Summary
TheLegend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomis packed full of hidden details and secrets for fans to uncover as they play through its story, and one of the easiest to miss features is the tertiary form of combat for Zelda being automatons.
If you follow up withDampe after he invites you to his workshop, he’ll provide you with a series of quests to unlock each of his six automatons. These automatons functionseparately from Echoesand need to be wound up by Zelda to function in combat, making her momentarily vulnerable, but after, act as another force on Zelda’s side in combat. However, Dampe didn’t create them equal, so which are the best?
6Gizmol
Flashy Performer
A lot of Dampe’s automatons look quite similar, having the same robotic reskin of existing monsters, but one which stands out from the crowd (seemingly by design) is Gizmol. Its design is based on different Zols and needs the music box from the ranch that Zelda can acquire if she completes enough flag races in time.
In spite of this automaton’s flashy design, it’s one of the less useful automatons. It will shoot out colourful musical notes, but these don’t seem to have much effect on monsters. Because of the effort it takes to wind up this automaton to get it to work, it doesn’t have a satisfying pay-off. It is especially ineffective against bosses, so make sure not to use it during these high-stakes encounters.
5High-Teku Baba
Big Bites
Deku Babas can be some of the most annoying enemies Zelda runs into during her adventure. In spite of being static, if you or one of your Echoes gets close enough, the monster can swallow them whole, holding them back from taking part in combat.
The automaton clone of this enemy, the High-Teku Baba functions similarly, but since it is only effective against smaller enemies, it is limited in its versatility, especially against bosses. By default, this automaton is also completely static like the monster that inspires it, and this severely limits how useful it can be.
Zelda can choose to hold the automaton and carry it around the battlefield to get closer to targets, but this effort is often not worth the trouble with how infrequently it attacks.
4Goldfinch
Flying Thief
The final automaton you’ll unlock from Dampe is the Goldfinch, designed to mimic the crows that will often steal Rupees and attack Zelda, and this automaton functions similarly. The main strength of this automaton is how much it moves around the stage, flying in and out of danger, making it much less of an active target compared to the static automatons.
This automaton is also designed to steal Rupees for Zelda. The efficacy of this is varied depending on the enemies you are fighting, and it’s not often the best way to farm Rupees if that is your main goal. It’s also not the most aggressive automaton either, not taking full advantage of its manoeuvrability to actually get in many good hits.
3Techtite
Attack from Above
The first automatonyou get from Dampe is also one of the best if you know when it’s best to use. The Techtite is designed to resemble the annoying jumping Tektites that can cause trouble for Zelda when traversing certain bodies of water, but the automaton version is a lot less active in its movement pattern.
Instead of tracking its foes, the Techtite will instead jump slowly up and down in the same spot you wind it up on, unless you move it manually. However, with each jump it creates quite a wide AOE radius around it, making it a good way to take out large groups of weaker enemies or even a boss that sticks to a certain spot.
It takes a while to start jumping, but once it does, it’s a great way to automatically dominate one corner of the battlefield.
2Roboblin
Personal Robot Bodyguard
One of the most autonomous automatons is the Roboblin, based on the sword-wielding moblins that are one of the more active threats to Zelda and her Echoes in her adventures. The Roboblin does not attack as frequently as their fleshier counterparts, instead acting more like a patient samurai, using more intentional and powerful wide swings to deal a lot of damage to whatever is unfortunate to be in its range.
The Roboblin is one of the best automatons thanks to its versatility and manoeuvrability, as well as its power, making it one of the more worthwhile automatons to make the effort of winding up. In spite of this, sometimes its slower sword strikes miss the timing of enemies being vulnerable.
1Tocktorok
Octo-Gatling
One of the first automatons can also be the most effective. The unassuming Tocktorok is based on the ever-frustrating Octorock, and like its monsterous inspirations, it continuously shoots out projectiles, only instead of rocks, the Tocktorok makes the flashier choice to shoot fireworks (expertly retrieved from a Goron artisan by Zelda).
While the Tocktorok doesn’t move, once it’s wound up it can shoot continuously for quite a while, and will automatically lock onto the closest threat, and if Zelda want some personal defence and to stop her robot companion from being a sitting duck, she can pick it up using it as a gatling.
If strategically placed during a boss encounter, the Tocktorok can be a continuous passive damage output to help make the fight end a lot quicker.
