Link (Ocarina Of Time) Amiibo
Image: Zion Grassl / Nintendo Life

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild had some extensive and impressive support for amiibo, Nintendo's series of NFC-enabled figurines. The arrival of this prequel hack-and-slash adventure begs the question: What do amiibo unlock in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity?

The answer is... well, the answer might be a little disappointing if you were expecting something similar to Breath of the Wild's amiibo costume unlocks. Then again, it seems that there aren't any items locked behind hard-to-find amiibo figures, either, so that's a good, no? Read on for the full skinny.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity amiibo Guide

How do you use amiibo in Age of Calamity?

To use any or all of your amiibo collection with Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, simply navigate to the 'amiibo' option on the start screen. Select this and you'll be shown a graphic letting you know that you should press your chosen amiibo to the indicated area of your controller to unlock goodies (the part of your right Joy-Con or Pro Controller which houses the NFC reader) to unlock goodies. Simples!

You can scan up to five amiibo per day — that's any five amiibo, not just the Zelda series ones.

What do you unlock with amiibo in Age of Calamity?

The amiibo unlocks in Age of Calamity are useful, if unexciting. Scanning amiibo unlocks materials (food items, insects, etc) which may help you complete Quests, or weapons (potentially with Seals) that can be sold, fused or wielded as you wish.

Following a long period of testing, the amiibo unlocks appear to be totally random, so don't go expecting sexy weaponry from Zelda series amiibo or costumes for Link, as was the case in Breath of the Wild. There may be a tendency to character specific weapons from Zelda series figures, although we’ll need to test further to come to any concrete conclusions. All the weapons are obtainable in-game, too, so you’re not missing out on much if you don’t have amiibo.

We still recommend scanning whatever figures you’ve got daily — there are plenty of Quests to tick off your list and every little helps! It seems, though, that the unlocks aren't as juicy as they might have been.

Disappointing? A little, although it's also a relief that we don't have to hunt down a missing Link from our collection just so we can unlock a particularly fetching hat or access to Epona or something. Phew! (says our wallet.)


Had a particularly good drop from scanning an amiibo? We'll be updating this guide with more information soon. In the meantime, feel free to let us know in the comments which ones you have the best luck with.

If you're new to the game, you might want to check out our Age Of Calamity Tips and Beginner's Guide. You can also find out about the playable character roster in our Age of Calamity unlockable character guide, and there's also our Age of Calamity Korok location guide if you're having trouble finding the hidden Koroks.