Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. Evergreens

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

Add as a preferred source on Google

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.

Recommended Videos

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 a veteran of the industry who first began writing about games professionally as a teenager, Giovanni brings a wealth of…
Sony’s next PlayStation could break free of the living room and I think it’s worth the risk
Component prices may be soaring, but Sony has more reasons than ever to take portable gaming seriously.
Sony PlayStation Handheld PS render image

Sony may have just dropped its biggest hint yet that a true PlayStation handheld is on the way. In a recently published Q&A with investors, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hideaki Nishino said the company's next-generation PlayStation strategy will deliver a seamless gaming experience that extends "beyond the living room." While he never explicitly mentioned a handheld, the comments have once again fueled speculation that Sony is preparing to return to the portable gaming space with the PS6 generation.

Sony finally said what everyone was thinking

Read more
Xbox Game Pass deals are reportedly drying up, and that’s bad news for indies
Logo, Green, Recycling Symbol

Ask most players why they subscribe to Xbox Game Pass, and they'll probably mention day-one Xbox exclusives. But developers have long viewed the service differently. For many indie studios, a Game Pass deal wasn't just extra exposure — it was financial security before launch.

Landing a Game Pass deal often meant guaranteed revenue before a game even launched, reducing the financial gamble of releasing an indie title into an increasingly crowded market. Now, that safety net may not be as dependable as it once was.

Read more
I just played Ghost of Tsushima on a phone. I never thought I’d see this day and I’m not regretting this misadventure
Running Ghost of Tsushima on the Red Magic 11S Pro almost feels wrong
Red Magic 11S Pro running Ghost of Tsushima

I have tested plenty of gaming phones, but nothing quite prepared me for watching Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut boot up on the Red Magic 11S Pro. This was not cloud gaming or something like Remote Play from a PlayStation sitting somewhere else in the house. I used GameHub, linked it with Steam, and after some trial and error, had the PC version of Ghost of Tsushima running on a phone--and it was far more playable than I expected.

And yes, it looked as ridiculous as it sounds. Seeing Jin Sakai on a phone screen with a GameHub overlay, virtual shoulder buttons, and a live FPS counter sitting on top made the whole setup seem a lot more viable.

Read more