TotK Bomb Flower: When to Use One, and Where to Get Them Free

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has no bomb rune. Explosives come from two places: Time Bomb capsules out of Device Dispensers, and Bomb Flowers, which you can carry by the dozen and fuse to anything. The item text is short and accurate: “A dangerous flower that contains explosive elements. Does not mix well with fire or electricity, unless the goal is to blow things up.” What matters is where you put it, and when something else does the job for free.

Arrow, throw, sword or shield?

On an arrow it is a ranged bomb: draw the bow, press up on the D-pad and pick the flower. Each shot uses up one flower and one arrow. Thrown (hold R and press up on the D-pad), it costs no arrow but your aim is shorter. Either way the blast catches everything near the impact, which is the point against a group of Bokoblins or a Construct in a shrine.

Fused to a sword or a club, it goes off on your first hit, right next to you, and Link takes the blast with the enemy. On a shield it explodes when something strikes the shield; reportedly that blast does not hurt Link, but it is one use and then the shield is plain again. A fused Bomb Flower adds just 1 attack power; the damage is in the explosion, not the number.

Do you even need a Bomb Flower for this wall?

Cracked walls, rocks blocking cave mouths and ore deposits all break to an explosion, and shrines are full of walls that need one. But a Boulder fused to a cheap weapon breaks the same walls and costs nothing, and Yunobo’s charge “can break ore deposits and sediment”, in the game’s words. Use a Bomb Flower when:

• the wall is too high or too far to reach with a weapon;
• you want to set it off from a distance;
• you would rather not wear down the weapon.

The other explosive, the Time Bomb, explodes after a delay instead of on impact, and its blast can set off other devices. It is better for a planted charge or a trap; the flower is better for anything you have to hit.

How do you avoid paying 40 rupees each?

Danda in Gerudo Town and Fyson in Tarrey Town sell them for 40 rupees, and any shop buys them back for 10, so buying is the last resort.

The cheaper sources, roughly in order of convenience:

1. Bargainer Statues: 16 Poes each, from the very first statue, the one inside Lookout Landing. Poes are lying all over the Depths (Bargainer Statues).
2. Addison. Help him stand up a sign and his reward from his “collection” is often a Bomb Flower, Puffshroom or Muddle Bud (Hudson signs).
3. Chests. The game’s chest data puts Bomb Flowers in 36 chests outside shrines, and 34 of those hold a bundle rather than a single flower. Shrine chests add more: five in Siwakama Shrine and Gatanisis Shrine, three in Yamiyo Shrine.
4. The wild. Nearly all of the fixed spots are in the Depths, with a few hundred in caves; picked flowers grow back after a while. The densest spots and a route: Bomb Flower farming.

The landmarks with the most wild flowers; “Show on map” opens the interactive map there.

The two chests below each hold a single flower; the bundles are not on this map.

Cooking, dye or selling?

None of these. In the pot it makes Dubious Food. At the Kochi Dye Shop it is a blue dye material, but a dye job takes five flowers you will want for arrows. And at 10 rupees each, selling only makes sense for a pouch full of wild ones you will never use.

See also

• Muddle Bud and Puffshroom: the other two flowers for arrows
• Arrow farming
• Fuse guide
• All materials