Getting the Botw Amiibo Drop List Right: What Most Players Miss

You've spent hours climbing the jagged cliffs of Hebra. Your stamina bar is flashing red, and the rain just started pouring, making every surface as slippery as a wet Zora. You finally find a flat ledge, summon your courage, and tap that little plastic figure to your controller. Plink. A metal chest falls from the sky, landing with a heavy thud. You open it, hoping for the Twilight Bow, but instead? You get a Knight’s Broadsword. Again.

Honestly, the botw amiibo drop list is one of the most misunderstood mechanics in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Most players think it’s just a simple roll of the dice every time you scan. It isn't. There’s a layered, slightly annoying, but ultimately predictable system behind those drops. If you’re tired of getting roasted bass when you wanted an exclusive piece of armor, you need to understand how the "Great Plateau Gate" and the "Random Number Generator" (RNG) actually talk to each other.

Why Your Progress Changes Everything

Here is the thing about those chests: they grow with you. You can't just tap a Link amiibo the second you wake up in the Shrine of Resurrection and expect the Sword of Six Sages to pop out. Nintendo built in "progression flags."

Basically, the game checks your save file before it decides what’s inside that chest. There are three main stages. The first is "Before the Paraglider." During this time, the loot is pretty much garbage. You’re getting basic consumables and maybe a traveler's sword if you're lucky. Once you leave the Great Plateau, the pool expands. But the real prizes—the Biggoron's Sword, the Fierce Deity Mask, or the Epona spawn—usually require you to have cleared at least one Divine Beast.

If you're scanning every day and getting nothing but elemental arrows, check your quest log. Have you actually progressed the story? If you haven't taken down Vah Ruta or Vah Medoh, the game is literally holding back the good stuff. It’s a safety valve to keep the early game from becoming a complete joke.

The Real Botw Amiibo Drop List Breakdown

Let’s get into the weeds. Every amiibo has a "Common," "Rare," and "Super Rare" tier. You’re looking for that Super Rare 2% chance.

Take the 30th Anniversary 8-Bit Link. Most of the time, you’re getting barrels with rupees or arrows. Boring. But that 8-bit Link is the only way to get the "Hero" armor set (the classic green tunic). If you want that cap, you're fighting against a massive pool of generic items.

Then there’s the Twilight Princess Link or the Smash Bros. Link. These are famous for Epona. The first time you scan them after leaving the Great Plateau, Epona is a guaranteed 100% spawn. But if you're on a mountain or near a cliff and she spawns where you can't get her to a stable? You might have just lost her for a long time. She moves into the "Super Rare" slot after that first guaranteed drop.

Guardian and Bokoblin Drops

The Guardian amiibo is a beast. It’s huge, it’s expensive, and the drops reflect that. It’s the only one that drops a metal chest containing ancient parts. We're talking Ancient Cores and Giant Ancient Cores. If you're trying to upgrade your Ancient Armor at the Akkala Tech Lab and you don't feel like hunting Sentinels, this is your best friend.

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The Bokoblin amiibo, on the other hand, is kinda the black sheep. It drops high-tier clubs and shields, but it doesn't have an exclusive "legacy" item. It’s great for early-game combat boosts, but once you’re hunting Silver Lynels, it becomes a bit redundant.

The Save Scumming Strategy (Is it Cheating?)

Is it cheating to save your game, scan an amiibo, and then reload if you don't like the result? No. It’s survival.

Because the botw amiibo drop list is tied to a once-per-day lockout, you could theoretically wait three months to get the full Wind Waker set. That’s insane. Nobody has time for that.

To "save scum" effectively:

1. Turn off the "Sent Data" option in your settings (some players swear this helps RNG, though it’s likely placebo).
2. Save your game manually.
3. Scan the amiibo.
4. If the chest doesn't have the "exclusive" item (the one with the special icon or legacy name), reload the save.
5. Repeat until you get what you want.

It can be tedious. Sometimes it takes twenty tries. Sometimes it takes fifty. But it’s the only way to bypass the calendar. There is a weird quirk where the game’s internal clock tracks the scan, but by reloading a save from before the scan occurred, you effectively reset the reality of the game world.

The Wolf Link Situation

We have to talk about the wolf. Wolf Link is unique because he doesn't drop a chest. He just appears.

The number of hearts he has is tied to your data from Twilight Princess HD on the Wii U. If you didn't play that, or didn't do the Cave of Shadows, your Wolf Link will only have three hearts. In the late game of Breath of the Wild, a three-heart wolf is basically a snack for a Guardian Scout. He’ll be gone in seconds.

There are "workarounds" people use—buying third-party NFC cards that have the 20-heart data pre-loaded. It’s a gray area, for sure. But if you want a companion who can actually survive a fight with a pack of wolves in the Tabantha Frontier, those twenty hearts are non-negotiable.

Rare Drop Odds and Misconceptions

People often ask if the location where you scan matters. Does scanning the Wind Waker Link at Lurelin Village increase the chance of getting the Sea-Breeze Boomerang?

The short answer: No.

The game code doesn't care if you're in the desert or the arctic. The drop tables are static. What does matter is the "Big Hit" versus "Great Hit" mechanic. A "Great Hit" is that rare 10-20% chance where the game pulls from the better table. The "Super Rare" items (like the Twilight Bow from the Zelda Smash amiibo) only exist within that Great Hit bracket.

Even then, the Twilight Bow is notorious. It has a drop rate of roughly 2% once you’ve cleared at least one Divine Beast. That means even if you're save scumming, you could be there for an hour. Don't do it because you think you "need" it for gameplay—the Twilight Bow is cool because it shoots light arrows in a straight line, but its durability is actually pretty low compared to a 5-shot Savage Lynel Bow.

Champion Amiibo and Divine Beast Helms

When the Four Champions (Mipha, Revali, Daruk, Urbosa) were released, they added something actually functional: the Divine Helms.

These aren't just cosmetic. They give you "Ancient Proficiency" when paired with the Ancient Armor set, and they provide specific resistances (like fire or electricity). They also allow you to see an enemy's health bar, similar to the Champion's Tunic.

• Vah Ruta Divine Helm: Swim Speed Up.
• Vah Naboris Divine Helm: Electricity Resistance.
• Vah Rudania Divine Helm: Flame Guard.
• Vah Medoh Divine Helm: Cold Resistance.

These are arguably the most "useful" drops in the entire botw amiibo drop list because they offer a mix of utility and defense that the legacy green tunics just don't match. The tunics are for nostalgia; the Helms are for Master Mode.

The Limitation of the "Non-Zelda" Amiibo

You can scan any amiibo. Literally any of them. Animal Crossing cards, Mario, Kirby—they all work. But they won't give you chests.

Instead, you get a random assortment of materials. Usually, it’s raw meat, herbs, or fruit. It sounds useless, but if you have a massive collection of amiibo, you can basically farm infinite cooking ingredients. If you’re preparing for a Trial of the Sword run and need to cook up thirty "Hearty" meals, scanning a bin of random Animal Crossing cards is a lot faster than hunting for Hearty Durians in Faron.

Actionable Steps for Your Next Session

If you want to maximize your loot without losing your mind, follow this workflow:

1. Check Your Progression: If you haven't beaten your first Divine Beast, don't waste time hunting for the "Super Rare" weapons. They won't drop. Stick to farming arrows and basic gear.
2. Setup Your Stable: If you are scanning for Epona, make sure you are standing right next to a stable (like Dueling Peaks or Outskirt Stable). You cannot register her if you're in the middle of a forest or on a mountain where she can't walk to the counter.
3. Use the "Midnight Reset": The daily lockout is based on your Nintendo Switch system clock. If you don't want to save scum, you can manually change the date in your system settings to "cheat" the 24-hour wait.
4. Prioritize the Guardian: If you only have five minutes, scan the Guardian amiibo. The ancient parts it drops are the most valuable "economy" items in the game for upgrading gear or selling for high-tier equipment.
5. Manage Inventory: Chests won't open if your weapon/shield slots are full. Clear out the junk before you start a scanning session so you aren't constantly menu-swapping.

The botw amiibo drop list is a tool, not a guarantee. Use it to supplement your adventure, but don't let the hunt for a specific pixel-perfect cape ruin the magic of exploring Hyrule. The best gear in the game is still the stuff you find by braving the toughest shrines and outsmarting the strongest enemies on your own.