Should I Increase Stamina Or Heart Container?

In Zelda games, both Stamina and Hearts are crucial to navigate the hostile world packed with dangers in every corner. While playing Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom, you will collect Lights of Blessing that will then lead you to the question – should I increase stamina or heart container? The answer depends on personal preference but here’s something to help you decide.

Heart Container or Stamina Vessel?

To get your answer for Hearts vs Stamina, make a decision based on this factor – if you’re planning on taking on tougher enemies or surviving for longer if you come across a surprise foe, go for the Heart. And if you are preparing to go across the map, you require the Stamina vessel.

Source: Nintendo

While the Heart Container will give Link room for errors during combat, Stamina will help you with going from one point to another without worrying about dying midway (but with careful planning).

Initially, you will start with only a few hearts and can be a one-hit target for enemies. Apart from collecting resources and cooking food to gain that extra boost of health, having an extra heart might just help your survival. This is not to say that the game becomes less challenging – it’s just that you have an extra window of opportunity to either run away or fight back.

BOTW vs TOTK

Source: Nintendo

In Breath of the Wild, you will need to have Hearts to get the Master Sword but in TOTK, you need two Stamina Wheels to unlock the Master Sword.

To get one full extra Stamina Wheel, you’d want 5 Stamina Vessels from a Goddess statue (a total of 20 Shrines to complete).

In Tears of the Kingdom, there’s an added danger of Gloom for which you will need Heart Containers. That’s because when you come across Gloom, it will drain your hearts at an astonishing speed. To regain your health in such a scenario, you must eat food that has the Sundelions ingredient, or you can visit a Lightroot located in The Depths. While they have multiple purposes, Lightroots can help you fix the hearts that have been damaged by Gloom.

Apart from that, you will even need Hearts to survive in cold environments along with consuming food and using armor to stay alive longer.

Source: Nintendo

Moreover, with the Skyview towers, traversal gets easier. With DIY devices that you fuse together, you may not use Stamina as much as you would in BOTW.

Can you change from Heart to Stamina Vessel?

Source: Nintendo

You can respec heart containers and stamina vessels with the help of a Horned statue which is present in BOTW as well as TOTK.

BOTW

In Breath of the Wild, the Horned Statue can be located along the path to Firly Pond in Hateno Village. Talk to Teebo to know where exactly the statue is located and you’ll be able to respec your upgrades.

TOTK

In Tears of the Kingdom, complete the quest called “Who Goes There?” in the Emergency Shelter in Lookout Landing. Once done, you can interact with a Horned Statue inside a cave. This statue basically allows you to switch between Hearts to Stamina or Stamina to Hearts by shelling out some money.

The statue will ask you to sell either type of essence for 100 Rupees. If you want to buy an essence back, the price rises to 120 Rupees. This is a side adventure called “A Deal with the Statue” which you will then complete. Check it out in action here:

What is our recommendation?

If you are new to Zelda games or gaming in general, I recommend you go for Hearts first. Once you have at least 8 hearts, you can go for the Stamina upgrades.

If you are a veteran, then we suggest you go for Stamina because it will keep the game challenging but you can explore a bit more and have the means to escape if things go out of hand.

Hopefully, that helps you choose between Heart Containers or Stamina in your Zelda game! If you also want to keep up with the latest updates in the world of gaming, head over to our dedicated news section on Gaming Inbox.