Weapons in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild can sometimes be infuriatingly brittle. With every swing of your sword or swish of your bow, your weapon is losing durability and inching closer to breaking entirely.
Weapon repair is not possible in Breath of the Wild. In a game with so many rad weapons to find, the truth sort of stings. Fortunately, there are some exceptions to this 'weapon perma-death' rule that can save a player some heartache.
Updated on May 27, 2023 by Quinton O'Connor: We've added more pictures representative of the various sort-of-repairable equipment, and offered some handy tips on how to keep them in decent shape.
The Lightscale Trident & Ceremonial Trident
In the Zora Domain, the player will receive the Lightscale Trident and the Ceremonial Trident once they've completed the quests "Divine Beast Vah Ruta" and "The Ceremonial Song."
The Lightscale Trident is a powerful two-handed spear with exceptional range, while the Ceremonial Trident is a weaker - but still handy - version of it. If broken, both of these weapons can be taken back to the Zora blacksmith, Dento, for repair.
Each trident requires a Zora Spear and five Flint to be repaired, so it's recommended a player fond of these weapons hoard flint as much as possible. The Lightscale Trident is a little pricier to repair, however. In addition to the Zora Spear and flint, Dento needs a Diamond to repair it.
Diamonds are dropped by some monsters and can be found in treasure chests throughout the world. They are also needed for armor upgrades, so try to strategize how you'll use this resource.
The Hylian Shield
After venturing into Hyrule Castle's Lockup and defeating the Stalnox, the player will receive the Hylian Shield - the best shield in the game. The Hylian Shield's defense is a hefty 90 points, but with a durability of 800, it's not totally indestructible.
Unlike the Lightscale and Ceremonial Tridents, the Hylian Shield cannot be taken for repair, but it can be purchased again. Once the "From the Ground Up" side quest is completed, the player can buy the Hylian Shield from the hidden merchant, Granté, in Tarrey Town.
Unsurprisingly though, the Hylian shield is priced at 3,000 Rupees, so save, save, save that cash!
The Master Sword
Of course, the one exception to the breakable weapons rule is the legendary Master Sword, which doubles its damage while in the presence of evil. Instead of breaking, the Master Sword loses energy; once all of its energy has been depleted it will explode like it were breaking when, actually, it's just recharging in Link's inventory.
This takes about ten real world minutes, and the player will receive a notification when the Master Sword is once again ready for use.