If you aren't using Tears of the Kingdom's icy meat shield surfing technique, you aren't living

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom icy shield surfing
(Image credit: Nintendo)

We've known shield-surfing is without a doubt the coolest traversal method in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom since Breath of the Wild, but there's a new way to make it even cooler with the sequel's Fuse ability.

My only complaint about shield-surfing in Tears of the Kingdom is the gravelly noise it makes - like nails on a chalkboard at times. Thankfully, it's now been discovered that if you attach icy meat to your shield, as a normal adventurer does, you'll remove that hard surface friction and glide down landscapes as smoothly as a surfboard crests a wave. The best part is the deep brain-scratching sound this makes. I could loop this in an ASMR video and fall asleep in seconds. Check it out:

Did you know that you can attach Icy Meat to your shield? Only works with normal and prime meat. Shield surfing basically has no friction now. from r/tearsofthekingdom

As this ice slider notes, this is even better than attaching a regular ice block to your shield and using it to surf, as that setup will quickly melt in the sun and leave you crashing to the ground. For whatever undoubtedly unscientific reason, icy meat shields don't melt in the same way, so this will let you surf around until your shield's durability runs out and it breaks as normal. 

The only caveat is that it apparently doesn't work with any other frozen meat than your normal steak-looking meat and prime meat. Again, don't expect this logic to check out in real life; just store it in your Zelda memory and enjoy the ride.

If you liked this, also be sure to check out the Tears of the Kingdom machine-building method that uses the cooking pot, of all things.

Jordan Gerblick

After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer, I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.