It is truly a testament to the genius of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild that we are still discovering new mechanics in the game five years on. One such detail that has passed us by unnoticed for all this time has been recently brought to our attention by Gaming Reinvented, and it concerns the order in which the game's three dragons drop their valuable items.
Anyone who has poured enough hours into Breath of the Wild (and we assume that is most of you) will know of the art of farming items from dragons. Soaring into the sky via an updraft while that twinkling piano takes over the score - it is one of the game's most magical moments. Of course shooting arrows at the flying dragons gains you a number of rewards depending on where you strike - scale, claw, horn or fang.
Except, it's not that simple. As Gaming Reinvented's above video outlines, the first arrow hit on a dragon will always produce a scale as a reward, regardless of where you strike. Aiming for Dinraal's horn? Scale. Farosh's fang? Scale. Naydra's claws - well, you get the picture.
But why would Nintendo do this? What if you really wanted to upgrade your armour and needed horns? The answer, it seems, is quite simple. There are three shrines hidden across Breath of the Wild's Hyrule which require a dragon scale to enter (Jitan Sa'mi Shrine, Tutsuwa Nima Shrine and Shae Katha Shrine). By ensuring that each dragon will drop a scale as their first item by default, the game is ensuring that each of these shrines is accessible with the least hassle on Link's part - how kind!
Of course, once you have made this initial shot, the dragon farming trade is open for business and you can load up on fangs, claws and horns to your heart's extent. We're sure the dragons won't mind, probably.
For more information of how to access these shrines and all others in the game, check out our handy guide below:
What do you make of this Breath of the Wild find? Ride the updraft into the comments and let us know!
[source youtube.com]
Comments 21
I thought this was common knowledge...
@cowntsikin
Everything can be "Common Knowledge" depending on which community you're referring to.
I'm sure there's a subset of BotW fans who have never even seen the shrines that require the dragon scales at all.
I bet there's even a subset of BotW fans who didn't know you could get materials from the dragons in the first place.
There must even be fans who have never even seen the dragons at all.
Some people enjoy figuring out the nitty-gritty, and some people only get a broad surface-level understanding of the games they play.
Never assume anything is common knowledge. Because even if it is, that doesn't mean it's not worth talking about.
Still have one more shrine to find, damn need to go back to this.
It was only the other day when I was reading through the official guide that I really acknowledged you could get anything other than scales when you hit them (despite putting in 125+ hours by this point). I guess my shot was just bad enough that I was only ever hitting the body...
I spoke to CM30 from Gaming Reinvented and as it turns out that even if you have already obtained Dragon scales from Hyrule Castle, your first arrow on the dragons still give you a scale no matter what. Not only does this mean you can access the Shrines earlier, but it also means you can avoid the dragons altogether.
such a weird design call. speeds up access to those shrines but simultaneously sends confusing messages about how dragons work.
I’ve played through it twice now and had no idea about this. I still wondered what the dragons were for 😂
I'm surprised this is deemed worthy of a minor news article. The game makes this especially obvious during the Naydra sequence, as its the only one where the game makes you attack the dragon to access the shrine as part of a shrine quest. And yeah, as @rupert_the_giantbear said, it actually sends mixed messages. I don't remember how I learned that you could get shards of claws, fans and horns, but by forcing a scale on the first encounter the game is actually confusing things because it breaks its rules about consistency.
Most people will be aware that you can source materials from the dragons. The Naydra side quest forces it, the Dinraal quest in the DLC forces it too and should you miss both of those then the game also provides you with some dragon items in chests. Not to mention the fact that the game generally teaches you to use your bow to attack anything. The dragons even show up in the monsters section of the bestiary.
Yeah this was definitely common knowledge for those who played long enough. Eventually you see mat requirements that mention claws, horns and fangs. It becomes pretty obvious what you need to do in order to obtain them.
I blame that mechanic for thinking for the longest time that dragons dropped only scales and never considered the possibility that aiming for body parts could yield different treasures
@Bunkerneath I'm curious if your last shrine will be a puzzle or one of those Major/Minor "Test of Strength" guardian battles.😁🤣
I also think this is borderline not worthy of an article, but what made me click on the link is the "makes it easier to unlock every shrine".
I guess it's technically correct, but I feel like that headline is a bit misleading. It makes it easier to unlock the shrines tied to dragon scales, and technically those are part of every shrine, but still....
I thought this was an article about how to skip the scales, both because I read too fast, and because I thought the fact of the scales was common knowledge. I hate when you fire on the dragon, and the scripted location of the scale's landing site is REALLY far away or up high. Naydra at the east gate of Lanayru Road, we're looking at you.
@EarthboundBenjy I fall into the subset of fans (that own the game) who didn't even know the game HAD dragons to begin with. Plus all the other stuff in the article.
@Bunkerneath I once couldn't find my last shrine. I looked all over for it with radar and fast travel. But as was often the case with BotW I only found it when I stopped looking. I stopped climbing over mountains and just started trotting around on horseback and kept to the roads and pretty quickly I stumbled upon it.
I hope you find yours too!
I didn't realize at first that other things could drop. I found the spring of courage first but Naydra was the first dragon I saw and that made it obvious 1) how to open the spring of courage, and 2) that there was a spring of power.
On my master mode playthrough I was sad to find that you can pick up scales for 2 of the dragons in Hyrule Castle but not the third (or anywhere) and the dragons only appear after you talk to Impa the first time so it's impossible to get all three springs without talking to her (I wanted to do a no Impa run).
Still have yet to try an "All for divine beasts before Impa" run. Or to get all shrines on my master mode file. So many fun ways to play.
I've put in probably 100 hrs and I still hadn't quite worked out how to get anything but scales... basically for lack of trying. Armed with this knowledge, my next encounter with a dragon will be very different! Ty.
Removed - unconstructive
That was a really thick accent, I barely understood what he's talking.
Just so much to do. So much love went into this game. Bring on the sequel!!
@EarthboundBenjy You must be fun at parties...
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