When I started playing Tears of the Kingdom, I felt certain that I was not going to get along with using Link’s bow and arrow in any real capacity. Between fighting with the Switch’s motion sensors and just being bad at aiming generally, I figured I’d get along fine just mashing and smashing away with all my cobbled-together weapons, while using arrows only when absolutely necessary. Well, it has taken me some 90 hours with the game to realize that the exact opposite has been true. Decrepit weapons aside, the vast majority of the game’s enemies practically require the use of arrows because most are difficult to engage with up close. But, what is one to do when measly ol’ wooden arrows just aren’t powerful enough? That’s right…fuse! TotK’s new fuse mechanic — in which one can attach all manner of things to all manner of other things, within reason — has been a literal game-changer for me, especially with ranged fighting. With that in mind, here’s my top five favorite, most useful, and most helpful fuse items to use with arrows during battles large and small!

5. Elemental fruit
I’m lumping all the game’s elemental fruit into one category because, as far as my weary battle skills go, they all provide the same thing: TIME. I’ll admit that since I’m at point in the game where I have three avatars by my side, I feel much less panicked during battles; however, I will still liberally lob fused elemental fruit at my enemies in order to gain just a few moments to plan my next move. Each fruit comes with its own advantage – ice fruit will freeze an enemy in its tracks; dazzle fruit will momentarily blind a group of them – and I probably use the fire fruit (the name speaks for itself) most often. But no matter which fruit I happen to pick in the moment, they have helped turn the tides of battle more than a few times.

4. Bomb flowers
Like the name says, if you want to send a cute, small missile at your enemy from a distance, then bomb flowers are for you! I most often use them at enemy camps containing bomb barrels and boxes (in order to set the place ablaze, mwahahaha!), but they’ve been very useful in giving large enemies a momentary but severe wallop. I find that I do have to be careful with them – if Link’s not far away enough from the target, he’ll get caught in the bomb’s blast – and they seem to have diminishing returns, so shooting bomb flower after bomb flower isn’t always the best course of action. In addition, they aren’t super plentiful throughout the world, so I tend to hoard the ones that I find, unleashing them only when truly needed.

3. Puffshrooms
Speaking of hard-to-find items, puffshrooms are nifty mushrooms that are mostly found in the Depths. They (and an upcoming item, spoilers!) might be the only reason I travel into the Depths in the first place. (Well, there are poes to collect, too…) Again, the name gives away the mushroom’s ability, which, when hurled at enemies at the end of the arrow, will produce a thick “smokescreen” of spores upon landing. Not only does this confuse the enemies, but also it provides an opportunity for stealth attacks. Sneaky! However, much like the elemental fruit, puffshrooms again give me time to think about how to best approach a battle, whether I want to be stealthy or not.

2. Keese/Aracuda Eyeballs
At the beginning of this whole thing, I mentioned that I’m bad with aiming – always have been no matter the game, but very much so with the bow and arrow in this one. Well, with an ample supply of monster eyeballs thanks to keese and aracudas, my aiming problems have nearly been solved! Nearly. With one of these eyeballs attached to an arrow, it becomes a homing device that almost always hits the target. I say “nearly” and “almost” because they won’t make up for blatantly bad aim – you can’t send a keese eyeball arrow at monster’s foot and hope it will hit its head. But if you get your arrow’s reticule close enough to that monster’s head, it’ll strike perfectly! They have been an amazing addition to my arsenal, and *hint hint* (okay, maybe not), they are among the best tools to defeat the game’s large, dragon-like gleeocks.

1. Muddle Buds
I said that puffshroom farming is one reason I go spelunking in the game’s Depths; the other and much more significant reason is muddle buds! Hitting an enemy from far away with one of these flowers will cause it to become so confused that it will begin attacking other enemies. Again, this tactic gives me time to figure out how to clear out a monster nest. But more importantly, it’s just so entertaining. As twisted as it might sound, it’s become a favorite pastime to send a couple muddle buds into any group of enemies from afar and just watch the chaos that ensues. Maybe I’ll have fewer enemies to fight as a result, or maybe not. It doesn’t matter, because I’m laughing the whole time!

What are some of your favorite weapon fuses in Tears of the Kingdom?

Lede image captured by author during gameplay of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (© Nintendo).