Being Sneaky and Enemy Detection

Learn how to master stealth in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Discover crouch-walking, Sneakstrikes, and enemy detection states to gain the upper hand.

Hey there! Combat in Breath of the Wild can be pretty tough if you're not quite nailing the dodges and blocks yet. But don't worry, the game gives you a super useful way to handle enemy camps and tricky situations: stealth! Using sneaky tactics can seriously give you an advantage, so it's definitely worth getting the hang of. Let's break down how to be a silent ninja!

Here's how to stay hidden:

• Crouch-walking: When you press the crouch button, Link becomes way quieter. This is perfect for getting up close to enemies to scope them out. If an enemy starts to get suspicious because you're making too much noise, just crouch down to instantly quiet yourself until they lose interest.
• Sneakstrike: Just like in a lot of other games, if you can creep up behind an enemy without them noticing, Link can pull off a devastating backstab. This will either instantly defeat them or deal a massive chunk of damage.

Understanding Enemy Awareness

Enemies have three different 'states' of awareness that change how they act towards you. You can tell which state they're in by the color of the little question mark icon that pops up above their heads. Knowing these will help you plan your approach:

• Anonymous: This is the default state. You won't see any question marks, meaning the enemies haven't spotted you. They'll just be doing their usual patrol routes, which you can watch from a distance to figure out the best time to strike or sneak past.
• Suspicious: You'll see a yellow question mark above an enemy's head. When they're suspicious, they'll look in your direction and might start moving towards you. If you let them get too close, or if you're standing out in the open where they can see you, that yellow mark will slowly turn red. If it fills up completely red, they'll become aggressive and attack! But, if you can quickly break line of sight and duck behind some cover, they'll usually lose interest pretty fast.
• Conflict: This is when they've spotted you and are ready to fight! Enemies will attack on sight. Your options here are to defeat them all, or to run away, break their line of sight, and hide until they calm down and stop searching for you.