The Champion's Ballad is about as good of DLC as we could have gotten for Breath of the Wild: More shrines, another dungeon, a big boss fight. All of those are fun, but not particularly memorable, but the bike you get as a reward for completing them is indisputably rad.

The initial challenge you're presented with involves a weapon called the One-Hit Obliterator, and this might be my favorite part of the whole game. BotW shines brightest when your life feels like it's hanging by a thread. (Eventide Island is another great example) This intro to the second DLC pack requires you to rout groups of enemies in certain areas without being struck a single time, resulting in a new shrine being unearthed. This is some of the most tense, strategic gameplay in Breath of the Wild, and I desperately wish there was more of it.

After unlocking these shrines on the Great Plateau, there are more new Shrines to unlock across Hyrule, each batch corresponding with one of the four deceased Champions, and the quests to gain entry to them are solid. All of this culminates in a new dungeon being unlocked. This isn't technically a Divine Beast, but it may as well be. It maintains the same repeated aesthetics from the four you've already completed by this point, and feels like it could be an extension of any of them. While it's cool to have more to do, this emphasized one of BotW's greatest failings: Dungeons without unique identities. It does, however, end with the best boss fight in the game.

Like the first DLC pack, the new clothing items are essentially useless in the late game (they can't be upgraded), so if you're thinking of getting this DLC, I'd recommend doing it right from the start so you can actually take advantage of these new unlocks. The new Horse armor is the best of the bunch, but if you beat the aforementioned new dungeon, you won't need a horse ever again.

The Champion’s Ballad starts strong. You are tasked with activating and completing four shrines in the Great Plateau with access to only one weapon which can take out any enemy in one hit, but this weapon has reduced your health so you can also be taken out by any enemy in one hit. This makes for some really intense enemy encounters which force you to plan carefully and not be reckless while also making for some interesting and unique shrines. Once these shrines have been completed you are given your inventory and health back and are tasked with finding and completing three shrines associated with each of the four divine beasts. Completing these enable you to battle the beasts again with a fun twist. Finding and accessing the shrines themselves can be a bit laborious with the cryptic clues and lack of easy access to the maps which show their approximate location. However, the shrines themselves are as good as ever. It was also nice to have another crack at the bosses you face in the base game but with an extra challenge (that I won’t spoil) though it did feel a bit like déjà vu at points. Completing all of the above unlocks a fifth divine beast. Going through and completing this divine beast was pure joy, being BOTW at its best. What’s more the DLC does a great job of providing more substance to the storytelling, with frequent and more fleshed out cutscenes giving us a better insight into the Champion’s and protagonists. It’s by no means a storytelling masterclass but it is definitely a step up from the base game.

The Champion’s Ballad has a really strong opening and ending, but is slightly dragged down by a weaker middle section. Regardless, the DLC is well worth your time, being a fantastic addition to an exceptional game.

Ranked DLC Recommendations

Zelda Marathon #4

This shit came out 5 years ago and I just never bought or played it. Idk why. But with the Wii U eshop closing and me owning it on Wii U as well as Switch, and doing a Zelda marathon, I decided to replay BOTW, buy the DLC and have this be the swansong for the Wii U in my heart. This was good. Like. Really good. I’m not the biggest BOTW fan, I find it’s overrated, but this was great. The story was whatever yeah but those shrines were FUN, I loved the obliterator (wish I could’ve used it more), and THAT FINAL FIGHT OML. So good. Still has my problems with BOTW tho.