Korok Seeds Guide

Korok Seeds are hidden collectibles found by solving small environmental puzzles across Hyrule. They're traded to Hestu for inventory slot upgrades — the only way to carry more weapons, bows, and shields.

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Why Korok Seeds Matter

You start the game with limited inventory space:

• 8 weapon slots
• 5 bow slots
• 4 shield slots

Trading Korok Seeds to Hestu increases these limits. Maximum inventory:

• 20 weapon slots (+12 upgrades)
• 14 bow slots (+9 upgrades)
• 20 shield slots (+16 upgrades)

Total possible upgrades: 45 (each costs increasing numbers of Korok Seeds) Total Korok Seeds in TotK: 1,000

You only need about 200–300 seeds to max out inventory. 1,000 is for 100% completion and getting Hestu's Gift (a reward that is famously useless but comedic).

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How Many Seeds Each Upgrade Costs

The cost increases with each upgrade within a slot type:

| Upgrade Number | Seeds Required | |----------------|---------------| | 1st upgrade | 1 seed | | 2nd upgrade | 2 seeds | | 3rd upgrade | 3 seeds | | 4th upgrade | 5 seeds | | 5th upgrade | 8 seeds | | 6th upgrade | 12 seeds | | 7th upgrade | 17 seeds | | 8th+ upgrade | 20 seeds each |

Early priority: Get 4–5 weapon slots, 3–4 bow slots, and 3 shield slots in the first 30 seeds. These early upgrades are cheap and dramatically improve your combat options.

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Where to Find Hestu

Hestu is the large Korok who accepts seeds and performs his famous dance to upgrade your inventory. He moves locations as the game progresses.

Location 1 — Lindor's Brow (Hyrule Ridge) Hestu's first location is near Lindor's Brow Skyview Tower, west of Lookout Landing. He's dancing on the road northwest of the tower. He'll give you a few free upgrades here before telling you he's moving toward Korok Forest.

Location 2 — Lookout Landing (Central Hyrule) After meeting him at Lindor's Brow, Hestu temporarily appears at Lookout Landing (the main base camp) in the central courtyard. Convenient early-game upgrade location.

Location 3 — Korok Forest (Great Hyrule Forest) Hestu's permanent home is Korok Forest, hidden in the Lost Woods within the Great Hyrule Forest north of Hyrule Castle.

How to reach Korok Forest: Korok Forest is inside the Minshi Woods / Lost Woods area north of Hyrule Castle. In TotK, you can reach it via the Depths — find the Minshi Woods Chasm (northwest of Hyrule Castle) and descend. Navigate through the Depths to the area below the forest and use Ascend through the ceiling to emerge in Korok Forest above.

Alternatively, find the entrance through the forests north of the castle — follow the glowing fireflies and don't stray off the path.

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Korok Puzzle Types

There are dozens of Korok puzzle types. Here are the most common:

1. Rock Circles / Pinwheels

Look for a ring of rocks on the ground with an obvious gap, or a pinwheel spinning in the wind. Stand in the marked spot or place a rock in the missing position.

2. Race to the Fairy Lights

A fairy ring or flower appears, then a second ring appears some distance away. Sprint or glide to the second ring before it disappears. Look for the rushing golden gust to know which direction to go.

3. Rock Throwing

Stand at a rock formation and throw rocks into a marked target (usually a circle of water or a bullseye pattern on the ground).

4. Matching Patterns

Two nearby formations (rock piles, trees, flowers) don't match. Use Ultrahand to move objects from one arrangement to match the other.

5. Balloon Popping

See a yellow balloon floating in the air? Shoot it with an arrow to get the Korok. Sometimes multiple balloons appear in sequence.

6. Block Puzzles (Metal Cubes)

Metal blocks arranged in a pattern need to be rearranged to match a shape above. Use Ultrahand to move the blocks into position.

7. Hidden Under Rocks

Lift rocks with Ultrahand in suspiciously empty clearings. Some Koroks hide under plain rocks.

8. Jumping Korok (Two-Korok Puzzles)

A Korok with a backpack is far from another Korok who is waiting. You need to carry the backpack Korok (using Ultrahand to lift and attach to something you can ride) to the waiting Korok. These are unique in that they reward two seeds for one challenge.

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Efficient Korok Seed Farming Tips

Use the Korok Sensor. After completing the Camera quest (via Robbie's research lab at Lookout Landing), unlock Sensor+. You can then tune the sensor to detect Koroks. It pings when you're near an undiscovered Korok. This is the most efficient way to sweep areas.

Work region by region. Don't try to find all 1,000. Pick a region, sweep it thoroughly, then move on. The Akkala region, for example, has dense Korok concentrations on its cliffs.

Climb every hill. Koroks love to hide on top of flat rocks, at the end of dead-end paths, and at the top of trees. If you see an isolated rock on a hilltop, investigate.

Look for anomalies. Korok locations are always slightly "off" — a ring of mushrooms with one missing, a lone log in a field, a pattern on the ground that seems unnatural. Train your eye to spot these environmental inconsistencies.

The Depths equivalent: Koroks also appear in the Depths! Look for pairs — one Korok is at a surface location, the other is directly below in the Depths. Reuniting them gives two seeds.

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Priority Upgrades — What to Get First

First 15 seeds (1+2+3+5+8 seeds for weapons, 1+2+3 for bows, 1+2+3 for shields):

• 3 extra weapon slots (1+2+3 seeds = 6 seeds)
• 3 extra bow slots (1+2+3 seeds = 6 seeds)
• 1 extra shield slot (1 seed) = 13 seeds total for +3 weapon, +3 bow, +1 shield

This gives you significantly more flexibility in combat and drops a major early bottleneck.

Next 50 seeds: Continue expanding weapons to 14 slots and bows to 8 slots. The early upgrades are cheap — this is the best investment period.

After 100 seeds: You'll have comfortable inventory for all content. Additional upgrades are nice-to-have but not critical.

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Hestu's Gift — The 100% Reward

Trading all 1,000 Korok Seeds gives you Hestu's Gift — a trophy item described as "a gift made of love." It has no combat or gameplay function. It smells terrible. It's purely a trophy for 100% completion.

The 1,000th Korok seed task is widely acknowledged as one of the most time-consuming completionist tasks in any Zelda game. Most players stop well before that.

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See also: Koroks Directory | Depths Survival Guide | Getting Started Guide