Link sports a new-looking Sheikah Slate in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and it comes with a new set of abilities that you can use to craft weapons, ride rocks into the sky, and even build vehicles.
Below, we list out the abilities we can confirm from the various trailers, along with what they do.
Recall (rewinding time)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24542706/image.png)
As Nintendo showed in a March 28, 2023, gameplay demonstration, Link uses the Recall ability on a rock that fell off a sky island, making it shoot back into the sky like an elevator. Link can stand on the rock as it goes back up into the sky, using it as a vantage point to jump off of and glide to a sky island.
It does appear that we’re rewinding time a bit, making the rock retrace its steps. We’re not sure what the limits of Recall are. Can we Recall enemies? Trees that we just knocked down? While there are tons of possibilities, it’s hard to say what’s possible without knowing what else we can Recall.
Fuse (combining weapons)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24542513/TotK_AonumaVideo_13_png_jpgcopy.jpg)
Using the Fuse ability, you can combine weapons, shields, and arrows with inanimate objects to create a specialized weapon. These weapons appear to be studier, and some of them have unique abilities.
From the gameplay demonstration, we saw the following:
- A stick and a rock that made a hammer-like tool
- A long stick and a pitchfork to make a long pitchfork
- A stick and a log to make a large baton-like weapon
- An arrow and white chuchu jelly to make a frost arrow
- An arrow and a keese eyeball to make a homing arrow
- A shield and a puffshroom to create a shield that doubles as a smoke bomb
- A shield and a rock to make a… rock shield? (We didn’t see this one in action.)
That said, there are likely hundreds of combinations in the game to try out, and fusing together new weapons will be an important part of the game.
Ultrahand (building structures)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24542459/TotK_AonumaVideo_35.png)
The Ultrahand ability is different from the Fuse ability: Rather than combining things together, you’re kind of glueing them together. By sticking objects together in specific ways, you can create vehicles, whether it’s a boat, car, or plane. Using Ultrahand will certainly help you travel around Hyrule.
Ascend (float through ceilings)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24542708/image__2_.png)
Using Ascend, you no longer need to climb every mountain you see, waiting your precious stamina. Instead, you can aim at the ceiling of a cave and swim straight through it to get to the top of the mountain. While you likely won’t be able to do this for every mountain, it’ll still be a helpful tool that’ll save you time and stamina.
More information about abilities is sure to come, so we’ll update this guide as we learn more about The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.