7 Tips to Help you Survive Trial of the Sword

By now, I am sure that any of you who have attempted Breath of the Wild’s gauntlet style challenge, Trial of the Sword, know that it is absolutely no walk in the park. This challenge forces you to use so much more than just the end of game brute force that you may have come to rely on. By stripping Link of all of his weapons, clothes, and Champion abilities, you are forced to navigate him through a series of 45 increasingly difficult levels using strategies learned throughout your original adventure. For those of you who remember the difficulties of Eventide Island, Trial of the Sword is just that, but on a much larger and more difficult scale. With that said, I used my time playing through Trial of the Sword to develop these 7 tips that are sure to make your adventure through the trial just a little bit easier.

1.     Prepare BEFORE you enter the Trial

Before you start your journey into the trial gauntlet, you should prepare for the adventure as best you can. The best way that you can do this is by maximizing your amount of hearts and defense. Do this by first restoring your hearts to full health by sleeping at the inn located inside the Deku Tree, which can be found just in front of where you will start your trial. After restoring yourself to full health, you will want to eat meals that will give a decent number of extra, yellow hearts. On top of getting extra hearts, you may want to eat a meal that will give a long lasting defense boost. Look up specific recipes online to ensure you are using the right meals! Every heart matters when trying to complete Trial of the Sword, so make sure to maximize them from the very start!

2.     Use stealth whenever you can

Literally increasing the number of hearts you have is not the only way to get the most out of the ones you have. Simply doing your best to conserve your hearts is another straightforward way to help you get through Trial of the Sword. One way to conserve your hearts is by the aforementioned defensive boost. There is another way, however, that is slightly more strategic. The use of stealth is critical in certain areas of the trial. If you just rush in, weapon in hand, then you will often get overrun by too many enemies at once. Stealth can prevent this. The use of stealthier gameplay can help you isolate enemies so that you can execute them one by one. In fact, if you are stealthy enough, you can often times execute a sneak strike and one hit kill your enemies! Sometimes, enemies can even have their weapons stolen before they have a chance to pick them up, if stealth is applied properly. All of these stealth tactics are a great way to avoid unnecessary hits and minimize damage taken, thus getting the most out of your hearts.

3.     Scavenge and loot EVERYTHING

This one is pretty straightforward. If you see something that can be scavenged, then you should take it. This goes for literally everything, including fish, weapons, food, chests, torches and even wood. Everything can have a critical use if applied appropriately. Even wood can be cooked for a minimal health boost that could be the difference between life and death.

4.     Use your weapons wisely

You will acquire a huge variety of weapons throughout trial of the Sword, and using these weapons properly is key to your success. You need to use the right weapons, at the right time, and on the right enemies. For example, you do not want to waste an 18 damage spiked club on a single red Bokoblin. That would be a waste of one of your stronger weapons that will no doubt be needed on a stronger enemy later on. Instead, you would want to use a weaker, less important weapon, to easily take out that red Bokoblin. There are plenty of specific examples such as this throughout Trial of the Sword. Use the Knowledge you gathered throughout your play of Breath of the Wild to make appropriate weapon choices. These choices vary from the smallest thing, such as using an axe to bust open boxes and barrels, to larger things, such as using a lightning rod to take out a pair of Lizalfos sitting in the water.

5.     Keep your Distance

When approaching the proper way to take out a set of enemies, often times keeping a safe distance can be key. Many enemies can be taken out via bow while keeping out of eyesight or range. Your bow and keeping a safe distance are a great form of aggressive defense when maneuvering through the trial gauntlet. Many times, enemies can be taken with just one or two critical hits from your arrows, so utilize this to conserve both your health and your weapons. Try to find high ground, use your paraglider to get into position, pull out your bow enabling slow motion, and then load your enemies full of arrows and critical hits!

6.     Make the most out of your meals

Eating meals is one of the only ways to recover hearts while in the depths of the trials. Occasionally you will be able to grab a fairy, but other than that, you must rely on scavenging and cooking. With that said, you are going to want to cook the meals that will maximize the benefits of the few ingredients that you have. The best way to do that is to remember key recipes from the game, or to look up beneficial recipes online. You can only cook a handful of times throughout the trials, so you’re going to want to make the most of it.

7.     Don’t forget about your runes

This one is so straightforward that it is a crime that anyone would forget it. Although, I feel that everyone has forgotten this tip at some point during Trial of the Sword, as I know I have. Trial of the Sword strips Link of ALMOST everything…almost. One thing he still does have, though, are his runes! Bombs, magnesis, and stasis can all be used while in battle! Temporarily freeze enemies with stasis, drop large metal boxes on enemies with magnesis, and drop a literal bomb on a band of bokoblins! All of these are infinitely renewable weapons that you can use to defeat enemies while conserving your precious weapons and hearts.

These are 7 tips that are sure to help you conquer the difficult challenge that is Trial of the Sword. While the gauntlet may take some trial and error and a lot of patience, it is not impossible. Using these tips can also make it much more manageable. Also, there are plenty of other tactics and tips that can be discovered, many of which I did not discuss in an attempt to avoid any spoilers of specific layouts and enemies from the trials. I encourage that you use the 7 tips I just described in combination with your own skill and discovered tactics to defeat the Trial of the Sword and restore the Master Sword to its full power!