The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildit is simple cooking it was one of the most wonderfully useful parts of the game when it came to recovering hearts or stamina wheels, and it’s no surprise to see the mechanic return Tears of the Kingdom. But while cooking has always been important in Nintendo’s current version of Hyrule, Tears of the KingdomThe new Portable Pot changes things technologically in such significant ways that it’s fair to call it one of the most powerful tools Link has ever had in his arsenal.
Although it took place shortly after breath of the wild – a story that refers to Link, but No requiredto obtain a series of abilities, powers and pieces of armor that make it stronger: Tears of the Kingdom it takes you back to the starting point and leaves Link quite vulnerable. As the game begins, it isn’t long before Link finds himself in a “new” (but apparently aged, threadbare) robe and a pair of strappy sandals that look great but offer him little defensive protection against mechanicals. Zonai creatures that he encounters in the sky, many of which are ready to attack on sight.
Eventually, tougher armor with adequate defense and specialized protections against elemental damage introduces itself organically as you progress. Tears of the KingdomThere are many dungeons. Long before that happens, however, Tears of the Kingdom first introduces you to the humble portable pot, one of the simplest, most straightforward, and most plentiful Zonai gadgets you can get from one of the many Zonai gadget dispensers dotted around Hyrule.
Unlike many other Zonai devices that can do multiple things, the Portable Pot is only good for one thing and can only be used to cook individual meals. But the fact that you can take dozens of portable pots with you wherever you go and reliably use them to cook whatever you have the ingredients for whenever you want makes it one of Tears of the KingdomLink’s most powerful tools come from how food and elixirs affect him.
Like in breath of the wild, consuming the correct types of dishes or monster potions will grant Link a variety of different benefits, such as extra hearts, speed, and more offensive strength or defensive durability. But unlike in breath of the wild, where you could only really prepare full meals in fixed places where there just happened to be a lighted cooking surface, Tears of the KingdomPortable pots travel with you, allowing you to prepare some emergency supplies on the go. This is especially useful when you find yourself in a dungeon a few floors down or in the middle of a boss battle and find yourself in need of extra stamina or strength in a pinch you didn’t see coming.
Because this way of cooking has been part of Zelda from breath of the wild, it can be hard at first to realize how invaluable portable pots are. But as you play, you can see how the stoves are meant to serve a similar function to Link’s new Fusion ability. Use of fuse in Tears of the Kingdom it lets you combine weapons, shields, and other consumables to make them more powerful versions of themselves, and the mechanics encourage you to get in the habit of collecting resources on the fly. Fuse Always With You has a way of making you hyper-aware of all the potential uses things like rocks, rockets, or keese eyeballs have, and encourages you to keep them handy just in case.
In breath of the wild, you could always cook things ahead of time and save them for when you needed them most, but that style of play required a bit of planning ahead and remembering which ingredients made which meals. However, with the portable pot and Link’s new cookbook, all you really need to worry about is keeping your pocket pantry (or wherever he keeps all his stuff) stocked enough so that if and when you want to make something you want, you can, as long as you have a wide space to work without being attacked to death.
Having a collection of breakable stoves isn’t as immediately impressive as having brilliant telekinesis or the power to magically rewind localized time, which is probably why Nintendo hasn’t spent as much time promoting portable pots. But anyone who has taken a Moblin hit to the back of the head while wearing one of Link’s thinner outfits knows how quickly Tears of the Kingdom it will show you the end of the game and tell you to start over.
The long-term fashion solution, of course, is to simply find one of the Great Fairies of Hyrule and pay her to make your favorite outfit as strong as possible. But until you’ve played enough to know where the Great Fairies are (and have enough money on hand to pay for their services), the portable pot is one of your best bets for staying alive and formidable enough to find Princess Zelda. .
