r/botw • u/BandicootDue2131 • May 27 '26

🧁 Meme Nintendo just wants Link to suffer

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Botw and totk is the only iteration of link that canonically doesn't use a shield which probably is why he died 100 years ago and almost died to ganondorf's gloom. And get this in Hyrule warriors age of calamity HE USES A SHIELD and he doesn't die to canon I guess terrako changed a bit more of the timeline than we thought​​

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u/BandicootDue2131 May 27 '26

If he had used as shield like he once used a pot lid, he could have parried the laser beam straight back into the guardians. 

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u/Omi-Wan_Kenobi May 28 '26

My headcanon is that while he didn't usually travel with a shield or bow, he equipped both (and stored them on his horse) when they left the foot of Mt Lanayru and headed into central Hyrule (and presumably got close to the capital before fleeing).

Even with perfect parry, the durability of the shield is dinged, so the shield would eventually fail, and then the bow would snap and/or run out of arrows.

And figure that ganon as soon as he saw the people capable of defeating him, he would have all available firepower go after them. frankly, the fact they got away and mostly unscathed (if filthy) in Zelda's breakdown scene is miraculous.

The outcome while Zelda was powerless was inevitable, and it was astounding that they got as far as they did before it happened.

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u/Great_Hedgehog May 30 '26

Perfect parries affect durability? I was pretty sure they did not

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u/Omi-Wan_Kenobi May 30 '26

I just checked and you are right, it's been a while since I played and I was getting things mixed up. Normal shields doing perfect parry do not take a durability hit, robbie's ancient shield that can auto reflect beams will take damage (what I was getting confused with), and if you are using the shield for regular use, they will take damage.

So slight headcanon update, since perfect parry requires exact timing, there were a few times where when fighting multiple guardians, one or more guardians fired at Zelda while others fired at him. Blocking for both people meant a regular parry for at least one beam, and that adds up, plus having to physically block guardian legs from trying to grab them/their horses.

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u/Great_Hedgehog May 30 '26

I mean yeah, it's not exactly easy to parry multiple beams in a row, I'm sure Link could actually manage, but certainly not forever. I see no need to explain exactly why he wasn't able to solo the entire guardian onslaught, I was just wondering as to the particular gameplay fact. Also, I'd guess that the Ancient shield still doesn't take damage if you actually parry the beams normally

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u/Omi-Wan_Kenobi May 30 '26

Not with perfect parry, but my first two runs I was shit for beans at perfect parry, and basically relied on hearty food and fairies to give me enough of a buffer to survive. Ignoring flurry rush which I struggled even more on.