Game Breaker / The Legend of Zelda

Works with their own pages:

• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild^note Also covers The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
• Hyrule Warriors

3D Games

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

• The Biggoron's Sword is one of the most broken weapons in the entire series. Huge reach, equally high attack power, can damage the otherwise immune-to-blade Armos, and every bit as fast as your other swords. The catch is that it's two-handed which prevents you from using your shield, which is sometimes preferable and in a few cases required, but once an enemy is vulnerable the Biggoron's Sword will smash them like a piñata; even bosses can be taken down in one combo, including Ganondorf if you're skilled enough. The real kicker is that you can get this weapon before even entering the Forest Temple.^Explanation The minimum requirements for the Chain of Deals are having Epona and the Hookshot, both of which can be obtained as soon as your first trip to the future. Epona is specifically needed to jump the bridge at Gerudo Valley (you otherwise need the Longshot), and the Hookshot can clear out any obstacles along the way that you'd use the Bow for (and you need it to get the Bow anyway, as it's in the Forest Temple).
• Fairies, if one is doing a 3 Heart run. Health-restoring potions are basically useless in 3 Heart runs since they aren't worth the cost (30-40 Rupees for an item that will restore at most 2.75 hearts) while fairies automatically refill your health upon falling in battle, are easy to get if one knows where to look, and go from being a safety net to what is essentially 3 disposable heart containers. And in a Self-Imposed Challenge where Stalfos and ReDeads can kill you very quickly, they're a godsend.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

• The Great Fairy Sword in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is the same as the Biggoron's Sword in practice, but it comes so late in the game and it's such an unbelievable huge task to get a hold of that a good amount of players don't bother with it; especially if they already have the Gilded Sword from Snowhead. That being said however, combining the Bunny Hood with the Great Fairy Sword makes it arguably even more overpowered than the Biggoron's Sword. Thanks to how fast Link becomes, it means he can quite literally run circles around enemies while hacking them apart with a super-strong weapon.
• The Blast Mask can be used to produce an explosion in front of Link. It would hurt him, but if you raise your shield as you use it, it somehow blocks the explosion and gives Link a free bomb blast. The only catch is that you have to wait for it to recharge afterwards, you can't use your sword, and you can't target any enemy, although the latter point is rendered moot if you're simply trying to blow up a wall or a boulder.
• The Stone Mask. Most non-transformation masks in the game are very situational, but this one has an ability that's almost always useful; all enemies, except for mini-bosses and actual bosses, will completely ignore you, which is just as devastating as it sounds. It's hard to find if you don't know where to look for it, but when you do, most of the game becomes a breeze. The remake makes the Stone Mask even better and more helpful in that the man who gives you it has been moved to a point — namely, the Pirates' Fortress — you'll be bound to travel to earlier in the game, and makes getting past the guards a non-issue. It's also incredibly useful for farming money off of Takkuri with impunity; since it can no longer detect you, it can't attack you or steal your items — even as you're pelting it with arrows — and you're guaranteed a cool Gold Rupee^note Worth two hundred Rupees when you kill it. Oh, and did we mention that Takkuri respawns each time you enter Termina Field?
• There are some very easy ways to get an absolute stack of Rupees in very short time, some as early as the second cycle where you change back to your regular form:
  • There are three 100-Rupee chests around Clock Town that are refilled with every new cycle, and they are all near East Clock Town. The first just requires you to be human and perform a little bit of jumping to reach. The second requires a bomb near the Bomber's Hideout, which the player can use the Blast Mask for. And the third is available on the third day on the second floor of the Stock Pot Inn.
  • The Takkuri is a bird that flies near Milk Road. Upon its defeat, it drops two hundred Rupees, a huge amount that can easily fill up wallets. However, just be careful not to get hit while fighting it, or you'll lose a key item — which can include bottles and even your sword — and will have to get it back, either via the Curiosity Shop or the Song Of Time. You do have two key ways to deal with Takkuri, though; wearing the Stone Mask will prevent it from seeing and chasing after you, and riding Epona will prevent it from hitting you. In either case, just set yourself up, bring plenty of arrows, then pincushion it at your leisure.
  • Dodongos in the Snowhead side of Termina Field during the day. The small one drops practically nothing, but the two big ones drop purple Rupees^note Worth fifty Rupees every time. You can then fall in a nearby hole and leave to make them respawn. Said hole also contains two more of the big Dodongos, but they only spawn once per cycle; as killing them makes a treasure chest appear.
• If you're willing to wait until you have the Light Arrows and Giant Wallet, the banker's Piece of Heart can be obtained within one time-slowed night because Blue Bubbles drop 50 Rupees each when hit with a Light Arrow and constantly respawn. It's easy to go back and forth between the two Bubbles closest to the Ikana Canyon statue and rack up 500 Rupees very quickly, warp to Clock Town and deposit them, and warp right back to Ikana Canyon.
• Chateau Romani. It is a powerful potion that gives Link infinite magic for the rest of the three day cycle after he consumes it. The only catch is that you need to do some side quests to even get to where it is in the first place, then you have to pay two hundred Rupees, and the earliest you can get it is on the first night. However, it can ease the player's worries about ever having to find magic again, which is especially helpful for Zora Link's barrier (especially on the 3DS remake), the Giant's Mask's magic consumption, or the Fierce Deity's Mask boss slaying magic. In fact, it is best used when you are on the Moon, as no time will pass and you can clear the trials and the final boss without having to worry about finding magic.
• Goron Link becomes this in the 3DS remake. In the original he was powerful but with slow attacks and movement — the Goron roll excluded — the remake drastically speeds up his attacks, putting them on par with normal sword swings. These punches do Gilded Sword-level damage with every hit.
• The Fierce Deity Mask, which reduces the Final Battle against Majora, who many consider an Anti-Climax Boss even without using it, into a Curb-Stomp Battle with no challenge whatsoever. However, most people tend to give this a bit of a free pass, given that you are required to collect all the masks in the game first, which is a demanding challenge on its own. The fact that Fierce Deity Link has one of the coolest designs the character has ever had also helps.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

• There is the Magic Armor, which makes Link completely invincible. In the original game it was Awesome, but Impractical since it constantly drained MP and its effect vanished when MP hit 0, but in the HD Updated Re-release it drains Rupees instead, and only when Link is actually hit. Since this version also gives the player a lot more Rupees to work with (we're talking almost a full 5000 Rupee wallet's worth), the Magic Armor can be used essentially forever, removing any challenge from the game.
  • It gets even worse when combined with Elixir Soup, which doubles the damage Link's sword deals and lasts until the first time Link takes damage. Since the Magic Armor means that'll happen exactly never, Elixir Soup never wears off; resulting in a Link who is not only Nigh-Invulnerable, but dealing absurd amounts of damage with basic combos alone.
• Parrying. It virtually cripples the challenge of combat. It's automatic and easy to execute, even for a quick-time event. None of the regular humanoid enemies or mooks can withstand it. The only sword combatants that offer any kind of meaningful resistance are the four Darknuts you face in the Savage Labyrinth, and that's mostly due to how many there are.
• While it's more thematically appropriate to use bombs as cannonballs, the Boomerang can be used when sailing, locks onto multiple targets and doesn't use ammo. The use of the boomerang makes some seafaring encounters, such as the Big Octos, a massive joke.
• The Boomerang, period. It trivializes nearly every difficult enemy besides bosses in the game due to its duration of stunlock, very high attacking speed and insane accuracy. Stunlocking even Darknuts just takes a quick parry to the helmet and they'll never get off a hit again and switching L-targets means you can keep entire squads stunned for hits.
• The aforementioned Elixir Soup is the game's best healing item, bar none. Not only does it restore all your hearts and magic power like a Blue Potion does (which, by comparison, is a lot more difficult and expensive to get), but it doubles the damage your sword attacks deal until the first time you take damage. While you are limited to having one bottle of it at a time and requires you to do a relatively simple side-quest^note Getting a bottled fairy and using it to heal Link and Aryll's ill Grandma on Outset Island to make available, you get two servings in each one. Superb on its own, but once you combine it with the aforementioned Magic Armor from the HD remake? You've basically got no excuse to ever die again.

2D Games

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

• The Medallions, which harm all non-boss enemies on the screen. Quake is the worst one because it only works on ground-based enemies, but it stuns or turns them into weak Slimes (most notably useful on Deadrock, an otherwise Invincible Minor Minion on Death Mountain), and it's the easiest to get once you begin the Dark World half of the game. Bombos goes for sheer power and burns enemies to death, and it's the only medallion that works on a boss; it instantly melts Kholdstare's ice, which normally needs 8 Fire Rod shots (an entire default magic bar). But Ether takes the cake, as it freezes enemies (including some that ignore the Ice Rod) and if you smash them with the Hammer afterwards, they often drop a full magic refill.
• The Magic Cape. Provided you know where it is and how to get there, you can grab it as soon as you complete the Dark Palace. The item makes you intangible and invulnerable, letting you bypass many enemies by just walking through them, ignore enemy projectiles, and walk over spike floors and into spike barriers without taking damage, and it can be used against most bosses in the Dark World (with the exceptions of Arrghus and Trinexx). The only drawback is that it quickly drains your magic power if you keep it on continuously, but with a couple of potions and knowledge of where to grab magic refills in a dungeon, this can easily be mitigated.
• The Cane of Byrna has got some trade-offs compared to the Magic Cape and takes longer to get, but it lets Link attack while immune to damage, and so is generally stronger against bosses that don't require the use of other magic.
• Blue potion. In a game where fairies only restore eight hearts and magic is actually extremely powerful and useful (see both prior entries), being able to completely refill your health and magic is an incredible advantage, and you can walk into any dungeon in the game with four hits of it, especially once you've bought all the big upgrades and money just piles up anyway.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

• The wonderful, wonderful bomb arrows at your disposal (equip both and fire simultaneously), which give you an easy means to kill 90% of the enemies in the game in 1-2 shots. As mentioned in the main article, a breakable wall in the Turtle Rock dungeon located across a small pool of lava can even be broken from that side instead of the intended one and multiple keys can be found on that side, making it easier to go through a very large, confusing, and difficult dungeon. It also makes the Color Dungeon boss pathetically easy, provided you brought a good stock of bombs and arrows.
• The Switch remake upgrades the Mirror Shield into this. In the original game, besides being able to reflect the attacks of Beamos, it wasn't at all different from Link's standard shield in terms of its function. The remake gives it the ability to reflect any projectile that strikes it, sending it directly back at the attacking enemy and in most cases killing them instantly. In addition, reflecting a Beamos's attack back at it will deactivate it until Link leaves the room, meaning players don't have to constantly be on their guard when one's around.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

• There's the Upgraded Spin Attack for starters. Oh sure, you have to find all 100 Malamais to get it, but it's so ridiculously powerful that it takes down nearly any enemy, boss or mini boss in two hits, has a range about as wide as half the screen and can rip whole hordes of monsters apart in seconds. The minute you get this, the Bonus Dungeon basically loses about half its difficulty, as does anything left in the quest.
• The Nice Fire Rod. The upgraded version shoots out a huge pillar of fire with a massive range that can stun lock enemies and push them backwards while doing a ton of damage, and can even hit flying monsters. It can be gotten as early as the fourth dungeon in theory, since you only need to be able to buy it and find just 10 Malamais to upgrade it.
• The Nice Ice Rod. Drops four large chunks of ice on enemies, with both a fairly decent range and the bonus of being able to hit things on higher ledges and in the air. Oh, and because it's ice based, enemies get frozen solid upon being hit (with a few exceptions), allowing you to one hit kill them afterwards with any melee or fire based weapon.
• The Tornado Rod. It stuns whatever's around you, making it an extremely useful defense against any enemy that primarily attacks by touching you, which is nearly everything in the game. Then you have the Nice Tornado Rod, which increases its range even more.
• Just about any Nice item to be honest would probably fit here if used well, since their effects let you just power straight through your enemies with stuff like spreadshots, very quick firing/reloading times and the ability to stun enemies.