Things to do first in TotK - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Guide Heaven32 (2023)

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has a world that rivals (and in many ways even surpasses) the scope of Breath of the Wild. Whether you're new to Zelda's open-world format or know Hyrule like the back of your hand, expect things to have changed in many unexpected ways, including where you can findarmor,great fairies,torres, and many more secrets. There's a lot to unpack, both in the open sky island tutorial area and once you're back on the surface, and it's easy to get lost and not know what to do. We've rounded up some of the most important things to do first in Tears of the Kingdom.

Things to do first in Tears of the Kingdom

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Watch the video below or read the tips whenever you want.

Get the archaic hot counts

The big island in the skythis is where you'll spend the first hour or two of your adventure, learning the ropes in a format similar to Breath of the Wild's Great Plateau, but certain aspects and the abilities you collect will change things. One thing that hasn't changed is the importance of finding oneway to stay warm in cold weatherenvironments.

Aside from eating boiled peppers, sun mushrooms, or making potions from hot darner dragonflies, the best way to stay warm is to find appropriate clothing, and a piece of armor on Great Sky Island does just that.

Once you've survived the cold, you can walk through the snowy eastern part of the island toGutanbac Sanctuaryand acquired the ability toClimb, you can use it just outside the shrine on the wooden ledge that comes out of a large hollow tree trunk at the top of the mountain.

Look inside the chest to find a small alcove in the corner with a Green Zonaite Chest and open it to revealArchaic hot counts. This item will negate any freezing effect in basic cold temperature zones, and when combined with some cooked peppers or usable foods, will completely negate even the coldest environments you will encounter.

Zonai unit storage

Exploring Great Sky Island will also begin to teach you the importance of Zonai devices, such as things like fans,wing gliderand portable pots. Many places you explore may sometimes have remnants of these units for you to find and use, but nothing beats being able to summon them at will.

Fortunately, such a form exists in the form of Zonai Device Dispensers, which are large balloons filled with capsules like a toy machine. In exchange for throwing Zonai Charges (easily obtained by defeatingbuildingsor by looting broken relics), you will get a large number of capsules that fit in your inventory and have no upper limit.

Make sure you go through the two dispensers on the island before going down to the surface and have plenty of gadgets on hand like blowers that you can pull out when you find a downed vehicle that needs a good push , orwing gliderto move between the islands of the sky. Keep in mind that each gadget dispenser has a fixed selection, so you should always keep an eye out for multiple dispensers around the place to expand the gadgets you can pull out in any given situation.

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Explore Hyrule Castle

When you first descend into the Kingdom of Hyrule, it's always tempting to run off and see what's changed or get distracted by exploring a newly opened cave, but hear us out: play alongmain story missionsfor just a little

One of the first short main tasks calledCrisis at Hyrule Castlewill involve you into the ruins of Hyrule Castle, or rather what was left on the surface. Fortunately, with Breath of the Wild's guardian robots gone, the castle ruins are surprisingly light for enemies. Be sure to visit the First Gatehouse and Dining Hall to find plentyarmasand items that have been left behind.

The real treasure can be found in the guard's chamber, but be careful: getting there is a bit tricky, as a guard stationed outside will turn you away until you progress through the story. Now if you want to sneak past him, find a balcony on the ridge above the front door.

This room leads to the ground floor, where two extremely tough enemies are hiding, but if you run down the left corridor to the second passage on the left, they'll stop chasing you. There are plenty of weapons hidden here, but you'll need to get around two Black Bokoblins hiding under the stairs.

Then go to the right side of the chamber and up the broken stairs to the back of the roomultramanoa makeshift bridge to the corner and you can find a chest containing Royal Guard Uniform which gives 4 Defense right out of the door!

get the paraglider

Stop running away from Central Hyrule to explore some more and make sure to talk to Purah when you return from the castle so they can activatefirst Skyview tower. To register more points on the map they will have to shoot you from the towers now and hopefully they will give you backparagliderfirst.

With all the skyward exploration you'll be doing, paragliding is absolutely essential to getting around, and you'll even be able to customize it later in Hateno's dye shop after finding new paraglider materials.

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Get a horse (again)

It will probably be a while before you can fly machines or build a crazy car, so in the meantime it will be much easier to get around the surface with a reliable steed. Luckily, you should be able to see a few just west of Lookout Landing.

Horses are easily spooked, so if you're having trouble getting close to them, you might find it easier to surprise one from the air (and shoot off the nearby turret to gain altitude) and then press the L button with your remaining energy. to appease him (uses energy to refill food if you run out).

Once you've got one under control, you'll need a place to park it, and luckily there's one not too far southeast at the Riverside Stable, which you can reach by following the paths from Lookout Landing.

Stable now has a reward program, so the more you visit new places and the more horses you board, the more rewards you get in return. As a bonus, if you have save data on your Switch from Breath of the Wild, all the horses you stabled in the previous game will be ready and waiting for you!

For even more details about the horses, seeHow to tame a horse: the complete guide.

examine wells

While stable your horse in the Riverside Stable, look around behind for a hole you can climb down. There are tons of wells hidden all over Hyrule that hold their own secrets, and this one includes a well hunter who will start paying you for every well you visit and catalog!

Offer a fruit for the cherry blossoms

An interesting mystery awaits you in several pink cherry blossom trees scattered across the surface of Hyrule, and one is located just east of the Hyrule Castle Town Ruins.

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By placing a fruit in the bowl at the foot of the tree, you will find it close byhollow entrances, Wells and POIs now glow light blue and will continue to do so for a short time.

Use this feature along with your Purah Pad's map marking and zooming feature to mark points of interest and return to them later when you're ready to explore.

Go to camera work Main Quest

Another early main mission that you shouldn't miss before you run off to explore the wild world is available after getting your paraglider. Robbie wants your help investigating the giant chasms that have appeared all over Hyrule for the mission.Camera work in depth. You can read more about it below, but here's a spoiler warning:

Help the monster control team

Not too far south of the Hyrule Field Chasm you can see Captain Sickle with a militia aiming to exterminate hordes of monsters and they could really use your help. Agree to help them and they will move to a fort next to the Hyrule Garrison Ruins.

It will be a big and chaotic battle, but it will be worth it to eliminate the hordes of monsters; In addition, you will earn money for your troubles and can help you with all the monster parts and weapons left in the fight. There are many more of these battles that can occur in each region, and they can often block your progress to new areas, so having the monster control team to help you is always a bonus.

Fix the poor guy's sign

No matter where you end up traveling in Hyrule, you're bound to encounter a strange sight in the form of a man named Addison struggling to hold up a Hudson Construction Company sign. These are fun little puzzles that almost always have a different twist to help you keep the sign from falling when you let go.

Fortunately, there are always building materials nearby to create solid support where you can tell it to try to let go. If it works, it will always reward you with some pretty good stuff, including money, food, and tickets that let you sleep in any barn for free.

Get tips on rebar placement

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Like Breath of the Wild before it, Tears of the Kingdom has tons of varietyoptions for armor and clothingto find as you explore. While you can buy basic armor in Lookout Landing, you'll probably want to start looking for armor that adds additional effects.

Fortunately, there are travelers who can help point you to potential armor locations. If you head south and east on the road towards Dueling Peaks, you'll likely come across a woman dressed in a mushroom outfit named Meeshy. She turns out to be a fashionable hunter and knows the rumors about the locations ofin the woods see, a bandit who hid various types of clothing.

Talking to her in Central Hyrule reveals the location of three caves that contain armor that helps you climb, increase your attack power, and reduce electrical damage. She'll also tell you to keep an eye out for her in other regions, and she'll give you even more tips on where to find armor throughout the land.

Find Impa and the geoglyphs

You may have noticed them on your Sky Islands dive, but strange patterns and glyphs have appeared all over the land and are usually visible high in the air. These have a special purpose, but you'll have to go on a quest to guess their true nature.

Head west and north from Lookout Landing to reach the New Serenne Stable in the Hyrule Ridge area, which is on the path to anotherTorre Skyview. Nearby in the field is a large glyph being examined by none other than Impah of the Sheikah tribe. By helping her guess her true nature, you'll be able to unlock special features similar to the memory locations in Breath of the Wild. See our guide toSearch for Impa and the geoglyphs.

Locate Hestu

Chances are you've encountered a Korok already on Great Sky Island, which can fill you with joy or fear, depending on how you felt about collecting Korok seeds in Breath of the Wild.

and where isold seeds, which is called a big treeHestuwho needs them to fill their magic maracas. Sure enough if you take the path northwest from New Serenne Stable towardsSkyview Tower fra Lindor Front, you should see the guy threatened by a couple of angry trees.

Defeat them and you can start trading Korok Seeds in exchange for expanding your inventory of weapons, bows and shields, which is just as important in Tears of the Kingdom as it was in the previous game.

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Like last time though, you'll only be able to feed it a few Korok Seeds before it runs away, but luckily its next spawn won't be too far away. He will tell about traveling to the east where there are many people and actually you have already been there: Lookout Landing!

Get the slip suit

Since you just found Hetsu under the Skyview Tower in Hyrule Ridge, you'd better go ahead and unlock him and expand his map. Doing so will also place you high in the sky, right next to a large chain of circular islands to the southwest.

Landing on the highest platform and activating the special panel will activate a series of floating rings through which you can dive to the lowest island, where a Construct will congratulate you and propose an official ceremony.

Complete this task once more within a certain period of time and you will be rewarded for completing the ceremony with your ownglidedragt. This new special armor will increase your movement abilities when diving at high altitudes, giving you better control when landing on distant platforms. Finding similar challenges in the other sky islands above Hyrule will reward you with the full set and drastically improve your handling in the air.

become a journalist

Link has had to take on many roles over the years to help the people of Hyrule. From sorting mail in Wind Waker to learning sumo wrestling in Twilight Princess, Tears of the Kingdom lets you make your dream of becoming an investigative journalist a reality.

Completing the journey from Hyrule Ridge to Tabantha Frontier, where Rito Village is located, will take you to the old Rito Stable, which is now known as the headquarters of the Lucky Clover Gazette. By speaking with the owner, you can join a pelican-like rite named Penn to travel to different stables throughout Hyrule and discover unique quest lines.

These quests usually won't appear in the stables unless you've been hired by the Lucky Clover Gazette, so it's good to start this quest early so you don't miss anything later. As a bonus, the more quests you complete for the newspaper, the closer you get to receiving the final reward: a set of Froggy Armor that negates the effect of smooth walls. A dream coming true!

Bring music to the fairy fountains

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In Breath of the Wild, the Great Fairies would upgrade your armor and unlock new bonuses, but they were often very hard to find around the world. This time you'll find them near various stables, but the rules for removing them from their flower buds have changed.

In lieu of a large sum of rupees, the great fairies will refuse to come out unless they hear wonderful music, and this mission can only be accomplished once you have become a reporter for the Lucky Clover Gazette.

You can start by traveling to the Woodland Stable, which is located just east of Hyrule Castle on the other side of the great river, on the edge of the Great Hyrule Forest. A traveling band will say they want to play for the big fairy, but need help getting their car running again. At this point, you should have boarded your own horse and visited at least two stables, which will give you access to a harness, which you can have the stable dealer equip when you talk to the front desk.

Repair the wagon's broken wheel with Ultrahand, then pull the wagon over to your horse's trailer harness to glue it together, then wheel it down the mountainside to the Great Fairy. This will unlock the first of four so you can start upgrading your armor in exchange for a small amount of Rupees and a few ingredients depending on the piece of armor.

Once this questline is started, you can start looking for the other great fairies helpfully marked on your map and find the rest of the musicians needed to getfairy fountainoperational again.

And that's our pick for things to do first in Tears of the Kingdom. Check out these other helpful guides below for more tips and strategies:

• Tutorial
• Skyview Towers locations and guide
• How to disable HUD
• Great Sky Island Korok seeds
• Amiibo unlockables, rewards and functionality
• Interactive map of Hyrule by Totk(Warning: The entire map is out!)