Mastering The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild requires a shift from rigid linear progression to pure open-world adaptation. When you wake up in the Shrine of Resurrection, Hyrule opens completely, giving you freedom alongside brutal early-game challenges. Surviving the opening hours and conquering the vast map demands smart resource gathering, combat efficiency, and strategic shrine hunting.
This guide delivers actionable strategies to master the first steps off the Great Plateau, optimize your inventory, tackle tough early encounters, and dominate the ruined kingdom without wasting hours on trial and error.
Surviving the Great Plateau
Your journey begins on the Great Plateau, a tutorial zone designed to test your understanding of physics, stealth, and survival. Grab the Sheikah Slate, old shirt, and trousers from the starting cave before heading outside.
- Scavenge everything: Pick up tree branches, wild berries, apples, and flint. You'll need every resource for cooking.
- Master stealth: Crouching behind enemies lets you perform sneak strikes, dealing massive damage before a fight even starts.
- Acquire runes early: Clear the four mandatory shrines on the plateau to unlock the Magnesis, Remote Bomb, Stasis, and Cryonis runes.
Don't rush to fight every Bokoblin camp immediately. Early weapons break quickly, so use environment traps like rolling boulders down hills or igniting red explosive barrels with fire arrows to thin enemy herds safely.
Essential Cooking and Resource Management
Weapons degrade and break after a handful of hits, making inventory management a constant priority. To stay alive against tougher foes, you need to rely on the cooking pot.
- Stamina recovery: Cooking single Endura Shrooms or Endura Carrots completely refills your stamina wheel, which is vital for scaling tall cliffs or swimming across wide lakes.
- Heart boosts: Toss hearty truffles or hearty radishes into a pot by themselves to cook meals that fully restore your health and grant bonus temporary hearts.
- Weather resistance: Combine spicy peppers with raw meat to craft dishes that grant cold resistance, allowing you to cross snowy peaks without freezing to death.
Always keep a stash of cooked meals assigned to quick-access slots. Pausing the game during combat to consume food instantly heals Link, turning desperate scraps into easy victories.
Conquering Towers and Shrines
Once you leave the plateau via the Paraglider, your primary objective is filling out your map and upgrading your stats.
- Climb Sheikah Towers: Red towers stand out across the horizon. Climbing them updates your regional map and reveals nearby landmarks, stables, and shrines.
- Hunt for Shrines: There are 120 shrines hidden across Hyrule. Completing them earns you Spirit Orbs.
- Prioritize Stamina or Health: Trade every four Spirit Orbs at goddess statues. Early on, investing in at least one extra stamina wheel makes exploration significantly smoother, while heart containers prevent you from getting one-shotted by mid-game bosses.
Keep your Sheikah Sensor active while exploring. The audio beep speeds up as you approach an undiscovered shrine, helping you unearth hidden trials tucked inside caves or behind waterfalls.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Players often struggle in Hyrule by falling into predictable habits carried over from traditional action games. Watch out for these pitfalls:
- Hoarding strong weapons: Don't save rare weapons for a special occasion. Weapons break often, so use your best gear to clear camps faster and cycle through new loot.
- Ignoring the environment: During thunderstorms, unequip all metal weapons and shields immediately. Lightning strikes metallic objects instantly, which will strike Link down without warning.
- Fighting Guardian Stalkers too early: Early in the game, direct combat with stationary or mobile Guardians is a death sentence. Use stealth, run away, or wait until you unlock the shield-parry timing later.
- Forgetting to save often: The game features auto-save, but manual saves before engaging large enemy groups save minutes of backtracking after a defeat.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a horse early in the game?
Head south from the Great Plateau toward the Outskirt Stable. Sneak up behind wild horses grazing in the fields, mount them gently, and repeatedly press the soothe button until their temperament calms down. Ride your new mount to a stable to register it.
What should I spend my first Spirit Orbs on?
Focus on getting stamina upgrades first or alternate between health and stamina. Having extra stamina helps you reach distant towers and glide across dangerous terrain much easier.
How do I repair broken weapons?
Weapons cannot be manually repaired in standard gameplay. Instead, rely on the constant cycle of picking up new gear from defeated enemies, chests, and shrines. The Master Sword is the sole exception, as it recharges automatically after breaking.
Where can I find more inventory slots?
Find Hestu located near Kakariko Village or along main roads. Trade Korok seeds found by solving environmental puzzles to expand your weapon, bow, and shield stashes.
For additional community strategies and maps, check out the Nintendo Support Page.
