In BotW, stamina bc nothing can really kill you early game, but there are some steep places you’ll wanna get

In TotK, hearts bc with the slight overworld adjustments, you can get pretty much everywhere with 1 wheel now and even basic mobs can one hit you at the start

Hearts first. I think you only need 8-10 of them though before you go full stream ahead on stamina until it’s full

Hearts until I have 6, then one extra stamina wheel, then 4 more hearts, then the rest of stamina, then the rest of hearts.
By the time I got to 10 hearts, I could start upgrading armor and cooking full-heals, and I wasn’t taking many hits, so stamina was more important.

On totk I boosted stamina first. I just got annoyed with how far I couldn’t get with the glider in the sky. Turns out it was useful for spoiler reasons!

Hearts until 8 or so to keep me from being too squishy. Finished second ring of stamina, then hearts from there. I very rarely run out of stamina compared to BOTW because of all the new ways of getting around.

I went for stamina because of a huge emphasis on exploration. I found botw to be a bit frustrating because I was limited by my stamina so I forgone my health to complete a stamina wheel. I’m working on health since 2 wheels seems enough before cooking.

Also it forces me to find alternative strategies for combat such as stealth, weapon building, and cooking. Honestly, with the time saved in exploration but spent in preparing for combat, I’d say it balances out.

Stamina all the way until full, both games. I hate failing to get somewhere due to lack of stamina and food to compensate.

However, since I hit max stamina, I never actually need it all in totk, so if there’s a master mode down the line making me replay the whole game, I’ll probably stop at 2 wheels then hearts to stop getting one shot earlier.

Hearts take priority

Over the course of my playthroughs, I usually upgrade stamina about once per two hearts - though I’ve gotten good enough at the game at this point that I could probably do one-to-one instead.

I like stamina first but I keep dying

When I first started, I figured that getting better armor and beating dungeons would get me heart containers so I opted for getting a full second stamina wheel first. After I did that, I picked up heart containers until I was at 12 hearts (two dungeon ones and the rest from shrines) before I went for the third stamina wheel. I think it worked out pretty well.

I get a second stamina wheel so I can traverse the map, then go all out hearts.

Haven’t beat the game yet but stamina all the way! This is less of a problem in totk but in botw it feels like you need full stamina to be able to properly explore anywhere. Even in totk being able to climb up basically anything because of the max stamina is very nice.

First couple times, hearts. Then all in on stamina until I got a second wheel. Then back to hearts.

I did like a… 3 stamina to 1 heart ratio or something? Tried not to rush hearts so the game wouldn’t become a cake walk. In BotW I think I only added 3 hearts before maxing stamina all the way but there’s a lot harder content early on in TotK for me (it’s either boss variety or possibly because I’m expanding out way quicker because I know the map). So for TotK it was a ratio. I’m at max stamina now but I have like 8-9 hearts I think.