The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of the most popular games on the Nintendo Switch and was improved upon by a notable DLC called The Master Trials. It adds several things to Breath of the Wild like The Trial of the Sword, Hero's Path Mode, and the more difficult Master Mode. This final mode is not for the faint of heart as it increases the difficulty of the game by altering some of its mechanics.
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You might feel you’re up for the challenge, but there are some tips and tricks you should follow to be successful. It can be frustrating to continually fail to make progress because of a lack of knowledge, but there are some strategies you can keep in mind to keep Link alive.
Updated on March 14, 2023, by Casey Foot: If you’re looking to sharpen your skills before Tears of the Kingdom’s launch, replaying Breath of the Wild’s Master Mode is the perfect way to do so. As expected, Master Mode can be challenging at the best of times, so it’s important to start it fully prepared for what you might encounter in this more difficult version of Hyrule.
13 Make Efficient Recipes
Making the most of Breath of the Wild’s cooking mechanic is important if you want to make sure that Link is ready to take on Master Mode’s punishing monsters. Recipes and elixirs have lots of helpful benefits, including temporarily boosting your maximum hearts, your attack, or your defense.
Even the most common ingredients found throughout Hyrule can be helpful to you, but you’ll want to keep an eye out for more useful items. For example, Hearty Radishes give you extra hearts, and the Mighty Porgy can give you an attack boost when cooked.
12 Farm Fairies With A Trick
If you’re carrying more than three Fairies in your inventory, no more Fairies will spawn at Great Fairy Fountains. However, by using a simple trick, you can make the game think you don’t have any, allowing more to spawn.
To do so, you should fast travel to a Shrine close to a Great Fairy Fountain, but don’t enter yet. Make Link hold all the Fairies - this ‘removes’ them from your inventory. Approach the Fairy Fountain, and Fairies should spawn when they typically wouldn’t for you to collect. This allows you to carry up to eleven Fairies, which is especially helpful in Master Mode, where dying is expected.
11 Upgrade Your Sheikah Slate
The Sheikah Slate is an important item that you obtain immediately after Link awakens in the Shrine of Resurrection. While the base Runes are useful (particularly the Remote Bombs), upgrading them at the Hateno Tech Lab will prove beneficial to you.
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Status Plus and Remote Bombs Plus are the most useful Runes to use in Master Mode, with the former allowing you to lock monsters in place and the latter increasing the damage inflicted by the bomb’s explosions. While you might need to take on some Guardians to obtain Ancient Cores and purchase the upgrades, it’s worth the risk.
10 Never Fall Back After An Attack
The enemies in Master Mode regenerate health, which only adds to the difficulty of attempting to kill them. One of the best tips is to never fall back after landing an attack and to keep pushing in order to defeat the enemy before it has the chance to retaliate.
If you decide to do single hits instead of combos, you will find yourself at a loss as the opponent continually regenerates their health to keep the battle going. If you do see the health bar start to regenerate, hit the enemy as soon as possible to stop it from healing further.
9 Add Inventory Slots
As enemies are stronger in this mode, your weapons will wear down faster than before. It’s a good idea to expand your inventory early on by collecting Korok Seeds in order to have room to carry more weapons.
Being in the midst of battle and realizing your last weapon has just broken is something you don’t want to experience. To avoid this, make sure you have a full stock of weapons on hand whenever you can, and expand the number you can carry by talking to Hestu.
8 Avoid Fights Early On In The Game
One key aspect of the enemies in this mode is that they’re exchanged for stronger variants, even during the tutorial section on the Great Plateau, making them harder to defeat. This is critical information at the beginning of the game as you’re forced to take on opponents with just a couple of sticks.
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It is often best to just avoid confrontation altogether until you discover weapons strong enough to defeat the monsters you encounter. Sneak around them if you can, and make a run for it if you have to.
7 Break Old Habits
This mode is usually not attempted until you complete the game in normal mode, and this can create some difficulties of its own. You’ll most likely have become accustomed to using upgraded weapons and armor, as well as Runes, to help stay alive and defeat monsters.
One of the best parts of Master Mode is how it forces you to adapt to the game again, similar to how you learned to survive Hyrule’s trials on your first playthrough. You should try new things as the tactics you learned before may not be as effective in Master Mode.
6 Perfect Defensive Maneuvers
The one thing you may have wanted to perfect prior to entering Master Mode is your defensive maneuvers. This means that dodges and guards should be perfect or nearly there every time in order to avoid taking unnecessary damage.
It will take patience and practice in order to make sure you have this skill nailed down. However, the pay-off is worthwhile, as it will make fighting monsters much easier. For example, you’ll want to have perfect timing when parrying Guardian laser beams to give them a taste of their own medicine.
5 Use The Environment To Your Advantage
When playing Master Mode, it’s often useful to approach fights from a different angle rather than rushing in guns blazing. In the early game, when you might have little more than sticks to hand, finding creative ways to win fights with monsters is a must.
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The environment itself contains several fixtures that can help you, like boulders or explosive barrels, and these should be used to wear down an enemy before going in for a more direct attack. It’s always good to survey an area before diving in as you never know what you can use to your advantage.
4 Use Majora's Mask
Majora's Mask is a useful tool in this mode and can be found during the Ancient Mask side quest. It is an incredibly beneficial item that does much more than just look cool.
The benefit of Majora’s Mask is that wearing it will prevent many enemies from attacking, giving you time to escape or approach them with ease. You can even approach enemy camps to steal their weapons and goods without them bothering you. It’s recommended that you find this item sooner rather than later as it can help you out of some pretty sticky situations.
3 Seek Out Chests
A lot of the chests found throughout Hyrule might not seem like a big deal in normal mode, but Master Mode poses its own set of challenges, so you’ll want to find them to ensure you have enough items and weapons to rely on.
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These chests can give you much-needed weapons and arrows that will assist you in battle. If you see a chest in the distance, it’s always worth checking it out to see what’s inside. Some chests are more hidden than others, so you’ll need to keep an eye out.
2 Be On The Lookout For New Enemies
Master Mode not only makes the current enemies more difficult to defeat, but it also introduces new enemies to the playing field. The worst of them is the Golden Lynel, which is even harder to defeat than the already tough Silver Lynel.
Sky Octoroks are also seen holding planks that usually carry enemies on their platforms. If you’re aiming to obtain the chests on these platforms, it’s important to approach the situation in a smart way, as shooting down the Sky Octoroks can sometimes cause the valuable items to become inaccessible.
1 Stealth Is Often The Best Option
Normal mode gives you the ability to attack enemies head-on from the start, but Master Mode changes this style of play. You should focus on being more stealthy to either sneak past enemies or approach them when they aren’t expecting you.
If you’re stealthy enough, you can perform a Sneakstrike on unsuspecting enemies. When the Sneakstrike is successful, your attack will do eight times your normal damage. It’s also recommended that you wear Stealth-boosting armor in these situations, as this will ensure that you go unnoticed and that your Sneakstrike lands.
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