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  • Why Does Link's Temperature Matter?
  • How To Handle Extreme Cold
  • How To Handle Extreme Heat And Fireproofing

There are several features from Breath of the Wild that make a return in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and one of the most immediate ones when you first take on Great Sky Island is that you’ll need protection against the elements for Link from time to time. Whether it’s the sub-zero freeze of the Rito Village or the brutal desert sun in Gerudo Town, you’ll be facing the elements time and again.

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But you won’t have to do it unprepared, though, with our guide to elemental resistances, so find a cooking pot and get to cooking!

As we venture to different regions in this non-linear game, this guide contains spoilers for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Why Does Link's Temperature Matter?

While it's little more than a nuisance in real life, not handling temperature changes in Tears of the Kingdom can be the difference between life and death as you traverse the massive overworld map of Hyrule.

There will be times when Link is exposed to cold or heat so extreme that he takes damage. You'll notice yourself losing heart container pieces each moment you stay unprotected from the extreme elements, so always be sure to keep an eye on your temperature gauge, the little circle with light blue and orange meters directly beside your mini-map.

This will let you know Link's current temperature, and if he sways too far in either extreme direction, he'll immediately begin to take damage. This will continue until you dress appropriately for the conditions, eat a meal or drink an elixir that grant better immunity to the elements, or, if you're not ready to handle it yet, leave the area for a more suitable climate.

However, plenty of critical story points happen in regions with extreme temps, so you'll need to brave the elements sooner than later in order to proceed through the game.

The only time this doesn't always apply is in freezing water or lava. Falling into a pool of one of these are almost always certain death regardless of your resistances!

Using Food And Elixirs To Combat Temperature

Whether you choose to handle things by keeping a constant supply of weather-resistant elixirs, local armor sets once you arrive to the city with the extreme climate, it's ultimately up to you. Many players find that a combination of armor and food/elixirs to work the best.

When making food at one of the many cooking pots around Hyrule, you'll have a handful of different ingredients - primarily mushrooms and fish - that grant Link elemental resistance for a set time limit.

The more ingredients in the recipe that carry the effect, the longer the duration of the effect will last.

Elixirs act much like food, but use bug and monster parts instead of cooking ingredients.

Elixirs require general monster parts in addition to the resistance-specific bugs you're using, but food can be made with just the ingredient alone.

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How To Handle Extreme Cold

One of the first elemental hazards you're introduced to in Tears of the Kingdom, you'll need to find a way to deal with the cold before you've even finished the game's tutorial - Gutanbac Shrine is so high up that you'll find Link shivering trying to reach it.

Once you've unlocked Ascend at the Gutanbac Shrine, check the oversized tree trunk nearby for a piece of the Archaic Armor Set to afford yourself a bit of cold resistance when collecting the Archaic Warm Greaves.

When you venture out into Hebra - to Rito Village specifically - or to certain places in the sky, you'll experience a flash chill. Link will begin to shiver and chatter his teeth, so warm him up quickly to prevent freezing to death.

Cold Resistant Foods

The ingredients below will offer Link a period of time in which he has resistance to the cold. This is not a complete immunity, but it will cover you in most situations in colder regions.

For a fuller guide to cooking in Tears of the Kingdom, check out our Crafting Guide.

Typically, cooked meals offering cold resistance are labeled as "spicy" variants of standard dishes.

Where To Find Cold-Resistant Ingredients In Tears Of The Kingdom

Item Name

Locations

Food Ingredients

Spicy Pepper

Gerudo Desert

Great Sky Island

Hyrule Field

Sizzlefin Trout

Hebra Mountains

Eldin Canyon

Sunshroom

Eldin Canyon

Gerudo Highlands

Warm Safflina

Eldin Canyon

Gerudo Highlands

Elixir Ingredients

Summerwing Butterfly

Eldin Canyon

Gerudo Highlands

Warm Darner

Akkala Highlands

Faron Grasslands

Basic Cold-Resistant Recipes

Recipe

Ingredients

Effect

Meals

Spicy Fruit and Mushroom Mix

2 Spicy Pepper

Cold Resistance:

6 minutes, 30 seconds

3 Fruits or other Mushrooms

Hearts Restored

Five

Spicy Meat and Seafood Fry

1 Hyrule Bass

Cold Resistance

3 minutes, 30 seconds

1 Raw Meat

Hearts Restored

Five

1 Spicy Pepper

Spicy Meaty Rice Balls

1 Fresh Milk

Cold Resistance

6 minutes, 40 seconds

1 Goat Butter

1 Hylian Rice

Hearts Restored

Six

1 Raw Meat

1 Spicy Pepper

Spicy Mushroom Skewer

5 Sunshroom

Cold Resistance

Hearts Restored

Spicy Pepper Seafood

1 Spicy Pepper

Cold Resistance

3 minutes

1 Hyrule Bass

Hearts Restored

Three

Spicy Pepper Steak

3 Spicy Pepper

Cold Resistance

8 minutes, 30 seconds

2 Steaks

Hearts Restored

Seven

Spicy Sauteed Peppers

5 Spicy Pepper

Cold Resistance

12 minutes, 30 seconds

Hearts Restored

Five

Elixir

Spicy Elixir

1 Summerwing Butterflyor 1 Warm Darner

Cold Resistance

Dependent (the more monster parts you use, the more resistance you'll have)

1 Monster Part (any)

Hearts Restored

None

Each of these recipes may be impacted if you add additional ingredients, typically adding more time to your resistance for each ingredient you use that has elementally-resistant properties.

Warming Armor And Where To Find It

Item

Location

Price (Rupees)

Archaic Warm Greaves

Outside Gutanbac Shrine on Great Sky Island

-

Ruby Circlet

Gerudo Village

1,300

Snowquill Headdress

Rito Village

650

Snowquill Tunic

500

Snowquill Trousers

1,000

With armors, you'll need to survive the elements on your own first before the armor will be available, so keep yourself toasty with spicy foods until then.

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How To Handle Extreme Heat And Fireproofing

In the exact opposite vein, you'll find yourself contending with sweltering temperatures just as often as frigid ones as you venture through, over, and under Hyrule in order to locate Zelda.

The Goron areas of Death Mountain will require fire resistance instead of heat resistance, which we'll elaborate on down below.

Heat Resistance Ingredients And Recipes

Be sure to stay on the lookout for Chillshroomwhile you're trekking around the colder areas of the map.

These often grow at the bases of trees, like the rest of the mushrooms tend to, and they're one of the most readily-available heat-resistant ingredients that you'll be able to find.

Additionally, you'll occasionally find Chillfin Troutswimming in the near-frozen lakes in the Hebra Mountains, especially inside of caves around the area.

The game all but directs you to Rito Village once you arrive in Hyrule to begin the game, so be sure to stock up while you're up in the Hebra Mountains. Chillshroomand Chillfin Trout are both plentiful in the icy mountain region.

You'll find that meals labeled either as "chilly" or "scorching" variants of regular dishes to have heat resistance.

Where To Find Heat-Resistant Ingredients In Tears Of The Kingdom

Item Name

Locations

Food Ingredients

Chillfin Trout

Hebra Mountains

Lanayru Great Springs

Chillshroom

Gerudo Highlands

Hebra Mountains

Cool Safflina

Hebra Mountains

Tabantha Frontier

Hydromelon

Gerudo Desert

Elixir Ingredients

Cold Darner

Winterwing Butterfly

Gerudo Highlands

Mount Lanayru

Basic Cooling Recipes

Recipe

Ingredients

Effect

Meals

Chilly Fish Skewer

5 Chillfin Trout

Heat Resistance

12 minutes, 30 seconds

Hearts Restored

Five

Chilly Meat And Seafood Fry

1 Raw Meator 1 Raw Bird Drumstick

Heat Resistance

11 Chillfin Trout

Hearts Restored

Chilly Mushroom Rice Balls

1 Chillshroom

Heat Resistance

3 minutes, 30 seconds

1 Rock Salt

Hearts Restored

Three

Chilly Mushroom Skewer

5 Chillshroom

Heat Resistance

12 minutes, 30 seconds

Hearts Restored

Five

Chilly Simmered Fruit

5 Hydromelon

Heat Resistance

12 minutes, 30 seconds

Hearts Restored

Five

Elixir

Chilly Elixir

1 Cold Darneror 1 Winterwing Butterfly

Heat Resistance

Dependent (the more monster parts you use, the more resistance you'll have)

1 Monster Part (any)

Hearts Restored

None

Cooling Armor And Where To Find It

Items

Location

Price (Rupees)

Desert Voe Headband

Kara Kara Bazaar

450

Desert Voe Spaulder

Gerudo Secret Club

1,300

Desert Voe Trousers

650

Sapphire Circlet

Gerudo Town Shelter

1,400

You'll need to go into the well outside the Gerudo Secret Club and use Ascend to get into the shop for the first time, as the door is initially locked.

How To Fireproof Link

Finally, when you go to Death Mountain, the heat there is so extreme that Link won't just sweat if he's unprotected - if left in this heat for too long, he'll literally burst into flame, which is a quick way to get a Game Over.

To do this, you'll need to rely either on Fireproof Elixiror the Flamebreaker Armor Set to prevent Link from catching fire. There are no meals that make Link fireproof that we could find.

Normal heat-resistance items do not work on Death Mountain.

Where To Find Fireproof Ingredients In Tears Of The Kingdom

Item Name

Locations

Fireproof Lizard

Eldin Canyon

Eldin Mountains

Smotherwing Butterfly

Eldin Canyon

Gerudo Highlands

Fireproof Armor Location

Item Name

Location

Price (Rupees)

Flamebreaker Armor

Goron City

700

Flamebreaker Boots

1,200

Flamebreaker Helm

1,400

Regardless, remember that your shields and weapons are still flammable, so while you're scaling Death Mountain, don't use wooden tools, lest they ignite.

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