Zelda BotW 3-Heart Challenge

BotW is a wonderful game when it comes to gameplay freedom and replayability. An age-old tradition in Zelda is completing the game with the minimum amount of hearts, so Link feels more vulnerable and the game's difficulty is pushed up a little bit. In BotW's case, however, the game is already rather hard on you in places. And it has Master Mode. What mad person would want to take on more challenge?

Well, zlg does at least. :)

This is a bog-standard challenge for the Zelda series, but Breath of the Wild gives players more variations – and thus pathways – the player can take with their run. This page will try to cover some ideas that ZLG and MD Monster have come up with.

Before we advance to the variations, let's establish what every "legit" 3-heart run's limitations should be. We'll call this the base requirements, or "Core 3-heart":

• Complete the main story. Only the main quest is required.
• Complete all of the DLC main quests.
• Activate all twelve towers.
• When you leave the Great Plateau, your first actual goal is to get the Master Sword. There is a glitch involving a horse and warping to specific locations before going into the Lost Woods in order to glitch our way to acquiring it without the 13-heart requirement, saving us from completing 40 shrines. TODO: Find a link to a vid or guide for how to do this.

More on the Master Sword later.

• You must get the Master Sword before entering any Divine Beasts. This is to force the player to work within the limitations of the run. The glitch isn't difficult and it makes for a fun run.
• Armor may only be upgraded to 2-star level, to grant the bonuses of wearing the full set, but not enough to max its defense. Variations on this are allowed, to influence difficulty as needed. More on that later.
• After getting the Master Sword, you may only use wooden or blunt melee weapons when it's recharging. If the Master Sword is usable, you must equip it.

In addition to the above criteria, some players may want to add extra limitations, or modify existing rules, to twist up the gameplay and keep things fresh. The list will be sorted by category, then alphabetically.

You may only use the Master Sword as a melee weapon, even before getting it. Falling back to non-tool weapons (even when the Master Sword is recharging) is not allowed.

May only use Sheikah Slate skills, until gaining a bow. You may use the bow as a backup, but the idea is to only use magic items as your main weapon:

• Fire Rod
• Meteor Rod
• Ice Rod
• Blizzard Rod
• Lightning Rod
• Thunderstorm Rod

May be combined with the Sheikah Warrior variation to get a Sheikah mage. :)

If you run out of magic, you are permitted to use the Master Sword long enough to finish or escape a fight.

Must use metal weapons only! If you're in a thunderstorm, unequip your metal items and use the Sheikah Slate for combat, if you must fight. This variation is a reversal of the main run's restriction.

May only use Sheikah Slate skills, until gaining a bow. After that point, you may use boomerangs, Sheikah weapons, and Ancient weapons. For maximum accuracy, you should wear the Sheikah equipment as soon as possible and wear it for the entire run.

Armor may not be upgraded.

You may only eat or drink items that have animals in them. Chicken, steak, bugs and monster parts in elixirs… bask in the delicious food out there and hunt! Eggs and milk are permitted since they come from animals, too.

You may not eat raw food. Roasted food may only be eaten if you accidentally picked it up.

May not eat meat or eggs, or drink milk or elixirs of any kind (animal byproduct). In short, if it comes from another non-plant lifeform, it's off-limits. Enjoy your salads! ( we should make a list of allowed food so it's more obvious)

May not eat meat, unless it's to get rid of it. You must be at full health, via non-meat items, to do this. (if you know of a way to discard cooked meat without eating it, please tell me!) (also we need to get a list of items that get added onto the Vegan list, such as milk and eggs, to get Vegetarian since the latter is just a less-restrictive version of the former)