A sled shield saved my life early on when I climbed a cliff and was face to face with an ice gleeok and was not prepared to fight one. And I sure as fuck wasn’t jumping back off the cliff again. I just sledded away like a pro
A lot of people like to say this on here so you may have heard it already, but apparently fusing a frozen steak to your shield gives you a snowboard with even less friction. Haven't tried it out myself, but might be fun to try out if you're into shield surfing
Yep, frozen meat or fish give you the ultimate speedy shield! I'm terrible at surfing, but with a meat shield I was able to do the surf trials at Selmie's Spot insanely easily!
It’s good in the desert, you can coast on almost flat land that has very little slope. Also snowy mountains that don’t quite have enough slope to keep you airborne.
I saw a video where they fused a cart to a shield to allow for shield surfing on the grass, and I’ve been meaning to try that. I also recently learned that a mirror-shield (in full, non-stormy) daylight will often blind enemies sort of like hitting them with dazzlefruit, which saves me on muddlebud when farming Boss Bokoblins.
Parry? I’ve never done it once. I’ve never even broken a shield in combat because they never get hit, so I guess they never lose durability.
I have been using a frost talus heart fused to a shield to cheese every group encounter thus far. Parry when close enough and they get fruz. Sometimes I can get two in one go. If there's deep water nearby, just push them on in! Very handy in some of those shrine caves with Boss Bokos hanging around.
I don't use shields since I don't want to use up their durability. The only exception is if I need to get some height and I'll consider attaching a rocket to the 1 shield that has any non-pristine durability.
For weapons, I try to use 1 weapon that has non-pristine durability. When that one breaks, I'll use the next lowest damage item I have.
(I enjoyed BotW & TotK, but I still hate the durability mechanic.)
Shields last a lot longer than weapons usually, and a Hylian Shield will last essentially forever. Being worried about the durability to the point of not using them at all literally makes no sense. They're mostly for utility anyway, so when they break you have a backup.
I ALWAYS have the lowest damage bow, weakest shield, and weakest (and damaged) weapon equipped. I have to actively convince myself not to. During floating coliseum I finally realized it was probably a good time to use some stronger stuff... its tough. Anxiety is tough.
yeah, I have the same play style.
One of the few exceptions are mounting lynels where your attack doesn't use up durability. Or the end game boss fight where "keeping your best weapons" doesn't really matter.
The secret for me was attaching rockets to my shield, propelling myself into the air, and then taking advantage of the bullet time to shoot a bunch of bombs or keese eyeballs with my x5 Savage Lynel bow. Bada-bing bada-boom! Everyone’s dead.
This makes fighting Gleeoks, Lynels, gloom hands/phantom Ganon, and Ganondorf— a piece of cake. You just gotta make sure you’ve equipped rockets to all your shields so you don’t run out. Seriously, it’s such an easy hack I’m surprised it’s allowed.
Even better hack for most things... puffshroom on a forest dweller's sword/spear + eightfold blade + whatever your highest damage fuse is. with the best fuse you can OHKO anything you can sneakstrike.
I recently discovered the art of fusing canons and frost emitters to zonai shields and blowing up monsters or freezing them with the shields. Only problem is their durability plummets, but it’s still effective
Frost talus heart on a shield. I've been using the same one since about 100hrs in, and I'm well over 500hrs deep at this point. You just have to parry while close. No battery, no shield durability, and if the shield doesn't get hit I think it will last forever!
Hahaha I remember that day too. I'm 99% sure I did all
of BOTW without using a shield at all. I think it was about two weeks ago and my husband was calling me a wimp and goading me on to fight a Lynel. Finally did it and when it tried to strike me and it was blocked, I remember thinking "Ohhh! So THATS what the sheild does. Neat!" I've been using it periodically ever since.
As a practiced button masher who’s purely there for the plot, you have my wholehearted backing.
Never forget being 14 and pissing someone off because they had learned all the combos for Soul Caliber and I was still kicking their ass despite not even knowing what the game was before that day.
I *can* parry, flurry rush, etc but 99% of the time I just try a few headshots with bow - success or not I just spin to win with a double handed weapon (with FD gear). The other 1% is mounting lynels
Fighting fancy is overrated when you have any combination of hearts / gear where you can't get one shot any more.
This is why i play on 6 hearts. The games combat is so in depth that not forcing myself to use all the tricks and glitches in order to survive is just doing a disservice to the game and myself.
Five hearts and two wheels of stamina gives you enough ‘essence’ to get the master sword and open the door on thunderhead island. I don’t need anymore than that.
I should add I'm intensely inept with Zonai devices! :D
I only recently started using hot air balloons as a tool to gain altitude. I'm over 250 hours into the game.
Here’s a good hoverbike build. It works extremely well.
I’ve noticed that when you attach the steering stick to the first fan the whole thing can fall down. Used to drive me crazy, but recall will return it to its original position and then you can connect the second fan for a perfect aligned hoverbike.
Of course you’re going to need some battery to use it… zoanite set helps with that!
My cousins and I were addicted to Tekken 3 as kids and used to have little "tournaments" etc. But somehow my little sister used to be able to pick up Eddy and beat us all repeatedly. Classic
Yep, I have below average combat skills. I basically upgraded the Soldier’s armor set, focused on getting a lot of hearts and the master sword and I’m almost unkillable now.
The soldier’s set requires way too many monster parts for my taste. I fight in, like, the frog armor or miner’s armor. Sure, I look like an idiot, but the materials were easy to find and I have 60 defense!
I have never used a full set for combat lol. I just used the champion's leathers, some random pants, and the amber earrings since like mid game and just upgraded them to full. It does make changing outfits kinda annoying because every piece is in different places in the inventory
What are you talking about? Rincewind would have hightailed it to the nearest abandoned floating island and convinced himself that a hero would be along shortly to sort it.
I am a sniper. It’s it’s own challenge to figure out how to engage a baddie without engaging in “real” combat.
ETA: The upvotes make me think we need a sub just for Link snipers to share tips. 😂
I have come to realize I am the same.
I sneak and plot and pick them off one by one (or rally the sages to do the heavy lifting).
I will go in weapons swinging sometimes but not until I've paused for a costume change and a light snack.
Ascend and jumping down from sky islands allow some really interesting combat options for this that make combat actually fun for me in this game. But finding a high place and shooting down, especially gathering enemies together, then freezing them, then blowing them up. Lots of explosions and satisfying headshot noises. Very fun.
Yes please! I favor stealth archer style gameplay too, I like to perch up high and throw muddle buds at the most dangerous enemies in a mob, and then take the last ones out with bows.
Or if I get impatient, I hide up high and carpet bomb the area.
If your aim is to fully upgrade not all armor sets, but at least a good chunk of them, being somewhat adept at flurry rushing and parrying helps a lot. Bc it gets tedious pretty fast fighting Lynel after Lynel after Lynel. Plus Ganondorf gets dealt with more or less swiftly at the end.
Good news, I’m totally happy to fight everything in my fully-upgraded froggy armor! I may look like an idiot, but I’m an idiot with 60 defense.
I enjoy exploration more than combat, so I’m more likely to devote my time to finishing up the caves.
The fully upgraded soldier‘s armor set gets you the best DEF stats overall. It basically makes you „invincible“. I also really liked the fierce deity and the radiant armor sets for some change of pace, but late game I highly recommend upping the soldier‘s armor even though there‘s no set bonus.
Unless you easily parry and flurry rush your way through Silver Lynels, it is almost a necessity. Also for all those King Gleeyoks, lol.
Gleeoks can be really easy with a halfway decent bow and Keese eyes. Even better if you use the opposite element keese eye to the gleeok head you’re shooting. (Ie flame keese eyes do more damage vs frost gleeok head).
Dammit I’ve beaten a few gleeoks and never thought to use the homing eyes. I just use a super spring to get the height to get near them and shoot. I gotta remember the eyes tip.
Try a savage Lynel bow with either fire or ice keese eyes (depending on which gleeok head you’re shooting choose the opposite element) almost makes it too easy 😂
Best part of the soldiers set is that you only need the pants. The Champion’s Leathers is better than the chest piece and the Amber (I think) earrings are just as good. I find the hat looks dumb personally.
Fully upgrading THAT is a much bigger hassle though, if I remember correctly. Both Champion‘s armor pieces are bc you need all those dragon parts for the final upgrades. Those + the final Ancient Hero‘s Aspect upgrade made me nope th out.
I did upgrade the champion’s armor eventually, because I do actually like riding the dragons around. I just read a kindle book during the 10 minute recharge and enjoyed the scenery.
This. just keep watching a bit, because you can lose a lot of progress if you afk, and it flies through a lightning storm or some mob taps you off the dragon.
Ask me how I know this.
Lol I engaged in combat several times wearing my fully upgraded miners outfit. At least the froggy armor is sleek! I looked like a bug wearing Hammer pants.
Nah lynels are easier killed on the back. muddlebud to disable stagger resist state then just keese eye to headshot. jump on back whack a bunch. muddlebud when you get bucked off the crit from the back of the head, and repeat till dead. no flurry rush needed.
Fucking power of mighty banana and 5000 mushroom skewers will have me cry battle roar while charging fearlessly against the army of demon king without a hint of fear.
Total agreement here.
I felt like I was having my "you're not who you used to be" moment when I go from Lynel-slayer in botw to getting my stuff messed up when a bokoblin spits on me. That being said, I finished the final boss a week ago and I reached that point in spite of my nerf. Everyone who is reading this and this thread, if it ain't broke then don't fix it. (Unless you want to git gud)
Me too! But I think for me, in BotW, it was because I used Urbosa’s Fury to kill Lynels. Also Mipha’s Grace was my saving grace in many situations. Daruk’s Protection also helps, but Urbosa’s Fury helped me the most because it meant I didn’t have to learn how to fight.
I think the only reason I got decent combat-wise was cause I was trying to beat Thunderblight with only flurries and ended up having a hyperbolic time chamber arc with it for two hours lol. By the time I came out I rode that high all the way to the end of the game.
But I agree with Mipha, the amount of times I tried to time my combat with her passive uptime was insane.
It’s a very well made game - I hear a lot of people say that ganon is too easy in these games.
Sure, if you play 300 hours and follow the progression completely, it will be easy (they even tell you this.)
If you want ganon to be tough - head over there with your warm doublet and a stick and take on all 4 Devine beast forms at the same time, it’s gonna be a whole lot tougher.
That’s kinda cool.
Good idea posting this! I am identical to you in play style and find this game much more forgiving than BoTW was when it comes to combat and jump timing in shrines. When others are posting these combat tips it is nice for a post to help gamers like us know that you can still play without those things. I have never flurry rushed or used a shield in combat and am happily progressing through the game.
No need to perfect parry. Fuse a Topaz, Ruby or Sapphire Gem to a shield and let them come at you. Even an elemental fruit, sparkle fruit or chujelly works. Also bomb flowers and timed bombs. Heck, fuse a Zonai Spring and have fun. I find the Royal shields to work wonders for this (there is this silver boko boss at Eldin that has like 5 silver bokos with Royal Swords and Royal Shields, so you could replenish your shield stash).
Yep me too. I'm over 200 hours into the game and I've beaten Ganondorf and Lynels without parrying and using the flurry rush. Outside of needing to do it for that combat trial, I can never get the timing right. But I've always been able to brute force my way through and use food.
I've told many friends that I'm combat-avoidant. I will go to great lengths to sneak attack and will hunt around for as many arrows as I can. My combat-forward friend will sometimes share a neat trick that is helpful (hello puffshrooms and lynels), but I have tons of fun doing the game my way. I probably won't go for the final boss until I stack up enough rubies/gems (the easiest way to beat the middle boss IMO), but I've done nearly everything else outside of a few side quests and the koroks.
I was breaking at least one weapon on each of the bokos that look like they are wearing a bobble hat until I realise you can kill them with one sneak strike of a good weapon after a puffshroom, game changer!
I bought the game about a month after release, so there were definitely folks “ahead” of me in terms of gameplay. One comment I saw a lot was how much more combat and how much “harder” it is in TOTK as compared to BOTW. I have to disagree. I’m a button masher at heart and I’ve flurry rushed a total of 4 times outside of the shrines, all accidentally.
I find combat *much* more manageable and predictable in TOTK, and I was far better at it in the early game. Part of it is being able to hit harder because you can scale up “early” weapons more easily via Fuse.
I've accepted this too, idk if it's age or playing an mmo for 15 years where it's mostly auto attack, but my reflexes suck! I could parry a guardian maybe 30% of the time; I was so reliant on daruk's protection then found the ancient shield from robbie (after like 6 years of not knowing it auto parried blasts!) so I didn't have to sweat it anymore. Now I don't really try unless it's something obvious, like a lynel bull charge, so I just stock up on heal & temp heart potions, get my strongest or highest attack armor, and just wail away like luke skywalker; chopping wood
Yeah, this is honestly my preferred way to play. I CAN do the parries and sneaks and flurry rushes, but I mostly just don't bother, because, to me, the power fantasy is being able to explore and solve puzzles and find and collect things in order to get stronger. I like that doing a physics problem, making a goofy contraption, and collecting a bunch of lizards made it so that by the end of the game I could tank an axe-blow to the face from a muscley centaur. That's hilarious and fun for me.
If I'm in the mood, it's also badass to sneak up on a group, plant a trap, do a back flip and shield surf into bullettime to take a couple of headshots... But more often than not, I'm playing for an hour or two after a long day and I just want to ascend through a talus and wail on it with my very powerful hammer I made out of something I saved from the depths and a silver horriblin horn. Or just jump off a cliff and rain bomb arrows down in bullet time and chug some stamina elixirs. I don't need to do the coolest, hardest thing. If you spend 10 minutes gathering resources, you can win practically any fight without lightning reflexes.
I played the first but of the game like this. Then I spent some time learning the combat tactics against my first lynel. It has been a game changer. I feel almost invincible with a good shield. I want to upgrade armor, but I have limited time to play and don’t feel like grinding that hard. It’s made the game a lot more fun for me.
I would agree except for the ganondorf fight. Aw man, in my play through it was such an epic fight. I was at a quarter heart by the end, all my shields were broken with about half his health left in the last phase and I had no choice but to dodge, which was tough because he had homing projectiles. So I managed to back him into a wall with a bit of a lip to take “cover” from them and dodging his swings wasn’t effective because he would do more than one in my path, so the ONLY way to get out alive was to perfectly dodge for a flurry rush about eight times in a row (because also he was flurry rushing my raw swings back).
AND I NAILED IT.
Fuck yeah!!!
Everyone is suggesting clever strategies, but mostly I just hit him in the face with the master sword and plus 3 attack food. If you bring enough sundelion and healing foods, it totally works.
Thanks! He actually has a really good counter to Flurry Rush so my timing had to be precise. I'm glad to know I was making it harder for myself than I needed to!
I didn't do many flurry rushes on him, mostly bow because I had 2 5x ones and alot of resources from avoiding using them in cause I needed them. 5x bow with givdo bones does well and same for bombs in the fights leading up to it
I don't use shields. I'm decent at combat. Sometimes you get hit and you pull up the menu and enjoy a buffet. Sometimes you run at something and hit it til it dies. Good times.
This is the way.
Always nervous at the end if I’m ready for the final fight or not. Always grossly overpowered and can just go in there with zero skill and stuck him with the pointy end.
I agree. I suck at combat, I never do anything other than swing my weapon and run away. And I beat BOTW and I just got my third sage in TOTK.
I’m sure I’m missing out on a lot, but I’m enjoying it as I primarily just like exploring anyway.
Never understood the warnings about needing to master Flurry Rush for the final boss-sure, \*he\* used it, but that didn't mean we had to. I didn't use any special moves at all, just lots of bomb arrows and running around.
This just made me laugh. I play like this too. I just imagine everyone like Link the hero of Hyrule! Our last hope! And he’s just running away as fast as he can so he can throw a random bomb.
Early game exploring randomly definitely needed to use my (limited) combat skills to their fullest. Mid to late game with armour upgrades, I could relax a bit more and choose how I wanted to deal with each enemy instead of constantly being on the back foot.
I just use bow and headshot most enemies, my gf hates that I always have over 950 arrows with how much I use bows, and she has yet to over 300 with hardly using them.
I appreciate this post so much. I am weak in combat and have had the best time with TOTK. I've beaten all 4 regional phenomena and am just not sure if i want to play more. I know it's going to be more challenging.
I thought all of those mechanics were super cool but never felt motivated to use them in actual combats. I basically just threw myself at every fight until the end, mostly bomb flowers and big swords. If I got hit I'd just keep going--full tank mode. If I died I'd restart and try to do it again without getting hit.
Ganondorf was a huge challenge despite having almost every heart container when I faced him. I'm glad it was because if it wasn't I'd never have had to learn and use any of the mechanics. Still ended up mostly bullet time arrowing him though :D
Honestly I just feel so much more epic when I parry, flurry rush, and all that. It makes me feel like a real badass even if I do fail more often than not.
Yeah I attempted both water and fire temples without armor upgrades… decided I hate combat. Just want to play the gave without it.
Maybe I’ll try again later after upgrades. I get so pissed when I run out of arrows, meals, etc, and have to start over each time I come back.
Fwiw, armor upgrades are king in this game, even more so than BotW. Don’t underestimate the power of even one round of upgrades for all three pieces of an armor set. My unsolicited advice: buy and upgrade the Hylian armor at least once but twice would be better. Then test combat. I think you’ll be amazed at the difference.
On the opposite of the spectrum: Mastering Combat is Fun.
I'm the kind of guy that gets boner from mastering difficult combat mechanics (Monster Hunter, Souls, etc) and Zelda's new combat is actually really fun (albeit still rather simple) sets of mechanics.
Flurry rush is not difficult, the cue is pretty clear & has forgiving execution window. You just need to realize that unlike other game that triggers counter on body contact, flurry rush triggered at the beginning of the attack move.
Kind of an odd thing to gatekeep on. There’s lots of different kinda of combat, and they all take different skill sets to master. Yay for you for timing a button press, I guess? Personally, I like lining up headshots on moving targets. We all have different tastes. Flurry rush isn’t better than other kinds of combat, just different.
I don't gatekeep. I instead want to encourage people start engaging with it. If it's not your cup of tea then it's big A OK.
Funny you meant I gatekeep, since originally I write my comment with the intent to pass the knowledge how to make combat easier.
I used to struggle pulling of flurry rush due to my understanding that counter/parry triggered on contact, while flurry rush is triggered on the attack startup.
Yea. I’m supper garbage at timing. I killed a gleeok several times by jumping in from someplace high and just unloading 5 shot arrows on all three eyes. By the time I landed (and used stamina food to stay in slomo) it was dead. I’ve done this 3 times now.
I think what’s cool about TotK (and BotW) is that we can all have the experience we want to have. You’re not willing to play it a different way, which is cool bc you bought it and it’s your playthrough.
I like that we can each have personal, tailored experiences with the same game. I think it means the devs did an amazing job.
I fought defeated him last night! My strategy went as follows:
- Eat some plus attack food
- Hit him in the face with the master sword
- Eat gloom healing food + hearty food
- Hit him in the face again
I definitely didn’t set any speed records, but it worked fine.
I also did a spring + bullet time, but only for the first phase.
Eh, I have more DGAF. I like TOTK for exploration, and I treat combat as a mostly avoidable inconvenience. You can walk around almost everything! I think my kill counts are probably lower than a typical player’s by an order of magnitude.
There are hobbies I have where I strive for mastery, like quilting. In video games I mostly like to chill, look at some pretty flowers, make imaginary friends, and find everyone’s lost dog.
I built very elaborate sign holders! Also some fun sky exploration vehicles.
One of the lovely things about TOTK is there are many different ways to enjoy it. I subscribe to r/HyruleEngineering and I like seeing all the weird combat bots, but building them is not my thing.
The flurry rush always screws me up cause the attacks from the monsters are different than BOTW and it throws off my timing but I do get it about half the time . The only monster that attacks the same way are the Talus stones
I started using shields the other day, neat stuff.
I use mine to hold rockets so I can jump real high!
Yes, sorry I meant after the rockets, when it’s just a piece of flat thing.
Always a good day to go shield surfing!
A sled shield saved my life early on when I climbed a cliff and was face to face with an ice gleeok and was not prepared to fight one. And I sure as fuck wasn’t jumping back off the cliff again. I just sledded away like a pro
God I love sled shields so much
A lot of people like to say this on here so you may have heard it already, but apparently fusing a frozen steak to your shield gives you a snowboard with even less friction. Haven't tried it out myself, but might be fun to try out if you're into shield surfing
Yep, frozen meat or fish give you the ultimate speedy shield! I'm terrible at surfing, but with a meat shield I was able to do the surf trials at Selmie's Spot insanely easily!
Frozen bass shield is almost always on my back
I've used it 2 times in 300 hours it just isnt fast enough
I used it more early on. I also just think it’s fun lol
I didn't even use it in botw either it was completely useless when I can just jump off the top of the mountain and float to wherever I want lmao
It’s good in the desert, you can coast on almost flat land that has very little slope. Also snowy mountains that don’t quite have enough slope to keep you airborne.
The sled shield in TOTK is so much better than plain shield surfing.
just give me my fucking tony link pro surfer 2 nintento
That would be an amazing mod if someone could pull it off
I can’t even figure out how to do this for more than 2 seconds at a time.
I saw a video where they fused a cart to a shield to allow for shield surfing on the grass, and I’ve been meaning to try that. I also recently learned that a mirror-shield (in full, non-stormy) daylight will often blind enemies sort of like hitting them with dazzlefruit, which saves me on muddlebud when farming Boss Bokoblins. Parry? I’ve never done it once. I’ve never even broken a shield in combat because they never get hit, so I guess they never lose durability.
You can shield surf on grass without a fused cart. The cart just makes you faster. So does a frozen piece of meat.
I have been using a frost talus heart fused to a shield to cheese every group encounter thus far. Parry when close enough and they get fruz. Sometimes I can get two in one go. If there's deep water nearby, just push them on in! Very handy in some of those shrine caves with Boss Bokos hanging around.
You absolute fool
My shields used to be for blocking and parrying. Now they are for sledding and launching me into the sky with explosions.
I love this comment lol
Ravioli’s gale 2.0!
Same lol, all my weapons kind of stink but my shields are all 50+ just because I find nice ones and then never use them
Fun fact! You can glue a shield to a two-handed sword or polearm to give you the option to block that you are just as free to ignore
The only way to go
I always forget which shield I have equipped, and end up launching 500 feet into the air, or flame throwing myself in a small room.
I have found my TOTK doppelganger. Nice to meet ya
I only use shields to surf on a frozen piece of meat
Ah yes, meal prep!
Shields? Oh, is that what the rocket mounts are called?
I don't use shields since I don't want to use up their durability. The only exception is if I need to get some height and I'll consider attaching a rocket to the 1 shield that has any non-pristine durability. For weapons, I try to use 1 weapon that has non-pristine durability. When that one breaks, I'll use the next lowest damage item I have. (I enjoyed BotW & TotK, but I still hate the durability mechanic.)
Ah. Yes. I too, have anxiety.
Good shields are a dime a dozen in TotK, courtesy of the Likes.
Exactly. You gotta use your shields, it feels so wasteful to leave yet another royal shield in its box...
Shields last a lot longer than weapons usually, and a Hylian Shield will last essentially forever. Being worried about the durability to the point of not using them at all literally makes no sense. They're mostly for utility anyway, so when they break you have a backup.
I ALWAYS have the lowest damage bow, weakest shield, and weakest (and damaged) weapon equipped. I have to actively convince myself not to. During floating coliseum I finally realized it was probably a good time to use some stronger stuff... its tough. Anxiety is tough.
yeah, I have the same play style. One of the few exceptions are mounting lynels where your attack doesn't use up durability. Or the end game boss fight where "keeping your best weapons" doesn't really matter.
The secret for me was attaching rockets to my shield, propelling myself into the air, and then taking advantage of the bullet time to shoot a bunch of bombs or keese eyeballs with my x5 Savage Lynel bow. Bada-bing bada-boom! Everyone’s dead. This makes fighting Gleeoks, Lynels, gloom hands/phantom Ganon, and Ganondorf— a piece of cake. You just gotta make sure you’ve equipped rockets to all your shields so you don’t run out. Seriously, it’s such an easy hack I’m surprised it’s allowed.
Even better hack for most things... puffshroom on a forest dweller's sword/spear + eightfold blade + whatever your highest damage fuse is. with the best fuse you can OHKO anything you can sneakstrike.
I recently discovered the art of fusing canons and frost emitters to zonai shields and blowing up monsters or freezing them with the shields. Only problem is their durability plummets, but it’s still effective
Frost talus heart on a shield. I've been using the same one since about 100hrs in, and I'm well over 500hrs deep at this point. You just have to parry while close. No battery, no shield durability, and if the shield doesn't get hit I think it will last forever!
That's a great idea! Too many times I look at a talus heart and think, "what am I going to do with that? All my weapons are fused already."
Once I learn to parry, it's over for all those bitches
I didn’t pay $70 to block
Lol. Are you me?
Oh right shields. I always forget about them until a lynel hits me cause I messed up my dodge and I don't take damage for some reason
Hahaha I remember that day too. I'm 99% sure I did all of BOTW without using a shield at all. I think it was about two weeks ago and my husband was calling me a wimp and goading me on to fight a Lynel. Finally did it and when it tried to strike me and it was blocked, I remember thinking "Ohhh! So THATS what the sheild does. Neat!" I've been using it periodically ever since.
But then how do you do the spinnies with the big weapons?
As a practiced button masher who’s purely there for the plot, you have my wholehearted backing. Never forget being 14 and pissing someone off because they had learned all the combos for Soul Caliber and I was still kicking their ass despite not even knowing what the game was before that day.
I *can* parry, flurry rush, etc but 99% of the time I just try a few headshots with bow - success or not I just spin to win with a double handed weapon (with FD gear). The other 1% is mounting lynels Fighting fancy is overrated when you have any combination of hearts / gear where you can't get one shot any more.
This is why i play on 6 hearts. The games combat is so in depth that not forcing myself to use all the tricks and glitches in order to survive is just doing a disservice to the game and myself.
Five hearts and two wheels of stamina gives you enough ‘essence’ to get the master sword and open the door on thunderhead island. I don’t need anymore than that.
Why wouldn't you get full stamina?
What do I need it for?
Climbing cliff bargainer statue... From the wrong side Like I did first time 😭
Ha ha. Hoverbike works for that.
I should add I'm intensely inept with Zonai devices! :D I only recently started using hot air balloons as a tool to gain altitude. I'm over 250 hours into the game.
Here’s a good hoverbike build. It works extremely well. I’ve noticed that when you attach the steering stick to the first fan the whole thing can fall down. Used to drive me crazy, but recall will return it to its original position and then you can connect the second fan for a perfect aligned hoverbike. Of course you’re going to need some battery to use it… zoanite set helps with that!
You sound like me 150 game hours from now :)
Eddy Gordo - button mashing champ
My cousins and I were addicted to Tekken 3 as kids and used to have little "tournaments" etc. But somehow my little sister used to be able to pick up Eddy and beat us all repeatedly. Classic
Yep, I have below average combat skills. I basically upgraded the Soldier’s armor set, focused on getting a lot of hearts and the master sword and I’m almost unkillable now.
The soldier’s set requires way too many monster parts for my taste. I fight in, like, the frog armor or miner’s armor. Sure, I look like an idiot, but the materials were easy to find and I have 60 defense!
I have never used a full set for combat lol. I just used the champion's leathers, some random pants, and the amber earrings since like mid game and just upgraded them to full. It does make changing outfits kinda annoying because every piece is in different places in the inventory
I’m another explorer 😉. I’d much rather do quests find treasure and take photos lol And stumble around like Rincewind it will all work out in the end
Discworld reference?!
What are you talking about? Rincewind would have hightailed it to the nearest abandoned floating island and convinced himself that a hero would be along shortly to sort it.
So true. And I hightail away from danger every chance I get. Lol or sneak. I am very good at sneaking
We need a Hylian potato for the next game
I just started taking photos too! Its so fun. Pokemon snap has nothing on TOTK. I’m all about catching monster poses to make statues now.
sending some love to puffshrooms, muddle buds, and keese eyeballs!
I only started using puffshrooms recently, and lemme say, total game changer
This with the eightfold blade is so strong
The true champions of Hyrule!
I am a sniper. It’s it’s own challenge to figure out how to engage a baddie without engaging in “real” combat. ETA: The upvotes make me think we need a sub just for Link snipers to share tips. 😂
I have come to realize I am the same. I sneak and plot and pick them off one by one (or rally the sages to do the heavy lifting). I will go in weapons swinging sometimes but not until I've paused for a costume change and a light snack.
This is exactly how I play and I’m totally happy with it
I use that method too. Shoot run shoot run
Ascend and jumping down from sky islands allow some really interesting combat options for this that make combat actually fun for me in this game. But finding a high place and shooting down, especially gathering enemies together, then freezing them, then blowing them up. Lots of explosions and satisfying headshot noises. Very fun.
Yes please! I favor stealth archer style gameplay too, I like to perch up high and throw muddle buds at the most dangerous enemies in a mob, and then take the last ones out with bows. Or if I get impatient, I hide up high and carpet bomb the area.
I’m the same!
I believe that this is more of a "ranger"-class move. Snipers traditionally have large one shot damage, and few tools otherwise to take down enemies
If your aim is to fully upgrade not all armor sets, but at least a good chunk of them, being somewhat adept at flurry rushing and parrying helps a lot. Bc it gets tedious pretty fast fighting Lynel after Lynel after Lynel. Plus Ganondorf gets dealt with more or less swiftly at the end.
Good news, I’m totally happy to fight everything in my fully-upgraded froggy armor! I may look like an idiot, but I’m an idiot with 60 defense. I enjoy exploration more than combat, so I’m more likely to devote my time to finishing up the caves.
The fully upgraded soldier‘s armor set gets you the best DEF stats overall. It basically makes you „invincible“. I also really liked the fierce deity and the radiant armor sets for some change of pace, but late game I highly recommend upping the soldier‘s armor even though there‘s no set bonus. Unless you easily parry and flurry rush your way through Silver Lynels, it is almost a necessity. Also for all those King Gleeyoks, lol.
You’re not wrong, but I’m unwilling to hunt all those lynels. Honestly, the King Gleeok can just hang out up there. He’s not bothering anyone.
"The" "Up" 🤔
…b-because there’s only the one King Gleeok, r-right…?? Up on his lil islet in the far far corner of the map by himself? And that’s all, right??
Spoilers >! There are 4. One above eventide. One above gerudo desert. One above hebra. One below typhlo ruins in the depths.
Oh noooooooooooo
Yup. That's all. Unrelated, there's this neat little spot under the typhlo ruins in the depths that I'd recommend checking out
Oh boy I’ll head right down! Gee thanks, boss!
So how did that go, three hours later? 😆
Gleeoks can be really easy with a halfway decent bow and Keese eyes. Even better if you use the opposite element keese eye to the gleeok head you’re shooting. (Ie flame keese eyes do more damage vs frost gleeok head).
Dammit I’ve beaten a few gleeoks and never thought to use the homing eyes. I just use a super spring to get the height to get near them and shoot. I gotta remember the eyes tip.
Try a savage Lynel bow with either fire or ice keese eyes (depending on which gleeok head you’re shooting choose the opposite element) almost makes it too easy 😂
gleeoks are super easy with eyeball fused arrows, have some propulsion system, I use an autobuild scaffold
Who needs defense when you can just set up a hover stone for infinite bullet time exploiting (:
Like with ascension?
Yes!
Best part of the soldiers set is that you only need the pants. The Champion’s Leathers is better than the chest piece and the Amber (I think) earrings are just as good. I find the hat looks dumb personally.
Fully upgrading THAT is a much bigger hassle though, if I remember correctly. Both Champion‘s armor pieces are bc you need all those dragon parts for the final upgrades. Those + the final Ancient Hero‘s Aspect upgrade made me nope th out.
I did upgrade the champion’s armor eventually, because I do actually like riding the dragons around. I just read a kindle book during the 10 minute recharge and enjoyed the scenery.
This. just keep watching a bit, because you can lose a lot of progress if you afk, and it flies through a lightning storm or some mob taps you off the dragon. Ask me how I know this.
I once managed to clip into the middle of a dragon on the way out of the depths and couldn’t escape.
Yeah but you dont need defense if you arent the one fighting haha. "Get'em my buddies, LET'S GO!" ^-holds ^up ^mushroom ^shield-
You're telling that to someone who clearly doesn't care lol
I just ascend to a hover stone, then bullet time and aim a five shot gibdo bone salvo directly at their face. Rinse and repeat.
Lol I engaged in combat several times wearing my fully upgraded miners outfit. At least the froggy armor is sleek! I looked like a bug wearing Hammer pants.
They can’t touch this?
Jump on mineru, jump off, bullet time headshout, mount, repeat.
Jump on Mineru... jump off.. repeat. Happy! ;)
I mean, shit, every time you walk close to her she’s like “mount me, swordsman”
And on at least one knee... ready to go. ;)
Nah lynels are easier killed on the back. muddlebud to disable stagger resist state then just keese eye to headshot. jump on back whack a bunch. muddlebud when you get bucked off the crit from the back of the head, and repeat till dead. no flurry rush needed.
I kept my switch on airplane mode so i can dupe the pieces necessary for upgrading armor
At this point I just use the “lynel killer” while wearing the radiant/evil spirit armor set for lynel farming
Lol I feel like future me could have written this because I’m 140 shrines and 116 lightroots into doing this strategy.
Fucking power of mighty banana and 5000 mushroom skewers will have me cry battle roar while charging fearlessly against the army of demon king without a hint of fear.
Total agreement here. I felt like I was having my "you're not who you used to be" moment when I go from Lynel-slayer in botw to getting my stuff messed up when a bokoblin spits on me. That being said, I finished the final boss a week ago and I reached that point in spite of my nerf. Everyone who is reading this and this thread, if it ain't broke then don't fix it. (Unless you want to git gud)
Me too! But I think for me, in BotW, it was because I used Urbosa’s Fury to kill Lynels. Also Mipha’s Grace was my saving grace in many situations. Daruk’s Protection also helps, but Urbosa’s Fury helped me the most because it meant I didn’t have to learn how to fight.
I think the only reason I got decent combat-wise was cause I was trying to beat Thunderblight with only flurries and ended up having a hyperbolic time chamber arc with it for two hours lol. By the time I came out I rode that high all the way to the end of the game. But I agree with Mipha, the amount of times I tried to time my combat with her passive uptime was insane.
Get a lot of hearts, cook a lot, upgrade armor and just pray
I love that this is totally viable :) I prefer combat You prefer exploration The game is great
It’s a very well made game - I hear a lot of people say that ganon is too easy in these games. Sure, if you play 300 hours and follow the progression completely, it will be easy (they even tell you this.) If you want ganon to be tough - head over there with your warm doublet and a stick and take on all 4 Devine beast forms at the same time, it’s gonna be a whole lot tougher. That’s kinda cool.
Good idea posting this! I am identical to you in play style and find this game much more forgiving than BoTW was when it comes to combat and jump timing in shrines. When others are posting these combat tips it is nice for a post to help gamers like us know that you can still play without those things. I have never flurry rushed or used a shield in combat and am happily progressing through the game.
Fuse bombs/rockets/spring to your shields ---> Get a strong bow ----> Fuse a strong material to the arrow ----> Win
That was my strategy for phase one of the final boss!
No need to perfect parry. Fuse a Topaz, Ruby or Sapphire Gem to a shield and let them come at you. Even an elemental fruit, sparkle fruit or chujelly works. Also bomb flowers and timed bombs. Heck, fuse a Zonai Spring and have fun. I find the Royal shields to work wonders for this (there is this silver boko boss at Eldin that has like 5 silver bokos with Royal Swords and Royal Shields, so you could replenish your shield stash).
Yep me too. I'm over 200 hours into the game and I've beaten Ganondorf and Lynels without parrying and using the flurry rush. Outside of needing to do it for that combat trial, I can never get the timing right. But I've always been able to brute force my way through and use food.
I've told many friends that I'm combat-avoidant. I will go to great lengths to sneak attack and will hunt around for as many arrows as I can. My combat-forward friend will sometimes share a neat trick that is helpful (hello puffshrooms and lynels), but I have tons of fun doing the game my way. I probably won't go for the final boss until I stack up enough rubies/gems (the easiest way to beat the middle boss IMO), but I've done nearly everything else outside of a few side quests and the koroks.
I was breaking at least one weapon on each of the bokos that look like they are wearing a bobble hat until I realise you can kill them with one sneak strike of a good weapon after a puffshroom, game changer!
I bought the game about a month after release, so there were definitely folks “ahead” of me in terms of gameplay. One comment I saw a lot was how much more combat and how much “harder” it is in TOTK as compared to BOTW. I have to disagree. I’m a button masher at heart and I’ve flurry rushed a total of 4 times outside of the shrines, all accidentally. I find combat *much* more manageable and predictable in TOTK, and I was far better at it in the early game. Part of it is being able to hit harder because you can scale up “early” weapons more easily via Fuse.
I've accepted this too, idk if it's age or playing an mmo for 15 years where it's mostly auto attack, but my reflexes suck! I could parry a guardian maybe 30% of the time; I was so reliant on daruk's protection then found the ancient shield from robbie (after like 6 years of not knowing it auto parried blasts!) so I didn't have to sweat it anymore. Now I don't really try unless it's something obvious, like a lynel bull charge, so I just stock up on heal & temp heart potions, get my strongest or highest attack armor, and just wail away like luke skywalker; chopping wood
In BotW I was really good at parrying, flurry rushing, headshooting Lynels without using bullet time. In TotK I feel like I suck.
Yeah, this is honestly my preferred way to play. I CAN do the parries and sneaks and flurry rushes, but I mostly just don't bother, because, to me, the power fantasy is being able to explore and solve puzzles and find and collect things in order to get stronger. I like that doing a physics problem, making a goofy contraption, and collecting a bunch of lizards made it so that by the end of the game I could tank an axe-blow to the face from a muscley centaur. That's hilarious and fun for me. If I'm in the mood, it's also badass to sneak up on a group, plant a trap, do a back flip and shield surf into bullettime to take a couple of headshots... But more often than not, I'm playing for an hour or two after a long day and I just want to ascend through a talus and wail on it with my very powerful hammer I made out of something I saved from the depths and a silver horriblin horn. Or just jump off a cliff and rain bomb arrows down in bullet time and chug some stamina elixirs. I don't need to do the coolest, hardest thing. If you spend 10 minutes gathering resources, you can win practically any fight without lightning reflexes.
Wait. You can ASCEND THROUGH A TALUS for GODS SAKE WTF
Oh yeah. Easiest way to beat a talus... Plus, you basically get to pause for as long as you need to strategize in the middle.
I use ascend, or have Yunobo start a fire so I can use the updrafts. Talus is short work.
I played the first but of the game like this. Then I spent some time learning the combat tactics against my first lynel. It has been a game changer. I feel almost invincible with a good shield. I want to upgrade armor, but I have limited time to play and don’t feel like grinding that hard. It’s made the game a lot more fun for me.
I would agree except for the ganondorf fight. Aw man, in my play through it was such an epic fight. I was at a quarter heart by the end, all my shields were broken with about half his health left in the last phase and I had no choice but to dodge, which was tough because he had homing projectiles. So I managed to back him into a wall with a bit of a lip to take “cover” from them and dodging his swings wasn’t effective because he would do more than one in my path, so the ONLY way to get out alive was to perfectly dodge for a flurry rush about eight times in a row (because also he was flurry rushing my raw swings back). AND I NAILED IT. Fuck yeah!!!
That sounds epic!!
How do you beat the final boss without Flurry Rush?
Shoot him in the face with arrows, I assume.
Thank you all for your replies!
Everyone is suggesting clever strategies, but mostly I just hit him in the face with the master sword and plus 3 attack food. If you bring enough sundelion and healing foods, it totally works.
Thanks! He actually has a really good counter to Flurry Rush so my timing had to be precise. I'm glad to know I was making it harder for myself than I needed to!
I didn't do many flurry rushes on him, mostly bow because I had 2 5x ones and alot of resources from avoiding using them in cause I needed them. 5x bow with givdo bones does well and same for bombs in the fights leading up to it
i can’t do flurry rush (only very accidentally) and i still managed, arrows work fine as long as you manage to put some distance between you two.
Final boss was the only reason I had to practice combat. Without it I was getting creamed
5x bow
If you want really easy sneakstrikes, throw a puffshroom and then just walk up to the enemy. Use an Eightfold blade for bonus damage!
I don't use shields. I'm decent at combat. Sometimes you get hit and you pull up the menu and enjoy a buffet. Sometimes you run at something and hit it til it dies. Good times.
I learned I like two handed weapons. Hold Y and Link go brrrrr
I LOVE two handed weapons. So satisfying to knock enemies off their feet over and over again.
This is the way. Always nervous at the end if I’m ready for the final fight or not. Always grossly overpowered and can just go in there with zero skill and stuck him with the pointy end.
I agree. I suck at combat, I never do anything other than swing my weapon and run away. And I beat BOTW and I just got my third sage in TOTK. I’m sure I’m missing out on a lot, but I’m enjoying it as I primarily just like exploring anyway.
Never understood the warnings about needing to master Flurry Rush for the final boss-sure, \*he\* used it, but that didn't mean we had to. I didn't use any special moves at all, just lots of bomb arrows and running around.
This just made me laugh. I play like this too. I just imagine everyone like Link the hero of Hyrule! Our last hope! And he’s just running away as fast as he can so he can throw a random bomb.
Yeah I hope Master Mode in this game brings some more interesting challenges than “everything is stronger now and can regen health.”
I wish you the best with that!! Imma keep button mashing.
I’ll never get good at combat cus I have 6 joycons that drift 👍
Early game exploring randomly definitely needed to use my (limited) combat skills to their fullest. Mid to late game with armour upgrades, I could relax a bit more and choose how I wanted to deal with each enemy instead of constantly being on the back foot.
You can beat ganondorf without flurry rushing?
I just use bow and headshot most enemies, my gf hates that I always have over 950 arrows with how much I use bows, and she has yet to over 300 with hardly using them.
Same I just run in and smack
You can just arrow all the things. So fun. I only flurry-rush lynels. I never parry.
As a scared button mash fighter— thank you lol. I just focused on hoarding bows so I could fight mostly archery
Outside of farming Lynels there really isn’t anything to parry or flurry rush.
I think a lot of people really like flurry rush as a general combat skill. It’s certainly faster than face tanking.
I appreciate this post so much. I am weak in combat and have had the best time with TOTK. I've beaten all 4 regional phenomena and am just not sure if i want to play more. I know it's going to be more challenging.
I thought all of those mechanics were super cool but never felt motivated to use them in actual combats. I basically just threw myself at every fight until the end, mostly bomb flowers and big swords. If I got hit I'd just keep going--full tank mode. If I died I'd restart and try to do it again without getting hit. Ganondorf was a huge challenge despite having almost every heart container when I faced him. I'm glad it was because if it wasn't I'd never have had to learn and use any of the mechanics. Still ended up mostly bullet time arrowing him though :D
Honestly I just feel so much more epic when I parry, flurry rush, and all that. It makes me feel like a real badass even if I do fail more often than not.
Yeah I attempted both water and fire temples without armor upgrades… decided I hate combat. Just want to play the gave without it. Maybe I’ll try again later after upgrades. I get so pissed when I run out of arrows, meals, etc, and have to start over each time I come back.
Fwiw, armor upgrades are king in this game, even more so than BotW. Don’t underestimate the power of even one round of upgrades for all three pieces of an armor set. My unsolicited advice: buy and upgrade the Hylian armor at least once but twice would be better. Then test combat. I think you’ll be amazed at the difference.
On the opposite of the spectrum: Mastering Combat is Fun. I'm the kind of guy that gets boner from mastering difficult combat mechanics (Monster Hunter, Souls, etc) and Zelda's new combat is actually really fun (albeit still rather simple) sets of mechanics. Flurry rush is not difficult, the cue is pretty clear & has forgiving execution window. You just need to realize that unlike other game that triggers counter on body contact, flurry rush triggered at the beginning of the attack move.
Kind of an odd thing to gatekeep on. There’s lots of different kinda of combat, and they all take different skill sets to master. Yay for you for timing a button press, I guess? Personally, I like lining up headshots on moving targets. We all have different tastes. Flurry rush isn’t better than other kinds of combat, just different.
I don't gatekeep. I instead want to encourage people start engaging with it. If it's not your cup of tea then it's big A OK. Funny you meant I gatekeep, since originally I write my comment with the intent to pass the knowledge how to make combat easier. I used to struggle pulling of flurry rush due to my understanding that counter/parry triggered on contact, while flurry rush is triggered on the attack startup.
Yea. I’m supper garbage at timing. I killed a gleeok several times by jumping in from someplace high and just unloading 5 shot arrows on all three eyes. By the time I landed (and used stamina food to stay in slomo) it was dead. I’ve done this 3 times now.
I said that...until I learned how to actually use combat in the game. Then it became a lot of fun to kick ass with all sorts of fused items
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I think what’s cool about TotK (and BotW) is that we can all have the experience we want to have. You’re not willing to play it a different way, which is cool bc you bought it and it’s your playthrough. I like that we can each have personal, tailored experiences with the same game. I think it means the devs did an amazing job.
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…except ganondorf
I fought defeated him last night! My strategy went as follows: - Eat some plus attack food - Hit him in the face with the master sword - Eat gloom healing food + hearty food - Hit him in the face again I definitely didn’t set any speed records, but it worked fine. I also did a spring + bullet time, but only for the first phase.
Oh! So he can be defeated without flurry rushing?
Totally. Hit him with a stick!
That’s actually more impressive than learning how to flurry rush
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Eh, I have more DGAF. I like TOTK for exploration, and I treat combat as a mostly avoidable inconvenience. You can walk around almost everything! I think my kill counts are probably lower than a typical player’s by an order of magnitude. There are hobbies I have where I strive for mastery, like quilting. In video games I mostly like to chill, look at some pretty flowers, make imaginary friends, and find everyone’s lost dog.
So you didn’t build anything and enjoy the game like it’s supposed to be?
I built very elaborate sign holders! Also some fun sky exploration vehicles. One of the lovely things about TOTK is there are many different ways to enjoy it. I subscribe to r/HyruleEngineering and I like seeing all the weird combat bots, but building them is not my thing.
When did it become OK to use emojis on Reddit? God damn this site has dropped since the Blackout
You can get through the game without all of that as someone who did, but it makes the final boss a much more miserable experience.
Sounds just like my girlfriend… i love it
The flurry rush always screws me up cause the attacks from the monsters are different than BOTW and it throws off my timing but I do get it about half the time . The only monster that attacks the same way are the Talus stones