You’re standing in the middle of a thunderstorm in Hyrule, desperately trying to climb a sheer cliff face in the Faron region. Link keeps sliding. Your stamina is flashing red. You think to yourself, "I really should have visited that Great Fairy yesterday." This is the core loop of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. It’s a game about preparation as much as it is about exploration. But here is the thing: most players approach every Tears of the Kingdom upgrade with a mindset left over from Breath of the Wild, and that is exactly why they end up grinding for hours for materials they don’t actually need.
Getting stronger in this game isn't just about finding the Great Fairies and throwing Rupees at them. It’s a complex ecosystem of armor sets, weapon fusions, and Sage Wills. If you’re just mindlessly collecting Lizalfos tails, you’re doing it wrong.
The Great Fairy Reality Check
Let’s be real for a second. The Great Fairy system in Tears of the Kingdom is significantly more annoying to unlock than its predecessor. You can't just pay your way to victory anymore. You have to engage with the Lucky Clover Gazette questline, find the musicians, and escort them in a rickety wagon that you probably built poorly with Ultrahand. It's a chore.
But the Tears of the Kingdom upgrade system for armor is where the real math happens. Each level of armor doesn't just bump your defense numbers; it’s the set bonuses that actually matter. You haven't truly played this game until you’ve upgraded the Glide Suit to level two. Why? Because the "Impact Proof" bonus completely removes fall damage. It changes the way you interact with the sky islands. You stop looking for ponds to land in and start aiming for the solid ground like a missile.
Most people focus on the Hylian Set because it’s easy to find and cheap to upgrade. That is a trap. It has no set bonus. You’re pouring precious Amber and Bokoblin horns into a suit that just makes you a slightly sturdier punching bag. Instead, you should be looking at the Froggy Set for rainy days or the Zora Armor for that indispensable swim speed.
Stop Hoarding Your Lynel Guts
There is a specific kind of anxiety that comes with using rare materials. You kill a Silver Lynel—a feat that probably took three fairies and half your meal inventory—and you get that Silver Lynel Saber Horn. It’s beautiful. It has a fuse attack power of 55. And you probably put it in your pocket and never touch it because you’re "saving it for a big boss."
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Stop.
The most effective Tears of the Kingdom upgrade isn't permanent; it’s the fusion on your blade. In this game, your gear is meant to be broken. If you aren't fusing your highest-level materials to your weapons, you are making the game harder for yourself for no reason. A Royal Broadsword fused with a Silver Lynel Horn deals massive damage during a flurry rush. That is how you end fights in ten seconds instead of two minutes.
Materials like Diamonds are tricky. You might be tempted to sell them for the 500 Rupees. Don't. You need them for the legendary weapon repairs and certain high-level armor tiers. If you’re short on cash, go hunt Taluses and sell the lower-grade gems like Flint or Amber. Keep the Diamonds. You’ll thank me when you’re trying to max out the Miner’s Top and realize you need a small fortune in rare stones.
The Sage Will Scavenge
Let's talk about the Sages. Tulin, Yunobo, Sidon, Riju, and Mineru. They are... helpful-ish. Sometimes they’re in the way, and sometimes Tulin blows your loot off a cliff. But you can actually upgrade them.
Hidden across the Sky Islands are Sage's Wills. You need four of them to upgrade a Sage’s attack power at a Goddess Statue. Many players finish the entire main quest without ever doing a single Tears of the Kingdom upgrade for their companions.
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Is it worth it? Sorta.
It doesn't make their abilities recharge faster, which is what everyone actually wants. It only increases their base damage. If you’re a solo fighter, maybe skip the headache of hunting these down in the far reaches of the sky. But if you rely on Tulin to headshot Bokoblins while you’re busy panic-eating simmered fruit, those upgrades are a godsend.
The Grind is Real (And How to Avoid It)
If you are looking for specific upgrade materials, you have to understand the regional spawns. You want Stealthfin Trout for the Stealth Set? You’re looking at the waters around the Lost Woods. You need Fire Breath Lizalfos tails? Head to Death Mountain, but bring some ice fruit.
The drop rates for tails in Tears of the Kingdom are notoriously low. It’s a point of contention in the community. Honestly, it feels like the game knows what you’re looking for and refuses to give it to you. One trick is to save your game right before fighting a group of Lizalfos. If they don't drop the tail, reload. It’s tedious, but it’s better than waiting for a Blood Moon to respawn the camps.
The Battery Problem
You cannot ignore your Energy Wells. The Zonai battery is the ultimate Tears of the Kingdom upgrade for anyone who loves the building mechanics. You start with three small bars. That's barely enough to fly a fan-powered log across a river.
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To upgrade this, you need Crystallized Charges. You get these from the Depths. You have to mine Zonaite, take it to a Forge Construct, trade it for charges, and then take those charges to a Crystal Refinery. It’s a multi-step process that the game doesn't explain very well.
Pro tip: Don't just mine small Zonaite. Go after the Master Kohga questline and the various Abandoned Mines in the Depths. Defeating the bosses in the Depths—like the re-fought temple bosses—gives you 100 Crystallized Charges instantly. That is a full third of a battery cell in one go. It is exponentially faster than scratching at rocks with a stone hammer.
Dragon Parts: The Ultimate Catalyst
The dragons—Dinraal, Naydra, Farosh, and the new Light Dragon—are not just sky decoration. Their parts are essential for the highest levels of armor upgrades. But they also have a secret function. If you cook a dragon horn into a meal, it guarantees a 30-minute duration for whatever buff that meal provides.
Think about that. A 30-minute high-level attack boost. A 30-minute speed boost.
This is the hidden Tears of the Kingdom upgrade to your survival. Instead of carrying twenty different meals, you carry three or four "dragon-charged" dishes. It frees up your inventory and your brain. To get these parts, you have to land on the dragon's back. In this game, you can actually stay on them as they fly. You can even harvest shards of their spikes just by running down their spines. It's much more interactive than the "shoot and chase" mechanic from the first game.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Session
If you want to optimize your Link today, follow this order of operations. It’s the most efficient way to scale with the game's hidden difficulty "leveling" system.
- Prioritize the Lucky Clover Gazette: Get the Great Fairies out of the way early. You don't need to max out your armor immediately, but having at least two upgrades on your main sets unlocks the set bonuses, which is the real game-changer.
- Farm the Depths Bosses: Stop mining individual Zonaite nodes. Go find the boss arenas in the Depths to get your 100-charge drops. Aim for at least two full battery rows before you start trying to build complex flying machines.
- The Glide Suit is Non-Negotiable: Go to the "Dive Ceremony" islands in the sky. Get the full suit. Upgrade it twice. The ability to ignore fall damage is the single biggest quality-of-life improvement in the game.
- Mark Your Map for Mini-Bosses: Use the stamps. Every time you find a Hinox or a Lynel, mark it with a skull. You will need their guts and horns for late-game upgrades. If you don't mark them, you'll spend hours wandering the map later trying to remember where that one specific Blue Maned Lynel was hanging out.
- Hover Bike is Your Friend: If you’re tired of walking, learn the Hover Bike build (two fans and a steering stick at a 45-degree angle). It’s the most efficient way to travel and makes hunting for Sage's Wills or Dragon parts infinitely easier.
The beauty of the Tears of the Kingdom upgrade path is that it’s non-linear. You can choose to be a tank, a master builder, or a glass cannon. Just make sure you aren't wasting your rarest materials on gear you'll outgrow in three hours. Focus on the bonuses, keep your battery charged, and for heaven's sake, stop selling your Diamonds.