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Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: how to upgrade and increase Zonai battery

Health and stamina aren’t the only resources you need to upgrade in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. This time around, Link also has batteries, which power all electronic Zonai devices. Batteries act like digital stamina, as having more means that Link can operate a vehicle or mechanical device longer. By the end of his adventure, Link can get eight Zonai batteries, each with three segments.

To do so, though, you’ll have to do a lot of mining. Batteries can only be upgraded with a specific resource, which itself is obtained through another resource. The ecosystem can be a little confusing to get at first, but we’re here to demystify it. Here’s everything you need to know to upgrade your Zonai battery fast.

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How to get Crystallized Charges

To start upgrading batteries, you’ll first need to collect Crystallized Charges. That’s a currency exclusively found in the underground area, though it can be obtained in a few ways. The main way you’re going to get Charges is by collecting Zonaite and trading it with Forge Construct vendors. Zonaite can be collected by smashing rocks in the underground and by defeating certain enemies. There’s no shortage of it scattered around, so make sure to smash every rock you see and stock up.

There are a couple of vendors you can warp to from there. My personal go-to is one south on the map directly next to the Great Abandoned Central Mine warp point.

The underground map in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom shows a Forge Construct location.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

You can buy two different types of charges here. A single Crystallized Charge costs three chunks of Zonaite. However, you can also buy a Large Crystallized Charge for three pieces of Large Zonaite, a rarer resource you’ll find when mining rocks. Larger Charges are worth 20, which will help speed up the upgrade process immensely. Vendors only carry a certain amount of Charges, but they restock often, so don’t worry about finding a second shop.

In addition to that, you’ll occasionally find charges in chests or get them as rewards for certain quests in the underground. If you want to rack up a lot fast, you’ll want to focus on the Master Kohga of the Yiga Clan side adventure. It’s a multi-step quest that’ll reward you multiple items worth 100 charges. Also make sure to loot chests in Yiga clan bases, which tend to contain Large Crystallized Charges.

How and where to upgrade Zonai battery

Once you have a good heaping of charges, you’ll need to go to the Crystal Refinery on Great Sky Island. Warp to the Nachoyah Shrine and that’ll put you right in front of the Construct manning the battery station.

A Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom map shows Great Sky Island.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

For every 100 charges you have, the Construct will produce an Energy Well. That adds another segment to your battery. The Construct will also produce multiple Energy Wells at once, so you don’t have to make trades one at a time as you do for health and stamina.

Since you start with a full battery, you’ll need to upgrade it around 20 times to get eight full batteries. If you focus on that task, it can go by quickly (you’ll have plenty of other ways to spend your time). Just hunt for mining spots filled with rocks and leave no stone unturned. You’ll be flying for miles before you have to worry about running out of power.

Giovanni Colantonio
As Digital Trends' Senior Gaming Editor, Giovanni Colantonio oversees all things video games at Digital Trends. As a veteran…
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