In Hyrule Warriors, each weapon can hold skills that have innate effects to make fights easier or more fun. They can increase elemental strength, make hearts easier to find, increase rupee yield, and lots more! With so many weapon and skill combos to choose from, not all of them can be the best, so we’re here to find the best weapon skills out of all Hyrule Warriors. End-game skills such as legendary or master sword exclusive ones will be excluded.
10. Special+
Special+ is the 4th skill on this weapon
Special+ is a skill that restores your Special Attack gauge every time you defeat an enemy. This is a nice skill to have, and there are many others like it, all called KO skills. This KO skill is the most beneficial out of all of them because your Special Attack gauge allows you to unleash a very strong attack every time it is full.
This is the only KO skill on the list because the rest affect your items, and those are used mostly for boss monsters to activate their weak points. This one, however, gets much more use. You can use your Special Attack on anything. If possible, I’d put Health+ in this slot as well. Health+ is a skill that restores your health each time you defeat an enemy.
This skill is great for any Warrior. You can use it on all sorts of stages and enemies. This skill will be unable to work if you go to a stage where you aren’t allowed to use your Special Attacks. Because it can be blocked, it isn’t very high on the list. This goes for Health+ too, since there are stages where you aren’t allowed to heal. This skill does not increase anything or augment your stats, it only affects the speed of the gauge.
Why Special+ Is Useful:
- Restores Gauge. This skill fills the Special Attack gauge continuously.
- Strength. This skill allows you to use stronger attacks more often.
- Easy to Earn. This skill has a low KO count to unlock.
- Nothing to Lose. This skill doesn’t force you to give anything up in order to use it.
Choose Special+ if…
- Fighting Boss Monsters. Boss monsters can be chipped at without weakening them if you use a lot of special attacks.
- Using Warrior with Great Special. If you’re using a Warrior that has a really wide special attack, or a special attack that you just really like, this would be the skill to give them.
- Tandem. This skill is best in tandem with the other Strong Attack skill, Strong Attack+
Special+ details:
- 1000 KO Unlock. It takes 1000 KOs to unlock this skill.
- Special Gauge. This skill fills your special gauge.
- KO. This skill activates every time you make a kill.
“Defeating enemies restores Special Attack gauge.” - in game description.
9. Rupees+
Highlighted here is the Rupees+ skill
Rupees are the most important resource in this game, probably only because they are also able to buy you levels. Alongside EXP, it allows you to get through higher ranked maps with ease due to all the things it can get your characters. It can buy you map items, levels, badges, skill removals, and weapon fusions.
This bonus is for all the things outside the battle, though it affects the battles pretty closely while not directly interacting with them. Always have a Rupees+ skill on some of your most powerful weapons so you can easily make some extra money. Money does not have a finite end to its use because you can always buy more potions once everything else is maxed out.
I am diligent about making sure my strongest weapons get this skill attached to them. It is an uncommon skill, so it is harder to find, and once you find it, it’ll be a long time before you might find another one. I make good use of weapon fusion to keep the same Rupees+ skill with me throughout a weapon’s life.
Why Rupees+ Is Useful
- Levels up character. You can buy levels instead of building them.
- Buys badges. You need money alongside your materials to get character badges.
- Adjusts skills. You can remove and fuse skills with money.
- Buys map items. You can buy map items instead of replaying previous stages.
- Nothing to Lose. This skill doesn’t force you to give anything up in order to use it.
Choose Rupees+ if...
- You’re short on cash. In this game, you are constantly short on cash.
- You are maxing out characters. It skips a lot of levels and allows you to buy badges to max out your character strengths/health.
- You need external items. Items outside of battle/character things can also be gotten with rupees.
Rupees+ details:
- Innate. You do not need to do anything to activate this skill.
- Post-Battle. This is a skill for things that go on after the battle.
- Grinding. This is a skill that is great for grinding and best paired with EXP+.
“Increases number of rupees fallen enemies drop.” - in game description.
8. EXP+
Highlighted here is the EXP+ skill
Experience points only affect your character’s level in the game, but they get added to your gauge with every kill you make. Your character’s level is very important because it increases both your strength and your health. You need all the strength you can get to go to Hero-rank maps, and your health is an important resource.
This is a bonus that only affects one thing, but the thing is too important to let this skill go. It is a valuable skill as well, making the weapon it is attached to pretty good to sell, though I would suggest against selling it unless you have maxed out the character’s level. Once that is done, you can definitely get rid of it.
I put this skill on every warrior I have because I want to put them all at maximum level. It's been a long road to get there because the level cap has been raised three times in the course of the game's updates. So this skill will last you a long time, but it does have a finite ending. Since its use ends after a point, this skill cannot be much higher on the list.
Why EXP+ Is Useful
- Levels up character. EXP levels up your character which is useful.
- Active in battle. It is a bonus that is active throughout the battle.
- Keep experience even if you lose. Even if you lose a match, you get to keep all the experience you collected whether you start over or leave.
- Nothing to Lose. This skill doesn’t force you to give anything up in order to use it.
Choose EXP+ if...
- Training a low level character. Low level characters can get a lot of help from this bonus.
- Fighting with Cia. Cia seriously needs help. She is so hopeless, even as an NPC.
- On low rank stages. With this bonus, low rank stages can become easy as hell training grounds for your characters.
EXP+ details:
- Innate. You do not need to do anything to activate this skill.
- Grinding. This is a skill that is great for grinding and best paired with Rupees+.
- Common Skill. This skill is very common and shows up on weapons easily.
“Increases experience points fallen enemies give.” - in game description.
7. No Healing
No Healing is the 4th skill on this weapon
No Healing is one of many skills that increase your weapon's strength. It doesn’t stop you from healing your character, but it minimizes the amount of healing you can get in order to increase your strength. Because it requires you to give up your full healing, it is the lowest-ranked strength skill.
This skill requires 3000 KOs before you can unlock it for use. There are stages that already do not allow you to heal, so this skill will make fighting on those stages a little easier. Depending on how you look at it, it could be more valuable. If you have fairy skills that keep you alive or increase your defense, this would be a good weapon skill to use with them.
This skill does not stop working when used against general enemies or boss monsters, like other strength skills might. But because it takes away your healing, it can’t be higher than this, at least not in my opinion. Many guides for grinding and such recommend stacking any strength skills you have on top of EXP+ to get the most out of the latter skill.
Why No Healing Is Useful
- Strength Increases. Any skill that increases your strength is very useful because it allows you to defeat enemies at high-levels.
- Makes the most of Restricted Stages. This skill makes the most out of stages that stop you from doing things like healing, guarding, or getting hit.
- Affects Everyone. This skill affects every enemy you face.
Choose No Healing if...
- On No Healing Stages. There are stages that stop you from restoring your health. This skill would be best for those stages.
- Using Fast Warriors. This skill would be better used on Warriors that are quick on their feet and less likely to get hit.
- Tandem. This skill would go well in tandem with Adversity, a skill I don’t mention here. Adversity is a skill that increases strength the lower your health is.
No Healing details:
- Strength. This is a skill that increases your strength.
- Double Edged Sword. This skill will only give you more at the cost of giving up full healing.
- 3000 KOs. This skill is unlocked by killing 3000 foes.
- Innate. This skill is active at all times.
“Healing is minimal, but attacks deal more damage.” - in game description.
6. Defenseless
Defenseless is the 3rd skill on this weapon
Defenseless is a skill that increases your strength at the cost of guarding. When this skill is on your weapon, you are not allowed to guard in battle. I view this skill as more useful than “No Healing,” because I don’t guard at all when I play. Because I prefer to dodge, this skill technically costs nothing.
When healing is a little more important than the strength increase that No Healing offers, you can use this skill instead. This skill is more useful and thus higher on the list because it locks an action rather than affecting your ability to heal. Defenseless is a little harder to find, but it also requires 3000 kills in order to unlock it.
Skills that increase your strength are not hard to find, but the better ones are harder to unlock. If you’re like me and dodging is your go-to, then this skill will be a better strength skill for you. You won’t actually be giving anything up to use it. Many guides for grinding and such recommend stacking any strength skills you have on top of EXP+ to get the most out of the latter skill.
Why Defenseless Is Useful
- Strength Increases. Any skill that increases your strength is very useful because it allows you to defeat enemies at high-levels.
- Makes the most of Restricted Stages. This skill makes the most out of stages that stop you from doing things like healing, guarding, or getting hit.
- Affects Everyone. This skill affects every enemy you face.
Choose Defenseless if...
- On No Guarding Stage. If you’re on a stage where you are restricted from guarding, you can use a weapon with this skill to make the most of it.
- You Don’t Guard Much. If you already don’t guard much then this skill will be very useful.
- High-Level Stage. High-level stages have harder to beat enemies so any strength boost is useful.
Defenseless details:
- Strength. This is a skill that increases your strength.
- Double Edged Sword. This skill will only give you more at the cost of giving up guarding.
- 3000 KOs. This skill is unlocked by killing 3000 foes.
- Innate. This skill is active at all times.
“Cannot block, but attacks deal more damage.” - in game description.
5. VS Legend
VS Legend is the 5th skill on this weapon
VS Legend is a skill that increases your attack damage against specific enemies. In this instance, it affects Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, Young Link, Toon Link, Linkle, Toon Zelda, and Ravio. Huh. That’s kind of a spoiler, isn’t it? Well, you can always play Link Between Worlds to find out what I mean.
This skill only affects a set group of enemies. These enemies are Warriors that could end up being the leader of an enemy keep or shadow Warriors that you have to battle on certain stages. It would be best to use this skill on stages where you are certain these characters are going to show up. You can always tell who will be in a fight from the battle start screen, where their pixel forms should show up.
VS Legend works on the most characters out of all the VS skills you can find. It also doesn’t require you to give up anything for the strength increase, which puts it at number 5 on the list. Many guides for grinding and such recommend stacking any strength skills you have on top of EXP+ to get the most out of the latter skill.
Why VS Legend Is Useful
- Strength Increases. Any skill that increases your strength is very useful because it allows you to defeat enemies at high-levels.
- Nothing to Lose. This skill doesn’t force you to give anything up in order to use it.
- Strong Warriors. This skill has the most affected Warriors on it and they are all very strong if you cross them.
Choose VS Legend if...
- Fighting the Specified Warriors. If you are fighting any of the warriors the skill affects then it would be beneficial to use it.
- KO Contest. This skill works great on KO Contests where you fight the people specified.
- Tandem. This skill is great in tandem with Rupees+ and a general strength skill.
VS Legend details:
- Strength. This is a skill that increases your strength.
- 2000 KOs. This skill requires 2000 kills to unlock.
- Specified Targets. This skill only works on specified targets. Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, Young Link, Toon Link, Linkle, Toon Zelda, and Ravio.
“Increases attack damage against Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, Young Link, Toon Link, Linkle, Toon Zelda, and Ravio.” - in game description.
4. VS Dragon
VS Dragon is the 2nd skill on this weapon
VS Dragon is a skill that affects King Dodongo, Argorok, Volga, Lizalfos, Dinolfos, Aeralfos, and Fiery Aeralfos. Because this skill affects boss monsters, elite enemies, and a Warrior, it is higher than the previous VS skill. The boss monsters this skill affects are also the most common. At least they are on the Adventure Map through the Master Quest Map.
This skill has the most variety of all the VS skills since it includes 3 of the 4 groups of enemies. The only group missing are the general enemies. Dinolfos and Aeralfos show up on so many maps that this skill will get a lot more use than the last one. It still only affects certain people, so it can’t be placed any higher.
It is recommended that this skill be paired with a general strength skill to double the effect on the specified Warriors and also increase strength against general enemies. Many guides for grinding and such recommend stacking any strength skills you have on top of EXP+ to get the most out of the latter skill.
Why VS Dragon Is Useful
- Strength Increases. Any skill that increases your strength is very useful because it allows you to defeat enemies at high-levels.
- Variety of Enemies. This skill has a good variety of enemies it affects.
- Used Often. This skill can be used often because the “fos” enemies show up in a lot of stages.
- Boss Monster Damage. This skill does more damage to King Dodongo and Argorok.
Choose VS Dragon if...
- Fighting the Specified Warriors. If you are fighting any of the warriors the skill affects then it would be beneficial to use it.
- KO Contest. This skill is good for KO contests against the specified Warriors.
- Fighting Boss Monsters. This skill works best for fighting King Dodongo and Argorok.
- Cave Stages. On stages where you fight in the caves, there is an increased chance you’ll fight against the lizards and bosses specified.
VS Dragon details:
- Strength. This is a skill that increases your strength.
- 2000 KOs. This skill requires 2000 kills to unlock.
- Specified Targets. This skill only works on specified targets.King Dodongo, Argorok, Volga, Lizalfos, Dinolfos, Aeralfos, and Fiery Aeralfos.
“Increases attack damage against King Dodongo, Argorok, Volga, Lizalfos, Dinolfos, Aeralfos, and Fiery Aeralfos.” - in game description.
3. Hasty Attacks
A weapon with a locked skill that could be Hasty Attacks
Hasty Attacks is a skill that increases your attack speed. This skill is best for characters that are very slow and annoying to use. You can give this skill to anyone to speed up their attacks, but be careful that you don’t use it on a Warrior who is already very fast. It will be harder to use them, and they will lose some of their effect.
Hasty Attacks requires 4000 KOs to unlock. This skill only affects your speed, so you don’t have to give anything up for it to work. The A-Rank time for most stages is roughly 14 minutes, which isn’t hard to do if you have a good Warrior, but some characters are incredibly slow and won’t make it in that time without some help.
Beating stages faster gets you through the game faster. This skill should be stacked with your grinding skills like Rupees+ and EXP+ to quickly level up and make money. This skill can be paired with the fairy skill Marathon Runner to both move and attack fast at the same time. You can become a true speed demon. This skill is higher on the list because it assists slow Warriors.
Why Hasty Attacks Is Useful
- Nothing to Lose. This skill doesn’t force you to give anything up in order to use it.
- Increases Speed. Increases your attack speed.
- Disperse Groups. This skill will make it easier to disperse groups before they can stunlock you.
Choose Hasty Attacks if...
- Using Slow Warriors. Warriors like Wizzrobe and Cia attack very slowly and would benefit from this skill.
- Time Limit Stages. There are stages where you have a set time limit before you fail. Use this skill for those stages.
- Contests. This skill would be good for KO, Rupee, or Keep contests.
Hasty Attacks details:
- Innate. This skill is active at all times.
- Speed. This skill increases attack speed.
- Attacks. This skill affects the speed of all of your attacks.
- 4000 KOs. You need 4000 KOs to unlock this skill.
“Increases speed of Regular and Combo attacks.” - in game description.
2. Heartstrong
A weapon with a locked skill that could be Heartstrong
Heartstrong is a skill that increases your attack whenever you are at full health. There are lots of stages where you aren’t allowed to take damage at all, so you could get a lot of use out of this skill. This skill is much harder to find than the others, even though it takes the same amount of KOs as Hasty Attacks.
This skill is best suited for Master Sword Link because he cannot be hit if you want to fully utilize the Master Sword's power. Heartstrong could be stacked with things like Regen to keep your health high. It only works when your health is full, but it doesn’t stop working for the rest of the match if you get hit. You can always heal yourself.
This skill, along with No Healing would make a good combo for stages where you can’t take any damage. They'd both keep your strength up and, since you can't heal and shouldn't be hit in the first place, they'd make the best of a bad situation. Many guides for grinding and such recommend stacking any strength skills you have on top of EXP+ to get the most out of the latter skill.
Why Heartstrong Is Useful
- Strength Increases. Any skill that increases your strength is very useful because it allows you to defeat enemies at high-levels.
- Makes the most of Restricted Stages. This skill makes the most out of stages that stop you from doing things like healing, guarding, or getting hit.
- Affects Everyone. This skill affects every enemy you face.
Choose Heartstrong if...
- High-Level Stage. High-level stages have harder to beat enemies so any strength boost is useful.
- Can’t get Hit. If you’re fighting on a stage where you aren’t allowed to get hit, you could attach this skill to make the most of it.
- Using the Master Sword. The Master Sword also has an effect that is only active when you are at full health. This would strengthen that effect.
Heartstrong details:
- Strength. This is a skill that increases your strength.
- Double Edged Sword. This skill will only give you more at the cost of giving up chances to get hit.
- 4000 KOs. This skill requires 4000 KOs to unlock.
- Specific. This skill only works when you are at full health.
“Increases attack damage while health is full.” - in game description.
1. Heart Power
Heart Power is the 3rd skill on this weapon
Heart Power is a skill that increases your strength based on your health. This skill is a perfect one to put on your Warriors who have collected a lot of heart containers. This is the only ability that stacks like this and it is the hardest one to unlock that isn’t one of the end-game skills. If you are hit, your Heart Power does not stop working.
This skill can be way stronger than the previous skills on the list. The guide states that it is stronger than Defenseless and Strong Attack+ once you hit 30 hearts on your Warrior. This skill would be best for your top-leveled Warriors. They will have the hearts necessary to fully utilize Heart Power.
This is the best possible strength skill you can obtain. It stacks with every five hearts your character has and affects every attack you can make. This skill is a perfect reward for collecting all of a character’s heart containers. Many guides for grinding and such recommend stacking any strength skills you have on top of EXP+ to get the most out of the latter skill.
Why the Heart Power Skill Is Useful:
- Strength Increases. Any skill that increases your strength is very useful because it allows you to defeat enemies at high-levels.
- Affects Everyone. This skill affects every enemy you face.
- Nothing to Lose. This skill doesn’t force you to give anything up in order to use it.
- Affects all Attacks. This skill affects all the attacks you can make.
Choose Heart Power for…
- High-Level Stage. High-level stages have harder to beat enemies so any strength boost is useful.
- Grinding. This skill is the best strength skill to use for grinding levels.
- Boss Monsters. This skill would work great for taking down boss monsters since it increases your attack so much.
Heart Power details:
- Innate. This skill is active at all times.
- Strength. This is a skill that increases your strength.
- 5000 KOs. This skill requires 5000 KOs in order to unlock it.
- Stacks. This skill increases more and more with every 5 hearts your character has.
“Boosts attack for every five hearts of max health.” - in game description.
