Gems, also known as Ores, are materials in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom that players can obtain from Ore Deposits, Taluses, and other sources. As fans start to amass these materials, they may become curious about how best to use them. More specifically, players may wonder if they should be saving or selling their Gems in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and this guide is here to shine some light on this matter.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Should You Sell or Save Gems?
In general, it is recommended that players sell Gems in order to cover any purchases that need to be made immediately and then save the rest for future use. Indeed, while fans need not be too precious with their Gems in TotK, and should feel free to exchange them for Rupees when necessary, they do play an important role in the mid- and late-game. Specifically, Gems are used to upgrade a variety of armor pieces, and it is thus wise to hold onto them when it is possible to do so.
Players can get extra Rupees by selling stacks of Gems to Ramella in Tears of the Kingdom, and they should see what she is buying before offloading their Ores.
In particular, players should try to save their Amber, Flint, Luminous Stone, Opal, and Zonaite, as those are the Ores that are needed in the largest quantities. Indeed, players will ultimately need hundreds of those Gems if they hope to fully upgrade every armor set in TotK, and they should try to plan accordingly. To assist with that planning, here are the total number of Gems required to perform all upgrades:
-
Amber
: 665
-
Diamond
: 27
-
Flint
: 277
-
Luminous Stone
: 450
-
Opal
: 376
-
Ruby
: 136
-
Sapphire
: 121
-
Topaz
: 121
-
Zonaite
: 135
-
Large Zonaite
: 180
To note, the upgrading of "novelty" armor sets is included in these counts. For the uninitiated, those sets do not provide any special effects but are instead desirable due to the cosmetic transformation that they bestow upon Link. As examples, there are novelty sets that give Link his outfits from Ocarina of Time and Skyward Sword, and players that do not care about those aesthetic-focused armor pieces will not need to obtain Gems at the quantities that are indicated above.
One final thing to mention is that Gems are not only for the acquisition of Rupees and the upgrading of armor, as they can also be fused with weapons to various effect. While players can certainly experiment with this application for Ores, it is recommended that they find ways to power up their weapons in TotK without using these valuable materials.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available for Nintendo Switch.