BotW Enemy Scaling: How Monsters Level Up, Silver Enemies

Early in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild the fields are full of red Bokoblins; late in the game you meet black and Silver monsters everywhere. A hidden point total drives this: defeating enemies adds points, and once the total passes a threshold some monsters switch to a stronger color, along with the weapons they carry. The game never names this value; players call it world level or enemy scaling. This page uses the game data to explain where the points come from, at how many points each monster changes color, and why only some of them change.

What makes enemies get stronger?

Only the points from defeating enemies. Play time, shrines, heart containers and stamina don’t matter. Each kill adds points by enemy type:

• Each enemy type counts for its first 10 kills. The 11th of the same type adds nothing, so farming one monster stops raising your points quickly.
• Red and blue small fry give no points. Bokoblins, Moblins, Blue Bokoblins, Blue Moblins, green and Blue Lizalfos, Chuchus, Keese and Octoroks are not in the point table at all. A Black Bokoblin is worth 15 and a Silver Bokoblin 25.
• Bosses count once. Each Blight Ganon is worth 300, counted only the first time you beat it inside its Divine Beast — the Hyrule Castle rematches don’t count. Master Kohga is worth 100, Monk Maz Koshia 500 and Dark Beast Ganon 800.

For example, the four Blight Ganons alone add up to 1,200 points, which is already past the roughly 1,143 points at which Blue Bokoblins turn black. So after freeing all four Divine Beasts you start meeting Black Bokoblins even if you skipped most other fights.

At how many points does each monster change color?

These are the thresholds at which monsters that scale change color (approximate values converted from the game’s upgrade table). Only these four families change color:

• Monsters that never change: Fire-Breath, Ice-Breath and Electric Lizalfos are not in the upgrade table, and Hinoxes, Stone Taluses, Guardians, Wizzrobes and Moldugas don’t change type with points either.
• Enemy weapons change too. A Boko Bat becomes a Spiked Boko Bat and then a Dragonbone Boko Bat, Traveler’s weapons climb to Soldier’s, Knight’s and Royal, and bonuses start to appear. Thresholds are on the weapon bonuses page; where to collect them is on the weapon farming page.

Why do only one or two monsters at a camp change?

Because only some monsters are flagged to scale. Every monster on the map has its own setting, and one without the flag keeps its placed color forever. In the Normal Mode overworld:

That is why you often see a single Silver Bokoblin among a group of red ones late in the game. It also explains where the Silvers come from: Normal Mode places no Silver Bokoblins or Moblins and only one Silver Lizalfos, so nearly every Silver you meet has scaled up. Which individual monsters scale is in the placement tables on the Bokoblin, Moblin, Lizalfos and Lynel locations pages.

Why did the monsters at a camp turn black?

There are three possibilities:

1. Your points passed a threshold and the flagged monsters changed. A monster’s color is decided by your current points when it spawns. The Blood Moon doesn’t upgrade anything by itself; it only brings back defeated monsters. Monsters you never killed also change when they reload after you leave the area and return.
2. It was black from the start. Many camps are placed with black monsters: Normal Mode places 244 Black Bokoblins and 136 Black Moblins, and none of those are the result of scaling.
3. You are playing Master Mode. Master Mode raises every monster one more grade after scaling, and adds a Golden grade above Silver that only appears in that mode.

What isn’t affected by the points?

• Blight Ganon health follows its own rule. In the order you fight them they have 800, 1,200, 1,600 and 2,000 health; the ones in Hyrule Castle always have 2,000. See Divine Beast order.
• Reportedly nothing scales in the Trial of the Sword or on Eventide Island.
• Opened chests stay empty. A chest you already opened is not refilled with a better weapon when your points rise; chests you have not opened yet hold better weapons as your points go up.

See also

• Enemies overview
• Weapon bonuses
• Master Mode
• Blood Moon
• Tears of the Kingdom enemy scaling