Normally, it’s impossible to get maximum hearts and stamina at the same time in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. There just aren’t enough shrines or blessings to make that possible, meaning you’ll have to choose one or the other.
But now there is a solution. A speedrunner called bacopn has found a way to get maximum hearts and stamina without much extra work. And unfortunately, it only works on the Switch 2 version due to some Zelda Notes shenanigans.
Why?
Because it exploits a bug in Ganondorf’s heart destroying attacks and the Horned Statue to get you past the usual limit, and that’s only doable with a special Autobuild QR code fans have made for the game.
However, if you’re willing to go ahead with that, here’s how to do it. Here’s how to finally max out your hearts and stamina.
Prerequisites
Before you do though, you’ll need the following:
- 1 Ganondorf QR code
- Access to the Horned Statue in the Royal Passage (easiest with 1 temple completed, but doable from the start)
- At least 5 hearts
- At least 3-4 fairies
- Autobuild
- Zelda Notes
- The Switch 2 version of the game
Doing the Glitch
With all that done, here’s a video showing the whole process in action:
(Credit for 3D models goes to Zelda Wiki… always use that site, not the Fandom one)
And here’s the full set of instructions if you prefer it in text form:
First, go to the Horned Statue in the Royal Passage underneath Lookout Landing. Trade in all but 5 hearts.
First, trade in all but 5 hearts, as shown here
Here’s the end result, with Link having only 5 hearts left
Now, leave Lookout Landing, and summon Demon King Ganondorf via the relevant QR code. Go far enough away from the area that he starts attacking you.
Use a special Autobuild QR code to summon Demon King Ganondorf, like this
And stay far enough away from him in particular that he uses his bow instead of his normal melee attacks. These shots will destroy one heart per hit if you get caught by them, and that’s the key to this trick.
So, get hit once, then go back to Lookout Landing. Trade in your 4th heart.
Let Ganon destroy your 5th heart, like this…
Then trade in your 4th heart, like this
Return to Ganon, and get killed by him. The fairy will revive you with 5 hearts.
Die to Ganon to revive with 5 hearts, like this
Go back to the statue again, and trade in those two extras.
Link trades in the two extra hearts he was revived with
Before returning to Ganon, and getting killed again. You’ll need one fairy per death, so you’ll need to enough in your inventory to get the extra hearts needed here. So, if you need 10 more hearts, you’ll need to die 5 more times, and hence have at least have 5 fairies to avoid a game over.
Regardless, once you’ve got at least 37 essences stored in the statue, retrieve them and convert them into hearts. You’ll now have 40 hearts, without losing any stamina in the process. Enjoy having 40 hearts and 3 stamina wheels at the same time!
Once you’ve got enough essences to max out your health bar, ask for the hearts back
Then once you’re done, you’ll have maximum hearts and stamina at the same time, like this!
So Why Does It Work?
Still, that’s the glitch. Why does it work exactly?
Well, it all has to do with how fairies deal with Ganondorf’s Gloom attacks. You see, usually, the game revives you with 5 hearts if Ganon has reduced you to less than that number before finishing you off. This makes the final battle a tad easier to survive than it’d otherwise be, and prevents players from getting into a near unwinnable situation if they’re incredibly bad at dodging Ganon’s attacks.
And usually, that’s not a big issue for the game. You can’t save during the final battle, nor can you leave the area. As a result, any drop in your maximum health is a side effect of the Gloom, and something the game can safely fix.
But it obviously didn’t take the Horned Statue into account because you couldn’t ever get there. So, it didn’t realise that you could lose hearts that way, and that it didn’t have to restore you to 5 hearts if you traded in hearts for money.
So by trading in the extras and losing to Ganon with just 3 hearts, the game gives you 2 more every time a fairy brings you back from the dead. You can just keep depositing those in the statue to build up your total, and max out your health bar from there.
It’s a lot like Apparatus Storage in Breath of the Wild to be honest. Just a simple way to convert hearts you’re not meant to have into essences.
Still, that’s how you can now max out your hearts and stamina in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Just store all but 5 of your hearts in the Horned Statue, then utilise Ganondorf and fairies to get 2 freebies every time you die. It’s not the quickest process in the world, but it breaks the game wide open nonetheless, and requires very little skill or timing to use to boot.
Give it a try if you’re a completionist!
FAQ
Who found this glitch?
bacopn did on the Tears of the Kingdom Speedrunning server.
Are there any downsides to having max hearts and stamina at the same time?
No. The only possible downside would be that you can’t withdraw any extra essences from the Horned Statue, nor upgrade either stat if you have any Lights of Blessing left over.
Can you get more than 40 hearts this way?
No, the game caps your health bar at 40 hearts. Neither Goddess Statues nor the Horned Statue will give you extra heart containers at that point.
Can you get extra stamina this way?
Sure, just convert the extra hearts to stamina. Ganondorf’s attacks don’t damage your stamina wheel after all.
Why is this so slow?
Storing and retrieving essences via the Horned Statue are not fast processes. You’ll likely be there for 10-20 minutes on end if you want to max your health bar.
Can I use this to get free hearts earlier in the game?
Yes. Heck, in theory, you could get 37 more hearts and 3 stamina wheels worth of stamina upgrades this way if you were patient enough. It’d theoretically be possible to max out your hearts and stamina before encountering a single sage or starting a single major quest.
But that would take a very long time. Given you need at least 5 hearts for this trick, and you need 47 essences to fully upgrade your hearts and stamina…
That means you’d need to die to Ganondorf at least 23 times if you want to max out both stats with this trick. That’s a lot of fairies and backtracking!
Where can I get these QR codes?
See here:
