Royal Guard's Claymore
A high-damage two-handed weapon in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom with very low durability and a Breaking Point ability that doubles its attack power near breakage.
Key Takeaways
The Royal Guard's Claymore is a high-risk, high-reward greatsword whose value comes from its Breaking Point trait rather than dependable durability.
Breaking Point defines its role
When the claymore is close to breaking, Breaking Point doubles its attack power, making its final attacks exceptionally valuable.
Its durability is the trade-off
The weapon’s natural durability is very low, so ordinary exploration can waste its strongest opportunity before a major fight.
Lynel-mounted attacks preserve it
Attacks made while mounted on a Lynel do not consume weapon durability, making the claymore especially effective for that use case.
Both decayed and pristine forms matter
A decayed copy can be found in Hyrule Castle, while pristine copies become available from Depths shadow soldiers after a decayed version has been broken.
Fuse turns the finisher into a build choice
Fusing a powerful material, such as a Silver Lynel Horn, gives its Breaking Point attacks a stronger damage-focused role without removing the durability trade-off.
It favors burst over consistency
Compared with sturdier two-handed weapons, the Royal Guard’s Claymore is better suited to planned high-impact attacks than prolonged general-purpose use.
Overview
Royal Guard's Claymore is a two-handed melee weapon in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, built around a powerful but deliberately fragile attack cycle. Its Breaking Point ability doubles its attack power when the weapon is on the verge of breaking, making its limited durability part of its intended role rather than merely a drawback.
The claymore is most useful when a player can choose the moment of impact. Its ordinary attacks already provide high damage potential, but the weapon becomes especially valuable after it reaches its near-breaking state, when Breaking Point changes the risk-reward calculation. This makes it a poor fit for casual, uninterrupted clearing and a better fit for deliberate attacks against a dangerous target.
Its low natural durability is the defining limitation. Rather than treating the weapon as an all-purpose replacement for more dependable two-handed options, players generally reserve it for short, high-impact encounters or for a planned finishing sequence. Attacks made while mounted on a Lynel's back do not consume weapon durability, which is why the claymore has a notable role in Lynel-focused combat strategies.
Royal Guard's Claymore also has two condition-based forms to keep distinct: the decayed weapon found in Hyrule and the pristine version obtained from a Shadow Soldier in the Depths after the relevant decayed weapon has been broken. These forms should not be treated as one universal stat line. The pristine form belongs to the Depths' weapon-restoration system, while the decayed form represents the weapon's ordinary surface availability.
Fuse broadens the claymore's role without making every combination a separate weapon. A strong fused material can turn a Breaking Point activation into a concentrated burst against a powerful enemy, including targets such as Lynels or Moldugas, but the weapon still inherits the practical cost of its limited durability. Its identity is therefore defined by timing, condition management, and target selection rather than by sustained general-purpose use.
Statistics
Attack and durability are the game’s own published values, not a 0–100 scale. Taken from the project’s verified weapons database, not from generated text.
- Attack32
- Durability11
- ClassTwo-Handed
- TraitBreaking Point
- ConditionDecayed
- Compendium#396
Figures verified against Consolidated Game Weapons Database.
Compared to similar melee weapons
| Weapon | Attack | Durability | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Guard's Claymore | 32 | 11 | Two-Handed |
| Dusk Claymore | 32 | 50 | Two-Handed |
| Master Sword | 30 | 40 | One-Handed |
| Scimitar of the Seven | 28 | 60 | One-Handed |
| Biggoron's Sword | 36 | 60 | Two-Handed |
Attack and durability are the game’s own published values. From Consolidated Game Weapons Database.
How to Obtain
- No DLC, New Game Plus, or special mode is required for the decayed pickup.
- A pristine Royal Guard's Claymore requires the player to have previously broken a decayed version; pristine weapons are obtained from eligible Shadow Soldiers in the Depths.
- 01Travel to Hyrule Castle in the Sky region and enter the Sanctum. In the upper interior, inspect the area behind the broken statue to find a decayed Royal Guard's Claymore as a guaranteed world pickup when the weapon has spawned there. It is not a vendor item, quest reward, or boss drop.
- 02For a pristine version, first break a decayed Royal Guard's Claymore. After that prerequisite is met, search eligible Shadow Soldiers holding weapons in the Depths until one offers the pristine claymore. The specific Shadow Soldier and weapon selection are not guaranteed, so this is a repeatable search rather than a single fixed reward.
Availability
Requires No mode, DLC, vendor, currency, or stat requirement identified.
The decayed Royal Guard's Claymore is available during normal exploration of Hyrule Castle.
Requires Break a decayed Royal Guard's Claymore first; afterward, a pristine version can appear from eligible Shadow Soldiers in the Depths.
Pristine and decayed versions are separate condition states. No separate NG+, difficulty, or DLC gate applies.
Mechanics and Handling
The Royal Guard's Claymore uses the committed, wide-sweeping moveset shared by two-handed claymores. Its normal attacks cover a broad area but leave Link more exposed during their recovery than a one-handed weapon. The charged attack is a spinning sweep that can keep dealing damage while stamina lasts, making spacing and enemy openings more important than simply attacking continuously.
Its defining mechanic is Breaking Point. When the weapon reaches its badly damaged, near-breaking state, its attack power is doubled. This is a conditional effect rather than a permanent bonus: the claymore is most dangerous late in its durability cycle, but also closer to breaking. The displayed attack value should therefore not be treated as the weapon's effective attack in every situation.
Breaking Point rewards deliberate durability management
The usual approach is to preserve the claymore for a target that justifies its final durability window, then continue attacking after the weapon enters its critical state. Fused materials can further increase the weapon's damage and durability, but they do not make the Breaking Point condition permanently active. A fused Royal Guard's Claymore remains a two-handed weapon with the same committed handling, so a high-damage fusion is most useful when Link has a clear opening rather than when surrounded.
Mounted attacks bypass the main durability drawback
Attacks made while Link is mounted on a Lynel's back do not consume weapon durability. This makes the claymore particularly effective for exploiting its Breaking Point condition without spending additional durability during that mounted sequence. The weapon can be prepared before the attack, used for the mounted strikes, and reserved for other high-impact openings afterward.
Reach, commitment, and break state
The claymore's reach and broad swings help against groups and large targets, but its slow commitment makes missed attacks costly. It has no ammunition, reload cycle, or intrinsic elemental status effect. Its practical resource is durability: once the weapon breaks, the current weapon and any attached Fuse material are lost, so the critical state should be used intentionally rather than triggered during routine encounters.
Upgrades and Variants
Strengths, Weaknesses and Best Uses
Strengths
- Breaking Point doubles the weapon’s attack power when the Royal Guard’s Claymore is on the verge of breaking, creating a strong late-durability damage window.
- Its two-handed claymore moveset provides committed sweeping attacks suited to punishing large or exposed targets.
- Mounted attacks against a Lynel do not consume weapon durability, allowing the claymore’s low-durability state to be exploited without spending additional durability during that sequence.
- It can pair effectively with a high-power Fuse material when the goal is concentrated damage rather than long-term weapon life.
Weaknesses
- Its natural durability is very low, so ordinary combat can exhaust the weapon before its Breaking Point state is used deliberately.
- The Breaking Point bonus requires accepting a near-break condition; careless use can leave the weapon at risk of shattering during a critical encounter.
- As a two-handed weapon, it occupies both hands and is less convenient when the situation calls for a shield, one-handed attacks, or rapid weapon swapping.
- Its committed swings are a poor fit for encounters that reward quick, low-commitment attacks rather than a planned damage window.
Best uses
- Use it for a deliberate finishing phase against a powerful enemy, after preserving the weapon until Breaking Point becomes active.
- Take advantage of Lynel-mounted attack sequences, where durability is not consumed, to exploit the weapon’s damage potential without rapidly wearing it down.
- Choose it for burst-oriented fused weapons intended to punish exposed bosses or large enemies, rather than as an everyday exploration weapon.
- Keep a different weapon available for routine fights, resource-efficient travel, and situations where shield use or fast handling matters.
Compared With Similar Weapons
| Weapon | Class and role | Distinctive mechanic | Trade-off versus Royal Guard's Claymore |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Claymore | Improved Flurry Rush rewards perfect-dodge attacks | More suited to repeated Flurry Rush use; lacks the Royal Guard's Claymore's Breaking Point focus | — |
| Gerudo Claymore | Strong Fusion improves the weapon's fused-material contribution | Better for sustained fused-weapon use; does not provide the same near-break damage spike | — |
| Fierce Deity Sword | No comparable conditional weapon trait | A simpler option when consistent handling matters more than exploiting Breaking Point | — |
Lore and Design
The Royal Guard's Claymore is presented as a weapon of the Hyrulean Royal Guard, linking it to the defense of Hyrule Castle and the kingdom's former royal institution. Its identity is defined less by a named wielder or quest connection than by its role as a powerful, specialized guard weapon.
Its unusually short service life gives the design a deliberate high-risk character: the claymore is suited to decisive strikes rather than routine, prolonged use. The Breaking Point trait reinforces that identity by rewarding continued use as the weapon approaches breakage. This supports an interpretation of the weapon as an emergency or last-resort arm, but the game does not establish a specific named designer, historical event, or real-world inspiration for it.
Trivia
- The Royal Guard’s Claymore carries the Breaking Point ability: when the weapon reaches its near-break state, its attack power is doubled rather than merely receiving a durability warning.
- It is a particularly effective choice for mounted attacks against Lynels because weapon durability is not consumed while striking from a Lynel’s back.
- Its pristine form belongs to the Depths’ Shadow Soldier weapon pool; breaking a decayed Royal Guard’s Claymore is required before that pristine weapon can begin appearing.