Like Breath of the Wild before it, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is an absolutely massive game, bursting at the seams with secrets, mysteries, and features that can be easily overlooked. Whether you're looking for help in combat, exploration, or understanding mechanics that aren't outright explained, we've compiled the most essential tips and things you should know when playing TotK.

Exploration Tips

With so much to see in TotK, you won't want to miss out on these important features:

• B-line the main story to unlock the paraglider fast.
• Each cave opening will have a mystical blue rabbit-like creature called a Blupee out front. If you aren't sure where the cave entrance actually is, follow a Blupee and it will lead you to the opening. It may even show you a safe path through a cave or lead you to treasure.
• Blupees aren't just for following into caves, they also drop rupees when hit with an arrow! Sneak up to the Blupee from high ground. Jump and pull out your bow - this slows down time, allowing you to hit it multiple times easily to get more rupees.
• Trouble launching a flying device without a Rocket or launchpad? Move the wings (with an attached fan, of course), over the side of a ledge in the air with Ultrahand, then put it back on the ground. Stand on the Wing, then use Recall on it. Once it's over the ledge, cancel the Recall and you'll start flying! See our full guide on How to Use the Wing Glider Device
• Cracked rocks are usually an indication that they can be blown up with Bombs in Breath of the Wild, but in Tears of the Kingdom, you can break them with a much easier to find resource: rocks. Well, Rocks and Boulders fused with throwaway sticks and weapons you have lying around. They'll break fast, but they'll break the cracked rocks in your way in the process!
• Large sections of rubble and cracked rocks will often hide Rusty Claymores and stones, so as you mine through them, you can find a steady supply of new hammers to fuse.
• If you want to save on bomb flowers to weapons when doing extended mining, we recommend completing the Regional Phenomena on Death Mountain in the Elden Region. Once complete, a special ability will make mining a breeze!
• Horses aren't the best at crossing bridges you build with Ultrahand and wood planks. It's finicky and they may not be inclided to approach your bridge until it's at just the right spot for them. You may be better off grabbing them at the next stable.
• The Depths can be difficult to explore in the dark, and while certain Zonai Devices provide light sources to your vehicle, they also use up batteries. Instead, throw a Giant Brightbloom Seed at whatever contraptiion you build will provide way more light without using any battery.
• Tears of the Kingdom has an annoying tendency to despawn vehicles you've made if you stray too far away or reload a save. If you throw a brightbloom onto each piece of a vehicle, the game won't despawn it when you get a moderate distance away. So you can park, go explore, and it'll be there when you get back.

Combat Tips

Battles will be fiercer than ever in TotK with the addition of new enemy varities, horned monsters, and the ability to fuse weapons on the fly to meet any threat. Use these tips to gain an edge in a fight:

• If you're facing a boss monster (Bokoblin or otherwise) with many others around it, consider using an arrow fused with a Muddle Bud! This flower disorients its target, not only making it slower to react, but also may attack its allies rather than you.

• Enemies can't swim! If fighting near water, use two-handed weapons to knock enemies back, or fuse a wooden board or Korok Leaf to your weapon to gust them backwards, letting you reap the rewards without breaking your weapons on them.

• Keese eyeballs are especially helpful (almost ciritical) when combined with arrows for fights with flying or tall enemies. The combination makes it so that the arrows will track your target. Stock up on them before taking on a big battle.

Crafting Tips

Cooking was already a big part of Breath of the Wild, but the ability to fuse materials will lead to even more possibilities, so check out these tips:

• Got a lot of Chuchu Jelly? Don't forget you can change its form by exposing it to different elements. For instance, drop Chuchu Jelly into a fire to make Red Chuchu Jelly.

• If you find an elixir in a chest, or someone gives you a cooked food item as a reward you'll learn its recipe. Just select the food item and hit "Check Recipe" to see a list of all the recipes you've learned, and the potential ingredients needed to make them!

• If you intend on fighting a boss, make sure you have at least one weapon unfused. This way you can use a boss material on that weapon in case it drops something that cannot be collected.

• Don't want to waste fusing a fire fruit on an arrow? Simply dip your nocked arrow into an open flame, and your arrow will now have a fire effect!

Secrets

These tips can be extemely important for understanding how the game works, but may come at the cost of discovering these features on your own, so read on at your own risk.

• You can't pet the dogs, but you can drop food on the ground for them. Give them enough and they might show you a treasure chest nearby!
• If you have trouble locating Shrines, take a look at the Lightroots you've uncovered in the Depths - they correspond directly to Shrine locations on the surface! This works both ways, as you can use Shrine locations to pinpoint where a Lightroot will be back down in the Depths.

Breath of the Wild Returning Tips

As a sequel to BotW, TotK has many returning features and mechanics that may be familiar to some players, but it's easy to forget about all the tips and secrets the first game have. Not to worry - we've compiled them here:

BotW Returning Combat Tips

• All weapons have limited durability, but early game ones break even faster. Pick your battles carefully and know when to stand and fight and when it’s better to save your weapons and run.
• Some enemy camps leave their weapons unguarded. Enemies also leave their weapons lying around at night while they sleep - letting you sneak up and take them if you’re stealthy.
• Whenever possible, keep a variety of weapons on hand, as many can serve specific purposes. A spear may not do much damage, for instance, but can be useful for keeping an enemy at a distance, while hammers is ideal for breaking ores. A Korok Leaf, meanwhile, creates a gust that can blow enemies off cliffs. The upside of the fact that weapons break in Breath of the Wild is that you're forced to try a wide array of them, and this means you may discover their hidden strengths.
• Dodging at the right time prompts a devastating flurry attack, which can be the perfect way to whittle down the health of a strong opponent. That said, flurry attacks can quickly wear down a weapon's durability, particularly early on when they're more brittle, so be sure you aren’t wasting them.
• Out of weapons? You can always find more in towns, stables, and villages. The biggest towns (such as Zora's Domain)?often have good weapons hiding about, while smaller places like stables will at least have a pitchfork or two that can work if you have nothing else. These weapons will also respawn over time. You can quickly get a sense of whether there are any weapons in an area by scanning it with Ultrahand. You should also do this any time you encounter water to reveal treasure chests that can be pulled up onto land.
• Headshots with a bow will deal critical damage. You'll hear a "ding" sound when you land one.
• When jumping off high ledges, from a horse, or when paragliding, you can pull out your bow to slow time and aim your shots. This will constantly drain your stamina so be sure to put your bow away when you are done firing or risk falling to the ground with no stamina.
• You can find flammable barrels by looking for red barrels in camps. However, a regular arrow can't detonate them - try using fire effects to get the job done.
• Electric attacks will cause the target to become paralyzed and drop currently equipped weapons and shields. This goes for both Link and his enemies. Metal conducts electricity, so you can shoot metal crates or a body of water with electric weapons to create a dome of electricity that can hit multiple enemies.
• You can sneak up on an unaware enemy and use a sneakstrike to deal critical damage. This is an ideal technique for sleeping enemies, but can also work on awake enemies if you crouch and approach from behind. (Stealth-enhancing food or clothes also obviously help.)
• The color of an enemy often denotes how powerful they are. Red Bokoblins and Moblins are among the weakest, while their black variants are among the toughest. Even tougher than black are the silver variants, which often drop high quality parts when defeated.
• Any enemy can wield almost any weapon - pay close attention to what your enemy bears against you.
• Elemental variants of monsters are often weak to the opposite element. Shoot ice-infused enemies with fire arrows to take them out in one shot.
• Electric Lizalfos have a lightning-infused horn that can be shot for explosive effect.
• Moblins can get pretty aggressive, and even throw lesser Bokoblins at you.
• Many enemies will fall asleep at night - both at camp and in the wild. However, sentries posted on towers rarely nap.
• When it rains, it will be harder for enemies to hear your footsteps, making sneaking easier.

BotW Returning Cooking Tips

• Most any ingredient you find can be stewed in a cooking pot to increase the amount of hearts it gives, and sometimes brings out special effects. These ingredients can also be cooked on an open flame to slightly increase heart restoration, but no effects will be added.
• Some food can even be flash frozen in snowy landscapes for added benefits, like increasing heat resistance.
• Any meal you cook that gives a special effect cannot be combined with another meal or potion’s effect. The most recent food or potion will overwrite any previous effects - but they can stack with clothing effects.
• This also means you can’t stack bonus hearts or stamina, only the meal that provides the most hearts or stamina will stay in effect.
• For the most part, plants are always used in cooking food.
• Insects are always used with monster parts to create potions. Trying to mix the wrong ingredients will leave you with dubious food or downright disasters.
• For the better effect, add more of the ingredient that provides the special effect. For longer lasting potions, add better quality monster parts.
• You’ll often find that multiple ingredients offer the same benefits, and can be combined in a dish to bolster that effect.
• You can find some hints for food recipes on posters in towns and stables.

BotW Returning Exploration Tips

• Shield Surfing is a thing! Hold out your shield by holding ZL and while jumping, tap the A button to start sliding.
• Shield Surfing will steadily wear out the durability of the shield you’re using. If it breaks, be prepared to take a fall.
• You can Shield Surf into a paraglide by jumping off a high enough point to press the jump button again. Your shield will still be on your feet when you land again.
• You can attack while shield surfing - tap Y to do a spin attack at close range, or ready your bow - though aiming can be difficult.
• You can mount deer! That's right, you can ride both does and bucks in the game. They are far more difficult to sneak up on than horses and will run when they see you, so stealthy clothes and/or stealth elixirs are the best way to take one for a spin.
• You can also mount bears, Stalhorses (skeletal undead horses), and Lynels, albeit only briefly.
• Your paraglider can be largely affected by gusts of wind.
• Updrafts can be created wherever there's a large enough fire. You can also make your own by setting grass on fire, combining campfires or tossing some peppers on the ground and shooting them with a Fire Arrow.
• If you're about to run out of stamina while gliding, hit the cancel right before you fully run out, and then press jump right before you hit the ground to avoid taking fall damage.
• If you’ve totally run out of stamina and are falling to your death - remember that you can check the map to warp out of danger at any point - so long as you have somewhere to warp to.
• All shrines will offer a fast travel point when first activated - even if you don't venture inside to solve the trials
• When entering regions of extreme temperatures, you can sometimes find plants and ingredients on the edges of these region that can be used to make protective elixirs or food.
• Cold ingredients found in cold regions are usually good to protect yourself in hot regions, and vice-versa. See How to Stay Warm - Cold Resistance Armor and Recipes
• Extreme weather conditions make for extreme danger. Thunderstorms will cause massive lightning bolts to rip into the ground, and the intense heat from Death Mountain will literally light you on fire.
• Lightning from thunderstorms is attracted by metal objects - no matter who is wearing them. Be sure to switch to wooden weapons and armor unless you want to be lightning rod. This works both ways - and can be used against your enemies.
• Areas of extreme heat around Death Mountain will light your wooden weapons on fire whether you have protective potions or not. Switch to Metal or non-wood gear to avoid losing your items.
• In extremely hot regions, simply dropping ingredients on the ground will cook them in a flash - or burn them up.
• If you're in a dangerous area at night or just want to hang out by a campfire, you can make your own. Hold one flint and one bundle of wood, set them down, and strike them with a metal weapon to ignite the flint and create a campfire.
• The best way to survive the elements is to wear appropriate armor and upgrade them at the Great Fairy Fountains
• There’s no option to store equipment in chests - but a friendly Korok named Hestu will expand your weapon, shield, and bow inventory slots in exchange for Korok Seeds. You’ll find Koroks hiding all over Hyrule, so be sure to investigate odd out of place things in the world. See Where to Find Hestu and Korok Seed Locations in TotK.
• Many larger quests - including the main questline - can be undertaken in a very nonlinear way. Explore, take different approaches, and try new things.
• Certain Side Quests will open up only after specific dungeons have been cleared, and the area is made safer.
• Treasure Chests can be found almost anywhere - though many are hidden or otherwise involve a bit of thinking to uncover or get to.
• Different wild horses have different stats - oftentimes the ones roaming more dangerous regions are likely to have better stamina, speed, and handling.
• Almost everything you find serves more than one purpose. This goes especially for ingredients that include monster parts and ore - so don’t sell every last one!
• After several in-game days, you'll see a Blood Moon rise. When this happens, all enemies you've defeated outside of dungeons will come back to life. Make sure you're in a safe place when the Blood Moon hits!
• Blood Moons do more than just ressurrect enemies. Try cooking during a Blood Moon, and your food will have random added effects!
• Some environments like deep snow or deserts will hamper your movement speed. However, there are special boots you can find to negate this.
• You can find travelers wandering the main roads of Hyrule. Be sure to stop by and see what they have to say - as many sell useful items or give Side Quests.
• However, some travelers - those with no names, may be secret Yiga Clan assassins in disguise!
• If you see a traveler in trouble, be sure to render aid as soon as possible. If you save them quick enough, they'll give you a random food item or elixir as thanks. If they are knocked out, they won't be as happy to see you.
• Main towns will always have an Inn, a General Store, a Cooking Station, and a Goddess Statue that you can use to get Heart Containers or Stamina Vessels.
• Both Stables and Towns will have places to sleep with a choice of beds. Comfy beds in Stables will give you a temporary heart, while the deluxe beds in towns will often grant even better bonuses like a full additional stamina wheel.
• Most people in town go to bed at night, though some shops stay open - and other things can change too.
• Most towns have containers like pots and jars. Like any Zelda game, they sometimes contain items - so get to smashing!
• You'll have the ability to dye your armor at a certain town - be sure to equip only what you want to dye, even if its just a hat or pants!