Breath of the Wild (BOTW) is the newest Legend of Zelda game on Nintendo to do the series proud. This incredibly popular Zelda game has a strong following and fills a major gaming hole for those of us who have grown up with the many great games in The Legend of Zelda series. But with breakable weapons, the question comes up: “Is there weapon crafting in Breath of the Wild?”
There is no weapon crafting system for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, at least not as most RPG players would define it. In total there are only four “Champion” level items that can be crafted or repaired, and this is done via special NPCs. The actual player can’t craft nor repair weapons.
So there is limited weapon crafting in the game, but not in the sense most players think of with games that allow widespread crafting. It’s more of limited NPC upgrades versus a crafting system.
Let’s break this down in full detail to make sure you understand the answer to this question completely. (Warning: Minor spoilers ahead)
Weapon Crafting in Breath of the Wild
When it comes to actually making cool weapons options are extremely limited. Unfortunately for our hero Link, Hyrule only has four NPCs in the entire land who apparently can create a champion weapon for you. And they can only do it once each. For some reason.
This can be a bit frustrating considering the only weapon in the game that won’t break is the Master Sword. All other weapons have wear and can break over time. Which makes not being able to repair them or craft stronger replacements frustrating.
This is probably one of the biggest complaints in BOTW and it is legitimate. There’s a shield upgrade system, you can pick up an assortment of weapons from enemies, so why can’t you repair, improve, and craft something better if it’s going to break anyway?
Can’t say – it’s hopefully something The Legend of Zelda franchise adds in the future.
- A couple of legendary weapons you get in working condition, but they must be repaired
- Some are broken and require materials up front to complete
But the only thing close to weapon crafting in this game is finding four NPCs who can craft a legendary weapon for you if you have the right weapon and crafting materials. Or repairing a champion level weapon that broke while you were using it.
What Champion Level Weapons Can Be Forged/Repaired?
To get these weapons you will need to defeat Divine Beasts by completing the Divine Beast dungeons in order to have everything you need. Each of the champion level weapons are unique to a specific dungeon and area.
So there are four total champion level weapons that you can acquire as the adventurer Link:
- The Boulder Breaker – Potential reward for completing Death Mountain’s Goron dungeon
- Scimitar of the Seven – Look for the small set of stairs to the left of entrance of Gerudo town. Follow it on a bundle of boxes and search until you find it in unrepaired form.
- Great Eagle Bow – Reward for completing Rito Dungeon (NW section of Hyrule)
- Lightscale Trident – Reward for completing Zora Dungeon
Which NPCs Can Craft Weapons in Breath of the Wild?
You need to find the four NPCs in Hyrule in order to get these champion level weapons or to repair them, depending on how you look at it. Those four NPCs needed for champion weapon crafting are:
Harth
Found in Rito Village. Harth is who you go to if you need the Great Eagle Bow to be repaired. If you have trouble finding him just look at the really distinctive wooden spiral (main feature of the town) and head towards the top. He will be sitting on the floor in one of the houses towards the top.
Repair materials needed: A diamond, five bundles of wood, a Swallow Bow.
Buliara
She is the guard standing next to the throne in Gerudo Town. This is who you go to when you need to repair the Scimitar of the Seven (my personal favorite of the weapons, but I am a one-handed sword freak).
Repair materials needed: A diamond, five flint, and a Gerudo Scimitar.
Rohan
Rohan the blacksmith lives in Goron City. His house is surrounded by a lava moat towards the NE corner of the city. He is the NPC who can repair the Cobble Crusher.
Repair materials needed: A diamond, five flint, and a Cobble Crusher.
Dento
The old blacksmith found in the back of the general store in Zora’s Domain. This is who you go to if you need to have the Lightscale Trident repaired.
Repair materials needed: A diamond, five flint, and a generic Zora Spear.
Breath of the Wild Crafting FAQ
Answering the rest of your most common questions about how crafting works in Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Can players craft weapons in BOTW?
Nope. They can get materials and the proper upgradeable weapons and take them to one of four NPCs who can craft a champion item. However, each NPC can only craft once so be careful how you use it.
The one thing similar to crafting or a crafting menu is the ability to create meals or elixirs that recover health or temporarily boost attributes. Yup, cooking is as close as you can get as a player.
Can players craft items in BOTW?
No, they can’t. Upgrades can be done to shields and certain items/weapons can be taken to NPCs for a one off upgrade to legendary status. But as far as an RPG crafting system the way you expect one, there isn’t anything like that in the game.
Where’s the crating menu in BOTW?
There is none. The only time you have anything like this is when you set down to cook since at that point you can make a meal or elixir. Otherwise there is no crafting menu because the PC isn’t allowed to craft.
In Conclusion
For those of us who love the idea of creating our own specialty items or weapons, or who grew up with Oblivion and Skyrim, creating Mega potions that did so many things through Alchemy, the idea of crafting coming to a Zelda game is intriguing. And honestly, it kind of feels like for a series like The Legend of Zelda it’s past the time to have a game that opens up in that direction.
That being said, BOTW is still a really fun and amazing game that also offers something too few games have recently to good gamers: a legitimate challenge.
Get your Switch copy of BOTW here on Amazon!
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Happy gaming everyone!
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Proud to embrace the locally created moniker of “Corrupt Overlord” from one of the all time great Lords of Waterdeep runs, Shane is one member of the Assorted Meeples crew and will be hard at work creating awesome content for the website. He is a long-time player of board games, one time semi-professional poker player, and tends to run to the quirky or RPG side of things when it comes to playing video games. He loves tabletop roleplaying systems like Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Werewolf, Fate, and others, and not only has been a player but has run games as DM for years. You can find his other work in publications like Level Skip or Hobby Lark.