If there’s one thing we know about The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, it's that the game is going to be a tough experience unless you explore. The game is challenging, it’s not unfair by any means; it just requires you to invest time and effort into its gameplay loop. Thankfully, one of the things you’ll be investing time into is cooking.
You can cook all sorts of different food recipes. However, you can also cook up a bunch of different Elixirs. A lot of these are situational, but depending on which you need most, they can be the difference makers between life and death.
8 Chilly Elixir
Recipe: Cold Darner or Winterwing Butterfly + Monster Part
This Elixir is meant to cool you down on a hot summer day. This Elixir might be your bread and butter when you’re travelling through the hotter climate areas of the game, such as the desert areas or Fire Temple.
This is a particularly easy Elixir to make and requires only two simple ingredients. It’ll have a lasting effect depending on the quality of the ingredients, but nevertheless, it can come as a big help when it comes to traversing Hyrule’s heat.
7 Spicy Elixir
Recipe: Warm Darner or Summerwing Butterfly + Monster Part
Another super simple recipe to craft, the Spicy Elixir is your best friend for the Hebra Region where the Wind Temple is located and also the Gerudo Highlands. These areas are chock full of blizzards and snows, so having a Hasty Elixir can be quite an upgrade when traversing them. You do need a bit of grinding to find the parts for it, but once you do, it’s simply very helpful.
The spicy hit of this phenomenal Elixir can turn your cold into nothing. You will be much safer while traversing the snow after taking this Elixir. Not to mention, the Elixir lets you explore the icy regions in peace, which was previously dangerous thanks to the damage over time feature.
6 Sticky Elixir
Recipe: Sticky Frog or Sticky Lizard + Monster Part
Sticking to wet surfaces is a highly important ability to have. It’s not easy to get either, unless you’re going through the whole Potential Princess Sightings quest and acquiring the Froggy Armor. However, you can give yourself the ability to grab onto wet and slippery surfaces by making a Sticky Elixir! This is going to allow you to climb up those icy cliffs, and rainy mountains.
This Elixir is not too tricky to make; you’ve just got to catch a bunch of those pesky lizards or frogs that dwell in the caverns. If you’re doing some cave diving, chances are you’ll find them. This Elixir can get you out of some sticky situations, especially during the Water Temple area.
5 Hasty Elixir
Recipe: Hot-Footed Frog or Hightail Lizard + Monster Part
Speed is everything in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. It’s not something you can ignore; your movement speed must be fast and your reflexes must be sharp in order to avoid oncoming attacks from enemies. Not to mention, sometimes you just want to test your speed running skills in these games.
Thankfully, the Hasty Elixir does exactly that, temporarily increasing your movement speed. You will run like the wind after taking a swig of this Elixir. It’s fun to watch Link run super fast, but it’s also very practical, because it will help you chase down anything. Moreover, it’s the best Elixir when you need to make a quick getaway.
4 Bright Elixir
Recipe: Deep Firefly + Monster Part
The Bright Elixir is made for one singular purpose; exploring the Depths. However, it can also be used to go cave diving into some of those darker areas, such as the wells that don’t have a lot of natural light. You can find a ton of uses for this, and it’s not too hard to make either because all you need is a Firefly and a Monster Part.
The ingredients are relatively common, and making it is not hard either. Once you have it, you’re free to explore the depths. Now, you won’t need to shoot Brightbloom Seeds everywhere, and you won’t have to rely on natural torches in any place.
3 Energizing Elixir
Recipe: Energetic Rhino Beetle or Restless Cricket + Monster Part
Your Stamina is one of your main resources in the game, it is consumed while you do essentially anything in Tears of the Kingdom. Yes, you can upgrade your stamina by completing shrines and collecting blessings, but that is a lengthy process. So, a quick solution is the Energizing Elixir.
This Elixir regenerates some of your stamina if you ever run out of it. This can make your life so much easier, especially during long gliding sessions where you need it. You can simply pause the game and drink the Elixir no matter where you are, so it can be very useful even when wall climbing, fighting or flying down on a paraglider.
2 Hearty Elixir
Recipe: Hearty Lizard + Monster Part
Along with your stamina, the other most important things are your hearts. Hearts are the game’s way of signifying your health, so the more hearts you have, the better your chances of survival will be. However, at times you run into enemies that will hit you for ten hearts at a time, so in those situations, healing is needed.
The Hearty Elixir, the game’s most optimal healing potion, is the best at doing this. This Elixir heals you unlike any other cooked object in the game. Its entire purpose is to heal up your health, fixing tricky situations in a snap.
1 Enduring Elixir
Recipe: Tireless Frog + Monster Part
The best Elixir in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has to be the Enduring Elixir. It’s a potion that will increase your stamina temporarily, which means you can do more things for a longer period of time. The game offers you a ton of things to do, and the more stamina you have, the better your experience will be.
Not only does this give you a boost in stamina, but it also refills it, which makes this somewhat overpowered at times. It can be used before tough boss battles to increase your stamina, letting you hit them more and for longer.