The Master Sword is a legendary armament in the Zelda series. In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you can get the Master Sword before you do much else so long as you meet a few key requirements. This article covers how to get the Master Sword in Zelda: Breath of the Wild and exactly how it works and what you should be attacking with it. The Master Sword in Breath of the Wild is a great tool, but it shouldn’t be used for every fight. Take said, once you get the Master Sword in Breath of the Wild, you can fight guardians very well!
Where is the Master Sword
You can find the Master Sword near the center of the Great Hyrule Forest. This large woodland area is located northwest of the Woodland Tower, which is the region west of Eldin and north of Central Hyrule. If you need help getting through the forest, we’ve got you covered. However, once you reach your destination you’ll have to be strong enough to obtain the Master Sword.
How to Get the Master Sword
When you first approach the Master Sword you’re greeted with a cutscene in which the Great Deku Tree tells you that you will need to be strong enough to pull the Master Sword from the ground. If you’re not strong enough the Great Deku Tree warns that you may die on the spot. What this means is that if you try to pull the Master Sword out of the ground it will continually drain your hearts. If you don’t have enough hearts you will die before the sword is obtained.
To get the Master Sword you need a total of 13 hearts. Any additional hearts you get from food or other abilities do not count toward the 13-heart total. You have to have 13 hearts as Link’s base health to pull the Master Sword from the ground. This equates to 10 hearts in addition to the 3 hearts Link begins the game with.
We’ve covered how to get more hearts, but every time you complete a shrine you get a Spirit Orb. Once you have four Spirit Orbs you can pray for the Goddess Hylia and choose either a heart container or an increase to Link’s stamina gauge. Assuming you choose a heart container every time, you would need to complete 40 shrines to get 10 extra hearts. However, for every Divine Beast you defeat, you get one heart container. That’s four less shrines you need every time you complete a Divine Beast. If you’ve completed one Divine Beast you only need 36 shrines, two Divine Beasts and you only need 32 shrines and so on.
How to Get 10 Heart Containers
- Complete 40 Shrines
- Complete 36 Shrines and 1 Divine Beast
- Complete 32 Shrines and 2 Divine Beasts
- Complete 28 Shrines and 3 Divine Beasts
- Complete 24 Shrines and 4 Divine Beasts
How to Use the Master Sword
Once you have the Master Sword in-hand, it does not take up an existing inventory slot. Instead it creates a new inventory slot in addition to whatever you had just before pulling the sword from the ground. There’s no need to clear a spot or even check your inventory before you pull the sword out.
The Master Sword has a base damage of 30. While this is far from the highest damage you’ll see in the game, it’s still not bad. However, the damage increases to 60 when fighting anything that Calamity Ganon has infected. That means Guardians, Blights (Divine Beast bosses) and anything else Ganon has control over. The Master Sword will glow anytime you’re near one of these enemies so you know when you’re getting the bonus damage.
Most of the weapons in Breath of the Wild break after enough uses, but the Master Sword is an exception. It will not break, but it can run out of power and need a short time to recharge. The more you use the Master Sword against enemies that are not infected by Ganon, the faster the sword will run out of energy. If you need it in a bind, pull it out, otherwise you should try to save the Master Sword for fights against Ganon’s minions.
Finally, the Master Sword has a projectile attack when Link has full hearts. To use the projectile attack, hold the R shoulder button (not ZR) to aim, then release it to unleash the blast. For any other weapon this would throw it at an enemy, but for the Master Sword it shoots a projectile instead. Keep in mind, this only works when Link has full hearts. If even a quarter-heart is gone, the projectile will not work.
For more strategy and advice head over to our Zelda: Breath of the Wild game hub!
