Weapon Strength

All weapons in The Legend of Zelda series have a predefined amount of damage they cause to enemies. Each weapon's strength appears to be a simple multiple in strength of each game's weakest, basic weapon, which is usually the starting sword.

Attack Modifiers
There are various items and actions Link can take that can modify the damage he deals with weapons. Multiple modifiers can potentially stack with each other for a combined effect. For example, a spin attack may, depending on the game, receive a boost from an item as well as maintaining its own boost.

Spin Attack
The spin attack doubles Link's attack strength with whichever sword he is using. Since Twilight Princess was released it only deals 1.5 times more damage than a regular attack of Link's sword.

Jump Attack
The jump attack has twice the damage with a sword as a normal attack. Since Twilight Princess was released it only deals 1.5 times more damage than a regular attack of Link's sword.

Piece of Power


A Piece of Power is an item that momentarily doubles Link's attack power. They are dropped by enemies every time Link defeats between 40 and 45 of them.

Red Clothes


The Red Clothes are a permanent clothing item for Link in that doubles the power of all of his attacks. It is a permanent version of the, which its effects stack with with Red Clothes.

Magic Rings


Various Magic Rings in the change the amount of damage Link's attacks have. Some rings lower it, some raise it. Usually in exchange for something else, such as lowering Link's defenses or damaging him with each attack. Certain rings increase the power of specific items such as bombs or the Boomerang.

Razor Seed


Razor Seeds are items that double Link's power until the end of the stage in. Razor Seeds can be found by cutting grass, breaking pots, and slashing bushes.

Elixir Soup


The Elixir Soup is a drinkable bottle item in with two helpings that doubles Link's overall attack power for as long as the effect is active. It is canceled once he takes damage.

Great Fairy Tears


The Great Fairy's Tears in are identical in function in the. They double Link's attack power for a brief period of time or until he takes damage.

A Link to the Past
Determining the damage-dealing capacity of weapons in is somewhat more complex than in many other Zelda games, as the game has a relatively large number of exceptions and special cases where weapons deal differing amounts of damage or have special effects depending on the target. For the sake of legibility, only the most common amount of damage dealt by a weapon (when it deals damage) is listed in the table below. This table should therefore be taken as a general guideline rather than as true in every respect for every possible target. Especially notable exceptions, such as those concerning bosses, will be mentioned.

Despite the complexity of the damage system, a "high-HP enemy" strategy similar to that used with can be used to determine weapon strengths, although most enemies in the game have at least one weapon that affects them in a less common way, so there is no enemy quite as convenient as the Dodongo in Majora's Mask. The Hinox interacts normally with nearly all weapons, the exception being that it is instantly killed by Link's bombs and unaffected by bombs thrown by enemies. This can be remedied by comparing bomb damage with damage from other weapons on another sturdy target, such as a Gibdo.

Some general notes:
 * As far as the programming is concerned, "instant kill" technically means that a weapon simply always deals an amount of damage greater than the target's total health. Thus, in the game's code it can be seen that "instant kill" translates to different amounts of damage depending on the weapon and the target, even though the practical effect is the same.
 * Certain enemies will take no damage from the Fighter's Sword or from Sword Beams, despite being vulnerable to more powerful swords. They can be damaged with a Spin Attack from the Fighter's Sword, however.
 * Effects of a weapon other than damage itself (e.g. stun or freeze) will invariably occur without dealing damage. Weapons that can have non-damage effects will either have the effect or deal damage, depending on the target. They never do both on the same target.



Link's Awakening
As with A Link to the Past, damage determination in is complicated somewhat because not all enemies take the same amount of damage from a given weapon. (For example, Gibdos take significantly less damage from Arrows than many enemies do.) Thus, the listed values represent the most common damage output of the various weapons, relative to the starting sword. Good enemies to use to test weapons' strength are the Ghinis in the graveyard and any respawning minibosses, such as those in Turtle Rock.



Ocarina of Time
Unlike in, there is no enemy in that is universally affected by most weapons, has a low threat level, and that takes a lot of hits to defeat. Instead to determine the strength of various weapons, the amount of hits they each take to beat various enemies must be compared. The strengths of various swords and weapons found in Ocarina of Time, with the Kokiri Sword set at one, is as follows:



Majora's Mask
The strength of the swords of Majora's Mask may best be measured by the amount of normal strikes it takes to kill a full-sized Dodongo. This method can be used to find the strength of almost anything that can be used as a weapon in Majora's Mask. Here is a table of the weapons, the number of hits required, and the weapons' strengths with the Kokiri Sword's being set at one:



Oracle Series
Unlike their counterparts in most Zelda games, the weapons in the Oracle Series have strengths that are integer multiples not of the strength of the starting sword but of the strength of the basic punch, an attack that Link can only use if he is wearing the Fist Ring. (A stronger version is available if Link wears the Expert's Ring.) Listed below are the strengths of the weapons of the Oracle Series relative to the strength of this punch. Ghini are a good choice of enemy to test the relative strengths of weapons on, as they have a large amount of health, are normally vulnerable to nearly all weapons, and can only deal damage through direct contact.

All weapons or weapon-like items not found in this table generally do not do damage (although they may stun enemies or have other effects), and in situations where they do harm enemies always kill them immediately. (E.g. the Switch Hook splits a Bari into two Biri, and can also kill the Biri, and nearly every weapon-like item can kill a Keese.) There is one exception in Mystery Seeds, to which a handful of foes are specifically weak, but in cases where these deal damage instead of, say, stunning them or making them vulnerable these are the only way to truly damage the target and hence they cannot be compared to other weapons.



The Wind Waker
There are a large variety of items that may be used as weapons in. It has more items that Link can pick up and use as weapons. Pigs and Moblins are good ways to test the strength of various weapons as they both take many hits, are not particularly dangerous, and are affected by nearly every weapon. Unlike the other games, The Wind Waker includes a feature to see an enemy's remaining life energy, through the use of the Hero's Charm. This can be used to aid in the judgment of the relative strengths. The Wind Waker's' weapons also have the unique property of damaging anyone it hits, no matter who that is or who is wielding it, whether that is Link or an enemy. The strengths of the various weapons, relative to the Hero's Sword, are as follows:



Phantom Hourglass


Skyward Sword
In SS undefined, as in Majora's Mask, one can determine the relative strengths of the various weapons in the game by testing them on an enemy that is affected normally by them and takes a large amount of damage to kill. In this case, the ideal enemy is a Moblin, whether of the wooden shield or metal shield variety. (The latter can take approximately twice as much damage before dying, but is significantly rarer, is found in less easily accessible areas, and cannot be encountered until after Link has the Goddess Longsword. Nor is it really necessary, as even the strongest weapons require several hits to kill a wooden shield Moblin.) The "hits required" column in this table is based on the wooden shield variety. Unfortunately, this cannot be done with the Practice Sword, as Link only has this sword in the introductory phase of the game before he first descends to The Surface, and the only enemies shared between there and Skyloft are regular Keese, which take two hits with the Practice Sword and one with all other weapons, and Green Chuchus, which do not have hit points in the conventional sense but must be split down to a minimum size after which any sword kills them. However, since Keese take two hits with the Practice Sword, the simplest assumption is that the Goddess Sword, the second weakest sword in the game, is twice as powerful.

All weapons or weapon-like items not found in this table generally do not do damage (although they may stun enemies, blow them around, or have other effects), and in situations where they do harm enemies, they always kill them immediately. (E.g. the Beetle instantly kills both Deku Babas and Quadro Babas if it strikes their stems, and nearly every weapon-like item can kill a Keese in one hit.)



A Link Between Worlds
As is heavily inspired by, it has a similar set of damage-dealing items and a similar set of enemies on which they can be tested to determine their relative power. Although many of these weapons have the same relative power that they do in A Link to the Past, some do not. For instance, the two upgrades to the Master Sword increase its strength arithmetically rather than geometrically.



Tri Force Heroes
In, all weapon damage in the game equate to one Heart each; one point of damage equals to one full Heart worth of damage. Damage amounts were calculated mainly via Coliseum matches and seeing how much damage were inflicted on the Links, but were also tested by comparing them to the basic Sword against enemies in the game. The Gripshot (without the Robowear), Water Rod and Gust Jar are not included as they do not deal damage, but stun enemies.



Breath of the Wild
All weapons (including bows) in Breath of the Wild display their attack stat, so it is immediately clear how much damage each will do. Weapons of the same name will generally have the same stats, but will sometimes be found with a bonus that increases strength or adds critical hits. These bonuses are not hidden, and will be denoted in the description for the weapon on the inventory screen, as well as via a symbol on the weapon's icon.

Damage dealt can be increased via the use of special armor and food, in three levels of effectiveness dependant on the materials used or armor pieces worn. Attack buffs do not go above level 3, so eating a meal such as Mighty Simmered Fruit while wearing all three pieces of Barbarian armor will still only give a level 3 damage boost. Some enemies also are weak to certain elements, such as Ice Lizalfos being easily dispatched by Fire weapons, or Guardians being weak to Ancient weapons. Different abilities such as throwing weapons, attacking from a high point, or attacking with a weapon that has exhausted all durability will increase the damage done as well. The single strongest multiplier is the Sneakstrike, which increases damage output 8 times.

Damage multipliers of different types can be combined for more damage. For example, one could use a guardian weapon while wearing all three pieces of the Guardian armor (each upgraded at least twice), eat a meal that grants a level 3 attack buff and then do a sneakstrike to get a total attack boost of 21.6 times (1.8*1.5*8).