- "A sword often wielded by Guardian Scouts. Its blue energy blade is a product of ancient technology. It's not very durable."
- — Hyrule Compendium
The Guardian Sword is an item from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It is a sword wielded by the Guardian Scouts found in several Shrines and the Divine Beasts. Link can obtain it after defeating a base version Guardian Scout and picking it up afterwards. The sword inflicts a modest base damage of 20, and is on the lower end of the spectrum in terms of durability, slightly inferior to even the basic Traveler's Sword. Being a Guardian-type weapon, it deals 30% more damage to Guardians, and receives a massive 80% damage increase with the Ancient Proficiency set bonus from the Ancient Armor set. The blade only appears when it is unsheathed, dropped, or mounted in Link's House.
Due to being made of ancient technology, it does not attract lightning nor does it burn when exposed to fire. This applies to it and its variants.
The eponymous Guardian Sword are wielded by Guardian Scout II (Guardian Scout I are only equipped with beam weaponry), sometimes in conjunction with a Guardian Shield or other "Guardian" series weapons such as a Guardian Spear. Guardian Scouts II are encountered in Ta'loh Naeg's Teachings trial in Ta'loh Naeg Shrine, certain A Minor Test of Strength combat trials, or in certain trials that feature Guardian Scout II as standard enemies such as the Shae Mo'sah Shrine in the Eldin Canyon region. Link can take its picture with the Camera Rune to add its entry to the Hyrule Compendium, where it appears as entry number 227 in the Compendium's Equipment section. Eldin Canyon and Tabantha Frontier are listed in its entry's common locations section, though this actually means they can be found in shrines in those regions. Stronger Guardian Sword variants are wielded by stronger Guardian Scout models. With the exception of the Guardian Scout II in the Ta'loh Naeg Shrine, defeated Guardian Scouts in Shrines will reappear after a Blood Moon despite being uncorrupted and not controlled by Ganon, through presumably the Shrines are designed to restore any defeated Guardian Scouts at that point in time. This allows Link to fight them again for their equipment and Guardian Parts.
The Guardian Sword and its variants can also be obtained randomly from treasure chests spawned by using the Breath of the Wild series Guardian amiibo with the amiibo Rune though stronger variants require Link to reach a certain point in the game for treasure chests containing them to start spawning randomly. The Guardian Sword will spawn randomly as soon as Link activates the amiibo Rune functionality after obtaining his first Rune from one of four shrines on the Great Plateau.
Variants
Guardian Sword+
- "This Guardian sword has enhanced power over the standard model. Its cutting capabilities are improved, and its durability has seen a slight uptick."
- — Hyrule Compendium
This Guardian Sword is a good improvement overall over the base Guardian Sword, with significantly more damage (30 base over 20) and has a decent durability increase (from 17 to 26). It can be only found in Shrines proposing "A Modest Test of Strength" trial, where the player must defeat a Guardian Scout III wielding it. Visually, the sword is somewhat larger, on par with most other swords, when compared to the small-looking standard Guardian Sword.
Treasure Chests containing it will start to appear randomly when the Guardian amiibo is used with the amiibo Rune after Link obtains the Paraglider and completes "The Isolated Plateau" Quest.
Guardian Sword++
- "The abilities of this Guardian sword have been boosted to the maximum, as evidenced by its increase in size. It slices through armor like a hot knife through butter!"
- — Hyrule Compendium
This Guardian Sword is a major improvement overall over the base Guardian Sword, now boasting double the damage of the original model (40 over 20) and greatly increased durability, which is also roughly doubled to 32. The Guardian Sword++ can only be found in Shrines proposing "A Major Test of Strength" trials, requiring the player to defeat the Guardian Scout IV lurking there. After completing one of these combat trials and obtaining its Shrine's Spirit Orb, these trials will reset after midnight on a Blood Moon allowing Link to obtain replacements. Visually, it is much larger than the base model. Its damage is on par with the Ancient Short Sword, although it is inferior by having lower durability (roughly 20 less than the Short Sword) and by having a lower damage multiplier against Guardians (30% vs 50%). Additionally, it is unable to be reforged, unlike the Ancient Short Sword.
Link can take its picture with the Camera Rune to add its entry to the Hyrule Compendium, where it appears as entry number 229 in the Compendium's Equipment section. Akkala Highlands and Hebra Mountains are listed in its entry's common locations section, thus it can be commonly obtained in certain shrines in those regions.
Treasure Chests containing it will start to appear randomly when the Guardian amiibo is used with the amiibo Rune after Link has freed at least one Divine Beast.
Monk Maz Koshia wields one during his battle with Link during the Final Trial, though he wields it in a reverse grip fashion and his sword is unobtainable. This indicates the possibility that Guardian Swords and other Guardian weapon were used by the ancient Sheikah during the conflict with Calamity Ganon 10,000 years before Breath of the Wild, which is implied by the ancient tapestry depicting the battle in Impa's house that appears in Impa and Kass' telling of the legend of the ancient battle as figures resembling the Sheikah Monks appear alongside the Guardians surrounding Calamity Ganon in support of the ancient Hero and Goddess-Blood Princess of Hyrule.
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