To deal with cold in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom you can cook warming meals prepared with Spicy Pepper to gain Cold Resistance for a few minutes. You can also build fires for some stationary comfort and, eventually, find warm clothes that will help.
Staying warm and gaining cold resistance is important early on as you attempt to reach one of the three Zelda Tears of the Kingdom Sky Island shrines during the first quest, The Closed Door. Eventually you'll have to travel across an icy mountain and temperature will quickly become an issue. The lessons you learn here will be important for the rest of the game.
Getting to the final Gutanbac Shrine in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom is important. Not only does unlocking all three shrines give you the ability to fast travel in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, but you'll need the Light of Blessing orbs you get for completing all the shrines to open the Temple of Time. However, the cold weather will quickly devour your health if you're not properly equipped. Here's how to stay warm in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom by making fires and cooking warming meals, I've even got some useful Spicy Pepper recipes you you can use to beat the chill.
How to make warming food in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
Cooking warming food is the best way to deal with the cold in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom and gain some lasting cold resistance. These recipes will include Spicy Peppers, which can be cooked alone or with other ingredients in your inventory. You can harvest Spicy Peppers from bushes throughout the cold mountainous region where the Gutanbac Shrine is situated and plenty of other places, so forage everything you see. You'll need to use these peppers to cook some warming food, which gives you a few minutes Cold Resistance. Without this, you'll continuously take damage on your way to the third shrine in the icy mountains.
You can prepare food at any cooking pot stationed around the map, or you can learn how to cook from the Cooking Construct shortly after visiting the Ukouh Shrine and learning the first of your Zelda Tears of the Kingdom abilities. It's the blue mark on your map, just to the left of the Temple of Time:
Alternatively, you can just walk right up to a cooking pot, hold the ingredients in your hands by selecting them from your inventory, and then stand close to the pot so the "cook" interaction comes up. Link will toss the ingredients in, and you'll come out with a new dish. When you get your hands on some Hylian rice in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, your warming meals will have the added benefit of replenishing a bunch of vitality, too.
Warming food recipes in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
Once you've learned how to cook, use these recipes to make the following warming meals with cold resistance. You can cook them in the Pit Cave before you climb to the Gutanbac Shrine.
Theses are some good, basic warming meals with added cold resistance:
- Simmered Fruit: Spicy Pepper, Apple, Skyshroom (3:30 minutes of resistance)
- Pepper Steak: Spicy Pepper, Acorn, Meat (3:50 minutes of resistance, without Acorn 3 minutes)
- Sauteed Peppers: Spicy Pepper (2:30 minutes of resistance)
- Fruit and Mushroom Mix: Spicy Pepper, Skyshrooms x2 (3:30 of cold resistance)
There are quite a few recipes to choose from, so make sure you've foraged plenty of mushrooms, hunted some animals, or caught fish to cook the peppers with. You can make the same dish with various ingredient combinations, as long as you use a Spicy Pepper alongside them.
How to make a fire in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
To build a fire you'll need some flint, wood, and a stone or metal weapon. Drop the flint and wood on the ground and strike both with your weapon.
It's a quick way to avoid taking damage from the cold weather once your warming meals run out, but it won't replenish hearts. Remedy this by building your fires strategically in places you'd otherwise be standing or moving about idly, such as when you're gathering items to attach with your Ultrahand or rummaging through your inventory for uncooked snacks.
Cold-resistant clothing in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
The first cold-resistant clothing you can find, the Archaic Warm Greaves trousers will, annoying, only be found when you leave the first cold region. You'll find them after collecting the last Light of Blessing and learning the Ascend ability from the Gutanbac Shrine and they're one of the best ways to stay warm in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. They're also a big improvement to the Archaic Legwear you start out with, though you'll be hanging onto Link's shirt in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom for quite awhile longer.
To find the Archaic Warm Greaves head toward the hollowed-out frozen tree stump you'll see nearby as you face away from the shrine exit after a conversation with the helpful construct who hands you your Legend of Zelda energy cell. Inside the hollow, you'll find a glowing chest with the greaves inside. They're basically, warm trousers which will immediately stop you from taking cold damage.
Now you're free to head downhill to talk to Rauru, learn how to use those Zelda Tears of the Kingdom Zonai devices, and get back to the Temple of Time. Do this easily by attaching two fans to one of the sets of wings, lifting it with your Ultrahand to rest on the slope, hopping on board, and giving the fans a whack with your weapon to activate them.
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