One Of Zelda: TOTK’s Best Fuse Items Is Better Used Elsewhere

Aug 04, 2023

Although Fuse is highly useful in Zelda: TOTK, especially since items break so easily, some items have other, better uses and shouldn’t be Fused.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom lets people customize their combat with the Fuse ability, but some of the strongest materials are better off saved for other purposes. The problem is that it isn't always clear which items can be used for more than just for Fuse or if being used as Fuse Materials is the best option. Luckily, there are plenty of ordinary materials to use with Fuse that are easy to farm, so sacrifices don't need to be made to equipment power.

To help find Princess Zelda and defeat Ganondorf, Link has new abilities in Zelda: TOTK. While all of these new abilities prove highly useful throughout the game, many will find themselves relying heavily on Fuse. This mechanic attaches a material to Link's weapon, resulting in benefits including straight bonus damage, added elemental damage, and increased attack range. However, there's a bit of risk in using Fuse Materials because they'll break after a certain number of hits, or can be Unfused, which results in the material being destroyed. So, once a material is used, it cannot be retrieved.

Yes, Lizalfos Tails are a strong Fuse Material in Zelda: TOTK. They add range to Link's weapon and elemental damage depending on the type of Lizalfos Tail obtained. However, Lizalfos Tails are also used as armor upgrade materials by the Great Fairies in TOTK, and obtaining variations aside from the regular Tails can take a while since they seem to have a low drop rate. As an added layer of difficulty, different types of Lizalfos Tails are used to upgrade different armors, and that can make farming them a long process.

For example, Fire-Breath Lizalfos Tails are used to upgrade armor sets such as the Snowquill Set and Yiga Clan Attire. Fully upgrading both sets will cost 48 Fire-Breath Lizalfos Tails, and Fire-Breath Lizalfos spawn in only two locations: Eldin's Flank and Gerudo Canyon. And to make things more difficult, the Fire-Breath Lizalfos spawn only during the day in Gerudo Canyon, with Ice-Breath Lizalfos spawning at night. It's more likely to get an abundance of Lizalfos Horns while farming for Tails, and that can add an unpleasant grind to Zelda: TOTK.

Being able to upgrade armor in Zelda: TOTK is useful and can help Link survive against more difficult enemies and bosses, but the game doesn't make it easy to buy those upgrades. First, the Great Fairies must be unlocked through side quests, which involve carting around an NPC who freaks out and makes Link restart the journey if he feels the slightest bit threatened - even if the threat is the wagon tipping over a bit. Then, all the materials needed to upgrade armor must be collected, which alone can be time-consuming, depending on which upgrade is needed.

Armor upgrades are also not helped by Zelda: TOTK's loot from chests problem, where most chests don't have any particularly useful items. The chests in Shrines are huge offenders for this since most of them simply provide a bundle of arrows. Zelda: TOTK has a lot of great features and successfully implemented physics-based systems like Fuse, but the way that upgrading armor works is one aspect that can feel like a time-consuming grind.

All armor upgrades are done through the Great Fairies, but story-wise, it's never explained why they need all the items and Rupees you exchange for an upgrade. While the items could be written off as the Great Fairies needing some kind of essence from them to transfer to the gear, it seems like a lot to need up to 10 of one item in addition to more items to upgrade a single piece of armor. Overall, Zelda: TOTK could have used a different upgrade system and then used the Great Fairies to bestow abilities or general upgrades like in previous games.

Similar to how Zelda: TOTK's best armor set isn't worth getting, a lot of armor upgrades aren't worth the time it takes to farm the required materials. It turns into a slog that feels like it might've been added to be purposely time-consuming, given how long it can take to farm Lizalfos Tails alone and the likelihood of using upgrade materials for Fuse before knowing that it's better to save them. This can add an element of frustration, as Link is forced to go back and farm materials because of this unawareness.

An alternative upgrade set-up that could be used in the next Zelda game is to have crafter NPCs spread out among the large villages; perhaps their workshops need some kind of repair side quest to be able to access the upgrades offered at that location. This way, people could also see what materials they should start saving or farming at an earlier point in the game. Then, the Great Fairies can return to bestowing more mystical boosts like in Ocarina of Time, such as general defense increases or attack damage buffs. Although, that's assuming that the next Zelda has a similar armor system as BOTW and TOTK.

Lizalfos Tails can be tempting to use with Fuse because they're so powerful with the combination of increased range and elemental damage, depending on the type used. However, some might use these difficult-to-farm materials for Fuse without realizing that some armor upgrades require them. Depending on when the Great Fairies' side quests are taken, it's common not to realize that Lizalfos Tails are valuable upgrade materials until later in the game. Hopefully, tweaks will be made to item drops, chest loot, and the armor upgrade system when the next Zelda game is under development to make it even better than The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Source: Nintendo of America/YouTube