your Stats
Before anything else, you have to choose the eternal question. Hearts or stamina. Players argue about this as if it determines your moral alignment.
The honest answer is that you want a balance early on, but stamina quietly runs the show. More stamina means climbing faster, gliding further, and surviving situations that hearts alone will not save you from. A single extra circle can completely change how you explore. That said, you will eventually want enough hearts to safely pull the Master Sword without passing out like you skipped leg day for several years.
Gear That Actually Matters
Clothes in this game are not just aesthetic, they are lifestyle choices. Pick wisely.
Armour Sets Worth Your Rupees
Barbarian Set
High damage boost. Perfect for players who want to lean into the chaos and hit things very hard. Upgrade it fully and it becomes your main engine of mayhem.
Ancient Armour
If you enjoy bullying Guardians, this is the set. The damage boost to ancient weapons is real, and the defence is chunky enough to carry you through late game tech aggression.
Climbing Gear
No exaggeration, this might be the most quality of life set in the entire game. When fully upgraded, it makes you feel like Link secretly trained with geckos.
Snowquill and Flamebreaker Sets
Not glamorous, but no one looks glamorous when slowly freezing or catching fire anyway. These sets keep you alive so they earn respect.
The Weapons You Want to Prioritise
Weapons break. Constantly. Emotionally, you need to accept that. Still, some are worth hoarding.
Master Sword
Never truly breaks, just gets tired and clocks out for a break. Essential for long fights and a safety net when your inventory looks rough.
Savage Lynel Weapons
If a Lynel hands you one of its toys, take it. These weapons hit like someone dropped a mountain on the opponent.
Ancient Weapons
A bit pricey, but the damage output is serious and the durability is better than most. Great for Guardian hunts.
Shields and Survival
Learning to perfect guard is basically unlocking a cheat code that Nintendo pretends is normal. Once you can reflect Guardian beams on command, you start to feel like you know things your maths teacher never told you.
Hylian Shield
Ridiculously strong. Lasts ages. If you break it, you can rebuy it, though your wallet might develop trust issues.
Cooking for Power
Anyone who tells you cooking is optional is lying. Food is the actual backbone of a strong Link.
Recipes You Should Be Using
Attack Boost Meals
Mighty Bananas are basically illegal performance enhancers. Stack them with meat and enjoy absurd damage output.
Defence Boost Meals
Armoranth and Fortified Pumpkins turn you into a small tank.
Stamina Meals
Endura Carrots and Stamelas let you climb cliffs that feel like someone painted them vertical out of spite.
Hearty Meals
Overfilling hearts is the closest Breath of the Wild gets to handing you plot armour.
Mastering Runes
Runes are not just tools, they are personality tests.
Stasis+
Freezes enemies and objects. Lets you pretend you understand physics. Also lets you bully Hinoxes from a distance.
Cryonis
Creates platforms on water and gives you a strange urge to try things you probably should not.
Magnesis
Turns you into a slightly chaotic magnet wizard. Useful for puzzles, hidden chests, and flinging metal boxes at Bokoblins.
Farming Materials Without Losing Your Sanity
To upgrade armour, you need materials, and some of them are dropped by creatures that would rather throw you into a pond than cooperate. Spread out the grind. Do a little at a time. Spin through your favourite routes for Lynels, dragons, and Taluses so you always have parts stacking up.
Dragons in particular are generous if you shoot their parts from close range and catch them before they bounce into oblivion.
Late Game Optimisation
Once you have your core gear sorted, the game becomes about polishing everything.
Upgrade your favourite sets to max at the Great Fairy Fountains. Keep a small selection of top tier weapons rather than a bag full of mid tier ones. Use elixirs alongside meals for layered buffs. And learn enemy attack patterns, because raw skill multiplies the value of your gear.
By this stage Link becomes less of a survivor and more of a natural event.
The Seven Swords Takeaway
Becoming the strongest Link is less about perfection and more about stacking clever choices. More stamina. Better armour. A few dangerously overpowered meals. Suddenly the world opens up and every enemy feels like a voluntary challenge.
Breath of the Wild rewards players who experiment, improvise, and occasionally make choices that look questionable until they work. Lean into that. It is half the fun.
