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Which Rune is the Most Useful?

Joined
Mar 14, 2023
So here's a question that I'm hoping will spark a constructive discussion. Out of the 5 main Runes in the Sheikah Slate (Sphere and Cube bombs are both Remote Bombs), which one is the most useful? You can put them in order if you'd like.

Here's my order:

  1. Remote Bombs
  2. Magnesis
  3. Stasis
  4. Cryonis
  5. Camera Rune
What are yours?
 

Uwu_Oocoo2

Joy is in video games and colored pencils
ZD Legend
Forum Volunteer
I think I completely agree with your order. Camera rune is by nature the least useful since it serves no function other than powering the sheikah sensor, altho I did use it more than cryonis. I'm pretty sure I actually almost never used cryomis outside of the shrines and divine beasts. Magnesis and stasis are about equally useful.
 

Mikey the Moblin

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None of them were particularly useful, but cryonis was useful out of necessity thanks to link's inability to swim despite being capable of hanging from sheer cliff faces indefinitely


Edit: not gonna lie, I honestly thought this was about elden ring at first
In which case the answer would be godrick's unless you're hitting softcaps, then it's morgott's
 
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thePlinko

What’s the character limit on this? Aksnfiskwjfjsk
ZD Legend
One of the basic concepts of game design is Dominant Strategy, being that a player will generally find a strategy that is far more effective than all others and stick to it throughout the entire game, or at least as long as they can. While there are a myriad of instances of BotW just forgetting that this concept exists, a really good example is how the runes are designed.

Magnesis and Stasis, for example, are both conceptually really well designed, but in practice there is rarely a point in the game where it is more beneficial to use them relative to the effort required than it is to use anything else or simply ignore the obstacle entirely. This is especially a problem in combat where the amount of times where using either of these is more beneficial than just walking up to an enemy and whacking/shooting it can be counted on at most two hands. The only other times where they’re actually useful are the handful of shrines where the devs actually remembered that they were supposed to be making a video game. I guess I give a slight edge to stasis just because the momentum it can give through stasis jumping, but that’s hardly an intentionally designed use and falls more into degenerative techniques than it does dominant strategy. Not that I think that degenerative techniques are a bad thing, but the amount of effort it takes to make stasis useful absolutely holds it back for anyone who isn’t an expert on the game.

The bombs are a little better since there are undeniably places in the overworld where they’re either required to open up secrets (and they’re usually a better option than bomb arrows) and in some instances of combat they do help if you’re in a rather awkward position relative to the enemies and your surroundings, but not enough for me to call them particularly useful.

Cryonis is decently useful in very niche situations. Situations that you’re not even guaranteed to run into unless you go out of your way to 100% the game. It would be one thing if you could maybe use them outside of water, but you can’t so it’s kinda worthless most of the time.

The Master Cycle rune might have been useful if the game didn’t require you to literally set up warp points across the entire map in order to get it. Even then it’s pretty much just a worse horse, so it probably wouldn’t have been useful regardless.

Camera rune is the camera rune. It has literally zero effect on normal gameplay outside of a few very specific sidequests.

The Amiibo rune gets you access to higher tier weapons and armor early and also lets me actually look like Link. It’s the only rune that consistently passes the “is this the easiest way to do something?” test and therefore it is the most useful.

So to rank them:

1.Amiibo
2.Bombs
3.Cryonis
4.Stasis
5.Magnesis
6.Master Cycle
7.Camera
 

Azure Sage

March onward forever...
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I find they all have their uses now and then. Your order is pretty accurate to how often I use them, myself. I probably use remote bombs more than anything else because I really, really enjoy sending enemies flying off cliffs with them. It never fails to amuse. They're also a handy way of clearing trees when I feel like going to Mount Satori and just completely decimating the ecosystem so I can fill the funny numbers on my inventory screen to as close to 999 as I can get.

Magnesis is very close behind in use for me. I use it to smash every metal box I come across by flinging it up and slamming it down on the ground (or on the adjacent wooden boxes). It's also pretty fun to try to smack enemies with something using magnesis. It's not always very effective, but it's funny, especially if you can get enough momentum to slam them to death in one hit.

Stasis would probably be my next most-used because it's a good way of getting those persistent enemies off your back. Bokoblin riding a horse? stasis em. Swarm of keese coming at you? stasis one and the rest flee. So on and so forth. Also a good way to close in on a guardian to chop their legs away.

Cryonis I feel like I might use more than most other people, even if its still at the bottom of the use list for me. I like to use it when I fight anything near water. Gives me a platform to initiate bullet time with the bow easily, and it's also funny to place a block under an enemy's feet and watch them react. It's also a great way to deal with guardians coming at you from a distance because they have the object permanence of a toddler so you can just put up a block and they forget you exist. The ultimate form of peekaboo.

So yeah, I guess we have the same order. The camera rune isn't even worth mentioning unless you're Zelda in Age of Calamity.

Also shoutout to the Master Cycle as that counts as a rune. The most badass thing Zelda has ever done in years. Decades, even. I hope it returns to TotK in some way as part of the hotrod mods you can make. Riding it feels just as cool as it looks and I appreciate the all-terrain capability that horses lack. I'd never use a horse over this baby. The only downside is you can't ride it on Death Mountain or in the desert. Dunno why they had to code it with the same temperature limitations as an actual horse. Kinda weird of them to not, like, do something about that. But I still love it to death. It's not on your list but I'd put it at the top of mine.
 

twilitfalchion

and thus comes the end of an era
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Most of the time I forgot cryo and stasis existed. Magnesis was occasionally useful, and bombs were decent enough for the stone barriers to chests and such. I guess of those, bombs were the most useful. None of them were that relevant though.
 

thePlinko

What’s the character limit on this? Aksnfiskwjfjsk
ZD Legend
Oh yes. There's very little in past Zelda games that comes close to the majesty and awe of the sheikah tech in botw in WOW factor. ****'s cool. :cool:
Yeah, the master cycle does give me a wow factor.

“Wow, this is one of the most useless things I’ve ever seen in a video game.”
 
Joined
Mar 14, 2023
I find Stasis useful when dealing with enemies that like to throw. Cryonis is sometimes needed to access certain shrines or other important areas.
 
Joined
Jan 11, 2021
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man
Ranking by usefulness:

1. Stasis
2. Bombs
3. Magnesis
4. Master Cycle
5. Amiibo
6. Cryonis
7. Camera

Stasis launches are top-tier, bombs are super useful for wind bombs, the rest are fine.

In terms of "useful" in the general sense, bombs are probably used the most often, to deal with enemies, to access new areas, to harvest minerals etc. Stasis is the most versatile, but that also means it doesn't have as many specific uses, whereas all metal objects are usefully viable with magnesis, in puzzlesolving, combat, or exploration. Cryonis and the master cycle are too niche, and Amiibo is too random to be genuinely useful.
 

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