One Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom players have discovered a new method of traversal that uses a glitch that allows them to shield surf through the air indefinitely. Ditching the previous Sheikah Slate ability, Tears of the Kingdom gives players more creative freedom with new abilities like Ultrahand and Fuse. These abilities are a huge hit for players who continue to create unique solutions to overcome challenges and showcase some impressive vehicle creations.
Weapon durability has always been a bone of contention among players, as items break down the more they are used. While it doesn’t quite solve the problem, Zelda players can use the Fuse to combine two items, such as combining a sword and a stone to make a hammer. Weapons often gain bonus attack damage, while also inheriting new stats. However, a creative player found another use for Fuse, using it to bypass Hyrule in a new way.
The glitch in question comes from SmallAnt, who posted a short video on Twitter to demonstrate the new technology. After equipping the unique Hylian Shield and fusing Zonai rockets to Link’s currently equipped weapon, SmallAnt runs forward and jumps to start a traditional shield surfing. However, with glitch entanglement, the fusion weapon rocket fires during the animation, canceling the shield surf but increasing the jump height. This process does use a small amount of battery power, but it can be used continuously to propel the Link forward.
SmallAnt went on to refer to the move as a “pocket rocket,” confirming that it applies to all versions of Tears of the Kingdom. As such, the glitch appears to have appeared initially in the release build, and so far Nintendo has either not been aware of the glitch’s existence, or it hasn’t been dealt with in an upcoming patch. For now, fans can continue to skysurf, but be aware that it may suddenly disappear in a future update.
This potential future shouldn’t be too surprising, since even though Zelda is a single-player, offline experience, Nintendo has been quick to deal with glitches and exploits it felt were detrimental to the developer’s original vision. Cases and points are replication glitches that people used in earlier versions of Tears of the Kingdom. While holding an object in the air, players could easily press two buttons simultaneously to spawn more of that object, which Nintendo quickly removed in an update. While additional replication failures still exist, they are no longer so easy to resolve.
The Legend of Zelda : Tear of Kingdom is available on Nintendo Switch.