The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Guide: How to Shield Surf

The Legend of Zelda series has never been one to avoid going a bit “radical”. We had snowboarding in Twilight Princess, various other extreme racing challenges in other games, and now we have shield surfing in Breath of the Wild. The feature was shown off a lot before the game came out, but surprisingly there isn’t an immediate tutorial on how to pull the maneuver off, instead relying on players to stumble across an NPC in the wild. We’ll be that NPC for you though with our guide on how to shield surf in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

The move is actually pretty easy to pull off, but first a few caveats. You need a decently sized shield to do it, something that Link can jump on and ride. It is also important to note that doing this across rough terrain will deplete your shield’s durability. Stick to hillsides and grassy areas, unless you have a junk shield that’s ready to be broken.

So, how do you shield surf in Breath of the Wild? Easy, just pull up your shield with the ZL button, hold it down then press the jump button and quickly press A. Doing this, you should hop right onto the shield and begin surfing. Of course, you’ll want to move forward quickly when you do it first, and try to be on a sloped surface. On flat areas you will propel forward a bit, but you’ll lose all momentum pretty quickly.

Using the shield surf maneuver in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild you can escape from enemies, cross terrain quickly, or just look really cool. I’ve also found it useful for when I need to cross large gaps, such as the mud traps you’ll find in some areas. It just gets you a bit further out than if you simply jumped across the area.

That’s it for how to shield surf in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.