How to shield surf in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom builds upon many of the design decisions and features from the previous game, with shield surfing being one of the best examples.

While it still functions mostly the same in this game, giving you a way of quickly traveling downhill, this time around Link can use his new abilities to aid in the traversal. So, check out our rundown on shield surfing in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

How do you shield surf?

To use the Tears of the Kingdom shield surf feature, you will need to equip a shield and press the following combination of buttons:

• Hold the ZL button to get your equipped shield.
• Press the X button to jump.
• In mid-air, press A and Link will jump on the shield. 

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Shield surfing in Tears of the Kingdom uses a simulated physics system based on real life, so you'll only be able to surf effectively if you have momentum, meaning you can only surf down hills, slopes, mountains, rails, and other environments that are sloping downwards. 

Like in the previous game, surfing on a shield will wear it down, causing it to break after too many uses. It's worth keeping this in mind, as if the shield breaks when you are surfing, you will continue to rag doll downwards - which can kill Link. 

Shield surf Fuse combinations

As we mentioned previously, the Tears of the Kingdom shield surfing feature has been expanded upon this time around, letting you use the Fuse ability with your shield to make some unique surfing equipment. 

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It's worth noting that when fusing some items with a shield, it will make the shield unable to be used for surfing. This is mostly the case for weapons or items that wouldn't naturally be surfable. 

Here are the Zonai devices you can combine with a shield for enhanced surfing:

• Cart
• Sledge
• Minecart
• Rocket
• Time Bomb
• Spring

You can experiment with other items you find to see if they can also be used for surfing, but the above list consists of the items we've tried so far. 

Make sure you learn how to upgrade Energy Cells in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, so you can use the Zonai devices listed above for longer.