In Zelda Tears of the Kingdom beams can be found throughout Great Sky Island. They're imperative if you need to get across a vast chasm without plummeting to your doom, but you won't be able to cross them without the first of Link's abilities in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom: Ultrahand. Trust me, I've tried the squat and sneak approach, and it didn't end well.
Ultrahand is a useful tool that can help you get around the vast open world of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom with ease, and it's also the key to getting across those tricky beams on your way to picking up your first Zelda Tears of the Kingdom bow. Sure, it's a fairly slow process compared to getting saddled up on your Zelda Tears of the Kingdom horse, but beams are a good way to get to grips with how the game wants you to use your surroundings to succeed.
To learn Ultrahand, you'll need to have visited Ukouh Shrine to unlock the skill permanently, as well as collect a Light of Blessing – you'll need three of these to open the door to the Temple of Time and proceed with your first main mission, and afterwards these shrine orbs will help you collect new Zelda Tears of the Kingdom fast travel points to make your journeying easier.
That comes a bit later, though. For now, here's how to use Ultrahand to cross beams in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, as well as how to find Ukouh Shrine to learn the skill if you're having trouble spotting it.
How to find Ukouh Shrine and get Ultrahand
You'll need Ultrahand to cross the first beam in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, and luckily the shrine where you learn it is not too far away. Ukouh Shrine is the first stop on your journey to collect all three Lights and abilities, and we have a guide to help you find all Zelda Tears of the Kingdom Sky Island shrine locations if you're feeling stuck.
Since the first beam puzzle is not too far away from Ukouh Shrine, you might stumble across it before you learn Ultrahand. You'll be able to see the shrine's tell-tale green glow from right next to the beam's starting point, so just hop back down and swim across the lake to access the shrine before continuing.
How to use Ultrahand to cross beams
After learning Ultrahand at Ukouh Shrine, head back to the first beam. You can see it on your map – it's that black curvy line linking from nearby the shrine to the other side of a wide chasm.
Here, you'll find some planks of wood and some large hooks. Simply use Ultrahand on the hooks by tapping L and pressing A over one of the hooks, allowing you to lift it up and rotate it using the R bumper and your right joystick.
Rotate the hook until the flat bottom part is lined up with the surface of one of the flat planks, and press A again to attach it to one of the short ends. Do the same with another hook on the other short end of the plank, and you should have a platform with two stable hooks. Now, cast Ultrahand again to lift the platform and carefully hook it over the beam. Press ZR to let go, and hop aboard – gravity will carry your platform down to the other side of the chasm.
This is also useful to bear in mind later when you run into the first Zelda Tears of the Kingdom Korok seed puzzle, since there are quite a few beams to travel across in the Sky Island map alone.
© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission
