Amiibo can gift you loads of cool things in Breath of the Wild. Here’s what they do.

If you want to get ahead in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild amiibo are a simple route forward. Nintendo’s hugely successful little NFC figurines have their use hidden away, but if you’ve got any amiibo kicking around you’ll find they’re quite useful in-game.

If you want even more Breath of the Wild help, we have a full guide hub with plenty of other detailed pages.

Why Nintendo hid and buried the amiibo function we’re not quite sure. It might be because the amiibo all offer what more hardcore players might think of as little cheats, offering small ways you can make them game a little easier by giving you some high-end gear and the like.

Anyway, if you don’t care about that, here’s how you turn on amiibo: inside the game, hit start/plus. Head to the system screen on the far right, then hit options. The first option here will allow you to turn on amiibo. Now we’re ready to go.

An amiibo option will now appear as a rune in the game – pressing up on the D-Pad will let you access it alongside bombs, magnesis, stasis and all that other good stuff. When you activate the amiibo rune a circle will appear on the ground. This is where the amiibo bonuses will appear in-world, so do it in a safe place. Once you tap an amiibo to your Switch Pro Controller, Joy-Con or Wii U gamepad it’ll spawn items into the game. It as simple as that.

Any individual amiibo can be used only once per day, and every single amiibo available is compatible with the game – even the non-Zelda ones. With that said, let’s get into what all the various amiibo do, because there’s a lot to see – and some of the bonuses are significant.

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What the amiibo do in Breath of the Wild

Each amiibo has a different impact. There are essentially three categories and three different kinds of amiibo compatible with this game. First, there’s the official Breath of the Wild amiibo, featuring characters from the game and BOTW branding on the box. Second, there are Legend of Zelda series amiibo – that’s figures from the other Zelda games, separate from the Breath of the Wild amiibo. Finally, there’s everything else. Here’s what each does:

Breath of the Wild amiibo

These amiibo are specifically designed for use with Breath of the Wild, and feature characters from the game:

Archer Link: Drops rare bow-type weapons, as well as food and other materials.

Horse Rider Link: Drops a unique horse saddle and food, plus the chance for high-end weapons and the Traveller’s Bridle or Saddle for your horse.

Zelda: Drops shields, with a slim chance to get the Radiant Shield. Contrary to rumors, this isn’t a way to get the Hylian Shield. She also drops plants for you to cook with, plus rare gems including Star Fragments.

Guardian: Drops a chest containing rare weapons and items – including the chance for ancient arrows, super-powerful arrows. Also food.

Bokoblin: Drops a chest containing high-power club-type weapons plus meat to cook with and monster parts.

Urbosa: Drops a bunch of meat, while the chest will contain Gerudo gear. If you’re lucky, it’ll drop the Divine Beast Vah Naboris Helm.

Revali: Of course Revali drops arrows, but also fruit. Chests contain Rito weapons and gear, and if you’re lucky you’ll get the Divine Beast Vah Medoh Helm.

Mipha: The Zora champion drops fish, plus Zora-friendly weapons. If lucky, you’ll get the Divine Beast Vah Ruta Helm as a drop.

Daruk: The Goron hard-man’s amiibo drops Goron weapons – lots of stone stuff – and has a chance of dropping the Divine Beast Vah Rudania Helm. He also drops ores and gems.

What non-Breath of the Wild amiibo do