LogFAQs > #973890617

Also playing thru currently (mostly) blind. Tips:

Brew some defense foods by using at least 4 Iron Mushrooms. This gives a tier 3 defense buff, which reduces damage taken by 8 full hearts. This will let you easily stomp thru non-mini boss encounters.

If a food has Hearty in the name it can give you bonus max HP. Cooking 5 of these together can give you a good amount of bonus HP for difficult fights. Also, even a single Hearty item cooked in a cookpot acts as a full heal for your regular HP regardless of how many hearts it shows it heals. Combine this with a bonus Defense food to become immortal for most fight.

Upgrade Stamina over HP, at least until you get 2 full wheels. Being able to traverse more of the map will let you more easily get to shrines resulting in more Spirit Orbs to trade in.

You can get perfect cold weather protection by wearing the Warm Doublet you get on the Great Plateau and equipping any Flame weapon. Better cold protection exists but its a luxury early on.

Learn how to dodge by holding ZL and then tapping X while holding left, right, or down on the left stick. Perfect dodging will let you get in a lot of bullet-time free hits via Flurry Rush.

Likewise, learn how to Perfect Parry by holding ZL and then tapping A right as something should hit you. This will stun most enemies and if done correctly instantly kills Damaged Guardians.

Remember you can place markers on the map. Found a difficult enemy you want to come back to later? Mark it on the map with a Skull. Found a cool weapon laying on the ground? Mark it with a Sword so you can pick it up again after every Blood Moon. Generally if you find something very cool you should probably mark it and revisit it after every Blood Moon since most things respawn either over time or as part of the Blood Moon event.