How to increase weapon durability in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Weapon durability is back in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and with it comes interesting ways to circumvent your weapon exploding in your hands. Fabricating weapons can yield interesting results, but Tears of the Kingdom’s Fuse system largely functions on how sturdy the base of your weapon is. This will play into how durable a weapon is, though there are some methods for (very marginally) increasing weapon durability.

However, if you’re looking to somehow reset the durability of your weapons in Tears of the Kingdom, you’re out of luck. Un-Fusing items in Tarrey Town will not revert any deterioration a weapon has received. This also goes for the method of un-Fusing weapons and shields by destroying the materials attached to it directly through your inventory. But5 some item combinations that can outright make a weapon last longer.

How to increase weapon durability in Tears of the Kingdom

To create a weapon with a high amount of durability, you’ll initially want to avoid using a decayed item as the base. This includes weapons made out of metals, as Ganondorf’s return has impacted certain items with an enigmatic affliction called gloom.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

Gloom essentially afflicts any metal-based weapons with decreased durability, which extends to swords and spears found throughout the world. Interestingly enough, Zonai weapons are unaffected by gloom. So if you can find a strong Zonite sword (which can be obtained on the sky islands) and Fuse a diamond to it, you can create a pretty powerful weapon that will last a decent amount of time.

Additionally, Fusing decayed weapons as the second component to a weapon will sometimes cause your weapons to shatter and combust — so avoid that. For example, Fusing a rusty claymore and a sturdy thick stick caused the rusty claymore break before the sturdy thick stick even reached its minimum durability.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

You can also check and see when a weapon is about to break by going into your inventory. If the weapon or piece is glowing red, there is a chance that it will break extremely soon. If you want to save the attached material or weapon, head to Tarrey Town and speak to Pelison. This can help you save rarer materials like rubies, diamonds, and sapphires.

Ultimately, you can’t outright get rid of weapon durability, but you can stave off weapons shattering in your hands for extended periods of time. Using diamonds to increase the general durability of an item — not to mention that diamonds boost the attack of your weapon by 20 points of damage — make them a incredibly valuable. So definitely consider heading back to Tarrey Town to save your diamonds if a weapon they’re Fused to is about to break.