How Durability Works in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom

Discover how weapon and shield durability works in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Learn what actions decrease durability and how the Fuse ability impacts it.

In The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, every weapon, bow, and shield possesses a predetermined Base Durability. Not all actions deplete this durability. You can identify a piece of equipment at maximum durability by a shimmering light in the upper right corner of its box in the inventory screen. Swinging a weapon and making contact with an enemy reduces durability. However, certain actions do not decrease it, including:

• Swinging a weapon and missing
• Hitting grass, even with a bladed weapon
• Striking a tree with a blunt object
• Performing a Charge Attack that hits nothing
• Toggling Zonai objects on and off

An exception exists for weapons with gems fused to them; these lose durability even if they miss. Additionally, performing a jumping attack causes durability loss because it registers as hitting the ground. The Tree Branch has the lowest durability (4), while the Lightscale Trident has the highest (70).

You will receive a warning when a weapon or shield is close to breaking.

How Fuse Affects Durability

The Fuse ability in Tears of the Kingdom allows you to attach items to weapons, which can add effects and, more importantly, increase their durability. Typically, fusing an item adds 25 points to a weapon's Base Durability, contributing to its Total Durability. However, some weapons receive a different durability bonus when an item is fused:

The Total Durability is the Base Durability plus the added points from the fused item. For instance, a Tree Branch with 4 Base Durability fused with a Bokoblin Horn will have a Total Durability of 29. If you fuse a Tree Branch with another Tree Branch, the secondary branch will break after four hits, leaving the base branch with a reduced total durability of 25. If a weapon with 22 Base Durability (like a Gnarled Long Stick) is fused to the base branch, the fused item breaks after 22 hits, leaving the base weapon with only three durability remaining.

You cannot gain additional durability by fusing an item to a weapon that has already reached its maximum Total Durability potential. If a branch has only three durability left, it will break after three more hits, regardless of any new fusion.

Tips and Tricks for Durability

• Avoid fusing weapons onto other weapons, as the secondary weapon can break and reduce the base weapon's total durability.
• Fusing even a simple item like a Bokoblin Horn increases the base weapon's durability. The fused item will not break until the base weapon does.
• You can recover fused items at the Break-a-Part Shop in Tarrey Town.
• Feeding most weapons to Rock Octoroks can fully repair them and add special bonuses.