How to upgrade health and stamina in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

By Joseph Yaden May 12, 2023

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom can be a tricky game, especially if you aren’t prepared for the challenges ahead. Enemies can take you out quickly, so it’s best to approach battles and quests with plenty of health and stamina, if possible. Upgrading your health and stamina in Tears of the Kingdom functions similarly to how it does in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and in this guide, we’ll show you exactly how this mechanic works.

Contents

How to upgrade health
How to upgrade stamina

How to upgrade health

Goddess Statue in Tears of the Kingdom. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

To upgrade your health, you need to first complete four Shrines. At the end of each Shrine, you’re awarded with a Light Blessing. Much like its predecessor, there are Shrines scattered all throughout Hyrule (and the skies above), so there are plenty of opportunities to earn Light Blessings.

After you’ve earned four, make your way to a Goddess Statue, which are also found all around the map. So far, there are 12 known Goddess Statues to visit. Below are their locations:

The Temple of Time
Emergency Shelter
Rito Village
Zora’s Domain
Goron City
Gerudo Town
Lurelin Village
Tarrey Town
Link’s Home
Hateno Village
Kakariko Village
Korok Forest

Upon visiting the Goddess Statue, interact with it, and you’ll have the option to Pray, at which point. you can exchange four Light Blessings for one Heart Container, which will increase your maximum health.

How to upgrade stamina

As for upgrading your Stamina, it works almost exactly the same as earning a Heart Container. The main difference is that instead of choosing a Heart Container at a Goddess Statue, you’ll want to pick a Stamina Vessel. Doing so still requires four Light Blessings, which are earned from finishing the aforementioned Shrines.

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Joseph Yaden is a freelance journalist who covers Nintendo, shooters, and horror games. He mostly covers game guides for…

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The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available now for Nintendo Switch.