Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Tips and Tricks for The Champions’ Ballad DLC Pack

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild DLC expansion, The Champions’ Ballad, is the second and last DLC pack released and it will stay that way, according to Nintendo. The add-on is available for Wii U and Switch.

How Do You Get The Champions’ Ballad DLC?

If you don’t already have The Champions’ Ballad DLC expansion pack, you can get it three ways. However, you cannot purchase this second DLC for Switch or Wii U by itself.

The first DLC pack, The Master Trials, is combined with the second pack, The Champions’ Ballad. Both packs are sold together as the “Expansion Pass.”

To get The Champions’ Ballad, go into the console’s Downloadable Content option, purchase a digital download code from a retailer and redeem it, or head over to Nintendo eShop to purchase it. You’ll need 2.4GB of available space on the Nintendo Switch to download and play both packs.

The Champions’ Ballad was released in December 2017 and features new weapons, dungeons, costumes, and story elements. To use the DLC, you must beat all four beasts in the base game, including Divine Beast Vah Rute, Divine Beast Vah Rudania, Divine Beast Vah Medoh, and Divine Beast Vah Naboris. The good news is that you don’t have to beat Calamity Ganon.

Below is the first gameplay trailer released for The Champions’ Ballad, which appeared at the 2016 Game Awards.

Champion’s Ballad starts with adventures on the Great Plateau, then moves on to challenges for the four champions. You’ll have to fight the four beasts again as you venture on through Champions’ Ballad, but new costumes and weapons shake it up a little. Some gamers spent more time in Hyrule than others, but now, you find nine new treasure chests and discover a new castle, new shrines, more challenges, and possibly discover areas you never visited in the base game.

You also get to unlock a super-cool-looking motorbike called the Master Cycle Zero for completing the Divine Beast Tamer’s Trial.

To help you ease into your rediscovery of Hyrule in The Champions’ Ballad, you’ll find killer tips and tricks below for aiding in Link’s adventure and making the experience more fun!

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Tips and Tricks:

You can enjoy all the challenges of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but The Champions’ Ballad brings the most challenging entry in the series and of course, it’s the last DLC adventure you’ll get. The game isn’t your typical Zelda, and there’s a lot of secrets for you to master to make your journey across Hyrule more manageable. Here are the best Zelda: Breath of the Wild tips and tricks you’ll need.

Tip #1: Learn How to Cook Excellent Meals

Love the idea of cooking but have no real idea how to make something, let alone recreate one of your glorious creations? Worry not, as you can check the recipe on any food or elixirs you’ve bought or created so you can easily replicate it. When cooking, don’t mix two different types of status-affecting ingredients because they’ll nullify one another. As with real cooking, simple is always best. However, remember that it always pays to create a selection of meals and elixirs with varying amounts of ingredients, so you don’t always end up with ten dishes capable of ten-minute boosts when you only need a couple of minutes.

Tip #2: Don’t Stack Buffs because It Won’t Work

Prepping for a big fight, or want to boost your movement speed while staying cool? You’ll have to mix up your outfit alongside your stat-boosting food and elixirs because buffs don’t stack in Breath of the Wild. Even if you’ve got 14 minutes left on a body-warming buff and you need to increase your climbing speed, you’ll lose those 14 minutes instantly if you ingest another stat-boosting dish.

Tip #3: Always Carry Some Non-Metal Weaponry

Always make sure you carry a variety of weapon and shield types with you while traveling – especially non-metal ones. In Breath of the Wild, thunderstorms can rear their heads and, if you’re using a metal shield, melee weapon, or bow, you become a conduit for that bolt of lightning. This situation can be avoided by quickly swapping out your equipment for wooden or ancient tools, but for those who plan to weather the storm, one lightning strike can kill Link instantly.

Tip #4: Learn How to Use Elements in Combat

Understanding basic weaponry in Breath of the Wild is key to taking down more challenging foes. Fighting an ice enemy, fire a Fire Arrow their way (although, bizarrely, fire enemies are quashable with ice). For instance, the skipping ghost-like enemies with elemental wands you stumble across can be defeated in one hit when using an opposing element. You can also alter dropped Chuchu Jelly by hitting it with a different element – handy for elixir brewing!

Tip #5: Always Go for Heart Containers Early On

In Breath of the Wild, you don’t pick up heart pieces to increase your health. Instead, you complete shrines to obtain Spirit Orbs and exchange four orbs for Stamina Wheel chunks or a Heart Container. Early on in the game, always opt for Heart Containers. Not only are there plenty of enemies in Breath of the Wild that can easily wipe out five or more hearts in one hit – it’s easier (and less resource-heavy) to recover lost stamina while climbing a wall or swimming than it is to keep healing in combat.

Tip #6: Pay Attention to The Weather

Having already mentioned how lightning can affect your equipment loadout, weather in Breath of the Wild plays an essential role in how you explore the land of Hyrule. Beyond hot and cold climates – which damage your health and require cooler or warmer clothing – rainstorms, blizzards, high winds, and even overcast clouds can change how Link traverses regions. For instance, when it’s raining, you won’t be able to grip onto cliffs or walls for climbing, and windy days could send Link flying if he pulls his paraglider out. Weather is mostly dynamic, but a handy indicator by your mini-map tells you which conditions to expect near you at any given moment.

Tip #7: Always Make Use of Magnesis Near Water

Once you’ve left the starting area of the Great Plateau, your Sheikah Slate will power up with four intense abilities for you to utilize – one of which is Magnesis. Magnesis allows you to pick up metallic objects and manipulate them. Treasure chests and metal slabs made for traversing areas tend to get hidden at the bottom of bogs or bodies of water. So, when you’re exploring Hyrule, don’t forget to check what’s at the bottom of every lake.

Tip #8: Talk to Everyone You Can

Legend of Zelda titles have always had loose side-quests available to complete, but in Breath of the Wild, you never quite know when a Hylian denizen will ask for your help – thus opening up an hour-long side-quest with some tasty loot at the end of it. Sometimes these quests are signposted with a red “!” by an NPC’s speech bubble, but they’ll often just come up in conversation. It’s also worth chatting to most NPCs as they also tend to inform you of exciting sights nearby or rumors across Hyrule.

Tip #9: Understand How Weapon Attack Stats Work

It’s crucial to monitor weapons stats when playing Breath of the Wild, but don’t take higher numbers as gospel. Most heavy, blunt weapons tend to offer severe damage, while spears and pole weapons generally provide lower levels. However, you should take attack speed into account, as pole weapons can usually land three or four hits for every slow-like hammer or axe swing. This outcome means that a pole with a damage count of nine or 12 could deliver a damage count of 36 points, whereas an axe may only land 28 per hit. This outcome isn’t so crucial in the early stages of your adventure, but as you pick up rare weapons and fight tougher foes, it’s certainly something you’ll want to consider.

Tip #10: Know Where to Look for Korok Seeds

Woodland spirits known as Koroks are hidden all over Hyrule, and, upon discovering their hiding places, you get rewarded with a Korok Seed for talking to them. Finding Koroks, however, is a bit of trial and error. Thankfully there are some telltale signs to look out for in the field.

Koroks tend to be hidden under lone rocks or, more often, in the middle of a stone circle that’s missing a stone. Many are hidden away behind flower puzzles where you’ll either need to follow a trail or repeat a pattern, and some get tucked away behind block puzzles. The occasional Korok also hides in plain sight – listen for the jingling of its movement to hunt it down. Armed with this knowledge, you should be able to more readily spot a hidden Korok and get a seed to help expand your equipment storage.

Tip #11: Don’t Hunt Down the Master Sword Right Away

It may be tempting to make a beeline right for the Master Sword when you start Breath of the Wild – after all, it’s the only unbreakable blade in the game. However, bide your time and build up your power as it’s no simple task to obtain it, and you have to be deemed worthy enough to wield it. Top tip (without spoiling too much), make sure you find it after you’ve obtained a sizeable number of hearts – and, no, temporary ones don’t count.

Tip #12: Take on A Divine Beast When You Can

The Divine Beasts in Breath of the Wild are essentially this Zelda’s version of significant temples. These mechanical creatures don’t just harbor puzzles to be solved; they also grant Link new abilities to aid him in his adventure. So, if you happen to be near a Divine Beast and think it’s worth holding off to do some exploring instead, blitz the Beast and make the most of your newfound upgrade – you’ll thank me later.

Tip #13: Shoot Blue Rabbits for a Shiny Surprise

If you’re short on Rupees, hunt down the glowing blue rabbits and aim with your bow. Instead of turning into raw meat, they spew out glorious piles of valuable gemstones. You can’t catch them either, so your only option is to kill it, which is a tad depressing.

Tip #14: Don’t Worry about Completing the Main Quest Too Early

Without wishing to pile spoilers on you, but going and fighting Ganon early on isn’t – necessarily – the worst thing you can do. I’d advise completing the four Divine Beasts first and building your strength and arsenal up before wading into Hyrule Castle, but don’t worry about mopping up every last Shrine or Korok Seed first. Upon defeating Ganon,  you get total free reign of Hyrule, so you can go back and finish up anything you may have missed without worrying about Ganon’s evil control blighting the landscape.

These are our best tips to help you get through the Champion’s Ballad! Do you have any tips? Share them below in the comments!