It’s hard to believe that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is nearly a five-year-old game, but somehow dedicated players are still finding brand new ways to play the game. Whether that means firing Link across the map on the side of a boulder, facing off against Calamity Ganon with nothing but sticks and wooden shields, or attempting to complete a pacifist run of the game, fans of the game simply will not stop discovering new ways to do… well… anything. Now that we officially have another year to wait for the sequel, fans have doubled down on trying to master every aspect of the game to the absolute fullest.
Most recently, as Gamespot reports, a brand new strategy for taking on enemies has been discovered which breaks the previous record for killing a Golden Lynel without the help of ancient arrows. For readers who haven’t played Breath of the Wild religiously, a Gold Lynel is the most difficult non-boss enemy in the game, boasting a whopping 7500 health with the ability to heal over time. Although ancient arrows are able to wipe out any enemy in the game in a single shot, fighting one of these beasts without them is a daunting task. Dedicated gamers, however, have managed to complete this daunting task in under twenty seconds by exploiting a seldom-used mechanic in BOTW: the game’s motion controls.
See, when Link prepares to throw a weapon, it becomes a single massive hitbox from the second he starts to ready his throw. While he’s readying, Link will hold the weapon behind him, almost like a javelin. By aiming Link’s throw using motion controls, the player can make Link wave the weapon around behind him wildly, dealing damage each time the held-back weapon makes contact with an enemy without breaking it. As un-heroic as it might seem, if this technique is paired with a high-damage weapon, this becomes the single fastest way to deal with enemies (assuming you can spin your controller like a madman).
Who knows? If BOTW 2 uses the same game systems as the first game, this technique might even serve you well when the highly-anticipated sequel releases in 2022.