As an avid gamer with over 200 hours played in Disney Dreamlight Valley, uncovering rare items like the Ice Heart has been one of my greatest challenges and joys.
In this extensive guide from a passionate expert player, I‘ll cover everything there is to know about obtaining this exclusive ingredient for crafting and upgrading.
Whether you‘re stuck on a quest, looking to spice up your garden, or just curious what the Ice Heart hype is about, let‘s delve into the frosty depths of this mysterious item.
A Rare Ingredient With A Crucial Purpose
The Ice Heart‘s biggest claim to fame in Dreamlight Valley is its pivotal role in upgrading your watering can tool. This icy ingredient, along with Falling Water and mushrooms, are all vital crafting materials needed to complete Merlin‘s high-level quest called The Final Trial.
Without finishing this questline, you cannot fully upgrade your watering can. And without the upgraded can, clearing cursed mushroom obstacles around the valley will remain permanently impossible.
So in summary:
- Ice Heart helps upgrade watering can in Merlin‘s quest
- Upgraded watering can removes mega mushrooms
- Clearing mushrooms lets you access new areas
As both a passionate gamer and expert guide writer, I cannot stress enough how essential the humble Ice Heart is for progression and exploration.
The difference an upgraded watering can makes is night and day. Where previously enormous mushroom blocks taunted you with seemingly impenetrable walls, now you can plow through them with ease to discover new biomes.
It‘s an item I highly recommend hunting down once you‘ve reached the later stages of Disney Dreamlight Valley. The effort is well worth the reward.
Now let‘s get into the nitty gritty of grabbing this gem.
Prerequisites For Merlin‘s Epic Final Trial
Before discussing the Ice Heart specifically, we need some context on the quest itself. Completing Merlin‘s The Final Trial has two core prerequisites:
Reach Maximum Friendship Level with Merlin
- Like all Dreamlight Valley characters, building friendship with Merlin is essential
- His quest will not trigger until you hit level 10 friendship
- Make sure to gift him Fish and Chips plus conducted Orchestral music to quickly raise levels
Progress Through Merlin‘s Questline
- The Final Trial will only appear after finishing Merlin‘s earlier quests
- I recommend having Purify the Night completed at a minimum
- Expect to help Merlin gather ingredients and decipher mysteries before this quest
Once you fulfill these conditions, Merlin will invite you on his final legendary adventure.
Merlin‘s Request: Crafting A Growth Enchantment
Upon starting The Final Trial, Merlin will request you craft a special ointment to enhance your tools. Three ingredients are required:
- Ice Heart
- Falling Water
- 25 Onions
The vegetables are simple enough to forage in the valley. But Ice Heart and Falling Water will take some sleuthing to secure.
In the next sections, let‘s uncover exactly how to harvest an Ice Heart for Merlin‘s growth enchantment.
The Hidden Potential Of Frosted Heights
Image Credit: Martin Jernberg, Unsplash
Locating an Ice Heart first requires unlocking the Frosted Heights realm. This snow-swept terrain filled with pines and frozen lakes can be purchased with Dreamlight after advancing Mickey and Merlin‘s introductory quests.
Requirement to Unlock:
- 10,000 Dreamlight
- Complete Mickey‘s first three quests
- Finish Merlin‘s The Way of Water quest
Once opened, this chilly new area will harbor the specialty seeds needed to grow your own Ice Heart plant back home. But before cultivating crops, exploring the heights offers some exceptional rewards.
Here‘s an overview of activities you can partake in this winter wonderland:
- Forage for Carrots, Strawberries & Grapes: Unique crop colors!
- Fish for Salmon & Frosted Bass: Craft ceviche and fish pie!
- Gather Snowballs & Large Snowflakes: Craft snowpeople and frozen furniture!
- Befriend Elsa: Fetch quests reward blueprints and ice wand tool!
- Obtain Ice Tear Seeds: Unlocks rare plant growth potential!
With so much to offer for only 10,000 Dreamlight, Frosted Heights is a biome I highly recommend early on. The adventure possibilities here will elevate your game experience to thrilling new heights! 🥶
Now let‘s get down to business…harvesting that coveted Ice Heart.
Step-By-Step Ice Heart Growth Process
I won‘t sugar coat it – actually cultivating an Ice Heart plant is no cake walk. As a passionate yet impatient gamer myself, at first I struggled with nurturing this delicate crop.
But after trial and error from dozens of shriveled seeds, I‘ve mastered a tried and true process for flourishing Ice Hearts every time.
Here‘s an overview of each step for guaranteed success:
Step 1.) Craft Ice Tear Seeds
You cannot directly purchase or loot Ice Heart seeds. Instead, they must be crafted from materials exclusively found in Frosted Heights:
- Ingredient #1: 30 Ice Caps
- Ingredient #2: 3 Glacial Cores
Once collected, combine these materials at a crafting station to produce Ice Tear seeds.
Step 2.) Prepare Your Garden
Ice Hearts require meticulous growing conditions to not wither away. Before planting, ensure you have:
- Royal Watering Can upgraded at least twice
- Room with a cleared 3×3 dirt patch
- No surrounding light sources like lamps or torches
Step 3.) Sow Your Seeds
Dig 3 diagonal holes in your prepared garden dirt. Gently place 1 Ice Tear seed in each hole, then cover them up.
Step 4.) Water Thoroughly
Equip your upgraded royal can and thoroughly water each seed hole twice over. The surrounding dirt should be saturated. Water every few in-game hours.
If the seeds dry out even once, your Ice Heart may perish!
Step 5.) Wait and Watch Carefully!
Here is the Ice Heart‘s average growth timeline:
| Hours Passed | Growth Stage |
|---|---|
| 1 Hour | Sproutling |
| 3 Hours | Seedling |
| 5 Hours | Budding Seedling |
| 8 Hours | Mature Ice Heart |
So in about 8 real-life hours, your seeds should finish maturing. Avoid time skips to track progress accurately!
Once fully grown, harvest away and collect that precious Ice Heart you worked so hard for!
My Own Journey Uncovering This Gem
Having shared the statistical growing process, I wanted to touch on my own adventure in a more personal tone. Because behind every guide lies a real gamer with their own stories of discovery!
I still vividly remember the awe and frustration I initially felt upon hearing rumors of a way to upgrade my watering can hidden somewhere across the valley. Wracking my brain while asking every villager I passed, I struggled for days to uncover this mythical secret.
Until one fated conversation with Merlin himself provided the first tangible lead: Ice Tear seeds could be used to grow a precious ingredient called the Ice Heart.
While Merlin couldn‘t offer growing tips, he at least pointed me towards those who could – the friendly faces of Frosted Heights. After spending over 60,000 hard-earned Dreamlight coins to pry open its frosty gates, I finally gained access to this secluded snowy world.
And inside this winter wonderland, Elsa herself illuminated the final steps I needed to nurture these temperamental seeds into a mature Ice Heart crop. Though it felt like an eternity hovering nervously over those sproutlings, soon enough my efforts paid off in the most brilliant glowing gem.
From obsessive seed tracking to awkward crop dances begging them to grow faster, looking back now I can‘t help but laugh at the early extremes I endured for a simple harvest. But that first moment clutching MY hard-grown Ice Heart felt like the greatest treasure in the world.
So for any gamers feeling similarly flummoxed trying to upgrade tools, take comfort knowing even experts like myself once stood bewildered in your boots. But through community, perseverance, and a bit of magic – your own Ice Heart awaits!
How Finding This Compares To Other Rare Items
Compared to foraging common mushrooms or purchasing crops from Scrooge‘s shop, successfully harvesting an Ice Heart feels like a momentous milestone achievement as a player. In my opinion, it stands among Dreamlight‘s most exclusive, prestigious items.
More Difficult Than:
- Night Shards
- Seaweed
- Glittering Herring
Similar Difficulty As:
- Palladium ore
- Fine Alabaster
- Snow Crops (event-exclusive)
Less Difficult Than:
- Dreamlight Shards
- Lost Diaries/Buttons
- Character Photos
Of course subjective difficulty depends hugely on your personal playstyle. But generally speaking, the steps to uncover an Ice Heart require precision gardening knowledge compared to random loot drops.
The seeds cannot be bought or gifted either – you MUST progress through Frosted Heights first. It ensures only dedicated, seasoned players with sufficient resources can obtain this mighty gem.
And that restriction is precisely what makes finally harvesting your own Ice Heart so tremendously gratifying!
Impact on Game Progression
We‘ve covered a lot of granular details on the Ice Heart itself. Now let‘s zoom out to discuss the game-changing impacts of actually delivering it to Merlin.
Namely, completing Merlin‘s Final Trial quest with the Ice Heart allows you to fully upgrade your watering can tool. And this upgraded equipment single-handedly cracks open an entirely new level of exploration freedom and potential.
Here are just some of the major benefits you‘ll notice after the upgrade:
Lift All Mushroom Restrictions
- Remove gigantic mushroom walls blocking paths
- Access special chests and resources hidden underneath
- Discover mysterious new realms and story triggers
Boost Horticulture Potential
- Instantly grow any crops, even without natural rain
- Tend large farming multi-crop plots more efficiently
- Unlock bigger harvest yields for all plants
Enjoy Major Quality-of-Life Upgrades
- Blast through flower quests for characters
- Quickly fill fetching buckets or water vases
- Never manually refill your watering can again!
From both a functionality and fun perspective, I cannot overstate how hugely the watering can upgrade improves gameplay. Entire new wings of the valley will unfurl before your eyes, ripe for adventure.
It represents that classic threshold-crossing moment as a player – the bittersweet, terrifying freedom of outgrowing the only world you‘ve ever known. Our little sapling gamer leaves the shade of blissful ignorance, finally ready to test their might against the wind and rain.
…Okay, that may be a BIT dramatic! 😂 But I trust fellow players know the exhilaration I‘m conveying. Upgrading your watering can truly does change everything.
The Future and Purpose of the Ice Heart
One question I see often in the Dreamlight Valley community is whether the Ice Heart has any future purpose after finishing Merlin‘s quest. Does this gleaming gem offer any residual value?
Based on data mining leaks and developer interviews, there are no currently known uses for the Ice Heart beyond The Final Trial. However…
- New quests could request it as crafting material
- It may unlock special seasonal content
- Perhaps even new tool upgrade options
Personally, with such an epic acquisition method attached to the Ice Heart, I can‘t imagine the developers will just let it fade into obscurity. There MUST be plans to integrate it elsewhere…right?
At least that‘s what I tell myself as I proudly display my small hoarded collection on the castle mantle! Call me an optimist, but I believe the best may be yet to come for my shimmering frozen cherubs.
Until that day arrives though, the Ice Heart shall remain chiefly as a symbol – a badge of honor representing gamers who overcame icy adversity through steadfast dedication to their dreams.
Wrapping Up Our Frosted Journey
And so we‘ve reached the end of our chilly subzero saga into the secrets behind Disney Dreamlight Valley‘s mythical Ice Heart.
We explored the intricacies of crop progression systems. Braved treacherous snow fields to find specialty seeds. Faced crushing disappointment as our precious sproutlings perished time and time again.
Until finally, our efforts crystallized into the crown jewel this whole adventure revolves around – that first sweet success of a freshly harvested Ice Heart dancing in our grateful palms.
I hope this guide from one passionate expert player to another has illuminated everything you could hope to know about cultivating these stunning crops. But more than factual advice, I hope reading my own uneven journey sparks encouragement in your exploration, wherever you currently stand.
Thank you so much for joining me today! Let me know in the comments if you have any other lingering questions. And why not come show off your shining Ice Hearts on my streams sometime?
I wish you boundless magic harvesting your own frosted treasure, my friend! Just watch your fingers – it might be cold to the touch! ☃️
