Zelda: Why You Can’t Repair Weapons In Breath of the Wild

Weapon durability is one of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild‘s most divisive features, and the revolutionary Zelda game was met with some criticism for not including a way to repair weapons or prevent them from breaking. Every piece of equipment in Breath of the Wild can break except for the Master Sword, and even the legendary blade of evil’s bane will run out of energy after enough swings, rendering it useless until its power is restored. Without the ability to repair weapons, every weapon players find in the game will eventually be lost, but Breath of the Wild’s directors and producers have explained their reasoning for creating breakable weapons for the massive open-world Zelda game.

Weapon durability largely made Breath of the Wild’s combat more fun and interesting, but it was also a way to get players to experiment with the variety of different weapon types available in the game. Ideally, it would give them a constant rotation of different weapons in their inventory as the weapons break. The mechanic is meant to turn weapons into a consumable item that must be gathered like food and materials, effectively linking the game’s combat and exploration aspects since exploring the world is required to gather the items necessary for combat.

Breath of the Wild director Hidemaro Fujibayashi stated in an interview on the Nintendo Power Podcast that weapon durability was incorporated in order to draw players into Breath of the Wild‘s open world, encouraging them to challenge enemies in order to claim weapons to use on their adventure. Series producer Eiji Aonuma added that weapon durability gave combat more depth without making things too mechanically difficult with complicated combos. Aonuma also stated that breakable weapons encourage players to strategize about which weapons they use on which enemies, creating a more tactical combat system while keeping the actual button inputs relatively simple.

How Breath of the Wild 2 Could Replace Weapon Durability

Breath of the Wild’s weapon durability was met with mixed reviews, and while some players appreciated the constant rotation of the game’s weapons, bows, and shields, others found the mechanic to be more annoying than challenging. Not only can a weapon breaking mid-combat in Breath of the Wild be a source of frustration, but it can actually discourage players from engaging in combat since fighting enemies might not be worth losing a weapon over. In addition, weapon durability can detract from the excitement of finding a powerful new weapon as a reward for beating a Shrine or solving a puzzle since every weapon will eventually break no matter how cool it is.

Some fans have expressed their hope for increased durability or a weapon repair mechanic to mitigate some of these issues in Breath of the Wild 2, but Nintendo could also fix these problems by scrapping the mechanic altogether and implementing an upgrade system similar to the game’s armor. Most pieces of armor can be bought or earned as exciting rewards for exploring or completing Breath of the Wild‘s many Shrines, and while each one has a basic defense level and effect, players can upgrade their armor by visiting a Great Fairy Fountain and gathering all the required materials. This system encourages players to dive into the open world in search of materials and provides constant, scaleable rewards as the armor can continuously improve throughout the game. Nintendo could apply this type of upgrade mechanic to weapons in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s upcoming sequel as a replacement for weapon durability.

Source: Nintendo Power Podcast

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