Trial of the Sword’s Middle Trials are, unsurprisingly, harder than The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s The Master Trials DLC’s Beginning Trials. There are more (and tougher) enemies and the level designs are a lot more vertical (and less conducive to sneakiness).

There are nearly infinite ways to approach Trial of the Sword’s Middle Trials. In this guide, we’ll offer you strategies for clearing every floor, with several goals assumed throughout: It’s best to save wear and tear on your weapons, be stealthy and find every item before you leave each Underground Floor.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 1

Trial of the Sword: Middle Trials: Underground Floor 1 starts off with a crash course in what to expect from the in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s The Master Trials DLC’s Middle Trials: lots of enemies, more danger and much more complex levels. It’s different from the Beginning Trials, but you’ll catch on soon.

It’s also a preview of what’s to come in the next few levels, all of which include massive, area-spanning updrafts, revolve around your paraglider and a require a plan for killing and avoiding enemies in the best possible order (and from the best possible position to collect their drops).

Underground Floor 1 walkthrough

As you can see in the video above, you can get through Middle Trials: Underground Floor 2 without taking damage. It’s just a matter of planning your route, which starts to your left (as you enter) and continues to the lower platform.

As soon as you start on this floor, you’ll be spotted by a bokoblin archer shooting fire arrows. Jump off the starting platform and ride the updraft over to the alcove on your left. Head to the back to get out of the line of sight of the archer and grab a boko club. Use it to defeat the two bokoblins, making sure not to knock either off the ledge. (If they fall into the chasm, you can’t collect their weapons.)

Use the woodcutter’s axe to carefully smash the barrels, making sure you don’t blow yourself up in the process. Pick up the exploding barrel and throw it over the ledge onto the center alcove to damage the red bokoblins there.

Use magnesis and the the steel crates to damage the red bokoblins on the center alcove. (You can also destroy the steel crates with magnesis, though they never contain anything for us.) Paraglide down to the center alcove, and defeat any bokoblins left standing.

Smash the barrels and crates on the center platform for a bunch of arrows, food and a few fire arrows. Use one of these fire arrows to shoot and burn the wooden platform high above you on the back wall of this alcove (or use a remote bomb to blow it up). Open the chest for that much nicer bow we mentioned, then move on to the next floor.

Paraglide to the final platform and destroy the wooden crates for some food.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 1 armor, weapons and food

Nearly every underground floor in Trial of the Sword includes some combination of armor, weapons and food that you should collect before leaving and use in subsequent levels. Here’s what you can find in this underground floor.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 1 armor and weapons

• Boko spear (alcove on right)
• Boko club (alcove on left)
• Woodcutter’s axe (bokoblin)
• Boko bow (bokoblin)
• Soldier’s bow (bokoblin)
• Spiked boko club (bokoblin)
• Spiked boko shield (bokoblin)
• Spiked boko spear (bokoblin)

Underground Floor 1 food

• Crates and barrels in all three alcoves

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 1 treasure chest

• Soldier’s broadsword
• Soldier’s bow

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 2

Trial of the Sword: Middle Trials: Underground Floor 2 continues the themes set up in the first floor of Trial of the Sword in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s The Master Trials DLC. The enemies are tough and they are after you immediately. And you still have to maneuver through a room with a lot of vertical levels.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 2 walkthrough

Turn left immediately. There are two bokoblins on the platform — one blue and one red — where you start, and they’re going to notice you sooner rather than later. Try to avoid the blue one and kill the red one first — he’s got a lot less health and is quicker to beat. That will even the odds. Smash the crates, then paraglide straight up to the next platform.

Take out the red bokoblin you find there and smash these crates as well. Stay right here on this platform for your next fight. There’s a wizzrobe armed with a meteor rod that will notice you and attack.

It’s very tempting (and entirely possible) to focus on keeping the wizzrobe on the platform and making sure he doesn’t drop that meteor rod. (We do that in the video above.) But here’s the thing: That meteor rod is nice to have, but it’s not necessary. If you can get the wizzrobe to trip and plunge to its death in the infinite abyss below you, take the win and move on. All it takes is one headshot.

Use some combination of stasis, headshots, paraglider-bullet-time-headshots and your strongest weapon to take out the wizzrobe. From this platform, continue along the wall on your left to the far side of the room. Turn right at the corner and land on the long platform. There’s another wizzrobe to fight here.

This wizzrobe is armed with a fire rod. Our advice remains the same. If you can manage to keep it on the platform and retrieve the weapon, that’s great. If it falls to its death, that’s OK too.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 2 armor, weapons and food

Nearly every underground floor in Trial of the Sword includes some combination of armor, weapons and food that you should collect before leaving and use in subsequent levels. Here’s what you can find in this underground floor.

Underground Floor 2 armor and weapons

• Soldier’s spear (red bokoblin)
• Soldier’s broadsword (blue bokoblin)
• Soldier’s shield (blue bokoblin)
• Spiked boko bow
• Arrows in crates on second platform
• Meteor rod (wizzrobe)
• Fire rod (wizzrobe)

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 2 food

• Crates on starting platform

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 2 treasure chest

There is only one chest on this floor. It’s on a wooden platform in the far right corner from where you start. You can either use a fire arrow to burn it down, or you can toss a remote bomb — it’ll float on the updraft and get close enough to destroy the platform (and the chest). Retrieve your new feathered edge.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 3

Trial of the Sword: Middle Trials: Underground Floor 3 The third floor of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s The Master Trials DLC is another challenge that starts with you under attack. It’s entirely manageable, but without a plan, it’s very, very overwhelming. Luckily, we’re here to help.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 3 walkthrough

The secret to Underground Floor 3 is using your paraglider bullet time. The bokoblin archers that are trying to ruin your day all have specialized arrows, so taking them out fast is the best way to handle them.

Immediately jump off the platform where you start and paraglide straight forward. You’re going to be under fire, but your targets are the two red bokoblins on the left and the right of the platform ahead of you — especially the one on the right with the bomb arrows. Take them out with bullet time shots. If you have time, put a couple shots into the blue bokoblin as well. Land on the platform and take him out.

Turn back toward the middle of the room and jump again. Take out the red bokoblin on your left (the one with shock arrows). There’s another bokoblin archer on a platform held up by balloons above you and to your right. You can shoot him in the face, or shoot one or two of the balloons to dump him into the abyss.

Land and take out the final blue bokoblin on this platform. Sweep the platform again for any crates you haven’t smashed yet. Cross the room one more time to take out the last red bokoblin. This one is shooting ice arrows.

When you’re done killing bokoblins, sweep the room one more time to make sure you haven’t missed any crates.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 3 armor, weapons and food

Nearly every underground floor in Trial of the Sword includes some combination of armor, weapons and food that you should collect before leaving and use in subsequent levels. Here’s what you can find in this underground floor.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 3 armor and weapons

• Lizal forked boomerang
• Reinforced lizal shield
• Phrenic bow
• Boko bow
• Bomb arrows (crate next to bokoblin shooting bomb arrows)
• Enhanced lizal spear
• Spiked boko bow
• Shock arrows (crate next to bokoblin shooting shock arrows)
• Arrows (crate)
• Spiked boko bow
• Ice arrows (crate next to bokoblin shooting ice arrows)

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 3 food

• Crate next to ice arrow-shooting bokoblin
• Crate next to bomb arrow-shooting bokoblin

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 3 treasure chest

There is a chest floating on a platform held up by four balloons. After you’re done clearing the bokoblins out of this room, you’ll find it floating in a corner over a platform. Shoot the balloon closest to the wall so the floating platform dumps the treasure chest safely onto the platform. Open it for a feathered spear.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 4

Trial of the Sword: Middle Trials: Underground Floor 4 contains the first sub-boss-type fight in this section of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s The Master Trials DLC. You’re in a room that’s very similar to the previous three, but this time you’re up against a guardian.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 4 walkthrough

Just like the last few floors, you have to start moving immediately. The guardian’s going to zero in on you and make your life very difficult, so jump and start paragliding. You can go any direction you want here — just be careful heading straight toward it, and don’t get yourself caught in a corner.

This fight is intimidating, but when you take a breath and take your time, it’s not that hard. You’ve got a lot going for you.

As tough as guardians are, they’re not untouchable. Your first step is to hit it in the eye with an arrow — those shock arrows you picked up on Underground Floor 3 work well here. After that, you can retreat to a nearby platform to recharge, then shoot it in the eye again.

If you prefer to get up close and personal, shoot it in the eye, then paraglide close, draw a strong weapon and hit it until you kill it or it comes to its senses. When it starts targeting you again, get some distance or drop to the platform directly underneath the guardian — it can’t see you here, so you’ll be safe.

Whichever approach you prefer, just (as calmly as you can) keep repeating the process — shoot, maybe hit, recover, repeat.

Once it blows up, collect the treasure chests, clear any crates you can find and move on.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 4 armor, weapons and food

Nearly every underground floor in Trial of the Sword includes some combination of armor, weapons and food that you should collect before leaving and use in subsequent levels. Here’s what you can find in this underground floor.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 4 armor and weapons

• Arrows (in crates to the right of the guardian)
• Arrows (in crates to the right of starting platform)

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 4 food

• None

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 4 treasure chests

There are two treasure chests to collect in Middle Trials: Underground Floor 4. When you’re facing the exit while standing on the guardian’s platform, the first one is on a wooden platform in the far right corner. Shoot the platform with a fire arrow or use a remote bomb, and the chest will drop to the platform below. Try to be there when it lands so you can grab it before it falls off the platform in case it bounces weird. This chest has a soldier’s bow.

The second chest is in the far left corner suspended from three balloons. There are two ways to handle this chest. If you’re feeling confident and if the chest seems pretty stable, just shoot the balloons all at once (or within a couple shots during bullet time) so the chest falls straight down. If the chest is swinging wildly, you’ll have to be a little more careful.

Try taking out the balloons one at a time. Watch where the chest is drifting and only finish it off when it’s close to a platform. Magnesis will let you maneuver the chest some, but it’ll bounce up and down a lot in the updraft. You can use stasis to get it to hold still while you pick off the rest of the balloons. Open this chest for a knight’s shield.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 5

Trial of the Sword: Middle Trials: Underground Floor 5 is the first of two oasis levels you’ll come across in the Trial of the Sword’s Middle Trials in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s The Master Trials DLC. There are no enemies this time. All you have to do here is pick up stuff and prepare for the next set of rooms.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 5 walkthrough

Before anything else — even before you start opening chests or smashing crates — crouch and start heading to the back of the room to collect the fairy.

Now you’re free to pick up anything and everything you can. Open the chests, smash the crates and chop down (or blow up) any trees you can. The firewood is only maybe useful, but the acorns make it worth the effort.

There are three hyrule bass in the water to the left of the cooking pot, a tree with a couple apples and both ironshrooms and hylian mushrooms around the trees on the left side of the room.

Cook up everything you have. Make sure to cook smart — don’t mix effects and use as many ingredients as you can. Use acorns to fill out any meals to five ingredients if you don’t have anything better.

Two ironshrooms and three pieces of meat will get you a tough meal that will increase your defense for a few minutes. Cook up everything you can, then move on to the next floor.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 5 armor, weapons and food

Nearly every underground floor in Trial of the Sword includes some combination of armor, weapons and food that you should collect before leaving and use in subsequent levels. Here’s what you can find in this underground floor.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 5 armor and weapons

• Woodcutter’s axe (leaning against tree in back right of room)
• Arrows (crate on right)
• Torch (next to cooking pot)

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 5 food

• Crates on right side behind chests
• Apples (tree on left side)
• Ironshrooms and hylian shrooms (around trees on left side)
• Hyrule bass (water on left side)

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 5 treasure chest

• Falcon bow (first chest on right)
• Hylian trousers (second chest on right)
• Knight’s broadsword (third chest on right)

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 6

Trial of the Sword: Middle Trials: Underground Floor 6 introduces a new twist on the trials in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s The Master Trials DLC. The next set of rooms are completely dark — until you defeat all the enemies. You just have to do it in the dark.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 6 walkthrough

The first floor of this set of trials is a gentle introduction to the concept. You’re only up against a handful of fire keese and one electric chuchu. The keese (keeses?) only have one hit point (1/4 heart), so you can kill them with literally anything — including a tree branch or torch.

The easiest way to start this floor is to press down on the D-pad. You’ll whistle for a nonexistent horse, which will attract the attention of the two nearest keese and the electric chuchu. Hit the keese with whatever you happen to have equipped, then fire off an arrow at the chuchu. That’ll take it out without endangering you.

If you really feel the need, light the torch you picked up back on the previous floor, but you really don’t need it. Walk straight forward to the next set of torches. About the time you walk over the exit portal, three more keeses will attack from above and behind you. The only thing you have to worry about is catching on fire. So long as you don’t do that, these three keeses are the end of the trial. There’s not even anything to pick up here unless you want some firewood or a few acorns.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 6 armor, weapons and food

Nearly every underground floor in Trial of the Sword includes some combination of armor, weapons and food that you should collect before leaving and use in subsequent levels. Except for this one.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 6 armor and weapons

• None

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 6 food

• None

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 6 treasure chest

• None

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 7

Trial of the Sword: Middle Trials: Underground Floor 7 is another of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s The Master Trials DLC’s pitch black rooms. This is not the gentle introduction of the last floor, though. You’ll be facing four lizalfos in this trial. That’d be a tough challenge in the light, but you’ll be doing this in the dark.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 7 walkthrough

The darkness makes this a hard room to navigate, but you don’t have to go far. Right ahead of you and to the left, there is a brazier next to a tree. Climb up as quietly as you can and look down and to the left. You’ll see a pair of lizalfos eyes glowing in the dark. Start picking on it with a bow or toss some remote bombs at it.

These are fire-breathing lizalfos, so a hand-to-hand fight is not the best way to approach this fight. If you do have to get down close, make sure you’re using a good weapon, and try to keep the distance to a minimum.

The remaining three lizalfos are in the skull-cave in the middle of the room. You can set off the explosives inside with a remote bomb, but getting that close makes it hard to avoid getting noticed. A quicker and easier way to set them off is to fire an arrow into the eye socket of the skull-cave and knock down the lantern.

After the explosions, head into the cave and clean up whoever’s left. You’ll be able see better inside anyway.

If and when you have to fight one of the lizalfos in the dark, there are a few things you can work on to keep the fight even. Watch for the glowing eyes, stay locked on with ZL and keep pressing the attack.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 7 armor, weapons and food

Nearly every underground floor in Trial of the Sword includes some combination of armor, weapons and food that you should collect before leaving and use in subsequent levels. Here’s what you can find in this underground floor.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 7 armor and weapons

• Enhanced lizal spear
• Strengthened lizal bow
• Fire arrows (inside cave)
• Flameblade
• Torch

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 7 food

• Crates inside cave

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 7 treasure chest

• None

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 8

Trial of the Sword: Middle Trials: Underground Floor 8 brings you to the halfway point of the in-the-dark rooms you have to find your way through during The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s The Master Trials DLC. You only have a few more to get through, and this one is easier than the last.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 8 walkthrough

Light a torch or tree branch when you start, then turn to the left. Head all the way to the corner, then turn right. Not far down the wall, you’ll bump into a wizzrobe with a meteor rod.

After it’s dispatched (remember to use stasis to freeze it in place), relight your torch and continue along the wall to the back of the room. Turn right at the corner, and move toward the center of the room slowly. There are three well-armed bokoblins around a fire that will notice you. Stay along the back wall. If you approach slowly, you’ll be able to kite them back to you one at a time.

You’re going to be fighting in the dark again, so keeping the fights to one-on-one is important. You can focus on keeping the bokoblins in sight and locking on — which will put a handy target above their heads.

Once the lights come back on, pick up everything you can find around the campfire. There’s nothing hidden around the edges of the room, so just focus on where the bokoblins were hanging out. Use the campfire if you need to cook anything, then head to the portal.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 8 armor, weapons and food

Nearly every underground floor in Trial of the Sword includes some combination of armor, weapons and food that you should collect before leaving and use in subsequent levels. Here’s what you can find in this underground floor.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 8 armor and weapons

• Meteor rod (wizzrobe)
• Dragonbone boko club
• Soldier’s broadsword
• Soldier’s shield
• Dragonbone boko bat
• Arrows (crates near campfire)
• Torch (next to campfire)

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 8 food

• Seared steak (over campfire)

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 8 treasure chest

• None

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 9

Trial of the Sword: Middle Trials: Underground Floor 9 of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s The Master Trials DLC will pit you against another guardian. In the dark. This is an intimidating room, but you’ve got this.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 9 walkthrough

Don’t bother lighting a torch when you start this room — you’re not going to be able to use it for long, and everywhere you need to worry about is already lit by braziers. There are a few explosive barrels around, but they’re only important to you to know places to avoid. It’s possible to throw them at the guardian and deal some damage, but, in our experience, they’re more likely to explode in your face than make it to the bad guy.

There are platforms in all four corners of the room. You’re going to use them for two things. First, they’ll (mostly) cover you from the laser eye-beams of the guardian. Second, you’re going to jump off of them so you can get some bullet-time arrow shots off at the guardian’s eye.

Pick a corner, run up the stairs, jump off and shoot the guardian in the eye to stun it. If you’re not in a rush (and you have plenty of arrows), you can just run to another corner and repeat the process. If you want to get up close, now’s your chance. Deal some damage, then run back to a wall and take cover.

If you run low on arrows, there are two crates on one of the platforms where you can find a few more.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 9 armor, weapons and food

Nearly every underground floor in Trial of the Sword includes some combination of armor, weapons and food that you should collect before leaving and use in subsequent levels. Here’s what you can find in this underground floor.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 9 armor and weapons

• Arrows (crates)

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 9 food

• None

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 9 treasure chest

• None

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 10

Trial of the Sword: Middle Trials: Underground Floor 10 means you’ve finally made it to the end of the in-the-dark trials in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s The Master Trials DLC. You’re facing a sub-boss this time, which means it’s a tough fight. But it also means you only have one thing to worry about.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 10 walkthrough

Equip a good weapon, your best shield and a decent bow. Now you’re just facing a hinox. You’ve done this before and this time isn’t really that different.

Luckily, the hinox’s eye glows, making it an easy target. When it sits down, rush up and grab the weapons around its neck. This will get you a knight’s bow, a knight’s broadsword and a thunderstorm rod.

As you’re running around, try to keep a brazier between you and the hinox. It’s pretty clumsy, so it tends to set itself on fire. This is just free damage for you.

This hinox is wearing the same metal greaves the one in the Beginning Trials was, so you’re only way to deal damage is to knock it down. Just keep shooting it in the eye (this is becoming a real theme, isn’t it?), then get close and deal as much damage as you can.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 10 armor, weapons and food

Nearly every underground floor in Trial of the Sword includes some combination of armor, weapons and food that you should collect before leaving and use in subsequent levels. Here’s what you can find in this underground floor.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 10 armor and weapons

• Knight’s bow
• Knight’s broadsword
• Thunderstorm rod
• Arrows (barrels)

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 10 food

• None

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 10 treasure chest

• None

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 11

Trial of the Sword: Middle Trials: Underground Floor 11 is your second and final time to catch your breath in this section of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s The Master Trials DLC. This is your chance to recover and prepare for the last few trials.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 11 walkthrough

There are two fairies to collect this time, so sneak your way back and grab them both before they fly away. Fairies are great to have in an emergency. If, however, you still haven’t used the first one you picked up, you can use one or two of the three you now have to cook a meal. The last few rooms you have to fight through aren’t easy, but if you keep using our guides, you probably aren’t going to need all three of those fairies.

Collect everything else in the room — it’s laid out exactly every other refuge room. Get the items out of the chests, smash the crates, collect mushrooms, go fishing and cook yourself some food.

You’ve got a couple more ironshrooms to work with. Make yourself a defense up meal with them. If you have any fleet lotus seeds, a speed increasing meal will come in handy soon. Everything else is up to you. The standard advice applies — use five ingredients at a time whenever you can, don’t mix effects and cook everything. You’re not going to see another cooking pot, so just go to town.

When you’re done cooking, put on the Hylian tunic and get ready to take on the last few rooms.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 11 armor, weapons and food

Nearly every underground floor in Trial of the Sword includes some combination of armor, weapons and food that you should collect before leaving and use in subsequent levels. Here’s what you can find in this underground floor.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 11 armor and weapons

• Arrows (crates behind chests)

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 11 food

• Crates behind chests
• Hyrule bass (water on left)
• Ironshrooms (under tree next to cooking fire)
• Endura shrooms (under tree at back)
• Apples

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 11 treasure chest

• Forest dweller’s sword (first chest)
• Hylian tunic (second chest)
• Forest dweller’s spear (third chest)

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 12

Trial of the Sword: Middle Trials: Underground Floor 12 of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s The Master Trials DLC is a battle between you and several guardian scouts. Like the rest of the first set of levels, this is your introduction to the rest of the Middle Trials. Luckily, there’s a deceptively simple trick that will make this challenge easy.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 12 walkthrough

These guardian scouts are weak to arrows — so weak, in fact, that one hit with a standard arrow will destroy them. You should have plenty of arrows, the most plentiful weapon in Trial of the Sword. All you need to do, really, is make sure you’re only fighting one at a time.

As soon as you gain control of Link, switch to cryonis, and cast two ice pillars in the water directly ahead of you. This will create a makeshift barrier between you and the guardian scouts, blocking all of their attacks.

Now you can equip your bow and arrow. From the safety of cover behind the ice pillars, peek out and snipe the guardian scouts, one by one. And that’s kind of it. Even if you run out from behind your cryonis shield, all you have to do is keep moving. Don’t focus too long on one guardian and take your shots carefully.

After you’ve defeated the guardian scouts, use cryonis to create an ice pillar, so you can reach the platform on the left side of the room. You’ll find a treasure chest with 10 arrows.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 12 armor, weapons and food

Nearly every underground floor in Trial of the Sword includes some combination of armor, weapons and food that you should collect before leaving and use in subsequent levels. Here’s what you can find in this underground floor.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 12 armor and weapons

• None

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 12 food

• None

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 12 treasure chest

• Arrows (on top of platform on left)

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 13

Trial of the Sword: Middle Trials: Underground Floor 13 of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s The Master Trials DLC’s Middle Trials.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 13 walkthrough

Yes, it’s entirely possible to fight these three guardians hand-to-hand. And you might even pull it off. If that’s how you want to handle it, more power to you. But we have a better way: Run away. You don’t even have to sprint. Just run.

Keep making circuits around the outside of the room. Turn the camera to make it look behind you — you’ll be able to keep track of the three guardians as they start chasing you. All you have to do is summon a remote bomb, drop it (don’t throw it) and detonate it when the guardians are on top of it.

This isn’t the fastest way to defeat the guardians, but it’s a way to win that doesn’t use any arrows, doesn’t wear out your weapons and all but guarantees you won’t take any damage. (If you’re looking for speed rather than weapon conservation, using the thunderstorm rod you collected from the Hinox in Underground Floor 10 will make short work of these enemies, as Polygon reader David pointed out to us.)

Once all three of the bad guys blow up, do one more circuit of the room to pick up the weapons they dropped. Now you can move on.

Trial of the Sword: Middle Trials: Underground Floor 13 treasure chest

After defeating the guardians, equip magnesis and head to the largest of the platforms scattered throughout the floor. As you can see in the gallery above, you’ll be able to dislodge a section. Inside you’ll find a treasure chest with a duplex bow, which fires two arrows at once. (Thanks to Polygon reader Kyle for the tip!)

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 13 armor, weapons and food

Nearly every underground floor in Trial of the Sword includes some combination of armor, weapons and food that you should collect before leaving and use in subsequent levels. Here’s what you can find in this underground floor.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 13 armor and weapons

• Guardian sword
• Guardian spear
• Guardian battle axe

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 13 food

• None

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 13 treasure chest

• Duplex bow

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 14

Trial of the Sword: Middle Trials: Underground Floor 14is a battle between you and several guardians in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s The Master Trials DLC. Sadly, you can’t be quite so tricky this time, so you’re going to to have to fight. You can fight smart, though. (In the video above, you’ll see how we approached Middle Trials: Underground Floor 14.)

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 14 walkthrough

First, clear out the four one-shot guardian scouts on the platforms — equip a bow and shoot their eyes, just like always. Take out the two closest to you first, then get moving because the other two will have you targeted and the two weapon-wielding guardian scouts will be awake now.

You can repeat the run-away-and-drop-bombs tricks for most of this fight. You can run right past the guardians without them being able to land a hit. Drop a remote bomb and save the damage to your weapons. If and when it comes to blows, remember that guardian weapons work really well against guardians. Use one of the weapons you picked up on the last floor, and finish off these last two guardians.

Like we wrote for the previous floor, if you’re looking for speed rather than weapon conservation, using the thunderstorm rod you collected from the Hinox in Underground Floor 10 will make short work of these enemies, as Polygon reader David pointed out to us.

Pick up any weapons the two mobile guardians dropped. Use magnesis to pull up an underwater treasure chest and open it for an eightfold longblade. (Thanks to Polygon reader Kyle for the tip!)

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 14 armor, weapons and food

Nearly every underground floor in Trial of the Sword includes some combination of armor, weapons and food that you should collect before leaving and use in subsequent levels. Here’s what you can find in this underground floor.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 14 armor and weapons

• Guardian shield x2
• Guardian sword x2

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 14 food

• None

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 14 treasure chest

• Eightfold longblade

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 15

Trial of the Sword: Middle Trials: Underground Floor 15 raises the stakes on the guardian trials you’ve been working through in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s The Master Trials DLC. You’re up against a pair of dual-wielding guardians that are not happy to see you.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 15 walkthrough

There’s no secret to this fight. You’ve got two guardians to deal with and not a lot of room for maneuvering. Equip one of the guardian shields you picked up on the last floor and one of the guardian weapons you’ve picked up lately. (You can also use the thunderstorm rod you collected from the Hinox in Underground Floor 10, as Polygon reader David pointed out to us.)

Use some combination of rune powers (especially stasis and remote bombs), keep moving, use the pillars and corners for cover and get your hits in where you can. This is just a beefed-up version of the Modest Test of Strength shrines you’ve faced before.

Whenever one of the guardians goes into defensive mode — the head-spinning red laser attack or the weapon-spinning rush attack — use a remote bomb to dissuade it, get behind something and focus on the other one or use the updraft the spinning attack creates, paraglide into it and use your bullet time attacks with your bow and arrow.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 15 armor, weapons and food

Nearly every underground floor in Trial of the Sword includes some combination of armor, weapons and food that you should collect before leaving and use in subsequent levels. Here’s what you can find in this underground floor.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 15 armor and weapons

• Ancient battle axe
• Guardian spear
• Guardian sword+
• Guardian shield+

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 15 food

• None

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 15 treasure chest

• None

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 16

Trial of the Sword: Middle Trials: Underground Floor 16 is a battle between you and a powerful guardian scout IV wielding a Guardian Spear+, Guardian Sword+ and an Ancient Battle Axe+. In effect, it’s a Major Test of Strength, like in Chaas Qeta shrine.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 16 walkthrough

One hit from the guardian’s axe will cost you nine hearts. The only way to beat your opponent is to be smart about using all of the tools at your disposal.

The guardian scout IV is weak to guardian weapons, and you should have plenty from the last few levels. Equip your strongest guardian weapon and shield. This is also a good a place to eat a meal that boosts your defense — you don’t have any other fights after this one, so you’re safe to eat whatever you need to.

If you’re confident in your ability to perform a backflip and a perfect guard, by all means use them to unleash a flurry rush on the guardian scout IV. These advanced moves have a built-in risk-reward, though: Miss, and you’ll take a lot of damage. We decided to avoid them, given the limited amount of healing items we had. The risk seemed too high for the reward.

Instead, we relied heavily on stasis, which has a similar (albeit shorter) effect. Cast stasis on the guardian scout IV, and it’ll be defenseless for a few moments, during which you can unleash a smaller flurry of attacks … and then run away from any retaliation.

In short, cast stasis, hit the guardian scout IV several times while it’s immobilized and run away. We particularly like the spear, though it’s low damage, you get a lot of hits in. And it tends to knock the guardian scout IV back, which helps with the whole not getting hit thing.

When the guardian scout IV hunkers down and shoots its laser in a circle, approach and jump to catch the updraft. Deploy your bow and arrow and shoot until you run out of stamina.

When the guardian scout IV unleashes its powerful laser canon attack, you can do a couple of things:

• Run behind a pillar to avoid the first attack, though keep in mind that the pillar will crumble when it’s hit.
• It’s surprisingly easy to avoid the lasers at a distance. Just you walk laterally. You don’t even have to run.

Don’t hesitate to use your arrows, especially if you cast stasis from a distance. Even your standard arrows chip away at the guardian scout IV’s health, and every little bit counts.

When you defeat the guardian scout IV, you’ll return to Korok Forest, and your Master Sword will gain another 10 points of damage.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 16 armor, weapons and food

Nearly every underground floor in Trial of the Sword includes some combination of armor, weapons and food that you should collect before leaving and use in subsequent levels. Here’s what you can find in this underground floor.

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 16 armor and weapons

• None

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 16 food

• None

Middle Trials: Underground Floor 16 treasure chest

• None