How to shield surf in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Shield surfing is an important form of traversal in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Like it Tears of the Kingdom‘s predecessor, Breath of the Wild, you can hop on your shield and ride it over slopes and mountains like a board – without burn precious stamina.
In Tears of the KingdomWith the new Fuse ability, shield surfing is much more complex, especially thanks to the new one Merge skill. Our guide breaks down how to shield the surf in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomand gives some general tips on how to best use this feature with the new tools at your disposal.
How to shield surfing in Tears of the Kingdom
You can shield surf on any shield you pick up – once the Great Sky Island. However, shield surfing can be a bit more difficult until you get the paraglider shortly after reaching Hyrule itself.
The short version: you can shield surfing Hold ZL to pull out your shield, jump, then press A while still in the air.
Again, this can be difficult to achieve if you don’t have the paraglider or at least jump off a slanted ramp. However you do it, shield surfing can be a great way to travel in Tears of the Kingdom.
Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon
As mentioned earlier, Fuse only improves on this feature. By connecting Zonai devices you can cover a lot of ground with shield surfing. Try adding an attachment rocket ship to your shield. This is a lot faster than regular running, and looks pretty interesting to boot. However, missiles eat through your energy cell, meaning you can only use this trick for about five to ten seconds before it breaks when attached to your shield.
If you’re looking for some verticality with your shield, Fuse a bomb to your shield. These can be found all over Hyrule once you leave the Great Sky Island, especially where Bokoblins are. What’s nice about this is that if you have a bomb run when you summon shield surfing, it will give you a little boost through an explosion. This is great for getting a little verticality to shield the surf, or even help scale bits of terrain.
However, keep in mind that shield surfing will degrade your shieldso don’t do it on a shield you actually want to save for boss fights or other important encounters.