Getting reacquainted with the combat of the Breath of the Wild games with Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a bit of a challenge. While Tears of the Kingdom does have a fantastic combat system, it's unique in terms of its controls, and players often forget all the tools they have at their disposal. For example, they can swing their weapon, use a jumping attack, backflip, time a dodge for Flurry Rush, sidestep, use a running attack, and even throw their weapon.
That last action is the focus here, as throwing weapons and thrown weapons have always been useful in BoTW and now Tears of the Kingdom, but players don't use the tactic enough. So, let's go over the controls for throwing weapons in this game, what can be thrown, what changes the throw animation, and the utility of throwing weapons.
How To Throw Weapons
Even in the introduction scene where all players have is the Master Sword, they can still use their 'Throw' action. If they managed to take damage from the Keese, then using the 'Throw' input with Master Sword does nothing, but at full health, it'll send out the crescent wave of energy when they let go of the button.
For all the other weapons Link will use after waking up, however, it's a bit different. Most weapons will just get thrown when Link uses this action on them, and can then be picked back up afterward (unless they break). To 'Throw', players simply need to hold the R Button until Link finishes winding up. Then, after letting go of the R Button, Link should launch it in the direction of the crosshair. Some weapons in Tears of the Kingdom will deal, more damage when thrown, such as spears, but all of them take a hefty amount of durability damage from both the impact with the enemy and then the impact with the ground.
Throwing Materials & Why It's Worth Using
Not only can players throw their weapons in TotK, but they can also throw Materials. This mechanic isn't shown very much in the tutorial area of the game, but players don't need to attach Materials to Arrows each time they want to use them. For example, they can throw a Bomb Flower with their bare hands for a bit more of a 'lob' than they'd get attaching it to an arrow.
The controls to do this, however, are a bit obtuse. To throw a Material, players need to Hold R with a weapon equipped as if they're going to throw the weapon. But, instead of letting go of R, hold 'Up' on the D-Pad to bring up the Materials Menu. Then, after selecting the chosen Material, players can come out of the menu to see the Material in Link's hand, ready to be thrown. This is primarily useful for tossing Brightbloom Seeds in the Depths, Accurately lobbing Fire Fruit onto Wood for a Campfire, or accurately lobbing a Bomb Flower at a group of enemies over a wall.
Weapon Actions That Change The Throw Mechanic
Lastly, let's go over the situations in which a weapon won't be thrown when players go through the standard procedure for throwing it. If a weapon has anything the game would constitute as 'creating wind' such as a long plank Fused to a stick or a Korok Frond fusion, instead of throwing the weapon Link will swing it forward, launching a powerful gust of wind at the Crosshair which can knock down most enemies it hits.
Additionally, any weapons that create elemental effects (such as weapons with a Ruby, Sapphire, Topaz, or Opal fused to them) will also have Link swinging the weapon without letting go instead of throwing it. But, in exchange, Link will fire off the associated elemental 'ball' in this swing, whether thats a bouncing Fireball, a floating ball of Electricity, or something else entirely.
Lastly, Link can also throw Boomerang type weapons, commonly gathered from Lizalfos. This will follow the standard procedure of Link throwing it, but players will also need to be ready (and aim accordingly) for the Boomerang to return to them and press the 'A' Input to grab it out of the air when it does. Funnily enough, these Boomerang weapons always come back, even with something Fused to them, which isn't always a good thing.
Why It's Worth It To Throw Weapons
Now for the final point, is it even worth it to throw standard weapons at enemies in the first place? Most players tend to throw weapons that are about to break at an enemy they're fighting, but is that really better than just breaking it on the same enemy with a melee swing?
Well, when thrown, players can aim the weapon to hit the monster's Weak Point (which is typically their head). Doing so will deal x2 damage from hitting the Weak Point on top of the x2 damage the weapon deals on the final hit as it breaks. Not only that, but it'll also knock the enemy down, and it keeps them at a comfortable range instead of breaking the weapon up close. Additionally, a lot of the Zonai Devices, when fused to weapons, have extra effects when 'Thrown'. The cannon launches a cannonball at the crosshair, the Fan sends out a gust of wind, and the Wing flies much further. For the final reason to throw weapons, there's the age-old trick of throwing a metal weapon at a group of enemies (or at one big enemy) during a thunderstorm to call lightning down upon them.
