The Official Legend of Zelda Thread: Echoes of Wisdom Out Now

[RolStoppable]

mZuzek said:

This mechanic definitely exists and has existed since Breath of the Wild. This only marks the second game in a row where they've kept it hidden from players. I'm not entirely sure how exactly it activates, it doesn't always save you from a one-shot at full health, I think it's based on how much damage you take.

For reference I just booted up Breath of the Wild and tested it with the Decayed Guardian outside the Bomb shrine. Its laser deals 14.5 hearts of damage if you wear nothing. So I got rid of a few hearts...

At full health with 10 hearts, I took the hit and survived with a quarter heart.
But with 9.75 hearts, it one-shot me.
And now at 9 hearts, full health, it also one-shot me.

Tested all of these multiple times so it's not RNG shenanigans, I think it's protecting me from damage up to 50% more than the amount of hearts I have. Not sure if it works exactly the same in Tears of the Kingdom but I would assume so, they kept most little mechanics like this unchanged.

Interesting and worth keeping in mind for the next Zelda game (or master mode in TotK if it gets added down the line). Because otherwise it's not of much use anymore due to knowing the games already and therefore having much less risk of getting in situations where you'd even need this.