How to Get and Use Armor in Zelda: BOTW

As any Legend of Zelda player knows, it's dangerous to go alone through Hyrule. You need to protect yourself with armor, masks, and other items. In Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, armor—and matching armor sets—can provide all kinds of special effects and bonuses to help you survive challenges.

How to Get and Use Armor in Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Pieces of armor are throughout Hyrule in Zelda: Breath of the Wild. You can buy some armor pieces in shops in villages and others you can discover in Shrines. Some of the best armors are rewards for completing adventures within the main story quest or finishing side quests. It pays to be curious: Open chests when you find them, go into stores, do side quests, and you'll find great armor sets.

Once you've got a piece of armor in your inventory, put it on by selecting it, pressing A, and then selecting Equip and pressing A again.

How to Get Armor Upgrades in Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Each piece of armor offers unique protection and effects. You can enhance its power and effectiveness by upgrading your armor. Upgrades for each piece of armor in BOTW use different ingredients, so it pays to collect as many monster parts, precious stones, Guardian parts, and animals as you can.

To upgrade your armor, go to a Fairy Fountain. You can find the Fairy Fountains here:

At first, the fairies are sleeping, and you need rupees to wake them. It costs more to wake each successive fairy (100 rupees at first and up to 10,000 rupees for the final one), so save your cash.

Fairies take your current armor and the items in your inventory to upgrade your armor sets to be even more effective. When you have awoken one fairy, you can upgrade armor by one level. With two fairies awake, you can upgrade armor by two levels, and so on.

An Overview of All Armor Sets in Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Ready to start hunting for the armor set you need for that tough fight or tricky mission? Here's all the available armor in Zelda: BOTW, what it does, and where to find it.

Armor Sets

These are the main armor sets available in BOTW. Some you buy, some you earn in side quests, and some you find on missions.

Amiibo Armor

These armor sets are only available when you buy the related Amiibo and use it with your Switch.

Other Armors, Jewelry, and Masks

This grab bag of Zelda: Breath of the Wild armor, masks, and jewelry can be found or purchased in the game, while some pieces are only available when you purchase the DLC expansion packs (which we recommend. They're fun!).