Highlights
- Tears of the Kingdom introduces an abundance of useful items, including fairies, hightail lizards, sun pumpkins, shock fruit, and more.
- Link's new fuse ability allows players to make their weapons and shields stronger by fusing them with various items, enhancing gameplay.
- Unique items in Tears of the Kingdom, such as dazzlefruit and muddle buds, provide special effects like stunning monsters or causing them to fight each other.
Tears of the Kingdom is the highly successful sequel to Breath of the Wild. Both open-world games combine story, characters, and world-building with exploration, dungeon crawling, and monster battles. A main component of these games is the collection and use of resources found throughout Hyrule, with players able to find items ranging from pine cones and mushrooms to dragon scales and eyeballs. Although some of these items were available in Breath of the Wild, with the emergence of new areas like the depths and sky islands Tears of the Kingdom has introduced an abundance of useful objects.
Items have become particularly important to Tears of the Kingdom's gameplay with the addition of Link's new fuse ability, which he can use to fuse items with weapons and shields to make them stronger. As well as the new fuse ability, Tears of the Kingdom has scrapped fire, ice, and lightning arrows and instead encourages players to get creative with the items they attach to standard arrows. Although most players quickly learn to fuse their weapons with strong monster and zonai parts, there's a whole collection of fruits, critters, and materials that can massively add to the gameplay experience in other ways.
10 Fairies
Most Zelda fans will be familiar with fairies, a mystical creature that will restore life to Link if he loses all his hearts. There's no need for players to activate a fairy, it will just work the moment Link is beneath zero hearts.
It's a good idea for players to collect some fairies before a big boss battle or raiding a monster fort. Easy locations to find fairies are near water on sky islands or in the well at Dueling Peaks stable.
9 Hightail Lizards
Hightail lizards are a returning critter from Breath of the Wild, and when cooked with monster parts can make incredibly efficient speed-boosting elixirs. For any players who are impatient with Link's speed and want to scale walls and get around caves and dungeons as quickly as possible, hightail lizards are a must.
These speedy critters can be found all over Hyrule, in places without snow, particularly in cut-down trees. Players will either have to be stealthy as they approach the lizard, or be prepared to pick them up quickly since they don't hang around long after they're found.
8 Sun Pumpkins
Sun pumpkins are a new development from Hateno Village, players can obtain them after completing 'The Mayoral Election' side adventure. Like sundelions, sun pumpkins can be cooked into a dish and used to heal damage from gloom-infected monsters, and are therefore vital for players venturing into the depths.
These shiny gourds can be found in the Hateno Village shop or planted in Uma's garden after completing both 'Teach Me A Lesson' quests, followed by the 'Homegrown in Hateno' quest.
7 Shock Fruit
Shock fruit are one of the four main fruits that can be found around Hyrule, mainly on sky islands or around Gerudo Desert. Shock fruit do extra damage when shot at enemies, but more importantly shock monsters and provide a crucial second for players to attack freely without retaliation.
Although they're rarer than some other resources, it's always worth picking up shock fruit whenever players see them.
6 Shard Of Dinraal's Spike
Dinraal can be seen flying through the skies of Hyrule and descending into the shadowy depths, and if players launch themselves from the right places at the right time, they can land on Dinraal and collect a range of items. Players should be sure to have fire-proof armor equipped, or fire resistant cosumables handy since being in proximity to Dinraal will be unbearably hot.
The shards can be collected in large quantities at the bases of the spikes on the dragon's back. The spikes can be fused with weapons to make them fire-infused, making them the perfect weapon to use against any fire monsters - particularly frost gleeoks, which many players may choose to defeat in order to retrieve Zelda's golden horse.
5 Puffshroom
These inedible mushrooms are a new fungus in Tears of the Kingdom, mainly because they can be found exclusively in the depths. Puffshrooms are a fantastic way to get the drop on groups of monsters; when thrown towards hordes, the puffshroom will explode into a cloud of dust, concealing Link from enemies and giving players the chance to get a few free hits in.
They're certainly one of the best additions to the game, and can even be used for a quick escape. Puffshrooms are typically found near the roots of trees and on cliff edges in the depths.
4 Gibdo Bones
These monster parts are incredibly strong, but the trade-off is that they're extremely brittle, meaning they will shatter after one hit. This doesn't make them ideal for weapon fusing, but it does make them perfect for attaching to arrows. If players are looking to do big bursts of damage from a distance, such as hitting the eye of a Hinox or quickly taking out a silver moblin, gibdo bones are unmatched.
The best way to find them is to head to Gerudo town and complete that portion of the 'Regional Phenomena' quest, or to head to the depths and search for a Queen Gibdo miniboss in the Gerudo area.
3 Dazzlefruit
Like shock fruit and puffshrooms, dazzlefruit are unique to Tears of the Kingdom and provide a similar effect. They're fairly easy to find if players are exploring sky islands, otherwise, they can often be found around Hyrule Field and the Gerudo region. When thrown or attached to an arrow, dazzlefruit will stun monsters and give Link a few seconds to either attack or run.
Dazzlefruit are a great way for players to get past fights they're hoping to avoid, or to give Link a moment to assess the situation before fighting. They're perfect to use against larger enemies like a Hinox or Frox, who become easy targets once they're blinded.
2 Ice Keese Eyeballs
Since players can no longer purchase pre-attached item arrows, the game greatly encourages investigating the benefits of different items once attached to arrows. One of the best arrow items are eyeballs from monsters like keese and aerocudas, but ice keese eyeballs specifically are a great way to start or end a fight.
Eyeballs specifically follow an enemy target, making them perfect for difficult shots or airborne enemies, but ice keese eyeballs will also freeze smaller monsters solid. If the monster is of a fire origin it will wipe them out in one hit, otherwise it will give Link a chance to get close to the enemy and land a big hit before the monster unfreezes and can counterattack. Freezing an enemy lasts longer than electrocuting them, so it can also be used for crowd control and allow players to tackle monsters one at a time. The best place to find ice keese is the snowy Hebra region.
1 Muddle Buds
Muddle buds are so common in the depths that any player who's spent time trawling them is likely to have dozens. When launched, they will make monsters begin fighting among themselves. They have an area of effect, meaning if players aim well they can make an entire group of monsters turn on each other with only one flower. With the introduction of monster camp raids in Tears of the Kingdom, muddle buds are perfect to lessen the strain on Link and his civilian-turned-monster-hunter friends. They're also perfect for areas like Eventide Island, where Link is has to take out big camps of monsters alone.
These purple flowers are one of the best items in the game and can make battles far easier on players who are looking to farm monster parts or clear out camps efficiently. A great way to use them is to attach a muddle bud to Link's shield, meaning it will burst upon impact and confuse the monster. If players want to stock up, muddle buds can also be exchanged for poes at bargainer statues scattered throughout the depths or at Lookout Landing.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available on Nintendo Switch.