Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom: How To Upgrade Armour

The Great Fairies' return in Tears of the Kingdom means that Link can once again use their powers to help upgrade and improve his armour.

This incredibly useful function is a little bit hidden away, but to get the full potential out of it, you'll need to save up plenty of materials and complete several Side Adventures.

Here's how to upgrade armour, what upgrading your armour does, and how many times can you upgrade your armour in TOTK.

Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom: How To Upgrade Armour

How to upgrade armour

To upgrade your armour in Tears of the Kingdom, you first need to unlock one of the Great Fairies.

That means you need to get started on the Potential Princess Sightings! quest, which starts at the Lucky Clover Gazette just outside of Rito Village. After that, you will also need to head to Woodland Stable and complete Serenade to a Great Fairy to unlock the Great Fairy Tera.

Once you have unlocked Tera, speak to her and she will allow you to upgrade your armour. All of the armour in your menu that can be upgraded will be highlighted, along with the cost in rupees and the materials you need to improve it.

All you need to do is select the piece you want to upgrade, and the Fairy will do her magic and improve your armour. Lovely.

What does upgrading my armour do?

Not only will upgrading your armour increase your armour's defence but if you upgrade a whole "set" (i.e., the Zora Armour Set) twice, then it will gain a bonus if you wear all three pieces of that armour.

The Miner's Armour Set, when upgraded to level three, gives you Glowing Steps, which leaves behind a trail of glowing footsteps. Check out our All Armour guide for more details on the complete sets.

What do I need to upgrade my armour?

As mentioned above, you'll need Rupees and materials to upgrade your armour.

Armour upgrades start at just 10 Rupees, but the final upgrade will cost a whopping 500 Rupees. Plus with each upgrade, you will need to have more materials and, often, rarer materials. If you're struggling to bring in the cash, check out our How To Get Rupees guide.

The final upgrade for the Miner's Armour set also requires diamonds. If you need tips on how to get more of this precious stone, have a look at our How To Get Diamonds guide.

How many times can I upgrade my armour?

You can upgrade your armour four times, but this depends on how many Great Fairy Fountains you've unlocked.

If you've unlocked Tera, for example, you can only upgrade your armour once. But if you unlock Mija next, then you'll be able to upgrade your armour twice. You can check our Great Fairy Fountain Location guide to find out where all of the Fairies are.

That means, to fully upgrade your armour, you'll need to unlock all of the Great Fairies. That means you need to complete the below Side Adventures. You can do these in any order, but you must have completed Serenade to a Great Fairy first before any of the other 'Serenade' quests are available.

We have guides on all of these, so just click the link below to find out what you need to do:

• The Hornist's Dramatic Escape
• Serenade to Mija
• Honey, Bee Mine
• Serenade to Cotera
• The Flute Player's Plan
• Serenade to Kaysa

With better armour and bonuses, you'll be able to survive anything Hyrule — and the Demon King — throws at you. For more help on your adventure, check out our Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom walkthrough for more maps, tips, and hints.