In the beautiful world of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, a thrilling maneuver known as the Shield Slide awaits brave adventurers. This daring technique allows players to gracefully glide across the land while using their trusty shield.
With a blend of courage and finesse, Shield Sliding becomes an art that can help you swiftly navigate the breathtaking landscapes of the game. This guide will teach you how to Shield Slide in Tears of the Kingdom. Let’s delve into the simple yet exhilarating steps required to master this skill and add excitement to your heroic journey across Hyrule’s lands, skies, and depths!
Shield Slide
Shield Sliding, better known as Shield Surfing, is back in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom! Link rides his shield down hills and inclines like a makeshift skateboard. Link gains momentum and slides effortlessly along the landscape when performing this action. Mastering this technique necessitates exact timing and careful control. As a result, the player’s experiences throughout Hyrule provide an extra dimension of challenge and satisfaction.
Shield Sliding also enables Link to deal damage in addition to traversing lands. Link can do minor damage by performing surfing tricks or shooting arrows while sliding.
The Surface
To Shield Slide properly, the player must know the surface’s slope. Link will accelerate downhill due to gravity and forward momentum and decelerate due to flat surfaces.
Low-friction landscapes enable Link to accelerate faster, whereas high-friction environments cause Link to stutter or stop completely. The less friction there is, the faster Link can Shield Slide on it. As a result, the various terrains across Hyrule can be categorized into three types:
- High friction – rocky and metal surfaces
- Medium friction – dirt/soil and grass surfaces
- Low friction – sand and snow surfaces
Another thing to note is that rain decreases friction on the Shield significantly.
Apart from the surface, the type of Shield Link used to Shield Slide influences friction during surfing. Shields have varying degrees of friction.
Durability
Given the surfaces described above, a Shield to slide on high-friction surfaces, such as stony roads, may quickly drain the Shield’s Durability. If excessively used, this will lead to the Shield being broken. Shield sliding in medium friction surfaces, such as dirt roads or grass, does not harm the Shield nearly as much.
Shield Sliding on sand and snow causes no damage to the Shield. Shield Sliding in the Rain reduces damage to the Shield and increases speed. Furthermore, utilizing Shields during Sand Seal Surfing does not reduce Shield durability.
Shield damage can also result from the Shield’s impact while surfing and the terrain. When Link begins the surf when he jumps while Shield Sliding, or when the surface leads Link to catch air and land, his Shield receives damage. These normally deal 1 point of damage per jump. Small hops and blows do not damage the shield. Furthermore, the shield’s damage stays the same despite the jump’s height.
The amount of time spent sliding reduces the durability of a Shield. This is separate from surface friction. While surfing, most of the shields in the game take 0.25 damage every second.
Suppose Link’s Shield’s durability runs out while Shield is Sliding; he will trip and fall. If this happens while Link is on a steep slope, he will continue to fall and take damage.
How to Shield Slide
Link must perform the following to Shield Slide:
- To begin, equip the Shield you want to use for Shield Surfing. Hold the left directional button while selecting a Shield with the right stick. After selecting, release the left directional button to equip it. Alternatively, hit the + button to enter the materials menu and the L or R buttons to access the Shields tab. Choose the Shield you want to use and press “Equip” when prompted.
- Then, to raise and ready the selected Shield, hold the ZL button.
- Following that, while holding the Shield, press the X button to jump. Press the A button quickly in mid-air to flip and begin Shield Sliding!
Press the Y button to spin or the X button and slide the left stick to execute stunts while Shield Sliding.
If Link gains some air time while Shield Sliding, the player can use the Paraglider by pressing the X button. During this, Link will remain on top of the Shield, and when he lands, he will continue Shield Sliding.
New in Tears of the Kingdom
Tears of the Kingdom featured numerous new game mechanics. A few of these newly introduced mechanics have an impact on Shield Sliding as well. The following are some examples:
Fused Shields
Using the Fuse ability, Link may now fuse various things to his Shields, Swords, and Arrows. Fusing things into Link’s shields increases the shield’s durability. As a result, Link cannot surf utilizing Shields fused with bulky objects. Link cannot Shield Slide if the object does not flatten the Shield when surfing.
In addition to that, there are a few objects that can be fused to Shields to aid with Shield Slide. Mine Carts, Zonai Carts, and Zonai Sleds are among them. When Shield Surfing, Shields fused with Zonai Carts and Mine Carts act like skateboards. A Shield fused with a Zonai Sled works best on snow or sand surfaces.
Icy Meat is another wonderful yet unusual item to fuse to Shields for surfing. Because of the slippery nature of the Icy Meat, Shield Sliding is simpler on any ground. Furthermore, the ice does not melt. Therefore, it will continue to function until its durability is exhausted.
One item has an alternate outcome when fused with a Shield, and Link utilizes it to Shield Slide. This is the Zonai Spring. Link is thrown high into the air when Link attempts to Shield Slide using a Shield fused with a Zonai Spring. The player can achieve the same result by fusing an exploding item on a Shield and attempting to Shield Surf.
Rail Grinding
Link will come across a few rails that connect different regions across Hyrule, notably up in the Sky Islands. To traverse these railings, there are usually resources nearby that Link can use to construct contraptions for the railings. Link may also get on top of the railings and Shield Slide on them. This leads to Link sliding on top of the railing. Link is going to ride and grind atop the rail. During this time, Link will be able to do a few tricks.
Gloom Terrain
Link will find many locations filled with red and black slime called Gloom all across Hyrule, especially in the Depths. Link will receive damage and lose hearts if he comes into contact with Gloom for an extended period. Link can Shield Slide on top of the Gloom if the player truly intends to get through these Gloom-filled places. Link will be able to cross the Gloom-filled area without receiving any harm from doing so.
Conclusion
Shield Sliding adds a thrilling element to Tears of the Kingdom’s spectacular gameplay. As Link slides down slopes and traverses difficult surfaces, mastering this cool-looking skill provides players with a new sensation of speed. This skill proves useful and important for Link, whether traversing Hyrule’s beautiful landscapes or pursuing adventurous battle plans.
By employing precise timing and excellent control, players may unleash their full capabilities, revealing secret mysteries, visiting remote areas, and adding a thrilling new level of thrill to their epic journey.
So grab your shield, embrace the journey, and plunge yourself into the heart-pounding realm of Tears of the Kingdom. Shield Sliding is evidence of this wonderful game’s nearly unlimited possibilities.
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