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The Soldiers Armor set is one of the returning armors first introduced in Breath of the Wild. In Tears of the Kingdom, this armor set still offers the sturdy Medieval knight aesthetic of a Hylian soldier, with the sturdy stats to go along with it. This armor set is pretty off the beaten path, but you can acquire it fairly early on in your adventure.
The Soldier's Armor set can be found within a secret location many players might miss — the Royal Hidden Passage — and you'll have to fight your way through Stalkoblins, Like Likes, and literally tons of breakable rocks. You won't be able to access the Royal Hidden Passage until a certain prerequisite has been accomplished, but after that, this guide can get you every piece of the Soldier's Armor set with ease.
Updated by Jeff Brooks on July 4, 2023: Added more useful in-text links throughout, clarified some passages, and revamped the related links to offer a more worthwhile selection.
How To Access Royal Hidden Passage
In order to access Royal Hidden Passage, you'll need to first complete one of the regional Temples as part of the main story objectives. Once you've completed your first major dungeon, fast travel to Lookout Landing and head down into the Emergency Shelter. Down here, search the outer perimeter of the room to find a small hole in the back wall. A Hylian named Jerrin is sweeping in the area, and she offers a small side quest related to the passage.
Bring along plenty of weapons intended for breaking rocks. Bomb Flowers are often a must as well. You'll find replacements within Royal Hidden Passage, but you'll want a decent stock to start.
When you're ready, crawl through the hole to begin your excursion.
How To Get The Soldier's Greaves
The first armor piece you'll come across will be the Soldier's Greaves. This initial path is fairly straightforward; simply destroy the rubble blocking your way as you carve a path through the cramped tunnels of the Royal Hidden Passage.
The first offshoot to the right will contain the Horned Statue, which can be used to exchange your essence, swapping out Heart Containers for Stamina Vessels and vice versa.
Continue along the path; you'll run into a few offshoots along the way, but they're all pretty short dead-ends.
After you encounter a Like Like in a small cave, you'll spot a platform just behind where it hung from the ceiling, with another rubble-blocked passage beyond. Climb up to this elevated passage — if you're feeling extra, use your Ascend ability to reach the platform — then continue on your rock-breaking journey.
Eventually, you'll reach a larger cavern with a couple Stone Pebblits, a giant rock pile to your left, and more blue rubble ahead (as featured in the image above). After defeating these enemies, break apart the giant rock pile to reveal a passage beyond.
Each piece of the Soldier's armor set is hidden behind one of the giant rubble piles in Royal Hidden Passage.
Through the passage, you'll encounter a small prison with a Like Like enemy off to the left. Defeat the Like Like and loot the chest just behind it get the Soldier's Greaves.
How To Get The Soldier's Armor
Head back out and through the next blue rubble passage. This will bring you to a brief encounter with some skeletal enemies on a thin walkway over water. A cave offshoot below leads to some handy Fairies to capture, but otherwise, you'll want to continue on this path through until you reach a large body of water. This leads into a large cavern.
The landmass off to the left contains a large rubble pile; destroying this will reveal a Stalnox boss fight.
To reach the Soldier's Armor, you want to head through the collapsed passage just opposite the Stalnox rubble pile. It's right in the middle of the water, with four broken columns in front of it. Use Bomb Flowers to bust it apart.
Inside, you'll encounter an Ice Like (ice version of the Like Like enemy). Defeat this creature (and watch out for its icy breath projectiles). Once defeated, loot the chest behind to acquire the Soldier's Armor chest piece.
Only one more armor piece to go!
How To Get The Soldier's Helm
As you return to the watery cavern with the Stalnox boss fight across the way, you want to turn to the right; you'll find another passage leading to another pile of blue rubble.
Continue along this path. You'll find some offshoots here and there, but you're generally aiming a straight-shot through the rubble.
Keep an eye out for the familiar big pile of rubble. It's at the base of a path that winds up into another cave system.
If you encounter and Electric Like (electric version of the Like Like enemy), you've gone too far.
Once you clear the rubble from the small prison entrance, head inside and dispatch the two Stalkoblins that rush you. In here, you'll notice the normal path to where each other Soldier's armor piece has a sealed gate blocking the path.
Instead, head toward the back right cell. Inside, you'll find a boulder. Use the Ultrahand ability to move it, revealing a hole in the floor leading to a passage below.
Drop down into the passage, head to the far side, and climb out of the passage. This will put you out on the other side of the sealed gate.
Defeat the lone Stalkoblin here, then open the chest to acquire the final piece of the Soldier's armor set: the Soldier's Helm.
There's still a bit more to discover in Royal Hidden Passage, like a Bubbulfrog and Bubbul Gem, but if you're just here for the armor, you're good to fast travel out of there.
Soldier's Armor Set Stats & Upgrades
The Soldier's armor set doesn't provide an armor set bonus like many other armor sets, but it does offer the best total defense of all armor sets. With each piece fully upgraded, you'll be sporting a whopping 84 Defense! The table below breaks down the defense increase, upgrade cost in Rupees, and necessary materials to upgrade each armor piece in the set.
Soldier's Armor Upgrade Table
|
Enhance Level |
Armor Defense |
Upgrade Cost (Rupees) |
Necessary Materials |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Base Level |
-4- |
N/A |
N/A |
|
★ |
-7- |
10 |
|
|
★★ |
-12- |
50 |
|
|
★★★ |
-18- |
200 |
|
|
★★★★ |
-28- |
500 |
|