Money Making Guide — Best Rupee Farming in TotK

Rupees are scarce in early TotK but become abundant once you know the right farming loops. This guide ranks every money-making method by rupees-per-minute and tells you exactly what to sell, what to keep, and where to farm.

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Quick Reference: Rupees Per Minute

| Method | Rupees/Min | Difficulty | Requirements | |--------|-----------|------------|--------------| | Rare Ore Deposit farming (Eldin) | ~400/min | Medium | Rock Hammer, Bomb Flower arrows | | Gourmet Meat Skewers (Hebra) | ~350/min | Easy | Bow, 5 arrows per cycle | | Dragon Part farming | ~300/min | Medium | Bow, patience for dragon spawn | | Talus farming circuit | ~250/min | Medium | Weapon with blunt fuse (rock) | | Luminous Stone deposits (Depths) | ~200/min | Easy | Hammer, Brightbloom Seeds | | Blupee hunting | ~150/min | Easy | Bow near cave entrances | | Snow bowling minigame | ~100/min | Easy | 20 rupees per attempt |

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Method 1: Rare Ore Deposits (Best Consistent Income)

Location: Eldin Canyon, Death Mountain slopes, and Goron City surroundings

Rare ore deposits (glowing blue/purple rocks) drop diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and topazes. A single diamond sells for 500 rupees.

Farming route:

1. Fast travel to Goron City or the Eldin Canyon Skyview Tower
2. Head to the mining caves east of Goron City — 4-5 rare ore deposits per cave
3. Break deposits with a Rock Hammer or any weapon fused with a rock/boulder
4. Collect gems, fast travel to a vendor, sell
5. Blood Moon resets all deposits — revisit after each Blood Moon

Expected drops per deposit:

• Flint (common, 5 rupees — don't sell, useful for cooking fires)
• Amber (10 rupees)
• Opal (30 rupees)
• Ruby (110 rupees)
• Sapphire (150 rupees)
• Topaz (80 rupees)
• Diamond (500 rupees — rare, ~10% chance)

Pro tip: Bomb Flower arrows break multiple deposits at once if they're clustered. One arrow can break 3 deposits simultaneously in tight cave passages.

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Method 2: Gourmet Meat Skewers (Best Early-Game Method)

Location: Hebra snowfields, Tabantha Tundra, North Hebra

Large animals (moose, bears, wolves, rhinos) in cold regions drop Raw Gourmet Meat and Raw Prime Meat. Cook 5x Raw Gourmet Meat into a Meat Skewer and it sells for 490 rupees.

Farming route:

1. Fast travel to Snowfield Stable or any Hebra Skyview Tower
2. Hunt moose and bears in the snowfields — each drops 2-3 Gourmet Meat
3. Cook in batches of 5 at any cooking pot
4. Sell to Beedle at any stable or to vendors in Rito Village

Cooking combinations: | Recipe | Sell Price | |--------|-----------| | 5x Raw Gourmet Meat | 490 rupees | | 5x Raw Prime Meat | 210 rupees | | 5x Raw Meat | 60 rupees |

Why this works early: You don't need special gear — just a bow and arrows. Snowquill Armor (buyable in Rito Village for 2,100 rupees total) handles the cold. The animals are easy to sneak up on with a crouched approach.

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Method 3: Dragon Part Farming

Each of the 4 dragons (Dinraal, Naydra, Farosh, Light Dragon) drops parts worth significant rupees. Dragon parts also have cooking value, so selling them raw is the money-focused approach.

Dragon part values: | Part | Sell Price | How to Get | |------|-----------|------------| | Scale | 150 rupees | Hit body with arrow | | Claw | 250 rupees | Hit leg/foot with arrow | | Fang Shard | 350 rupees | Hit mouth/face with arrow | | Horn Shard | 300 rupees | Hit horn with arrow |

Best dragon for farming: Farosh (electric dragon) — its flight path passes close to the ground near Lakeside Stable in Faron, making intercept easy. Stand on the bridge, wait for Farosh to pass underneath, shoot from above.

Cooldown: You can only collect one part per dragon per real-time day. Sitting at a campfire to pass time works — wait until the next morning, then intercept again.

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Method 4: Talus Farming Circuit

Stone Talus, Igneo Talus, Frost Talus, and Luminous Talus all drop gems on defeat. A full circuit of 5-6 Talus takes ~15 minutes and yields 1,000-3,000 rupees in gems.

Best Talus circuit (Central-North loop):

1. Stone Talus near Hyrule Field (fast travel: Lookout Landing)
2. Luminous Talus at Lanayru Road (fast travel: Lanayru Skyview Tower) — drops Luminous Stones worth 70 each
3. Igneo Talus near Eldin Bridge (fast travel: Foothill Stable)
4. Frost Talus in Tabantha Snowfield (fast travel: Snowfield Stable)
5. Stone Talus at Akkala Citadel (fast travel: East Akkala Stable)

Combat tip: Fuse a boulder or rock to a heavy weapon. Climb the Talus, smash its ore deposit on top. 3-4 heavy hits defeats most Talus variants.

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Method 5: Luminous Stone Deposits (Depths)

The Depths are loaded with Luminous Stone deposits — glowing green-blue rocks that drop Luminous Stones (sell: 70 rupees each). A single Depths exploration run yields 20-40 Luminous Stones.

Best areas:

• Around any Lightroot — deposits cluster near activated Lightroots
• The Great Abandoned Central Mine has dense deposit clusters
• Any Depths area near Zonaite deposits also has Luminous Stones nearby

Don't sell all of them: 10 Luminous Stones can be traded to the Bargainer Statue for a Diamond (500 rupees). Only do this if you have excess — Luminous Stones are also useful for Radiant Armor upgrades.

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Method 6: Blupee Hunting

Blupees are glowing blue rabbit-spirits found near cave entrances at night. Hit one with an arrow and it drops rupees (green, blue, red, and occasionally purple). Each Blupee drops 50-200 rupees worth.

Where to find Blupees:

• Outside any cave entrance between 9 PM and 5 AM
• Satori Mountain — when the Lord of the Mountain appears (glowing blue peak visible from Central Hyrule), a herd of Blupees spawns at the summit. Hit multiple Blupees for 500+ rupees in one visit.
• Near the Great Fairy Fountains

Lord of the Mountain bonus: If you see Satori Mountain glowing at night, drop everything and go there. The Blupee herd at the summit is the single highest-density rupee drop in the game.

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What to Sell vs. What to Keep

Always Sell

• Amber — 10 rupees, no meaningful crafting use
• Opal — 30 rupees, only used for Zora Armor upgrades (keep 15, sell rest)
• Excess gems — once you have 10 of each type for armor upgrades, sell the rest
• Star Fragments — 200 rupees each, and their only crafting use is rare armor upgrades (keep 5, sell excess)
• Cooked dishes you won't eat — especially failed experiments

Never Sell

• Diamonds — wait, actually DO sell these. 500 rupees each and their only use is Brilliant Diamond Circlet crafting (costs 3). Keep 3, sell the rest.
• Dragon parts — only sell if you have 3+ of each type. They're more valuable in cooking (30-minute buff duration boost).
• Ancient Blades — extremely rare, save for Pristine weapons and the Demon King fight.
• Zonai Charges/Large Zonai Charges — essential for Zonai device capsules, never sell.
• Bubbul Gems — trade to Kilton/Koltin for unique rewards, never sell for rupees.

Sell Strategically

• Raw Gourmet Meat — sell cooked (490 per 5-stack) not raw (35 each raw = 175 per 5)
• Hearty items — Hearty Durian, Hearty Bass, etc. are worth more cooked than raw
• Bug/lizard materials — sell excess, but keep 10 of each for elixir brewing

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Tips

• Cook before selling — almost every food item sells for more when cooked. The multiplier is 2-5x for most ingredients.
• Blood Moon resets all ore deposits and Talus — plan your farming runs around Blood Moon timing (every 2 hours 48 minutes of real-time play).
• Beedle buys everything at standard prices and is at every stable — never need to travel far to sell.
• The Gerudo Town jewelry shop pays premium for specific gems used in their accessories.
• Don't sell Zonaite — it's only obtainable in the Depths and is needed for Energy Cell upgrades and Autobuild.

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Part of the Beginners Guide series — Tears of the Kingdom walkthroughs on Hyrule Archive.