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The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom meets the exceptionally high standards of its predecessor and continues the legacy of the combine-and-cook crafting system. In a world where Hyrule's most dangerous monsters are out to play, you'll need many meals to stay healthy, even if eating to recover flesh wounds still doesn't make a ton of sense.
Whether you prefer HP-restoring meals made from delicious vegetables or are more into heinous concoctions that function better than they taste, you'll be able to craft them. There are numerous important effects to discover, such as cold resistance, enhanced attack in certain temperatures, and stamina recovery, just to name a few.
This is a work-in-progress guide and it will be updated as we explore and learn more about the crafting system in the game.
What Is Crafting?
Crafting, also known as cooking, is the process that allows you to combine animal parts, fruits, vegetables, oil, and more into meals and elixirs that will help you recover hearts and gain powerful secondary effects.
- Meals are produced by combining edible ingredients such as apples, mushrooms, sugar cane, and berries that are designed to be combined and then cooked.
- Elixirs are produced by selecting a critter – like a Restless Cricket – with a secondary effect and combining it with elixir-enhancing Monster Parts like Bokoblin Horns or Lizalfos Horns.
Cooking several items that go well together – like peppers and mushrooms – will create meals that restore larger amounts of hearts or have longer-lasting effects.
Where Do You Find Ingredients?
Ingredients are the most important tools in crafting, and you'll need to collect dozens of different kinds to create a variety of meals and elixirs.
There are three major ways to collect ingredients, though you may also receive them as miscellaneous rewards.
- Forage the lands of Hyrule for produce to collect and animals to hunt.
- Buy them from certain vendors, like Beedle.
- Defeat monsters to harvest their parts for various elixirs.
Ingredients like mushrooms are often found growing at the base of trees or in caves. There are also numerous berry and pepper bushes scattered along the roads and forests.
While it's certainly an option to buy your ingredients, foraging and hunting will save you a ton of Rupees, especially in the early game when money is in short supply.
How To Craft Meals And Elixirs
The first thing you need to do after you've gathered your ingredients is to find a spot to get cooking.
There are three ways you can begin cooking.
- Find a Town or Stable that already has a burning fire and pot. The Hyrule Emergency Shelter is a great option.
- Start your own campfire using at least one piece of wood and one flint.
- Use a Zonai Portable Pot to craft a single recipe while out in the wilderness. The fire and pot are included.
Once you set up your fire, you'll need to navigate into your menu and select an item you want to start cooking.
Then, choose the ingredient and press "Hold" to start gathering ingredients in your arms to combine.
You can select up to five total ingredients in your arms to combine into a meal or elixir.
You do not have to select five ingredients, but doing so will yield increased benefits.
Once you choose your ingredients, exit the menu and approach the flaming pot.
Select the "Cook" prompt as you approach and watch as your individual items combine to form an excellent creation that you can use or sell for a fair sum of Rupees.
Alternatively, if you are only using a campfire, you must drop your ingredients on the fire for them to cook.
Cooking items on a campfire without a pot will not produce combined meals or elixirs, so you must locate a pot and fire combination for advanced cooking.
Recipe Tips
The best way to unlock more recipes is by experimenting with various combinations of foods and Monster Parts, especially using ingredients that share the same secondary effect.
If you combine two or more of the same item, you will increase the efficacy of its healing or secondary properties the more you add.
For example, five Spicy Peppers will provide longer cold resistance than three.
Whatever you do, do not combine Monster Parts with any form of food as it will yield a disastrous result known as "Dubious Food"
Occasionally, characters in the world – like Misa in Rito Village – will give you recipes to follow as well, so pay attention.
Once you create a recipe it will be remembered forever, and you can select that pre-made recipe by navigating over to one of the ingredients and choosing "Select for recipe" from the item menu.
As a rule, meals made from food focus primarily on restoring hearts, while elixirs are more geared to attaining secondary effects such as temperature resistance or attack boosts.
Here are some essential recipes you'll need as you start your journey:
Recipe Name | Ingredients | Effect |
|---|---|---|
Spicy Sautéed Peppers | Five Spicy Peppers | Restores five hearts and 12:30 of Cold Resistance |
Chilly Mushroom Skewer | Five Chillshrooms | Restores five hearts and 12:30 of Heat Resistance |
Energizing Elixir | One Restless Cricket, Four Monster Parts | Restores Stamina proportional to the quality and quantity of Monster Parts. |
Energizing Honeyed Apple | One Courser Bee Honey, One Golden Apple, and Three Apples. | Restores ten hearts and about half your Stamina. |
Crafting is essential to your journey, and these are just some of the recipes that will keep you alive.
Whether you need health, protection from the elements, or just want to make Rupees, there are plenty of benefits to mastering crafting as early as possible.