Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom - 7 Beginner Tips

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom presents a unique gameplay experience, with new mechanics and abilities for the Princess to master.

She can summon various echoes from the ether to solve puzzles and battle enemies, and also transform into a swordfighter form, wielding sword strikes, piercing arrows, and explosive bombs.

There are over 120 echoes to discover throughout Hyrule, each offering different applications.

Upon defeating an enemy or encountering a new item for the first time, approach it to claim it as an echo. Unclaimed echoes are easily identifiable by their glowing gold aura.

Echoes of Wisdom encourages experimentation with its mechanics, similar to Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

To enhance the gameplay experience, try using different echoes regularly, even for simple tasks like climbing or defeating enemies.

Initially, Zelda's swordfighter form is presented as a powerful ability to be used sparingly due to its limited energy reserves. However, these reserves replenish quickly by defeating enemies and destroying objects, making it a more readily available option.

Think of the swordfighter form as a regular part of your equipment. When you are surrounded by enemies or need to clear a room quickly, switching to the swordfighter form and swinging your sword or throwing a bomb is much less frustrating than relying on echoes, which may not be as effective. It’s also important to regularly upgrade your abilities and keep an eye out for power crystals.

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You gain the ability to upgrade your swordfighter form after completing the first major dungeon. Lueberry’s Hut, located just south of Castle Town, is a place you will frequent throughout the game. You can exchange power crystals to upgrade your sword, bow, bombs, and energy. However, it can be easy to overlook this if you aren’t exploring the open world regularly.

You’ll gain new abilities at a steady pace, but they start at Level 1 and need to be upgraded repeatedly to match the power of your sword. Make sure to visit Lueberry’s Hut after each major dungeon and spend all your crystals. This ensures you are strong enough for whatever challenges lie ahead and prevents you from accumulating unused crystals.

Echoes of Wisdom doesn’t explicitly introduce smoothies at any specific point in the game. Instead, you stumble upon a smoothie-making merchant and figure it out on your own. While it isn’t overly complicated, it is possible to miss them entirely.

Don’t overlook them, because just like cooking in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, smoothies can be crucial to your survival. By combining two ingredients, you can create smoothies that heal your entire health bar, protect you from ice, fire, and lightning, or even speed up certain actions.

If you enter dungeons without a supply of smoothies – you can carry plenty – you are entirely reliant on sleeping on bed echoes or finding hearts in the environment to stay alive.

Zelda can find numerous quests around Hyrule, particularly after she abandons her disguise and is free to wear a variety of outfits. Some side quests offer rewards you shouldn’t miss, such as a costume that allows you to talk to cats or an accessory that detects power crystals. Others provide a few rupees.

Although they might seem simple, these quests are worthwhile because of the stories they offer. As you move through the main story, new quests will appear, giving you plenty of reasons to explore Hyrule and revisit locations you've already explored. There are many surprises waiting to be discovered, and the game is much more enjoyable if you embrace this approach from the beginning.

At the start of Echoes of Wisdom, you can only equip one accessory. This limited loadout makes it difficult to switch between buffs when you find new items. Therefore, you'll want to increase your accessory slots, which can be easily purchased for a few rupees.

You can buy additional accessory slots from the Great Fairy Fountain located in the middle of Lake Hylia. You'll need to deal with a small rift to reach it, but once you do, it becomes a permanent location where you can spend rupees. Zelda can have a maximum of five slots, and we recommend obtaining them as soon as possible to maximize your skills in dungeons.