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How to upgrade horses in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

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A horses stats being registered at a stable.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The world of Hyrule is at its most expansive yet in The Legend of Zelda: Tears if the Kingdom. Not only is the entire map of Hyrule from Breath of the Wild back, with plenty of changes but there are also the sky islands and an entire underground zone on top of (and below) that. With that much ground to cover, Link is once again going to be relying on trusty steeds to get around. Sure, you could build a mechanical device, but those could never replace a friendly horse, especially once you've upgraded it. To help you train the best horse possible in Tears of the Kingdom, check out our full breakdown on how to upgrade horses.

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Difficulty

Moderate

Duration

15 minutes

What You Need

  • Find Malanya

  • Have a horse

  • An Endura Carrot

How to upgrade horses

Once you've found and tamed a horse, you will notice that it has a number of attributes, namely: Strength, Speed, Stamina, and Pull. A horse will come with a set number of stars in each category, but not all of them will be filled in. To raise that horse's stats to the maximum, you will need to find a way to upgrade those stats.

Step 1: The only way to upgrade your horse's stats is to visit Malanya, the Horse God.

A map showing the location of Malanya.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Step 2: Malanya is no longer in the same location he was in Breath of the Wild, and now resides in northern Akkala to the north of Bloodleaf Lake as shown on the map.

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Step 3: When you find Malanya, you will need to offer up an Endura Carrot to get him to come out of his cocoon.

Step 4: Speak to Malanya and you will be given the option to upgrade your horses.

Upgrading a horses stats with Malanya.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Upgrading your horses isn't free. Each stat that you can improve will cost a different assortment of materials, or more specifically food items. Here's what you need to upgrade each stat depending on what level you're raising it to:

Strength:

1-3 stars:

  • 1x Fried Wild Greens

4-5 stars:

  • 3x Vegetable Curry

  • 3x Hot Buttered Apple

  • 3x Carrot Cake

Speed:

1-2 stars:

  • 1x Salt-Grilled Green

2-3 stars:

  • 3x Glazed Veggies

  • 3x Steamed Tomatoes

4-5 stars: - 3x Veggie Omelet

  • 3x Veggie Cream Soup

  • 3x Apple Pie

Stamina:

1-3 stars:

  • 3x Honeyed Apple

  • 3x 3 Veggie Porrige

4-5 stars:

  • 3x Vegetable Risotto

  • 3x Carrot Stew

  • 3x Cream of Vegetable Soup

Pull:

1-2 stars:

  • 1x Veggie Rice Balls

2-3 stars:

  • 2x Veggie Rice Balls

4-5 stars:

  • 3x Copious Fried Wild Greens

  • 3x Veggie Porridge

In addition to upgrading your horses, Malanya offers another very important equestrian service. If your horse should ever meet a terrible fate, they can revive them so long as you previously registered them at a stable.

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Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox has been a writer at Digital Trends for over four years and has no plans of stopping. He covers all things…
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