Biggoron's Sword is the best damage upgrade in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake, while the Fairy Bow is the top ranged pick.
This Nintendo Switch 2 remake tier list ranks combat usefulness across the adventure. Offensive spells and combat tools count alongside swords because stunning an enemy or exposing its weak point often comes before dealing damage.
Weapon ranking criteria
The ranking weighs four things:
- Combat value: Damage, enemy control, and the ability to create attack openings.
- Reliability: Whether the weapon remains useful without breaking or being replaced.
- Versatility: Its applications against enemies, bosses, and dungeon obstacles.
- Availability: How much of the adventure benefits from obtaining it, including the effort required for optional pickups.
S-tier weapons are the main combat priorities. A-tier options have strong, distinct jobs, B-tier options are narrower or eventually replaced, and C-tier pickups offer the least practical reason to take a detour.
Best weapons tier list
| Rank | Tier | Weapon | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | S | Biggoron's Sword | The best optional investment for sustained melee damage. |
| 2 | S | Master Sword | A dependable main-story blade with an essential role in the ending. |
| 3 | S | Fairy Bow | A ranged staple for enemies, switches, and mounted hunts. |
| 4 | A | Longshot | Extended reach combines boss control with traversal. |
| 5 | A | Megaton Hammer | Creates specific boss openings and breaks dungeon obstacles. |
| 6 | A | Din's Fire | The strongest group-clearing option in this ranking. |
| 7 | A | Boomerang | Child Link's key tool for stun-and-strike encounters. |
| 8 | A | Bombs | Answer vulnerable bosses, Beamos, and cracked barriers. |
| 9 | A | Light Arrows | Decisive during the ending, but acquired near the finish. |
| 10 | B | Hookshot | Useful through early adult dungeons before its upgrade arrives. |
| 11 | B | Fire Arrows | Add ranged fire for particular enemies and torch puzzles. |
| 12 | B | Bombchus | Solve unusual attack angles and support niche boss tactics. |
| 13 | B | Fairy Slingshot | Handles early eye targets, switches, and climbing hazards. |
| 14 | B | Kokiri Sword | The starting melee choice for Child Link's route. |
| 15 | B | Deku Sticks | Earn extra value during childhood through fire-carrying utility. |
| 16 | C | Giant's Knife | A temporary damage purchase with poor long-term value. |
| 17 | C | Ice Arrows | A late optional reward behind a nine-key dungeon detour. |
Best melee weapons
Biggoron's Sword versus the Master Sword
Biggoron's Sword combines high damage with an indestructible blade. Its two-handed grip prevents shield use, so choose it when you can avoid attacks through movement and want to make each opening count.
The Master Sword is the better choice when you want your shield available. Biggoron's Sword also cannot finish Ganon on its own, so the optional upgrade does not make the story weapon obsolete.
Why the Giant's Knife ranks so low
Medigoron sells the Giant's Knife in Goron City for 200 Rupees. It offers a high-damage alternative, but it breaks with use. Save that purchase for a temporary boost; completing the trading quest is the stronger long-term investment.
Child Link gets the Kokiri Sword from the chest beyond Kokiri Forest's small crawlspace. Pick up Deku Sticks from the Deku Babas on the path to the Great Deku Tree, too, because the first dungeon uses them to carry fire between torches and webs.
For the route to later dungeon weapons, including the Megaton Hammer, follow the Ocarina of Time Remake dungeon order guide.
Best ranged weapons
Prioritize the Fairy Bow for regular ranged combat
The Fairy Bow comes from the Forest Temple after a Stalfos fight. It handles the temple's painting encounters and eye switches, then becomes your ranged answer to Phantom Ganon's first phase. Outside dungeons, it lets you hunt Big Poes while riding Epona.
Increase arrow capacity through the adult shooting game in Kakariko Village, which awards the 40-arrow quiver. Later, scoring 1400 points in Gerudo Fortress's horseback archery game raises capacity to 50.
Use the Longshot to reach and expose targets
The Longshot upgrades the Hookshot's reach in the Water Temple. It can pull Morpha's core out of its body and reach targets that the earlier tool cannot, including high grapple points and distant Gold Skulltulas.
The upgrade sits beyond the Water Temple's miniboss. Use the Ocarina of Time Remake Water Temple guide if you need the route to its chest.
The Fairy Slingshot serves a different stage of the adventure. Get it inside the Great Deku Tree, then use it to clear enemies from climbable vines and activate eye switches. Its early access earns a place in your childhood toolkit, even though adult combat shifts toward the bow.
Best weapons against groups
Din's Fire is the clearest crowd-control choice
Din's Fire attacks around Link, making it useful when several threats are within reach. During the Shadow Temple's hand-based miniboss encounter, one blast can clear the surrounding hands together.
Child Link can cast it, too. The child section of the Spirit Temple includes enemies that call for fire, so magic remains an option when the adult sword collection is unavailable.
Clear nearby threats with fire
The spell also lights multiple torches, including those at the Shadow Temple entrance. Bombs earn their A-tier position through different jobs: feeding King Dodongo, destroying Beamos, and opening cracked barriers. Keep those specific weaknesses in mind when choosing between fire and explosives.
Situational weapons worth keeping ready
The Boomerang does more than stun enemies
The Boomerang is central to Barinade's fight in Jabu-Jabu's Belly. Use it to detach the boss's tentacles and later stun its core before attacking with your sword. It also freezes the dungeon's electrical platforms so you can cross them.
Use the Boomerang to retrieve tokens beyond your reach
The returning throw can retrieve distant tokens after you defeat Gold Skulltulas. You cannot lock onto those spiders, so aim manually. The Ocarina of Time Remake Gold Skulltula locations guide helps you identify the pickups that become reachable after obtaining it.
Match these tools to their specific openings
- Megaton Hammer: Strike Volvagia when she emerges from a hole, then follow with your sword. It also provides a substitute when Ganon knocks the Master Sword away.
- Fire Arrows: Target Bongo Bongo's hands. Toggle the Lenses of Truth with D-Pad Up to reveal the head, then hit its eye with the Longshot.
- Bombchus: Use them on the high cracked wall in the Spirit Temple's child section, where ordinary bombs cannot reach. About 15 also provide a ranged tactic against that section's miniboss.
- Light Arrows: Destroy the cores at the ends of Ganon's Castle trials, then use them when Ganondorf presents an opening.
- Deku Nuts: These sit outside the weapon ranking, but they can stun Gohma through her eye and control the jellyfish-like enemies in Jabu-Jabu's Belly.
Availability and progression restrictions
How to unlock Biggoron's Sword
Adult Link's trading quest is the main optional weapon detour worth prioritizing. It begins with the Cucco Lady in Kakariko Village and includes several timed deliveries.
- Get the Pocket Egg from the Cucco Lady. Hatch it, use the Pocket Cucco to wake Talon in Kakariko, and return it to receive Cojiro.
- Show Cojiro to the craftsman's son in the Lost Woods, left from the Kokiri Forest entrance. Deliver his Odd Mushroom to Granny in Kakariko's Potion Shop within four minutes.
- Take the Odd Poultice back to the Lost Woods and give it to Fado for the Poacher's Saw. Trade the saw to the master craftsman in Gerudo Valley for the Broken Goron's Sword.
- Show the broken sword to Biggoron at Death Mountain's summit. Take his Prescription to thawed King Zora to receive the Eyeball Frog.
- Deliver the frog to the Lakeside Laboratory within two and a half minutes. Then deliver the resulting Eye Drops to Biggoron within three and a half minutes.
- Receive the Biggoron Receipt, wait three in-game days, and present it to collect the sword. Repeatedly playing the Sun's Song advances the wait.
Which optional pickup can wait?
Ice Arrows are the lowest-priority detour here because obtaining them means clearing the Gerudo Proving Grounds' nine-key maze late in the adventure. The complete route needs the Spirit Temple's item, the Silver Gauntlets, before you can finish it. Collect the core dungeon weapons first, then return for this optional reward.
