The Best Weapons and Fusion Materials in TotK

Jul 13, 2023

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom features many new and returning weapon types, and with the addition of various types of Fusion Materials, there are more weapon choices than ever before. This page contains an overview of the Best Weapons for every type and scenario, as well as which Fusion Materials are the best to pair for the most damage possible.

Before you go about trying to track down the highest damage weapon possible, it's worth taking a moment to understand how weapons (and Fusion Materials) work in Tears of the Kingdom. Melee Weapons come in three main categories:

Most weapons you find will either be classified as edged sword (or spear) weapons, or blunted club weapons. Using Fusion Materials however, you can further alter the properties of a weapon depending on the material type:*Reapers, Axes (weapons with slashing Fusion Materials)*Hammers, Sledges, Pulverizers, and Clubs (weapons with blunt Fusion Materials)

Due to the Upheaval and the Gloom that has infected almost every weapon, durability is more critical than ever in TotK. Most weapons won't last very long on their own, but using Fuse with an applicable material will greatly extend its life - though not forever.

Most weapons you'll find after the Prologue and Great Sky Island will generally last around 20 hits (give or take a few swings due to various factors). However, by fusing materials like monster horns, dragon parts, and more - you can effectively double that durability. It's important to note that this does not apply to all Fuse Materials, as things like Rocks, Apples, or even fusing entire weapons together won't last as long.

Below are some of the best types of weapons you'll find for various categories - including regional weapons, best base damage, damage effects, and Special Unique Weapons.

From the chart above, you can see the highest damage weapons are either:

Each of these types of weapons has their own drawbacks, so you'll want to think carefully about which type is the best to use in a given scenario before hunting them down.

Stalkoblins, Stalizalfos, and Stalmoblins have the easiest to obtain weaponry (their own arms) which offer some of the best early-game damage you can find. The downside is that they are incredibly fragile, and only last around 5 swings before breaking, or around 10 if you've fused a material to them. This also makes fusing good materials risky as they'll usually only last for a single encounter.

The Royal Guard Weapons are much stronger weapons that are still fairly fragile - with about 10 hits before breaking, and double that amount when fused to an applicable material. Paired with a good monster horn or similar material, they can be great for finishing off tough opponents - especially due to the ability all Royal Guard Weapons have that double their damage in the final 3~ hits before they break. While they are somewhat rare to find, a good number can be found in the floating Hyrule Castle, and will re-appear every Blood Moon. Many can be found on the upper floor of the main citadel, with others found in Princess Zelda's Room and Study, and some in the lower halls and rooms - you can see the map below for locations.

Gloom Weapons can only be won by defeating the Gloom Spawn Hands that appear in specific places in the world as Miniboss fights (once you defeat the hands and summon the true boss). The boss that appears will wield either sword, spear, or club, and all three deal immense damage at the cost of dealing Gloom damage to yourself.

Luckily there are a few ways to counter this - one is by fusing the weapon to the base of another, nullifying the effects (but the gloom weapon will break off after it's independent durability runs out), and the other is by fusing the Gloom Weapon with a Light Dragon Part, so that you can heal yourself back up when fighting above ground.

Tears of the Kingdom includes several special unique weapons taken from the history of the series, and were once locked to Amiibo in Breath of the Wild. Now they can also be found from completing certain tasks - including finding chests in the Depths, completing quests, and solving riddles.

Each of these special weapon boasts a good amount of damage, and several of the weapons have much more base durability than the others, with the White Sword lasting 45 hits, and the Biggoron Sword up to 60! The main downside is their rarity, but luckily no weapon is lost forever - if you have the right currency. All the weapons above can be purchased again once located by any of the Bargainer Statues in exchange for Poes. The White Sword of the Sky is the only anomaly, as its a quest reward - luckily the Goddess Statue in the Forgotten Temple will give you a new one if you trade for the 3 dragon claws.

Each of the four Regional Phenomena you help uncover and dispose of will also unlock quests to create the weapons of the four Champions from each race: The Great Eagle Bow, Boulder Breaker, Lightscale Trident, and Scimitar of the Seven. However, each of them requires several ingredients and multiple Diamonds to craft each time, making them a very costly endeavor.

While early weapons have no inherent abilities, you'll soon discover that other weapon types can share effects. While this ranges to the various Soldier, Knight, and Champion weapons found in many places, many of the main regions and races also have various weapons that share the same effect, and stockpiling a few of these for certain encounters can prove incredibly useful:

Much like some of the best weapons you'll find, the best Fusion Materials will come from some of the toughest enemies you'll face, making some of these challenges well worth it for the reward:

As you can see from the chart above, it won't be until much later in the game that you will start finding silver-tier enemies that will drop the monster parts you need to make the toughest weapons. For most enemies across the open world, the more you progress the story, defeat bosses and tough enemies, and take on quests and challenges, the more some enemies will be replaced with higher tier versions.

However, certain places will always have stronger enemies (like Black Monsters in the Great Plateau, and Silver Monsters on the road to the final boss). You can also attempt to clear out the various Coliseums in The Depths to face all tiers of a monster type - and even after you complete the challenge, you can return to face them again after every Blood Moon.

Beyond the Silver-tier enemies or Bosses like the Gleeok, Stalnox, Molduga, and Black Hinox, there are a few other outliers worth noting:

The Gibdo is a relatively easy enemy to defeat (using elemental attacks to weaken it first), that drops a high damage material. However, the Gibdo Bone will break after one attack, so you'll want to make it count. In fact, you can attach it to a Royal Guard weapon that's about to break to double your damage, or toss it from a Gerudo Spear to also capitalize on the weapon's bonus effect - just don't miss!

The Ancient Blade is essentially a leftover Ancient Arrow from Breath of the Wild, but they are now incredibly rare and hard to find - but they can still evaporate most any enemy with a single direct hit. It's best fused with an arrow at will rather than a weapon, but the effect will still work either way.

Just remember - an enemy disintegrated by an Ancient Blade will leave no parts behind!

The best way to obtain Ancient Blades is after you have progressed the story until you have cleared the Spirit Temple in the Depths. If you return to the spot where you leave the Sage of Spirit, you'll find a friendly Construct to the side that will trade Ancient Blades in exchange for Zonaite materials!

Finally, the divine Dragons of Hyrule all have various parts that can be fused with your weapons to deal a good amount of damage that also have elemental effects. It may even be worth your while to "farm" a dragon by running along its back to collect a dozen or so shards, and then shoot its horn while standing on its head to gain the part without having to jump off, and sit on the dragon for 10 minutes until its energy recharges and you can chip off another part.

Certain elemental fusions may not always have the biggest attack bonus, but in the right circumstance can easily disrupt or take down tough groups of enemies. The good news is that there are a wide variety of materials you can find and use for each scenario:

The list above generally follows the power - and more importantly the explosion radius of each elemental part. Using a Fire Fruit is a good way to light a campfire, or burn a single target's wooden shield, but fusing a Like Like Stone or Dragon Part to an arrow is sure to detonate a larger explosion.

Some of the gems in Tears of the Kingdom have elemental powers. Opals carry the power of water, Rubies have the power of fire, Topaz are lightning or electric gems, and Sapphires are imbued with the power of water. Rare gems like Rubies, Sapphires, and Topaz are in a league of their own, as they can be affixed to melee weapons to turn them into magic rods and send elemental orbs out that can deal a ton of damage or freeze foes in their tracks. Even more impressive is their blast radius when used in a ranged attack, and it's highly recommended you only fire them when at a good distance, or you'll be caught up in the blast!

Here are the most common elemental effects and abilities: