The Legend of Zelda's protagonist is known for his green tunic and hat, which have become emblematic of swordsmen in titles like HAL Laboratory's Kirby. However, Link has also been known to swap outfits going back to 1986's The Legend of Zelda on NES. This title saw him collecting rings that upgraded his tunic into blue and red varieties with damage resistance bonuses, and the idea would carry into future titles via variants like Twilight Princess' Zora Armor. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild took this a step further.
Nintendo's 2017 blockbuster brought Link into an open-world version of Hyrule, and with that transition came a number of changes. One such change was Breath of the Wild's equipment becoming more akin to other RPGs, in which sets had widespread effects rather than being used to solve specific area puzzles as with the aforementioned Zora Armor. Great Fairy Fountains across the map also let players upgrade any of the three pieces that made up most armor sets (a helmet, chest piece, and greaves). However, the upcoming sequel could create more interesting armor variety by leaning into combat-specific builds rather than traversal.
Armor Variance in Breath of the Wild
Many 3D Zelda games prior to Breath of the Wild start Link in an outfit before he collects the green tunic. The Wind Waker's Link wears his blue Island Lobster Shirt; Twilight Princess' Link wears a patchwork outfit representing his home, Ordon Village; and Skyward Sword's Link similarly starts in common Skyloft attire before donning the green Knight's Uniform - one of various colors given to graduates of the Knight Academy. In Breath of the Wild, Link awakens from a 100-year slumber within the Shrine of Resurrection wearing his underwear, and can then pick up a set of worn clothing from nearby chests.
From there, numerous outfit pieces can be picked up across Hyrule. Some like the Hylian, Soldier's, and Sheikah Sets are purchased from shops. Others can be found as Shrine rewards, such as pieces of the Barbarian and Rubber Sets, and there are one-off collectibles from story missions like the Champion's Tunic and Thunder Helm. Each piece of gear has its own defense value that can be upgraded via Great Fairies, and many can be recolored in Hateno Village's dye shop.
However, the variety of outfits is important because most sets provide bonuses when equipped. Many of these bonuses revolve around surviving the elements, like the Snowquill Set and Gerudo Set protecting against cold and hot weather, respectively. Outfits like the Climbing Set make Link better able to explore by improving his climbing speed, meanwhile some like the Dark Set have specific use cases (in this case walking faster at night). Additional gear from amiibo support and DLC have largely redundant perks, and only a few overall have combat utility. The most notable are Link's Barbarian Set and DLC Phantom Set based on Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, which each provide blanket attack buffs.
Breath of the Wild's Existing Combat-Centric Armor Builds
Though most of Link's options in Breath of the Wild aid traversal or offer general utility like attack or defense buffs, a select few encourage players to go with specific strategies. For example, the Ancient Set, which is found in the Akkala region's Ancient Tech Lab and made from the same material as Guardians. Each individual piece provides Link with greater defense against the Guardians across Hyrule, but wearing all three also increases ancient weapon damage by 80 percent. This outfit became such an iconic representation of the game that it was added as a bonus Mii Swordfighter outfit for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate players who bought the second Fighters Pass.
One of the few other selections that incentivize specific combat builds is the Radiant Set - available to purchase in Gerudo Village's Secret Club. Wearing this glow-in-the-dark luchador outfit makes link blend in with skeletal "Stal" enemies, and when upgraded it boosts damage for bone weapons like the Bokoblin Arm. There are additional masks that help Link blend in with Moblins, Lynels, and other monsters, as well as the legendary Hero of the Wild Set that increases the Master Sword's beam damage if players complete all 120 Shrines. Yet this is about as far as combat-centric bonuses go.
How Breath of the Wild 2 Could Improve Build Variety
Breath of the Wild's outfit system primarily encourages players to equip the attack-buffing Barbarian Set or defensive Soldier's Set for combat, regardless of their current weapon, before swapping back to armor that helps them climb or survive Death Mountain's volcanic expanse. Trailers for Breath of the Wild 2 showcase Link in a new outfit as he falls from the sky, and he's seen using different shields on top of his wider variety of Sheikah Slate powers. With that in mind, it's easy to imagine Nintendo including more verbose tools for combat builds.
Franchises that encourage loot grinding, such as Bungie's Destiny and Capcom's Monster Hunter, thrive on the idea that players can collect different armor or weapon types and mix them up to create varying gameplay styles. Nintendo could do something similar with more specific armor perks for weapon categories beyond ancient and bone; or for particular types of weapons like spears or bows.
Guerrilla Games' Horizon Forbidden West offers another direction that Nintendo could take for build variety in Breath of the Wild 2. In Forbidden West, protagonist Aloy can be specialized with different builds based on archetypes such as "Hunter," "Infiltrator," or "Machine Master." Numerous skills exist within each archetype, but they largely encourage approaches to gameplay ranging from stealthily assassinating machines to dropping traps all around the battlefield. Breath of the Wild fans continually break speedrunning records and find new tricks because of the complex physics underlying its emergent gameplay, so adding more archetypal outfit sets that benefit Link's abilities could do wonders for the sequel's longevity.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 releases in spring 2023 for Nintendo Switch.