What is the Blood Moon in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom?

The Blood Moon that terrified everyone in Breath of the Wild a returns in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. It can be incredibly intimidating if it’s your first time seeing one. All that hard work, slaying Bokoblins, and for what?

As it happens, despite the scary music and ominous vibes, the Blood Moon is actually a net benefit. This page covers what the Blood Moon is, and how you can make the most of Hyrule’s recurring event.

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How does the Blood Moon work in Tears of the Kingdom?

The Blood Moon is an event that triggers every 168 minutes of gameplay, and acts as a reset button for many of the things in Hyrule, respawning weapons, shields, monsters, and loot points. When it triggers, you will be presented with a cutscene explaining what’s going on.

The specificity of 168 minutes may seem strange, but that’s how long it takes for a week to go by, uninterrupted, in Hyrule!

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

This reset button is extremely useful — especially if you want to farm a particular item, like Zoanite (for extra battery cells), bomb flowers (for all your explosive needs), or sub-bosses like the Stone Talus, Flux Construct, Gleeok, or — for the phenomenally brave — the King Gleeok (for rare monster parts).

Note that treasure chests you open will not be magically refilled, but weapons you find on the ground will be. If you find an item that you like as part of the terrain, pin it on your map to collect a new one in a week’s time!

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Can you trigger a Blood Moon in Tears of the Kingdom?

If you want to trigger a Blood Moon, simply play the game — after 168 minutes of play, you’ll see another Blood Moon.

So, the obvious question becomes whether you can force a Blood Moon. While you may be tempted to sleep for the better part of a week to trigger it, the game knows what you’re doing and will make you wait it out.

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What is Blood Moon cooking?

You could easily play the entire game, start to finish, without realizing the Blood Moon cooking mechanic exists, but it is a nifty one that is well worth knowing about.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

It’s always wise to keep an eye on the in-game clock because different monsters come out at different times of day (hint: or at night). If it’s the night of the Blood Moon, you will see the big, red astral body creep its way up the sky, which is a great hint to stop what you’re doing.

Head to your nearest cooking pot (stables each have one, along with a variety of other places, or you could place a Zonai pot) and get ready to start cooking. Once the clock hits 23:30, a short animation begins playing and the creepy music starts — this is your cue, maestro. If you do it before the music changes, you won’t get the bonus. Here’s what five cooked apples grants when cooked before 23:30:

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

And here’s after:

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

Anything you cook for the following 30 in-game minutes will have a guaranteed critical success, improving the bonuses of whatever you cook. For items that have dual bonuses — like when you cook with mighty bananas — which bonus you get is seemingly random, at roughly 50%.

Unfortunately, you obviously won’t get these visual cues if you’re in a cave or otherwise can’t see the sky. If this is the case, listen for the change in music and the telltale vapor trails.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

As long as you’re not otherwise engaged (usually in battle), you can drop a Zonai Pot from your devices section of your item bag to cook yourself a meal. These pots are only good for one use, but it’s better than nothing and, let’s be honest, when else are you going to use them!

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What’s the story behind the Blood Moon?

[Ed. note: The following section covers spoilers for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.]

Tears of Kingdom explains the origins of the Blood Moon in one of the flashbacks you’ll when tracking down Dragon Tears. “Birth of the Demon King (Memory 10; Tear of the Dragon #8)” can be found at the Geoglyph in the North Tabantha Snowfield.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

Watching this, you’ll see Ganondorf steal a Zonai Secret Stone and use it to transform himself from a mere mortal into the Demon King that plagues the entire Legend of Zelda timeline.

As part of his metamorphosis, he raises the Blood Moon, inflicting this foul plague upon the land of Hyrule. Little did he know, however, that 10,000 years later we would be using this to farm Stone Talus Hearts and Flame Gleeok Crowns. More fool him…

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• Source: https://www.polygon.com/zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-guide/23732914/blood-moon-length-cooking