Should You Play the Breath of the Wild DLC Before Beating Ganon?

Friend, if you‘re loving exploring the vast open world of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you may be wondering if you should experience the DLC content before completing the main game. As an expert Zelda fan whose put in over 200 hours across multiple playthroughs, let me provide my detailed take.

The short answer is yes – I‘d recommend starting the DLC before finishing BotW‘s story. But it depends a bit on your play style. Here‘s a comprehensive look at the pros and cons, best early DLCcontent, and expert tips to maximize your pre-Ganon adventures.

Overview of the BotW DLC Packs

First, let‘s recap what‘s included in the DLC:

The Master Trials

The Champions‘ Ballad

Should You Start the DLC Before Beating Ganon?

I‘d personally recommend buying the DLC sooner rather than later if you‘re sure you love Breath of the Wild. Here are some of the biggest pros in my opinion:

More Early Content: The DLC adds a ton of new challenges, quests, and areas to explore before you finish the main game. I‘d estimate 30-40 extra hours of content.

Upgraded Master Sword: Getting this ASAP is super useful for mid and late game battles. The trial can be attempted after freeing the divine beasts.

Fun Early Challenge: Master Mode and the Trial of the Sword are great early game tests to improve your combat skills.

Helpful Equipment: Treasures like the Korok Mask, Majora‘s Mask, and Phantom Armor make you stronger early on.

Detailed Map: Hero‘s Path gives awesome insights into exploration. Turn it on immediately!

However, I‘d understand wanting to wait for a sale or until completing the main story if:

• You‘re unsure you‘ll finish such a long open-world game
• You prefer to space out content
• You want the full story context for Champions‘ Ballad

But know the DLC doesn‘t alter BotW‘s core narrative or ending.

My Recommended Early DLC Activities

If you do dive into the DLC pre-Ganon, here are the activities I‘d suggest prioritizing:

Hero‘s Path: Turn this on ASAP to track your exploration across the map. It provides outstanding data on gaps to fill in.

Majora‘s Mask: Grab this from a treasure chest near the Woodland Tower. It makes enemy encounters much less frequent.

Extra Shrines: Many added shrines are in starting areas. They quickly provide more Spirit Orbs for health and stamina.

Begin Master Mode: The early trials and reduced health create an engaging challenge right away.

Korok Mask: This helps easily find seeds to expand inventory space for weapons/bows/shields.

Doing these early DLC activities for the first 10 or so hours augmented my initial playthrough so much. I felt like I had the right tools and challenges to take full advantage of the scope BotW offers.

Estimated Hours of DLC Content Before Ganon

Based on my playtime logs across 3 profiles, I‘d estimate the potential DLC hours before completing the main story as:

• Master Mode: 5-10 hours
• Trial of the Sword: 2-5 hours (can‘t finish early)
• Extra Shrines: 5-10 hours
• Champion‘s Ballad Quest: 2-4 hours
• Treasure Hunting: 5-15 hours

So in total, the DLC could add 20-45 hours of gameplay before finishing the main story, depending on your play style. That‘s nearly the length of some full games!

I found spacing out the DLC content across my whole playthrough helped avoid burnout compared to trying 100% all at once.

Does the DLC Change BotW‘s Story or Ending?

I can definitively say the DLC does not alter Breath of the Wild‘s core storyline or endings. You still experience the same overall narrative arc and conclusion.

However, Champions‘ Ballad does expand on the backstories of the champions through new memories and diary entries. I appreciated the extra characterization for Revali, Urbosa and the others.

The DLC also adds a short "true ending" scene after defeating Ganon if you complete all added objectives. But outside of some minor new cutscenes, the scope of the story remains the same.

So while not drastically changing the narrative, the DLC provides worthwhile world-building and lore for those invested in the characters.

My Expert Tips to Maximize Pre-Ganon DLC

Here are some pro tips from my multiple playthroughs if you tackle the DLC before completing BotW:

• Turn Hero‘s Path on immediately to start tracking exploration data.

• Prioritize stamina over hearts early with Spirit Orbs to aid traversal.

• Cook +defense meals before attempting early Master Mode or Trial of the Sword.

• Grab Majora‘s Mask ASAP to avoid pointless enemy fights.

• Focus on clearing DLC shrines in starting areas first.

• Use the scope feature to place many map waypoints for treasures.

• Don‘t rush the story – enjoy sidequests and distractions. The world is the star!

• Capture funny and epic moments with the Camera rune and Compendium.

• Upgrade armor with new materials found in DLC areas.

• Cook food during blood moons for temporary max hearts before big fights.

Should You Buy the DLC Before Finishing BotW?

Given how much I ended up enjoying all the new DLC content, I wholeheartedly recommend purchasing the Expansion Pass before completing the main game.

The pros of extra content, cool gear, added challenge, and supplemental story strongly outweigh any cons in my opinion. Just space out the content across your whole playthrough rather than all at once.

However, I understand waiting if you want to evaluate the full base game first or get the DLC on sale later. But you may miss out on dozens of hours of excellent pre-Ganon adventuring.

For me, the DLC elevated an already phenomenal open-world experience into an even more magical 200 hour journey I won‘t soon forget. I hope these insights help you decide when to jump in!