TotK Zonaite Farming: Depths Deposits, Frox and Large Zonaite

Zonaite is the most common ore in the Depths of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Its description reads: “An unusual mineral that has many purposes. Ancients extracted energy from it and refined it for the crafting of weapons and armor.” It has three uses: trading for crystallized charges to upgrade your battery, filling in missing parts for Autobuild, and armor upgrades. This page covers where to get the most and how to mine it efficiently.

Where does zonaite come from?

Rates and counts are from the game’s drop tables and placement data. All three Frox also drop parts such as Frox Fangs and Frox Fingernails; only ore is listed here.

Soldier, Captain and Flux Constructs are Zonai machines, but they drop no zonaite: they drop Zonai Charges (the device kind) and their horns. Don’t farm Constructs for ore.

Why is Large Zonaite worth chasing?

At the Forge Construct in each abandoned mine, 3 Zonaite buy 1 Crystallized Charge, and 3 Large Zonaite buy 1 Large Crystallized Charge, which counts as 20 charges. In charges:

On average, from the drop table, one zonaite deposit gives about 2.7 Zonaite and 0.3 Large Zonaite, roughly 3 charges in all, two thirds of it from the Large Zonaite. An Energy Cell costs 100 charges, so about 35 deposits. A single Frox drops 20–40 charges’ worth from its guaranteed Large Crystallized Charges alone, as much as 7–14 deposits.

All 40 Frox and how to fight them: Frox locations. Little Frox are weak; hit them when you pass.

Where is the fastest place to mine?

Pick the densest spots you can warp straight to. These are the Lightroots with the most zonaite deposits within 250 m, from the placement data (the median Lightroot has 13):

1. Warp to one of these Lightroots. You can only warp to a Lightroot you have touched; see Lightroots.
2. Mine a loop around it. Deposits glow, so they are easy to spot in the dark; break them with a blunt weapon or a bomb.
3. Take on Frox along the way. Their charges are worth far more than the ore.
4. Trade at the nearest mine. Of the Lightroots above, Nogukoyk Lightroot is the closest to the Great Abandoned Central Mine and its Forge Construct (show on map), about 410 m away. The nearest Lightroot of all to that Forge Construct is Koradat Lightroot, about 340 m. Every mine is on abandoned mines.

Forge Constructs have limited stock and need time to restock; all 10 mines and their stock are on the battery upgrades page.

How do you farm Zonai Charges for devices?

Zonai Charges and Crystallized Charges have similar names but different jobs. Zonai Charges go into Device Dispensers for capsules, or you use one from the menu to refill a little of your Energy Cell. Crystallized Charges only make Energy Wells, the upgrades that make the battery bigger.

The quickest ways to stock up on Zonai Charges:

1. Beat Flux Constructs. Each one drops 6–10 Zonai Charges, and a Flux Construct III also has a 60% chance of 2–3 Large Zonai Charges. There are 35, on sky islands and in the Depths: Flux Construct locations.
2. Trade ore at a Forge Construct. 2 Zonaite buy a Zonai Charge and 1 Large Zonaite buys a Large Zonai Charge. Choose what you need: one Large Zonaite becomes one Large Zonai Charge, worth 10 capsules, or a third of a Large Crystallized Charge, about 6.7 of the 100 charges an Energy Well costs.
3. Beat Soldier and Captain Constructs. Each drops its horn and at least one Zonai Charge; Soldier Construct IV and Captain Construct III and IV can also drop a Large Zonai Charge. The game places 326 of them outside shrines: Constructs.
4. Open chests. The placement data has Zonai Charges in 14 chests and Large Zonai Charges in 32: Zonai Charge and Large Zonai Charge.

Save them up and put them in five at a time. Five Zonai Charges at once give 12 capsules instead of 5, and five Large Zonai Charges give 60. A dispenser also takes Soldier Construct Horns. The full table, and which devices each dispenser gives, are on Zonai devices.

If you want devices to run longer rather than to have more of them, that is the Energy Cell, and it only grows with Crystallized Charges: 100 per Energy Well, up to 48 wells. Costs and refinery locations: battery upgrades.

How much zonaite should you keep for armor?

Per-piece amounts: Zonaite, Large Zonaite and armor upgrade materials. Zonaite sells for only 3 rupees and Large Zonaite for 6, so selling is a waste; keep the rest for Autobuild.

See also

Getting started in the Depths: Depths guide. Gems on the surface: gem farming. Picking up Poes while you mine: Poe farming.

Where to trade it, mine by mine: abandoned mines and Forge Constructs.