BotW Yiga Clan: Footsoldier, Blademaster and Kohga HP, Drops

The Yiga Clan is the band of masked assassins in Breath of the Wild, sent out with one task: “seek out Link and end his life”. You fight two ranks, the Yiga Footsoldier and the Yiga Blademaster, and their leader Master Kohga at the Yiga Clan Hideout. This page gives their HP and drops from the game’s own data, how to spot and beat them, and where the game places them. For other monster families see the enemy overview; the Tears of the Kingdom version is on the Yiga Clan in Tears of the Kingdom.

Which Yiga can you fight?

HP is from the game’s actor data. The game names both Footsoldier versions Yiga Footsoldier and both Blademaster versions Yiga Blademaster; the bows and blades are the ones they are placed with. The Footsoldier’s parameter file also holds a second value, 144 HP, tied to a story flag named after getting the Thunder Helm back, so Footsoldiers you meet after the hideout probably have twice the HP.

The game calls the Footsoldiers “the lowest-ranked members of the Yiga Clan”, “very agile”, carrying “a bow and a one-handed sword”. The Blademasters are the elite: they “favor the windcleaver blade”, are “extremely agile despite their bulky build”, and can strike the ground to “create stone pillars and blasts of air”.

How do you spot a disguised Yiga?

The game warns that Footsoldiers disguise themselves “as simple travelers or villagers to get the jump on you”. In the placement data, 16 of them stand alone on roads with the plain name tag Traveler; get close and they throw off the disguise and attack. The table below lists where.

How do you beat the Yiga?

• Footsoldiers: with 72 HP (64 for archers), two or three hits from a decent weapon are enough. The archers are the bigger nuisance: their Duplex Bow fires two arrows per shot (see bows), so close the distance or shoot back.
• Blademasters: watch for the wind blade and the stone pillars; guard or dodge the big swing and counter in the opening. That is also how the Blademaster in The Stolen Heirloom, by Lakna Rokee Shrine, is beaten.

How do you get through the Yiga Clan Hideout?

The hideout is in Karusa Valley in the Gerudo Highlands, and you go there during Divine Beast Vah Naboris to take back the Thunder Helm. Inside, the seven Blademasters are worth avoiding: being seen makes the run much harder, so move slowly and stay out of their line of sight. They are said to stop for Mighty Bananas left on the floor, which gives you a chance to slip past. The hideout even has a room stacked with bananas, and over 30 bunches grow around it (see Mighty recipes).

How do you beat Master Kohga?

Master Kohga has 300 HP. The game says he spends most of his time “napping and generally loafing about”, yet his “mastery of the esoteric arts has earned him a deep respect”. In the fight he lifts a boulder over his head; hit him from range so he drops it on himself. In the second phase two boulders circle him; strike when one is directly overhead. When he falls into the chasm a chest with the Thunder Helm appears. He has no drop table. The full route is on the Vah Naboris walkthrough.

What do the Yiga drop?

Rates are from the game’s drop tables; a roll that misses gives nothing. Averaged over the table, a Footsoldier is worth about 25 rupees, which is nice on the road but not a way to get rich; see rupee farming. Mighty Bananas cook into attack-up dishes; see Mighty recipes.

Where do the Yiga appear?

These are the game’s placements, two records stored at the same point counted once. The plain Yiga Footsoldier and Yiga Blademaster have no fixed placements at all: the game sends them after you during the journey, which is why most Yiga fights happen on the road rather than at a marked spot. The Champions’ Ballad adds three more hideout Blademasters on spots already counted; they are left out.

The memory Blades of the Yiga, found near Kara Kara Bazaar, shows Link fighting off Yiga who attacked Zelda; see captured memories. For the rest of Hyrule’s monsters see the enemy overview.