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Ranking The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild's Best Amiibo-Exclusive Unlocks
As Brian Shea outlined in a recent opinion piece, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's Amiibo implementation serves as showcase for how to to do something both interesting and worthwhile with Nintendo's little figures. None of the unlocks break the game or feel like required loot, but they are very cool, especially the possible bonuses connected to the non-Breath of the Wild Amiibos.
While worth using to grab more arrows, strong weapons, cooking items,etc., the Breath of the Wild Amiibos (seen above) offer items that you can find in the game without their aid. The previously-released Legend of Zelda Amiibos, however, offer the best loot as it can't be found otherwise in Breath of the Wild, and it's full of callbacks to past Zelda games. We decided to rank those items in order to create a functional resource to learn what stuff you can get from Amiibos, and also create a platform for all of use to argue about which unlocks are the best.
Note that while the clothing items are each awarded separately (cap, tunic, or trousers) we decided to rank each one as a set.
21. Sea-breeze Boomerang
All the weapon unlocks appear low on this list because they will break over time. The Sea-Breeze Boomerang is a fun callback to The Wind Waker, but is unremarkable otherwise.
20. Hero’s Shield
Much like the Sea-Breeze Boomerang, the Hero's Shield is mostly unremarkable, but fun for The Wind Waker fans. It edges out the boomerang by completing the Wind Waker look when held while wearing the Cap, Tunic and Trousers of the Wind.
19. Goddess Sword
Its low ranking may be surprising, considering it is essentially the Master Sword, but that's part of the problem – the Master Sword is in the game, and it's much stronger. In Breath of the Wild it doesn't stand out visually in any dramatic way, which makes its unlock underwhelming.
18. Sword of the Six Sages
The Sword of the Six Sages is one you might not immediately recognize. Link never held it himself (before now), but it was prominent in one of Twilight Princess' most memorable cutscenes. The Six Sages used the sword to banish Ganondorf to the Twilight Realm by poking him in the gut with it.
17. Biggoron's Sword
Ocarina of Time is known for many things, but sidequests is not one of them. It's biggest sidequest, however, involved getting this sword. The fact that it looks slightly low-poly in Breath of the Wild's engine makes it even cooler.
16. Fierce Deity Sword
The Fierce Deity ensemble (which appears later in this list) isn't complete without this sword. It's also powerful, and has a very distinct look, which puts in higher than most of the other swords on this list.
15. Wolf Link
Wolf Link is cool, but he's not really an item. Also, once you started building out Breath of the Wild's fast-travel points, he gets left behind often.
14. Cap of the Wind, Tunic of the Wind, and the Trousers of the Wind
The clothes are among our favorite unlocks in the game, but the Wind Waker outfit is the least remarkable of the available ensembles.
13. Sword
It's not a great sword in terms of combat, but the idea that this has the potential to be the very weapon offered to Link so that it would be less dangerous to go alone in 1987 is very, very appealing.
12. Vah Rudania Divine Helm
The Champion Amiibos offer specific weapons that can be found in-game pretty easily. Daruk will you give you a Stone Smasher, for example. The much cooler unlock, however, are helmets based on the champions' affiliated Divine Beasts. Daruk's helm has the most boring look of the four.
11. Vah Naboris Divine Helm
Urbosa has the coolest design as far as the figures go, and she offers two weapons as opposed to just one (the Moonlight Scimitar and the Radiant Shield), but her Divine Beast helm is weak, compared to those of Mipha and Revali.
10. Vah Ruta Divine Helm
Mipha's helm is an elephant. Who wouldn't want to run around Hyrule with that? As a bonus, you also get the Silverscale Spear from her.
9. Vah Medoh Divine Helm
Revali is Breath of the Wild's biggest jerk, but his Divine helm is the best because it gives you a big old beak. He also awards you the Falcon Bow, which is nice.
8. Twilight Bow
The Twilight Bow is one of the most interesting weapons in the game because it doesn't use your inventory of arrows. It uses light, which means you can shoot without having to worry about letting loose your precious arrows.
7. Sheik’s Mask
The Stealth outfit is among the first clothing items you encounter in Breath of the Wild , and its reference to Ocarina of Time's Sheik is quickly apparent. To be able to finally complete the ensemble with Sheik's Mask exciting.
6. Cap of the Sky, Tunic of the Sky, and the Trousers of the Sky
Twilight Princess gets the edge when it comes to Link designs, but Skyward Sword Link is also very good. I am a fan, in particular, of his pants, which abandon the tights in favor of some baggy khakis, which is probably better for fighting.
5. Cap of Twilight, Tunic of Twilight, and the Trousers of Twilight
Link's Twilight Princess outfit is ranked high because it is one of Link's best outfits. It's muted, with subtle chainmail, and is apparently lined with wolf fur, which is concerning considering Link can turn into a wolf in Twilight Princess.
4. Cap of the Hero, Tunic of the Hero, and the Trousers of the Hero
Link's classic look is the only currently unlockable outfit that doesn't have white leggings. As a surprise bonus, the Trousers of the Hero are actually shorter than the underwear Link starts the game with.
3. Cap of Time, Tunic of Time, and the Trousers of Time
Link's Ocarina of Time outfit set a precedent for Link's look in the years following the game's release on Nintendo 64. It's the version of Link that appears in the head of most players when they hear his name, and the fact that the description accounts for Link wearing it as an adult and a child is a nice touch.
2. Fierce Deity Mask, Fierce Deity Armor, and Fierce Deity Boots
The Fierce Deity unlock is one of the most time-consuming and most powerful unlocks in all of Zelda. In Majora's Mask, turning into the Fierce Deity turned you into an unstoppable monster that made the game's end boss fight a breeze. It's not quite as powerful in Breath of the Wild, but it definitely looks just as awesome.
1. Epona
Whether or not Epona would appear in the game was a subject up for debate ahead of the game's release. Aonuma said she was in the game, and Nintendo told us that he could not be found in the game. The laws of semantics prove that both statements were technically correct. Just make sure you're near a stable when you make her appear so you can register her.
For more on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, head here for our review, here for the game's secret music, and here for 11 locations that reference past Zelda games.
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