TotK Soldier and Captain Constructs: HP, Drops and Spawns

Soldier Constructs are the combat constructs the Zonai built “with ancient techniques and magic”, in the game’s words, and Captain Constructs are the elite rank above them. You first meet them on Great Sky Island; later they guard sky islands, Zonai ruins, the regional temples and the Proving Grounds shrines. This page gives the HP and drops of every rank from the game’s own data, how to tell the ranks apart, how to beat them and where they are placed. For other monster families see the enemy overview. The block-built Flux Constructs are a different monster; they have their own page, Flux Construct locations.

How do you tell the Construct ranks apart?

HP comes from the game’s parameter files. The horn shapes come from the game’s own descriptions of each construct and its horn: the Soldier Construct I’s ornament “is sharp and cuts like a blade”, the II’s “can be swung like an axe”, and the IV’s horn is “embedded with a sharp disk” that “spins mysteriously”. Captain Constructs stand on a tall neck of stacked rings and have long, segmented arms.

What makes Captain Constructs different?

The game calls the Captain Construct “an elite Soldier Construct, hence its ‘captain’ title”. Its description says even the standard rank “can use Fuse to enhance its weapons”, the II has “more powerful weapons”, and the III is “equipped with a variety of sword techniques”. Captains carry their own bows, the Construct Bow, Strong Construct Bow and Mighty Construct Bow, which the item text says are fireproof and “won’t catch fire as wooden bows do”.

What are the golden rank IV Constructs?

Both IV ranks are golden. The game says the Soldier Construct IV has “excellent attack power and endurance” and calls the Captain Construct IV “the mightiest of all”. With 1,200 HP, the Captain Construct IV ties the Silver Boss Bokoblin for the most HP of any regular monster.

The placement data has no rank IV construct at any fixed spot. You meet them where lower ranks are placed, once stronger monsters have started replacing weaker ones; the enemy overview explains how ranks rise.

How do you beat Constructs?

• Aim for the head. The damage files give every Soldier, Captain and Training Construct a head hitbox that takes double damage.
• Lightning destroys them. Lightning damage is set to 999,999 for every Soldier and Captain Construct, the same as for the horned monsters.
• Fire, ice and shock do little. Catching fire deals 3 damage and then a little more while it burns, being frozen deals 10 and a shock 20. Against a 720-HP Soldier Construct IV that is a distraction, not a kill.
• Let them fight other monsters. A game tip says constructs “don’t discriminate when it comes to trespassers” and suggests leading them toward other monsters “to give them a new target”.
• Watch for Zonai devices. Constructs carry weapons, and the placement data gives many a Zonai device as well: most often a Flame Emitter, also Beam, Shock and Frost Emitters, Springs and Mirrors. A construct with an emitter attacks from range, so close in or break line of sight.

In the placement data, Soldier Construct I mostly hold sticks, Rusty Broadswords and Old Wooden Shields. From rank II up many carry Zonaite Swords, Zonaite Longswords and Zonaite Shields, and Soldier Construct III also Strong Zonaite gear, so beating them is a way to pick up Zonaite weapons.

What is the Training Construct?

The Training Construct is a white construct the game describes as “equipped with special combat-training functions”. It has 80 HP and, like a Captain Construct, can fuse its weapons. It appears only in the seven Combat Training shrines, twelve in all, where it teaches one move per shrine. Its damage file sets the extra damage from fire, freezing and lightning to zero, so beat it with the move the shrine is teaching. It drops one Zonai Charge.

What do Constructs drop and what are the parts for?

Rates are from the game’s drop tables; “rolls” is how often the game rolls that line. Weapons a construct carries are not part of these tables.

• Zonai Charges are, in the item text, “a power source for constructs and other devices”. Using one restores a small amount of power to your Energy Cell, and a Large Zonai Charge stops the cell from draining for a short while. Neither adds Energy Wells; that takes Crystallized Charges, see battery upgrades.
• Device Dispensers take both. One Zonai Charge buys one capsule and one Large Zonai Charge ten, with a bonus for putting several in at once. Soldier Construct Horns go in too. See Zonai devices.
• Fuse: the horns are blades. The Soldier Construct II Horn suits “slicing through small branches and plants”, the III Horn “can cut through plants and large trees”, and the IV horns “vastly increase” attack power. A Soldier Construct Horn adds 3 attack when fused, a Captain Construct II Horn 15, a Captain Construct III Horn 25, a Soldier Construct IV Horn 24 and a Captain Construct IV Horn 35. See the Fuse guide.
• Selling: merchants pay 2, 4, 10 and 24 rupees for the Soldier Construct horns from I to IV, and 3, 9, 12 and 30 for the Captain Construct horns.

Where do Constructs spawn?

These are the game’s placement data, each spawn counted under the rank it is placed as; the shrine column counts constructs inside shrines, which are not on the maps. There are no rank IV placements: see above.

• Sky islands. Most Soldier Construct I are in the sky. 35 constructs are placed on and around Great Sky Island, by the Room of Awakening and the Temple of Time among other spots, five of them Captain Construct I. Wellspring Island has 17, twelve of them Soldier Construct III, and Thunderhead Isles ten Soldier Construct III. Soldier Construct I armed with Construct Bows and Rockets guard Starview Island, Valor Island and the North Gerudo Sky Archipelago.
• Surface. The surface groups gather at Zonai ruins: the biggest is near Thyphlo Ruins with 18, including two Captain Construct I and two Captain Construct III, then Clarnet Coast (8), Hebra Peak (7) and Karusa Valley (5).
• Depths. Only six, all Soldier Construct II and III at the Construct Factory below Faron.
• Temples. The Wind Temple has nine Soldier Construct II and a Captain Construct I, the Fire Temple nine Soldier Construct II and a Captain Construct II; the Water Temple seven Soldier Construct III, one II and a Captain Construct II; the Lightning Temple eight Soldier Construct III, three II and a Captain Construct III. See the Wind, Fire, Water and Lightning Temple walkthroughs.
• Shrines. 125 Soldier and Captain Constructs wait in 30 shrines. Half of those shrines are Proving Grounds, where you start without your own gear.

For the rest of Hyrule’s monsters see the enemy overview, and for the Zonai-built boss that turns into a block puzzle, see Flux Construct locations.