Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom walkthrough, guides, and tips

We're here to solve all your problems in Hyrule.

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Screenshot by Dot Esports

Zonai, Elixirs, Link, Dorephan, Autobuild. It spells “Zelda” and shows how much there is to know about The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. We have been playing the game for days to guide and walk you through the best tips and tricks you need to finish or maybe even just escape the tutorial island. (Baby steps, eh?)

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This master page contains links to all articles we have published on Tears of the Kingdom, separated by category. You will find guides to quests, shrines, weapons, locations, and building up your power. Just use the menu below to find the right category for your question.

The list below is in progress.

All Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom guides

Essentials Beginner guides
Getting the paraglider
Should you get hearts or stamina first?
Increasing stamina
Increasing health
Curing Gloom
Getting cold resistance
Making elixirs
Cooking food
Recovering health
Throwing items
Using the Ultrahand
Tying Link’s hair in a ponytail
Passing time
Removing sludge
Weapons and gear guidesShrine guides
Master Sword
Can you repair the Master Sword?
Can you fuse weapons to the Master Sword?
Archaic Warm Greaves
Archaic Tunic
Flux Construct Core
Farming arrows
Fusing items with arrows
Ice arrows
Fire arrows
Can you repair weapons?
Unfusing weapons
Zora Armor
Soldier’s Armor set
Froggy Armor set
Fixing decayed weapons
Gutanbac Shrine
Domizuin Shrine
Ice Mountain Shrine
In-isa Shrine
Ishodag Shrine
Jonsau Shrine
Mayachin Shrine
Nachoyah Shrine
Orochium Shrine
Susuyai Shrine
Tukarok Shrine
Ukouh Shrine
Yamiyo Shrine
How many shrines are there?
Item guidesQuest guides
Farming Rupees
Farming Zonaite
Farming Bomb Flowers
Using the Energy Cell
Upgrading your Energy Cells
Getting and using Brightbloom Seeds
Finding and using Poes
Towing a horse cart or wagon
What is the Ring Garland
How many Korok Seeds are there
Using Crystallized Charges and Zonai Charges
Korok Mask
Getting the Golden Horse
Crossing the broken rails on Great Sky Island
Finding King Dorephan
Completing The Sludge-Covered Statue
Completing The Clues To The Sky
Solving the gears puzzle in Temple of Time
Using Bubbul Gems
Unlocking and using Autobuild
Finding Tulin
Helping the Great Sky Island Koroks reach their friends
Completing Team Cece or Team Reede
Location guides Enemies and bosses guides
Getting off and returning to Great Sky Island
Gacha Device Dispensers
Lookout Landing
Every village and town location
Getting through the Lost Woods
Finding and using Old Maps
Getting inside Sahasra Slope Skyview Tower
Ancient Arowana
Wild Greens
Where to find Hetsu
Rito Village
Kakariko Village
Hateno Village
Gibdos
Gloom Hands
Like Like cave worms
Walking Mimic Trees
Exploration guidesSettings and controls guides
Building a boat
Changing paraglider designs
Flying on a Zonai Wing
Activating the Thyphlo Ruins Skyview Tower
Catching and taming horses
Transfering horse save data from Breath of the Wild
Falling rocks
Climbing ice walls
Finding the Light Dragon
Saving your progress
Changing controls
Changing between the sky and the land on the map
Aiming the bow with gyro controls
Changing the voice language
Lowering your hood

Tips and tricks for Tears of the Kingdom beginners

Screenshot by Dot Esports

Decide if you like hearts or lungsUpgrading your health or stamina in Tears of the Kingdom is a surprisingly loaded question. You’ll need to consider each upgrade carefully and decide if you want a more robust health bar or to be able to run and climb further. Both have their benefits. More health means you can survive making mistakes in a fight, while more stamina means more exploring and the potential treasures that will yield.

Cook your foodCooking is often a throwaway part of games, designed to give players some pointless busy work. This is not the case in Tears of the Kingdom. Food will make you move faster for longer, fight better, and survive harsh environments. Experiment with your food, explore recipes, and chow down often, as it will make your life easier.

Get the paraglider as quickly as you can — With Hyrule being such a sprawling and enchanting place. You may be tempted to wander. I can understand why, but you definitely want to follow the story to get the paraglider. Once you get it, you should feel free to explore a lot more, the paraglider will just make doing so much more enjoyable.

Use your map — Hyrule is huge. It is actually hard to convey just how big Tears of the Kingdom really is. Your map has several useful functions, but one of the most important is that you can place map markers. Believe me. You will forget where things are, so just leave a little marker on your map to remind future you about what you have already discovered.

Image via Nintendo

Skyview Towers are your friend — One of the first things you should invest time in doing when you land in Hyrule is connecting up as many Skyview Towers as possible. Some towers require puzzle solving to open, others you can walk right in. These towers have multiple purposes with one of the most helpful being revealing the map, but let’s not forget their travel capabilities. Reaching faraway lands is made easy with a leap on a Skyview Tower. In fact, you can use one Skyview Tower for gliding to another if you have the stamina, that way you can easily get them all set up.

Experiment with your abilities — As you make your way through early Shrines on the Great Sky Island, you will get access to a range of abilities. Ultrahand, Fuse, Recall, and Ascend will all allow you to interact with the game world in different ways. It will take some time, but learn to look at the environments you are in within the context of these abilities. Is there a ledge you cannot reach? Perhaps you can stick things together with Ultrahand to fashion a bridge or move through solid rock using Ascend. Just let your mind go where it wishes, and you might be surprised by the results.

Just because it’s not the path doesn’t mean it’s wrong Tears of the Kingdom gives players many different ways to traverse the terrain. Whether it’s scaling a cliffside, gliding down from the sky, or ascending through the roof of a cave, sometimes it might not be the intended path. Players must remember this variety is there to cater to all playstyles, so if you’re wanting to avoid combat and the dangers that appear on the path ahead, it’s totally acceptable to avoid it.

Explore — It sounds simple but you’d be surprised with what you can find if you venture the path less traveled. Make sure you’re taking the time to check out any caves, towns, or other landmarks you stumble upon, as not only may they net you some sweet loot, but also they could contain hidden shrines.

Image via Nintendo

Spend some time on Shrines — It’s no secret Shrines are some of the most useful landmarks in the game. If you want to level up your attributes then you’ll need to conquer their puzzles and for this reason, we suggest spending a good amount of time locating and completing them. With the help of Skyview Towers, you can easily scout Shrines from the sky and work through them zone by zone.

Take advantage of fast travel Fast travel is available at any Shrine of Skyview Tower you’ve visited. Because of that, you should be taking advantage of them where you can to avoid long stretches of travel. You can activate fast travel by selecting the location on your map.

Be ready for any climate Nobody wants to be caught out dressed incorrectly for their destination and in Tears of the Kingdom, making this mistake can cost you your life. A good tip to follow is to ensure you’ve cooked ample supplies of food with cold or heat resistance regardless of where you are headed. While your outfit is a great way to counter the climate if you know where you’re going, food is the best way to remedy the negative effects at a moment’s notice.

Increase your arsenal — While Link is able to hold a variety of weapons from the get-go, you can never have too much space. Using Korok Seeds you can hold even more weapons, bows, or shields, simply visit Hestu when you’ve gathered a handful of seeds.

Build a SkateboardAs soon as you get your Fuse ability, which allows you to stick items together to change their stats and purpose, grab a minecart and stick it to a shield. This will form a Skateboard that you can ride around. Hit ZL to hold your shield, then X to jump. While in the air, hit the A button, and you can skate around on your shield as long as the lay of the land is in your favor. It is also excellent for grinding the long rails and minecart tracks spread throughout the game.

Author
Image of Bhernardo Viana
Bhernardo Viana
Bhernardo is senior guides writer and strategist at Dot Esports. He's been working in the gaming industry for over 9 years, with works published on Destructoid, Prima Games, ESPN, and more. A fan of Pokémon since 6 years old and an avid Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch player. Now writing strategy and quests guides for several mobile and PC titles.
Author
Image of Ryan Galloway
Ryan Galloway
Ryan is a Senior Staff Writer for Dot Esports who has been working at GAMURS since 2020. He covers a wide variety of titles from across the gaming space, with a focus on Pokémon. He boasts a degree in Journalism from Murdoch University. Email: ryan@dotesports.com