The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom sees the series return to a top-down view, but that doesn’t make this a traditional entry in the series. Not only does it star Princess Zelda, but most of your time won’t be spent swinging a sword; instead you’ll use echoes, duplicates of items or monsters, to solve puzzles and complete combat encounters. This fresh design also means that you might be a bit lost to start, or overwhelmed by all of the tools at your disposal. Luckily we have some tips to help you on your journey to save Link and Hyrule.
Spin to win
Spinning is one of the earliest skills you learn to use in Echoes of Wisdom, but its versatility cannot be understated. Not only can you destroy grass and some breakable objects like pots, but it can also be used to move quickly. Spinning is always faster than walking and it makes you move faster in water too. Plus it puts out fire faster, parrying some weak projectiles, and can help you out pace some tougher enemies that come out of the rifts.
Smoothie time
Making smoothies is a simplified version of the cooking system from Breath of the Wild, where you can combine any two ingredients to make a smoothie. The smoothies can have healing effects, alongside familiar bonuses, like resistances to weather and various buffs. Once you make a combination for the first time the smoothie vendor will remember the result, so you can check your recipes if you wish to make more of a particular smoothie. A great combo for healing is Milk and Salt, which sounds horrific to actually drink, but in Echoes of Wisdom it offers Sword Fighter energy and a good amount of hearts.
Tough Desert Mangos
Speaking of delicious–and gross–smoothies, you should consider heading to the Gerudo Desert early in the game. There is a tent near the Oasis in the center of the Gerudo Desert, where there is research being done on Tough Mangos. You can pay 10 Rupees to play a minigame, where you must spin and collect a bunch of mangos, some of which you will get to keep afterwards. These mangos give you a 30% damage reduction buff when blended with another ingredient in a smoothie, which is super helpful early in the game when you only have a few hearts to work with.
Jump the Ropes
Ropes are a type of enemy that look like a green snake and rush you when they see you. Since Zelda can’t dodge side-to-side, the best way to avoid these attacks is to jump over them. Perhaps that’s why they’re named that?
A new perspective
While Echoes of Wisdom typically has a locked angle for you to see the world, there are a few additional camera controls. If you click in R3 (the right analogue stick) the game will shift to a fully top-down camera angle, which can help you see some objects that are hidden behind others. The other option is to move the right sticks, which lets you move the camera slightly away from your body. This lets you do a little bit of scouting before heading into a new area.
Binding is versatile
The Bind ability is one of the first non-echo abilities you gain access to. It’s introduced as a way to move large inanimate objects, but it’s useful for navigation and combat too. For navigation you can attach yourself to moving objects (or even your own creations) and move the same way they do. For combat, you can lock down moving enemies to make them easier for your echoes to hit, or just move them over water or a cliff for an instant KO.
Early echoes to unlock
Speaking of navigation, there are a couple of early game echoes you should make sure to grab, since they can make navigation much easier. The Crawtula is a black spider that can be found in Suthorn Prairie, right after you close the first major rift. If you bind to the Crawtula after placing it and follow its movements, you can scale most cliffsides. The Flying Tile can be found in a cave in the northwestern part of the Gerudo Desert–you will need to scale a cliffside to reach the cave–and it can be used as a slight step up, to cross gaps, and to attack enemies. The Buzzblob found in the Faron region attacks immediately upon summoning and sends out a damaging shockwave when wet, making it useful in combat.
Refuel Swordfighter energy
If you have run out of Swordfighter energy, you can easily refuel by finding the nearest rift and looking for a black blob coming out of it. This blob will track you down and spawn some rift enemies, which drop Swordfighter energy when defeated. These blobs will respawn fairly quickly, so you can always refill on Swordfighter energy before taking on your next challenge.
Free healing from beds
Sleeping in a bed will slowly refill your hearts, making it a great way to heal in between combat encounters without using any resources. Since you can create a bed whenever you want this becomes especially convenient, albeit a bit slow. You can slightly speed up this process by getting out of bed whenever you get healed and getting back in, which is slightly faster than just staying in bed for however long it takes to fully heal.
More accessories
At the start of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Zelda can only equip a single piece of equipment. Once you have the Rupees, you should visit the Great Fairy in the middle of Lake Hylia. You can get up to four additional slots; the first costs 100 Rupees, the second 300, the third 500, and the fourth 1,000. More equipment means more bonuses from equipment. Lake Hylia can be found just east of Suthorn Prairie, with the Great Fairy in a cave in the center of the lake.
Pots can be useful
While you probably feel an instinctual drive to break pots to find Rupees, they have other uses as well. You can hide inside pots from enemies if you are trying to sneak past them, or just need a breather from combat. On top of that, jumping out of pots also gives you a slighter higher jump than normal, making it a nice step stool to reach areas that are just out of range.
The Swordfighter can jump
Another way to reach higher places that are out of your normal jumping range is to switch over into Swordfighter mode. In Swordfighter form your jump is much higher than Zelda’s normal jump, so it’s a quick and simple way to reach a high platform if you don’t have an echo for that particular situation.
Peahats cut grass
The Peahat echo, a round plant-like creature with four green leaves on its head, has a special skill that you can utilize. That skill is to spin, which it will do if placed into a grass field. This means a Peahat can clear a field of grass for you. It saves you a bit of time to use a lawnmower instead of spinning through the field yourself.
An easy method for pesky flying enemies
You will encounter flying enemies fairly often in Echoes of Wisdom, who will dive bomb you from out of reach in a real annoying way. But there are a couple easy methods to deal with these enemies. If you hold a flaming object or monster echo, the dive bombing enemy will go through the flame and set itself on fire, dealing a ton of damage or fully defeating the enemy. You can also spawn a monster to attack and use bind on the dive bombing enemy when they come down, holding them in place for your echo to attack.
An endless fountain of knowledge
The sign echo can be found early on and while it doesn’t have too many practical uses, it does have one. Everytime you create a sign, it has some text written on it. Often it’s gibberish, but occasionally it has real game tips, offering useful information for your journey.
Crows love money
Crows can be found in the Gerudo desert and these pesky enemies have a special perk when used as an echo for combat. That perk is the first time they attack an enemy, it causes them to drop a bunch of Rupees. The Crow will even pick up the Rupees for you if they are near them, making it a nice way to build up your money.
We have gliders at home
Zelda has no need for a Breath of the Wild-style glider, as you can use pretty much any flying echo you have as a glider. Create the flying echo, including any winged echoes or even the Peahat, pick them up and walk off the cliff. Just keep in mind this won’t last forever, so prioritize reaching the ground over covering distance.