What actions wear down weapon durability in Breath of the Wild

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It's clear that hitting enemies with a weapon wears them down. And I'm pretty sure that using weapons to destroy objects (like chopping down a tree or smashing ore) also wears them down.

But I'm not clear about things like:

  • Using a weapon to hit a switch in a shrine
  • Using a weapon to hit an object frozen with stasis
  • Charging and releasing elemental attacks with a rod (fire, lightning, etc.) where the rod does not hit anything.
  • Swinging a weapon that doesn't hit anything
  • Cutting through things with no real mass (like grass)
  • Hitting items that aren't reactive in any way (like a rock wall)

Basically, I'm trying to figure out when I need to go through the effort to avoid swapping weapons. It's a lot easier to use what I'm holding to whack a stasis-frozen boulder, but if it's wearing down a powerful weapon, it's probably a bad idea.

Best Answer

Things that DO decrease weapon durability:

  • Hitting enemies with a weapon.
  • Using a weapon to hit an object frozen with stasis.
  • Doing a jump slash anywhere on land or enemies ("x" + "y").
  • Using weapons to destroy objects (like chopping down a tree or smashing ore etc.)
  • Using the Master Sword beam attack (right bumper).
  • Hitting a switch in a shrine.
  • Swinging a fire/lightning/meteor/ice rod or wind cleavers (even when it doesn't hit anything).

Things that DON'T decrease weapon durability:

  • Cutting through things with no real mass (like grass or small bushes). This includes charged attacks.
  • Swinging at a wall (notice it makes no impact noise. If you do hear an impact noise, then it's hurting your weapon).
  • Doing a jump slash onto the water ("x" + "y").
  • Swinging a weapon that doesn't hit anything, including using the kurok leaf to generate wind and charged attacks. (The exception is any that generate elemental powers, like fire/lightning/meteor/ice rods, wind cleavers, etc.)
  • Hitting a lynel while riding on it's back.
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