Breath of the Wild’s DLC adds a new gameplay mode called “Master Mode” - luckily this is an optional mode so if you want to enjoy the rest of the DLC content (like the Champions’ Ballad or Trial of the Sword) you do not have to play “hard mode” for it.

You switch between modes on the home screen (shown above) and starting a Master Mode save file does NOT overwrite or delete your Normal Mode save file.

As for the gameplay, there are a bunch of super obvious differences, and a couple more sneaky ones.

“Meta” Changes:

  • The loading screens are black and red instead of black and white, and will have the slogan “Master Mode” in the red part. The home screen also says “Master Mode” if you switch to it.

  • There is a tiny Triforce logo in the lower left corner at all times while you’re playing. You can not disable it even with the Pro HUD setting.

  • In Normal Mode, you have one manual save file and multiple autosaves. In Master Mode, you have one manual save and only a single autosave slot, so you can’t go too far back if you mess something up.

  • Normal Mode has a OHKO prevention safety measure: if you have full health (no matter how many heart containers you have, as long as they’re all full!) and you get hit with a single attack that would normally kill you, then Link survives with a quarter heart instead. This safety measure is gone in Master Mode - if you get OHKO’ed you simply die.

 

In-game Changes:

  • Almost all monsters are one “tier” higher: Red Bokoblins/Moblins and green Lizalfoes are now blue, the ones that were blue in Normal Mode are now black, the formerly black ones are now silver. The same goes for Lynels, exept that the “black” Lynel tier is called “White-Maned”. Elemental Lizalfoes do not change.

  • In Normal Mode, “Silver” is the highest tier, but MM adds a gold enemy tier on top of that.

  • Fire/Electric/Ice Wizzrobes turn into Meteo/Thunder Wizzrobes and Blizzrobes respectively. Wizzrobes that were already Meteo/Thunder Wizzrobes and Blizzrobes in Normal Mode do not change, as there is no higher tier.

  • Formerly Red and Blue Hinoxes are now Blue and Black respectively. Hinoxes that have already been Black in Normal Mode do not change as there is no new tier, and neither do Stalnoxes.

  • Regular and Luminous Taluses turn into Luminous and Rare respectively. Taluses that have already been Rare in Normal Mode do not change as there is no new tier. Igneo Talus and Frost Talus do not change.

  • Guardian Scouts inside of shrines and Divine Beasts level up as well. GS I turns into GS II, the GS II into GS III, and the GS III into GS IV. Guardian Scouts that have already been GS IV in Normal Mode do not change, and their equipment does not level up with them. “Big” Guardians like Stalkers, Skywatchers, Turrets and the “decayed” variant do not level up.

  • Small and Medium-sized Chuchus turn into Medium and Large ones. The ones that had already been Large do not change, as there is no new size. The same applies to elemental Chuchus this time, as they, too, come in different sizes.

  • Enemies that do not change (in addition to the ones already mentioned): Stal-enemies, Keese and Pebblits (including elemental ones), Yiga Archers and Blademasters, all types of Octoroks, “cursed” enemies (the floating skull things), Moldugas, regular hostile animals like bears and wolves.

  • In addition to that, there are a handful of individual enemies that are specifically exempt from scaling up, so the player has a chance to find low-level enemies in Master Mode (like a red Bokoblin, green Lizalfos etc.)

  • In general, there are a lot more enemies across the map: There are floating platforms all across Hyrule now, usually with one archer-type enemy on it (Bokoblins, Moblins or Lizalfoes). The platforms are held up by new “monsters” called Sky Octoroks, but those guys are not hostile. There is also a single additional White-Maned Lynel directly on the Great Plateau.

  • As a tradeoff, these monsters are usually equipped with good bows (like Duplex or Lynel Bows) and elemental arrows, so if you manage to defeat them you get cool equipment easily. The platforms also often hold treasure chests with “late game” equipment that has guaranteed golden-tier bonuses.

  • Enemies in general seem to be more alert, so they will detect Link sooner / easier.

  • Enemies also regenerate health now, and pretty quickly as well - mere seconds after you stopped hitting them. They recover up to 30% of their max hp at a rate of ~3% per second. Guardian Scouts recover up to 20% of their max hp at a rate of 1% per second. Sadly this also applies to bosses like the Blights and Calamity Ganon, which can make these fights a lot harder. Dark Beast Ganon does not regenerate as he does not have an actual health bar.

  • As a small tradeoff, the Trial of the Sword has a couple of additional weapons in Master Mode. It is still noticably harder than in Normal Mode.

  • Guardian laser blasts may or may not have a random delay, so the timing to parry their lasers with a shield is more difficult.

  • The Hyrule Compendium has a handful of extra slots for the golden enemies and Sky Octoroks now. As these enemies are exclusive to Master Mode, the “Normal Mode” Hyrule Compendium does not get these extra slots.

There is also a minor glitch that was never fixed, and it affects the Hyrule Compendium. The devs forgot to add a separate folder for “personal” pictures for the Hyrule Compendium, so all personal pics you take are shared across modes. If you, for example, already took a neat-looking picture of a Sunshroom in Normal Mode and saved it as your Hyrule Compendium pic, and then you take a crappy, shaky pic of a Sunshroom in Master Mode, then Normal Mode will also have the crappy pic and you lost the neat-looking one without a way to restore it. It works the other way around as well (take pic in Normal Mode, overwrite pic in Master Mode)

(You can probably guess what the original MM picture looked like before it got overwritten by the Normal Mode picture…)

 

The default pictures you can buy from Symin are both safe from being overwritten, and don’t overwrite anything themselves, as the default pics are stored in a different folder.

Conclusion:

From personal experience I can say that Master Mode is a lot harder at the start, especially the Great Plateau section, but if you know where the good stuff is hidden it can quickly become a lot easier than Normal Mode after the tutorial section, solely because there are tons of high-damage, late-game weapons easily availiable everywhere.

Just one example: There is a Blue Bokoblin on a floating platform at the Bridge of Hylia - you can get there in a couple of minutes once you have the Paraglider. Bokoblins can’t swim and the platform hovers above the lake, so if you toss a bomb at the platform it will either break or the Sky Octoroks will pop, causing the Bokoblin to drown.

That Bokoblin is (was…) eqiupped with a Mighty Lynel Bow (guaranteed 3-shot) and Bomb Arrows, both of which you can just fish out of the water at this point. This takes all of five minutes, a single bomb and zero effort, and you end up with a weapon that you can use to carpet bomb the next enemy camp for even more/better loot.

If you want something even remotely similar in Normal Mode, you would have to actually kill a mid-tier Lynel for it. And that Bokoblin is only one of hundreds with the same grade of equipment, with lots of the platforms hovering above bodies of water or very deep chasms, so you can simply drown the monsters or let fall damage take care of them.

All quests, Korok puzzles, memory locations, the story, dialogue, cutscenes, regular items, armor, landscape, environment, NPCs and shrine puzzles stay the same. Master Mode is all about making monsters harder to kill, but doesn’t change the difficulty in any other aspect of the game.