Trial of the Sword

Trial of the Sword

Link holding the Master Sword after completing the trials

Games	Breath of the Wild Expansion Pass
Location	Korok Forest
Inhabitants	Sheikah Monks
Rewards	Full Splendor of the Master Sword
Related	Cave of Ordeals Savage Labyrinth Take 'Em All On Treacherous Tower Shrine of Trials

The Trial of the Sword is a special challenge offered to Link after he obtains the Master Sword, available through the Expansion Pass DLC. It consists of many floors, each containing a series of enemies for Link to defeat. This is akin to previous enemy gauntlets in the series, such as the Cave of Ordeals. It is accessible by placing the Master Sword back in its pedestal at Korok Forest.

Link is transported to the trial floors through Travel Gates, said floors having different environments contained within Shrine-like boundaries. There are three stages to the trial, the Beginning Trials, Middle Trials, and Final Trials, each progressing in difficulty and length. In each section, Link faces a range of enemies, from the simple Bokoblins, all the way up to the fearful Lynels and Guardians. Slaying all enemies at the given floor will open a travel gate to the next one.

At the end of each stage, the Master Sword will be augmented, and its base power will increase by 10 points. After all three sections are completed, the sword will be restored to have its full splendor at all times, with a base power of 60. While the base power can be augmented, this does not prevent the sword from becoming depowered, requiring 10 minutes to recharge when in broken status.

Conditions

• Link must have gained the Master Sword (having had a minimum of 13 heart containers to lift it), and the player must have the Expansion Pass DLC installed.
• Link begins the trials with no armor or equipment save for the Sheikah Slate and his underpants.
• Link cannot use Champions' Blessings (Mipha's Grace, Daruk's Protection, Revali's Gale, Urbosa's Fury) during the trials.
• The game cannot be saved, there are no checkpoints and Link cannot rest at a fire during the trials.
• Link cannot use either the Amiibo or the DLC-exclusive Master Cycle Zero runes.
• Link must slay all enemies and collect equipment and food where available.
• Every 5 or 6 floors there's a Rest Floor with weapons, food, armor (from the Middle Trials onward) and fairies, as well as a Cooking Pot.
  • Just as at Fairy Fountains, fairies may not appear on their own in the rest floors if Link is carrying 3+ fairies. However, holding a fairy will summon ~2+ fairies.
• There are no animals in the trial floors (only Horses), and mowing grass (where available) yields no common drops like insects, lizards or fairies. However, floors with thick trees may have nests with Bird Eggs in them.
• Slain enemies do not drop loot other than weapons, and as such, it's not possible to cook Elixirs from monster parts.
• The trials will end upon completion or upon death. To access the trials, Link must place the Master Sword in its pedestal at the Korok Forest once again to access further trials, or to retry from the beginning.
• Once finished, Link does not get to keep the loot accumulated during the trials.

Please note, if playing on Master Mode, all major enemies (Bokoblins, Lizalfos etc.) will be a tier higher than listed here.

Trials

Beginning Trials

Floor 1

When you begin the trials, you will see three Bokoblins sitting around a fire. Simply climb up the thick tree in between you and the Bokoblins, and collect the Bird Eggs. You can kill them all at once if you throw a bomb towards them and wait for them to come near it. Once killed, glide down an take their weapons, the Seared Steak hung over the fire, and the contents of the crates and barrels (blow them up, don't waste weapon durability).

NOTE: This is the only floor with a (steady) fire to cook at for a while (Fire Chuchus not counted). It's worth it to at least bake the apples for better healing properties if you don't think you can get through with minimal damage.

• Enemies - 3× Bokoblin
• Weapons - Tree Branch, Boko Spear, Boko Club, Woodcutter's Axe, Boko Shield
• Set Materials/food - Seared Steak, 2× Bird Egg
• Varied Materials/food Palm Fruit*, Hylian Shroom*, Mighty Bananas*, Ironshroom*, Fleet-Lotus Seeds*, 4× Apple*, Wildberry*, Endura Shroom*. (*Other than the eggs and steak, barrel and crate material drops may vary slightly. These numbers are not guaranteed.)

Floor 2

Start off by following the left wall then walk up to the abnormally tall tree. Peek out from behind the tree and use a bomb to kill the Fire Chuchu; wait for the question marks above the Bokoblins' heads to go away. Climb up the tree, and throw a spherical bomb onto the platform to blow the Bokoblin nearest you up. Another Bokoblin may come inspect, in which case you should throw another bomb and blow him up too. After that, you only have two enemies left: two Bokoblin archers. If you have excellent balancing skills, you can go out on the limb of the tree, which would allow you to blow one of the archers up. If you just can't get it, however, glide down to the platform and throw a bomb, then run behind the tree in the middle of the platform, so you don't get shot by the other Bokoblin. Next, sprint/glide down and get up against the platform where the remaining Bokoblin is. When you're ready, climb up and use a weapon to knock him down. Quickly jump down and finish him with a bomb. If you want to farm arrows, however, you can also stand on the main platform with the tree trunk behind you when only the single Bokoblin archer on the tower is left and move before he shoots. Doing this repeatedly, you can farm his arrows as they get stuck in the tree trunk. There is plenty of time to move before it fires and it won't shift its aim until its next firing cycle.

• Enemies - 1× Fire Chuchu, 4× Bokoblin
• Weapons - 2× Boko Bow, Traveler's Sword, Traveler's Shield, Boko Bat
• Set Materials/food - 10× Arrow
• Varied Materials/food - Varied Materials include: 2× Fleet-Lotus Seeds*, 20× Arrow*, 2× Mighty Bananas*, 1× Ironshroom*, 2× Apple* (*These material drops are not guaranteed numbers. You will get some or the other on this list. e.g. Fleet-Lotus Seeds or Mighty Bananas)

Floor 3

Floor 3 is simple, just bomb the Chuchus until they're gone. Note that there is a chest containing five Fire Arrows on the far wall, and a chest immediately behind your starting location with a Boomerang. You can lure a Fire Chuchu under the chests and use the updraft it creates to glide to the chest. The fire will spread on its own as soon as the Fire Chuchus spawn. If you lure them to the Boomerang chest first, you will have to hurry across to the Fire Arrow chest before all the grass is burned up and updrafts are no longer possible.

• Enemies - 1× Chuchu, 8× Fire Chuchu (4× small, then 4× medium)
• Weapons - 5× Fire Arrow, 1× Boomerang

Floor 4

If you wait behind the tree to your right, you can crouch-walk to the first Bokoblin at the base of the stairs. Run at him once he spots you, then after you defeat him, crouch back to the tree. You can then take out the two archer Bokoblins without alerting the others. Go in between the two wide trees and take out the one on top with a critical shot, then climb up the right tree and shoot the other behind the metal boxes.

Move over to the encampment and walk up the stairs, taking out the Bokoblin with a bomb. The Blue Bokoblin will most likely notice you, in which case run (you don't have to sprint) down the stairs. While it chases you around the floor, you can either choose to fight it head-on, or sprint away then turn back and throw a bomb at it until it's dead.

After that, the best option is to climb the ladder to the tall platform, drop a square bomb and jump off right away, detonating the bomb once a safe distance away, which will remove the Bokoblin and two bomb barrels.

Then you can glide down and drop a bomb over the remaining Blue Bokoblin's head (on the top of the encampmnet). You can then Stasis it and hit it a few times, which should be enough to kill it.

Be sure to break the metal crate by dropping it from up high with Magnesis as it will have a bunch of arrows and some fire arrows. The remaining crates and barrels have some food in them.

• Enemies - 5× Bokoblin, 3× Blue Bokoblin

• Weapons - 1× Boko Spear, 1× Traveler's Spear, 1× Boko Club, 1× Spiked Boko Bat, 1× Soldier's Broadsword, 1-2× Spiked Boko Bow (The topmost archer Bokoblin seems to randomize between a 5× Fire Arrow or a Spiked Boko Bow).

• Shields - 1× Soldier's Shield

• Materials - 25× Arrow, 5-10× Fire Arrow, 2× Bird Egg, 3× Fleet-Lotus Seeds*, 2× Wildberry*, 1× Mighty Bananas*

Floor 5

None of the enemies on this floor have bows. It's highly likely the Moblins will spot you shortly after the room begins. It/they will not alert the Bokoblins in the skull cave, only come after you. Recommended to quickly climb the large tree to the right as it will give you an angle to launch a fire arrow into the skull cave where some bomb barrels are just inside to the left of the entrance. If you get the Moblin(s) close enough to the tree before you climb, you shouldn't get hit by their pocket sand ranged attack.

After bombing the Moblin, the Blue Bokoblins are hopefully still running around in the cave. You can then move forward a large tree and throw round bombs into the entrance of the cave. This should finish off the Blue Bokoblins inside. If the Bokoblins drop their weapons, do not run down and steal them as they are much better at throwing dirt at you up in the tree, which they won't do if they have a weapon in their hands.

Lastly you can repeat bombing the last Moblin from a tree.

• Enemies - 2× Moblin, 3× Blue Bokoblin

• Weapons - Spiked Boko Spear, Moblin Spear, Spiked Boko Club, Spiked Boko Bat, Moblin Club

• Items - 5× Arrow

Floor 6

There are a pair of bomb barrels on the right and a third one further back. If you're careful you can set them up around the Talus far enough apart to trigger them individually. There are two metal crates on the left with no items in them.

During the fight, try to always have a bomb thrown near the Talus so you can destroy its arm during a toss attack.

If you're really lucky, standing in the tree and using the bomb method might see you out unscathed. The thicker branches can block toss attacks.

Otherwise charge attacks with 2H weapons, especially the Spiked Boko Bats is the fastest way to take down the Talus. Just remember to hop off before it throws you to save hearts.

• Enemies - 1× Stone Talus

• Weapons - None

• Items - None

Floor 7

Rest Floor contains:

• Weapons - Serpentine Spear, Eightfold Blade, Shield of the Mind's Eye, Korok Leafs and Tree Branches

• Materials - 3× Armored Carp, 2× Razorshroom, 2× Ironshroom, ?× Acorns (blow up all the trees), 2× Raw Prime Meat, ?× Arrow/Fire Arrow

DON'T RUSH IN! Crouch your way over towards the exit and grab the fairy first. If you scare it away it's lost.

You should have a handful of eggs, 4 Ironshrooms and 3 Armored Carp, 2 Razorshrooms and 3 Mighty Bananas. These are all worth 2 points in their respective buff and you need 5 points to get a level 2 buff meal. Cooking 1 per meal will maximize Level 1 buffs, otherwise you need 3 to get a Level 2 meal. The base time per item is 0:50s.

Floor 11 will have a lot of blue/black bokoblins and blue moblins. Floor 12 will have a Blue Hinox. A level 3 attack meal for Floor 12 is a good idea. Then you can hopefully equip a 2h weapon, buff, and begin the charge attack right between the Hinox's legs and kill it before it's up and fighting.

Each egg adds 1:30 to the buff length. Each Acorn adds 0:50s. As you won't have any armor for a while, recommended to spend the eggs and acorns on "Tough" meals.

The next floor and floor 10 have Lizalfos so it might be worth it to cook up the lotus seeds. As before, 3 seeds to reach a level 2 buff, 4 to reach a level 3 buff.

Don't forget to cook the regular healing items to advantage the 2× increase.

Floor 8

• Enemies - 1× Large Electric Chuchu, 2× Lizalfos, 2× Blue Lizalfos

• Weapons - 1× Throwing Spear, 4× Boko Spear, 1× Lizal Bow, 1× Lizal Boomerang

• Materials - Apples, 5× + ? Arrow, 3× Roasted Bass, 10× Arrow

The 2 Blue Lizalfos are on the island to the left behind the rock with the Large Electric Chuchu. The regular Lizalfos are one each on the other two islands (the far corner one can be hard to see because they camouflage). Climb the tall rock to the left, shoot the Electric Chuchu then run down and grab the Throwing Spear on the ground before one of the Blue Lizalfos do. If you have the inventory space (don't load up on tree branches and Korok leafs) you can grab all the roasted bass and prevent the Blue Lizalfos from arming themselves. To keep them from ganging up you, an application of stasis should give you enough time to handle them one at a time. Try to avoid using bombs and blasting them into the water as they will usually sit there and just do spit attacks.

There is an empty crate underwater towards the other island and a chest inside the 3 rocks.

Then you can swim over and hang under the slope of the next island until the Lizalfos stops alerting. Climb over, whack away, then use stasis again. This should allow you to knock the Lizalfos to the other big island (but not close enough to alert the last one), again avoiding the issue of them attacking from the water. If it jumps into the water, use bombs and try to keep a rock in between you.

You can then crouch along the wall and try and sneak attack the final Lizalfos. If it jumps in the air before you get there, do a sideways jump then swing away.

Floor 9

• Enemies - 2× Water Octorok, 1× Electric Wizzrobe

• Weapons - 10× - Arrow, 1× Silver Bow, 1× Lightning Rod

• Materials -

Be ready! There will be a Water Octorok that shoots at you as soon as the room starts. It's to the right, almost behind you. After you shoot it, there is a chest back in the other direction between the rocks. Use Cryonis to lift it out of the water for some arrows.

Climb the tall rock and shoot the top of the other Water Octorok so it knocks his grass off. This will cause him to pop out of the water but not shoot, then you can take him out.

There is a large metal crate between the rock you're on and the island the Wizzrobe is prancing around. Use Cryosis to get close enough to lift it and bring it over to the other island. This is a more efficient way to knock the Electric Wizzrobe out of the air and it will also intercept his electric attacks without them hurting you. If the Wizzrobe manages to start a thunderstorm, remember not to equip any metal weapons. Unlike outside in the normal world, lightning will strike extremely fast in here, too fast to equip, get some hits in and unequip.

Try to keep the Wizzrobe grounded. Otherwise the Electric Keese and Chuchu it will spawn will quickly cramp the island.

Make sure to grab the Lightning Rod he drops before exiting. It will be very handy in a few floors.

Floor 10

• Floor 10 - 1× Blue Lizalfos, 2× Black Lizalfos

Link will inevitably be spotted and attacked by the Lizalfos on the causeway, as well as being sniped by the Lizalfos wielding bow and arrow. Use Cryonis to gain a vantage point from which to snipe the Lizalfos using bullet-time. There's little alternative to powering through, so try to focus on a single enemy at a time. Make sure to disarm them as much as you can. Should Link reach the round platform, the Lizalfos that are knocked in the water will attempt to climb up the ramps instead of jumping to it, so this will give Link a vantage point. Knock them back to the water, and snipe them if possible.

Once done, make sure to check the crates for arrows or food.

Floor 11

• Floor 11 - 4× Bokoblin, 3× Blue Bokoblin, 1× Black Bokoblin, 1× Black Moblin

Snipe the Bokoblins on the platforms before they shoot Fire Arrows at you. Remember that the raft is fireproof. The raft will guide itself to the encampment, where the Moblin is located. If possible, try to knock it into the water so that it drowns.

Make sure to head to the left platforms, where a metal chest containing Fire Arrows can be reached using Magnesis. Check crates where available. The trio of rocks near where you begin has a chest in the middle - use Cryonis to create a platform and Magnesis to set it on the flat surface to retrieve 10× Shock Arrows

Floor 12

• Floor 12 - 1× Blue Hinox

Slay the Hinox by knocking it down by sniping arrows to its eye, and attack it with two-handed weapons while it's down. Alternatively, a metal crate can be found on one of the corners of the room, underwater, and can be used to ram it against the Hinox. Should you be short on food, the palm trees have Palm Fruits that can be knocked down with arrows, by cutting down the trees, or by blowing them up with Remote Bombs.

If you have upgraded your runes, pausing the Hinox with Stasis to shoot him in the eye works very well, since he can't cover it like he does in his second phase.

Floor 13

• Floor 13 - Sword Monk's Room: Master Sword is powered up by 10 points (new base power = 40).

Middle Trials

• Floor 1 - 5× Bokoblin
  • TIP: Easy way to conserve weapons including drops is by throwing remote bombs just below the edge where the archers are firing at you. The bombs will float right where you want them, blowing away the enemy and the dropped bow/weapon away from the center. You can continue to use this strategy throughout this Floor as well any others with gusts blowing! Good luck!
  • Note that there is a chest to the right, you can direct the Bokoblin with fire arrows at it to save resources.
• Floor 2 - 2× Bokoblin, 1× Blue Bokoblin, 1× Fire Wizzrobe, 2× Meteo Wizzrobe
• Floor 3 - 4× Bokoblin, 3× Blue Bokoblin
• Floor 4 - 1× Decayed Guardian
• Floor 5 - Rest Floor contains:
  • 3× Treasure Chests containing a Knight's Broadsword, Hylian Trousers and a Falcon Bow
  • Crates containing assorted ingredients, a pond with 3× Hyrule Bass, a Cooking Pot, and a Fairy.
• Floor 6 - 5× Fire Keese, 1× Electric Chuchu
• Floor 7 - 2× Fire-Breath Lizalfos, 2× Blue Lizalfos
• Floor 8 - 1× Meteo Wizzrobe, 2× Blue Bokoblin, 1× Black Bokoblin
• Floor 9 - 1× Decayed Guardian
• Floor 10 - 1× Black Hinox
• Floor 11 - Rest Floor:
  • 3× Treasure Chests containing a Forest Dweller's Spear, a Hylian Tunic and a Forest Dweller's Sword
  • Crates containing assorted ingredients, a pond with 3× Hyrule Bass, a Cooking Pot, and two Fairies.
• Floor 12 - 6× Guardian Scout I and a chest containing 10× Arrow. Use Cryonis to reach it.
• Floor 13 - 3× Guardian Scout II and a chest containing a Duplex Bow hidden inside of the tall barrier behind a magnetic box.
• Floor 14 - 4× Guardian Scout I, 2× Guardian Scout II
• Floor 15 - 2× Guardian Scout III
• Floor 16 - 1× Guardian Scout IV
• Floor 17 - Sword Monk's Room: Master Sword is powered up by 10 points (new base power = 50).

Final Trials

• Floor 1 - 4× Stalkoblin
• Floor 2 - 2× Electric Keese, 3× Stalizalfos, and a chest containing a Royal Guard's Sword behind a tree to the left of the skull cave.
• Floor 3 - 2× Electric Chuchu, 5× Stalmoblin
• Floor 4 - 7× Stalkoblin (Riding Stalhorses)
• Floor 5 - 1× Stalnox and a Royal Guard's Sword on top of one of the skull caves.
• Floor 6 - Rest Floor contains:
  • 3× Treasure Chests, containing Flamebreaker Boots, a Knight's Bow and 3× Ancient Arrows.
  • A Double Axe and a Torch
  • Crates containing assorted ingredients
  • An Apple tree, 2× Hearty Truffles, a pond with 3× Armored Carp, a Cooking Pot, and 2× Fairy.
• Floor 7 - 1× Fire Chuchu, 1× Rock Octorok, 2× Igneo Pebblit
• Floor 8 - 3× Fire-Breath Lizalfos
• Floor 9 - 1× Meteo Wizzrobe, 1× Black Moblin, 2× Fire-Breath Lizalfos and a Royal Guard's Sword and Royal Guard's Shield
• Floor 10 - 3× Black Moblin, 1× Fire-Breath Lizalfos, treasure chest containing 3× Ancient Arrows in the lava, Royal Guard's Claymore under the metal structure
• Floor 11 - Igneo Talus
• Floor 12 - Rest Floor contains:
  • 3× Treasure Chests, containing a Royal Guard's Shield, a Stone Smasher and a Hylian Tunic
  • Crates containing assorted ingredients, several Spicy Pepper bushes, a pond with three Sizzlefin Trout, a Cooking Pot, and three Fairies.
• Floor 13 - 2× Frost Pebblit, 1× Ice Chuchu, 2× Blue Bokoblin, 1× Black Bokoblin and a chest.
  • Note: This floor has a cooking pot, which provides the last possible opportunity to cook in this section of the trials.
• Floor 14 - 2× Ice Chuchu, 1× Ice-Breath Lizalfos, 4× Blue Bokoblin, 1× Silver Moblin, Chest with 3 Ancient Arrows
• Floor 15 - 1× Black Moblin, 1× Blizzrobe, 2× Blue Bokoblin, 1× Silver Bokoblin
• Floor 16 - 1× Frost Talus
• Floor 17 - 1× Blue-Maned Lynel, a Savage Lynel Spear, a chest containing 5× Bomb Arrows
• Floor 18 - Rest Floor
  • 3× Treasure Chests, containing a Royal Broadsword, a Royal Shield and a Royal Bow
  • Crates containing assorted ingredients, a pond with three Hearty Bass, a Cooking Pot, and four Fairies.
• Floor 19 - 6× Decayed Guardian and a chest containing a Knight's Shield.
• Floor 20 - 1× Guardian Stalker
• Floor 21 - 1× Guardian Skywatcher and a chest containing 5× Bomb Arrows on top of the center pillar.
• Floor 22 - 1× Guardian Stalker, 1× Guardian Skywatcher, 1× Guardian Turret, a chest containing a Royal Bow, a chest containing a Royal Shield
• Floor 23 - 8× Bokoblin (Riding Horses), 1× White-Maned Lynel, 1× Guardian Turret, a chest containing 5× Bomb Arrows
• Floor 24 - Sword Monk's Room: Master Sword is powered up by 10 points (new base power = 60).

Cooking Strategies

• Before entering the trials, effects from consuming enhancing meals (for attack, defense, speed, etc.) can carry over during the trials for their effective duration. However, the meals themselves cannot be accessed once inside the trials, other than the ones cooked inside. For that effect, for instance, meals cooked with Dragon parts may provide effects lasting up to 30 minutes depending on the ingredient used.
• Cook as much heart-replenishing food as you can, as food with extra effects may come as scarce due to the limited access to food. Leave the elemental-resistance meals for the circumstances where they may be necessary. Ingredients with effects specific to the upcoming floors may be provided in the Rest Floors.
• Cooking with fairies as an ingredient may be discouraged, as live fairies automatically recover hearts when the meter is completely depleted, preventing death.
• Cooking Wood bundles will yield Rock-Hard Food, which will replenish a quarter of a heart. Wood happens to be the most abundant resource in most of the trials, so it's a method to replenish hearts without spending precious meals that can be used in the trial floors. This happens to be quite time-consuming, as cooking multiple bundles yield the exact same result as cooking just one since the heart replenishing effect is not cumulative for Rock-Hard Food.