The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom players discover the game's most "busted" (and twisted) strategy is to literally drown foes

Oct. 5, 2024

Flashbacks to Korok torture

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The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomlooks like a cute and cuddly game, but you’re going to have to go down a dark path if you’d like to play it in the most optimal way possible.

Zelda’s first solo adventure says goodbye to Link’s iconic gear, swapping his sword, shield, boomerang, and bombs for the titular princess' magic. But not much is lost. In the series' newest game, Zelda can instead summon ‘echoes’ of pretty much anything in the world, from beds and friendly minions to a literal cube of water, which is proving to be more powerful than you might expect.

Players across social media have been sharing clips of the most “busted” strategy in the game, which disturbingly involves dragging unwilling monsters into bodies of water before they jiggle around and pop like a bubble. The videos below show off the chibi waterboarding strategy that keeps enemies at arm’s length and disposes of them within seconds.

Comments on the post above “never expected the first game where you play as Zelda to have such cruel fighting methods available.” Others were into the twisted tactic and even made recommendations. “Hot tip: against flying enemies, instead of waiting for them to swoop down to drown them, you can just increase the height of your water tower and drag them in even while they’re airborne,” another comment reads.

You don’t even need to unlock the water cube echo to drown foes, though. The tactic works just as well if Zelda is standing near any large bodies of water - rivers, lakes, big puddles are all fair game. Just don’t judge Zelda too harshly based on her actions in Echoes of Wisdom. Who amongst us hasn’t made ourLinks torture Koroksin similarly heinous ways?

After just 8 days, Echoes of Wisdom players already found a way to play as Link instead of Zelda.

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Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that’s vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he’ll soon forget.

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