The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has a glitch that allows players to duplicate items, materials, weapons, swords, and shields – at least until Nintendo inevitably fixes the bug. Exploiting that glitch allows players to earn infinite rupees, effectively destroying the game’s economy and undermining much of the fun of playing Tears of the Kingdom as the makers intended.
But if you are desperate for materials or money Tears of the Kingdom, the duplication glitch is simple and seemingly relatively safe to perform. All you need is a bow, arrows and some patience – and I hope Nintendo won’t penalize you for exploiting them at some point.
How to duplicate materials in Tears of the Kingdom
1. You need a bow, melee weapon and shield.
2. Tap the ZR button to switch Link to his bow, but don’t aim or cam an arrow.
3. Press up on the D-pad to fuse the material you want to duplicate onto an arrow.
4. Press the plus button to pause, go to the “Bows and Arrows” tab and drop your equipped bow.
5. While the pause menu is still open, equip another bow.
6. Press the plus button twice (very quickly) to exit and reopen the pause menu.
7. You should see the melted material on the bow and arrow you used.
8. Drop the currently equipped bow and exit the pause menu.
9. Both bows (each with fused material) must be on the ground.
This glitch can be useful for duplicating rare or expensive materials, such as diamonds, which can be sold for 500 rupees each.
The same duplication glitch is explained in the video below, which also describes how to duplicate weapons, shields, and bows. (This is a slightly more complicated process, as every time you want to duplicate something, it requires saving and reloading the game.)
How to duplicate weapons and shields in Tears of the Kingdom
1. Open the pause menu with the plus button.
2. Equip the weapon, shield, or bow you want to duplicate.
3. Open the System menu and create a manual save.
4. From the inventory screen, drop the item you want to duplicate.
5. Select another item of the same type and equip it (if duplicating a melee weapon, select another melee weapon).
6. Press the plus button twice (very quickly) to exit and reopen the pause menu.
7. Drop the equipped weapon.
8. Go to the System menu and reload the manual save.
9. The duplicated weapon must be on the ground.
As with the bow and arrow duplicating materials error, the hardest thing to pinpoint is the timing of closing and reopening the pause menu. Players looking to duplicate melee weapons, shields, and bows may want to practice their timing using the duplicating materials bug before trying the method that exploits game saves.
For a more legit way to make money The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomread Polygon’s guide on which items and materials to sell to earn the most rupees.