Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom: How To Increase Battery, Upgrade Energy Cells

Energy Cells are a brand new resource in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. These 'batteries' are used whenever you need to power Zonai devices to solve puzzles, and they regenerate over time.

Link will start off with one Energy Cell that contains three charges. This is good for short bursts of Zonai device usage, but you'll find in later sections of the game you'll struggle to make it very far on just three cells.

Here's how to increase battery power and upgrade your Energy Cells to make using Zonai devices that much more viable.

Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom: How To Upgrade Energy Cells

What are Energy Cells?

As mentioned above, Energy Cells power up Zonai devices whenever you need to use them in an Ultrahand build or for simple puzzle solving. They're basically batteries for these ancient devices lying around the world ever since The Upheaval.

You'll be given your first Energy Cell during the game's tutorial on the Great Sky Island after completing the second Shrine, the In-isa Shrine. You'll get to test it out soon enough on a raft with two fans.

Energy Cells can't run out permanently, nor can you lose them. If you run out of power while using a Zonai device, your cells will recharge at a pretty decent rate. You can also stop a Zonai device at any time by hitting it or moving far away enough from it.

Energy Cells are not used within Shrines, so no need to worry about coming up against an impossible puzzle because you don't have enough batteries. We don't need an in-game reminder of how poor we are at having AAs to hand in real life.

Where do I upgrade my Energy Cells?

Energy Cells can be upgraded at the Crystal Refinery on the Great Sky Island or just north of Lookout Landing.

For the one on the Great Sky Island, talk to the sleeping construct near Nachoyah Shrine, which is above the Room of Awakening, where you first started the game.

Don't worry, this isn't a Shrine that you'll have to hunt down — you have to go there as part of the main story after getting the Recall ability, which is the last ability you pick up on the island.

The Lookout Landing refinery is literally just outside of town. You'll pass it on the way to Hyrule Castle the first time, when you're looking for Captain Hoz.

How do I upgrade my Energy Cells?

There are two ways you can increase your Energy Cells — one, which is permanent, can be done by giving the Construct on the Great Sky Island 100 Crystallized Charges. And for every 100 you give it, it'll give you one extra charge in return. Remember, three charges make up one Energy Cell.

You can also temporarily increase (or restore) your Cells while you're using Zonai devices — by consuming Zonai Charges. These are dropped by Construct enemies and can be found across Hyrule in chests or by examining inactive Constructs. One Zonai Charge increases or restores your Cells by one bar, while Large Zonai Charge gives you an 'Energy Boost', which makes your Cell's power decrease much slower for a limited amount of time.

Where to get Crystallized Charges

You can't rely on Zonai Charges forever, and those items come in handy when you want to buy Zonai devices. So you'll want to look at upgrading your Cells when you can. That means you'll need to find Crystallized Charges. These can be hard to come by in the early game, but there are a number of ways you can get them, so it's a good idea to keep hold of them until you have enough to upgrade.

The best way to get Crystallized Charges is to explore the Depths, the underground area beneath Hyrule and the Surface. Many Gloom-infected bosses and enemies can drop these — they can drop Charges that amount to 20 a pop. Even better, some of the game's hardest underground bosses guard chests that contain 100 Crystallized Charges.

You'll come across many of these, including places where you can buy Crystallized Charges, as you explore the underground as part of Josha's request to explore the Depths.

Speaking of buying charges, you can get Crystallized Charges is by spending Zonaite and Large Zonaite at any of the Forge Constructs across the world. You'll find one of these on the Great Sky Island as you go through the Mining Cave. You can get Zonaite from the Depths or from destroying mineral rocks near Zonaite ruins. Other Forge Constructs can be found in the Depths.

That's how to increase your Energy Cells in Tears of the Kingdom. Now you can create whatever elaborate flying vehicle you want without worrying about crashing. For more tips and tricks, make sure you check out our full Tears of the Kingdom walkthrough.