Guardians in Zelda: Breath of the Wild are among the game's most recognisable - and challenging - enemies to fast in the game.

Guardians are huge, eight-legged machines that stalk the Hyrule landscape. Their size means you can see them from afar, and if you get too close, they'll scuttle over quickly and aim their primary means of attack - a laser - at you.

However, there's a way to reliably kill them easily and quickly, and doing so is not only beneficial for exploring the game's tougher areas, it's also a way to get a tidy profit and some powerful equipment. On that note, here's how to beat Guardians in Zelda: Breath of the Wild and how get Ancient materials.

How to beat Guardians in Zelda Breath of the Wild

When you encounter a Guardian, you have around five seconds before the laser locks on and discharges a powerful beam that'll one hit kill you until you get much more powerful armour later in the game.

While you can go toe-to-toe (or in their case, many toes) with a Guardian and hack away with weapons or use bows, there is one surprisingly simple - though hard to master - technique that makes the battle much smoother.

By parrying the laser attack with your shield - any shield will work - you can reflect the attack back at the Guardian and deal it huge damage. For stationary, broken Guardians this will kill it instantly, but more mobile variants will take three hits.

To get the timing, stand in front of the Guardian with your shield raised, and wait for it to lock on. The targeting system will beep.

Before the laser fires, there be energy surrounding the Guardian's eye, followed by a screen flash. As soon as you see the energy building, press the A button to parry.

If you've timed it right - and it's a very small window - the laser will bounce from the parried shield and hit the Guardian, and you won't have suffered any damage. But if you haven't, well, there's a chance you won't have survived. It helps to be a safe middle distance - not too close, but not that far away - so you can comfortably react and time it right.

If you want a safety net, wait until you've completed Death Mountain's Vah Rudiana dungeon to get the Daruk's Protection ability, which protects you from powerful attacks, so if you mess up, you'll have another chance.

If you're struggling with the parry technique, then things become much easier when you find a Guardian Shield - one of which can be found as part of completing the Soh Kofi Shrine that's just north of the Lanayru region tower - that can automatically reflect Guardian lasers just by holding your shield up.

Alternatively, Ancient Arrows can kill a Guardian in one hit. You get three by undertaking the Robbie's Research side-quest when visiting the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab (in the far north east corner of the map), which involves a similar process as the Hatino Tech Lab by carrying a blue flame to restore a furnace inside.

Thanks to a new update, it's now possible to play Zelda Breath of the Wild in VR. Want help with the main game? Our Zelda: Breath of the Wild walkthrough can help complete Divine Beasts Vah Ruta, Vah Rudiana, Vah Medoh and Vah Naboris and more. There's also how to get the Master Sword, Hylian Shield and all Zelda Captured Memories and Great Fairy Fountain locations, while our Shrines locations and Shrine maps hub explains where to find and solve every puzzle room, including dragon locations and Labyrinth solutions. We also have a DLC 1 guide and DLC 2 guide, including all Tingle, Majora's Mask, Phantom, Midna outfit locations.

As such, it's recommended you practice fighting Guardians in a few safe locations. There several broken, stationary Guardians throughout the game; in the ruins surrounding Ja Baij Shrine on the Great Plateau - where you did the Bomb Trail; in the field just west of Hatino Fort, and one just south of the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab.

If you're after fully fledged Guardians - with their many Ancient materials inside - then you can find one in the south of the Lanayru Wetlands (east of the Shrine there, or south of the Lanayru Tower that reveals Zora's Domain) and just east of Death Mountain's Eldin Tower on the path below, two just north on the hills from the Duelling Peaks, and many round the Central Tower and the Hyrule Tower region.

Remember that, every Blood Moon, Guardians will respawn, so pick your favourite spots and return to them regularly to farm Ancient materials.