Knowing how to start a fire in Tears of the Kingdom is something which will come in handy throughout your playthrough. A fire’s usefulness ranges from a handy quality of life feature to one that could potentially save your life. That’s why knowing about TotK’s fires is so important.

So if you’re exploring the Tears of the Kingdom map and need to take a break from endlessly parrying attacks from Tears of the Kingdom enemies, it might just be time to light yourself a Tears of the Kingdom fire and relax. Here’s how to do it.

How do you start a camp fire in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom?

To start a fire in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, you need to make sure you have some wood and a flint. To find wood, you can grab it from tree trunks… obviously. Flint can be found by breakable rocks and caves. Once you’ve got them, just follow these steps:

• Go into your inventory by pressing the START button on your Nintendo Switch
• Drop the flint and the wood on the floor together
• You then need to strike it with a metal weapon
• This will catch the flint, create a spark and a fire will start
• You can also use bomb arrows, torches and fire fruit arrows if you have them to light the fire. You can do this by pressing R on the Nintendo Switch controller, which causes Link to throw an item, but we would recommend saving your resources

Later on in your playthrough, you will come across elemental weapons, including fire weaponry. Having a fire weapon or fire arrows allows you to bypass the need for flint, as simply striking the wood on the ground with a fire weapon will light the fire. This makes it possible for you to light a fire almost anywhere, so keeping a fire weapon with you at all times is recommended.

While Link now has access to portable cooking pots, they break after one use. If you find yourself in the wilderness with no cooking pots and need to whip up a quick meal, that’s where campfires come in handy. They allow you to cook in Tears of the Kingdom. You won’t be able to cook anything fancy, but throwing uncooked foods such as meat, fish, or even fruit will cook them, making them heal more hearts as a result.

Another major benefit of campfires is that they allow you to pass time in Tears of the Kingdom quickly. If you’re waiting for a particular time of day, for example waiting for a shop to open, you can use a fire to pass time. Simply walk up to your fire and press A to bring up a menu asking you to choose between morning, noon, and night. Link will then rest at the campfire until the selected time. Doing this will also replenish Link’s hearts.

Finally, a fire can also be used as a last resort to warm you up in cold areas, such as the Hebra and Gerudo Mountains – essentially acting as cold resistance, Lightning a fire and standing next to it will keep you from taking any damage from the cold. You can also use this fire to light any wooden weapons you have, letting you take the fire with you to keep warm while you look for somewhere that isn’t as cold.

That’s everything you need to know about how to start a fire in Tears of the Kingdom. You probably won’t be using fires all the time, but with how versatile and easy to start they are, they’re sure to come in handy. If you want to do some actual cooking, check out our Tears of the Kingdom recipes list. And if you’re after a more simple means of healing, our Tears of the Kingdom how to heal guide has you covered.

Do you need a flint to start a fire in Tears of the Kingdom?

No, if you have bomb arrows, torches or other things that use fire then you don’t need a flint.

Do you need to make camp fires in Tears of the Kingdom?

Yes, they allow you to pass time quickly and allow you to cook.