After six long years, the hotly anticipated sequel to Breath Of The Wild is here. Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom is, for all intents and purposes, a straight upgrade in every conceivable way – which is a seriously impressive feat in and of itself. Of course, this means it’s gotten a lot bigger too.
This is both in terms of scale and scope. The world is even larger than before, and the things you can do in it have increased drastically. Whether you are new to the series or a veteran, there is something exciting to be discovered, and this guide is here to give you some tips to get you started on your adventure.
Note: We are going to keep this guide as spoiler free as we can.
More Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom content:
Cooking Guide | Secret Mount Guide | Surviving Cold Weather | Elixir Guide | Heat Resistance | Flame Guard
Don’t Explore Too Much Too Early
Tears Of The Kingdom is undeniably exciting. From the moment you step foot onto the Great Sky Island, to your return to Hyrule, the world is begging to be explored. It is crying out for you to go off the beaten path and find your own way. However, we don’t recommend doing this – not straight away.
Whilst the tutorial is fairly linear, once you reach Hyrule, you can literally go anywhere you want. Don’t do this. Instead, head to Lookout Landing and talk to Purah. You won’t have access to everything in Tears Of The Kingdom without some main-line trotting, so be sure to go down this route first so you aren’t missing out on some of the awesome new features Tears Of The Kingdom has to offer. Spoiler, we aren’t spoiling any of them here.
Experiment With Your Powers
Every power you receive from Great Sky Island is unique. None of them are from Breath Of The Wild, and frankly, they are all more powerful and bizarre. Ultrahand allows you to create anything you set your mind to. Elevate opens up incredible puzzle and exploration opportunities, and Fuse makes every weapon unique. Not to mention the ludicrous implications that come with Rewind.
Hyrule is waiting for you to break the game wide open and delve into all of its mechanics. Never forget you have these powers, and experiment with them to find new combat and navigation techniques. Oh, and you can upgrade them too, making them even better.
Everything Is Useful
One of the best parts of Tears Of The Kingdom is how the game has made every single item useful in one way or another. It doesn’t matter if it’s a random rock, a stray mushroom, or a cave-blooming flower. Everything has a use, and it’s up to you to use them.
Right off the bat, returning mechanics like cooking and alchemy return. However, you now have access to the likes of Fuse and Ultrahand which let you turn a stick into a torch, or a spear into an explosive javelin – heck, how about a shield into a flamethrower? You can even attach mushrooms to your arrows and fire them at Bokoblins. Use everything.
Activate Every Shrine You Find
Hyrule is massive – just as big as it was last time around, although this time you also have floating things and underground things to explore. To get around easier, you can get a horse, or build a complex machine. The most effective way to travel is by teleporting, however.
This thing is, you can’t just teleport anywhere. You can teleport to any Shrines you have activated though, and this is a must. Even if you don’t want to complete a shrine, activating it allows you to use it as a teleport point. Plus, it also lets you quickly go back to shrines later on. It’s a win-win.
Bomb Flowers (And Explosive Barrels) Are Your Friend
Fuse is stupidly powerful in all the best ways. To make the most of it, you want to have a varied inventory filled with all kinds of elemental effects. This lets you deal with more challenges and makes progression easier (and frankly more enjoyable). But you know what’s better than elemental damage? Explosions.
Bomb Flowers are your best friend, and whilst they are rare early on, you want hods of them. Why? Because you can turn them into Bomb Arrows on the fly. You can attach them to weapons and shields. Heck, you can even just pick them up and throw them at Like Likes.
As a side note, Explosive Barrels are wonderful, and you want to use them often. You can use them as traps like in Breath Of The Wild, or you can use Fuse to attach them to, say, a spear. You now have an explosive javelin that deals ludicrous damage. Have fun with that.
Keep Stocked Up
Now more than ever you want to be stocked up at all times. This means you want a healthy amount of ingredients, weapons, shields, nows, elixirs, and meals. In addition, thanks to Fuse, you want to gather all kinds of useful bits to customise your weapons and arrows.
As a general rule, the more STUFF you have, the more options you have. You can explore new locations easier, tackle more powerful enemies, and solve puzzles in more unique ways. Your inventory just became your most powerful asset.
Zonai Devices Are Life Savers
Following that, we have Zonai Devices. Now, we aren’t going to go into too much detail here because there is simply too much to talk about as a simple subsection of a larger guide. They require their own deep dive. However, we will say you want to use them all the time.
These are the machines of Tears Of The Kingdom and they crack open the game like nothing else. Not only that, but Zonai Capsules are a way of transporting Zonai Devices, allowing you to solve puzzles your own way. You are no longer bound to the tools in your immediate area – you now have every tool you could ever want ready to be deployed whenever you need.
Ultrahand Enhanced Vision
This trick actually comes from Breath Of The Wild, only it has been adapted (kind of) for Tears Of The Kingdom. Ultrahand highlights interactable objects when you activate the ability with ‘L’. This reveals hidden items and is especially good at uncovering chests.
More chests equal more resources, weapons, and wealth. We wouldn’t recommend having Ultrahand active at all times since it makes the game rather ugly by comparison, but plonk it on near water or when exploring ruins and see what pops up. You’d be surprised how many secrets this game holds.
Talk To Everyone
v is far bigger than Breath Of The Wild, and one of the ways it achieves that is by having way more Side Quests. They are everywhere, so you should talk to just about everyone. Not only will they give you some helpful advice, but you will also fill your log with handy tasks to complete in your own time.
Some of these quests have amazing rewards for completion, but that dips into spoiler territory, and that’s not what we are about. Just know you will be well compensated for being the Hero of Hyrule.
Don’t Rush
This is intentionally juxtapositional to the first entry. We advised not exploring early on, and we meant it. However, that doesn’t mean you should rush the game. Not at all. In fact, once you have done what you need to do at Lookout Landing, we recommend taking it slow.
You only get to play this game for the first time once, and boy is this game something special. Take it slow, and absorb everything. The game has stakes, but it won’t run off without you. Take your time and enjoy it. You owe it to yourself.
That’s all we have for Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom for now. Be sure to check out our other content for more tips, tricks, guides, and lists.
