One crafty The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom player has devised a clever method for braking to a standstill in midair. They later took online to share their discovery, adding to the already lengthy list of incredible Tears of the Kingdom community creations that the fandom has been flaunting in recent weeks.
While Tears of the Kingdom's Ultrahand allows players to create all sorts of contraptions, its tremendous utility value largely stems from its vehicle-building potential. That's in no small part because traversal is, in many ways, the game's ultimate challenge. And since custom-built aircraft tend to do a great job at trivializing this aspect of the game, flying machines have been one of the main focus points of Tears of the Kingdom tinkerers ever since the game hit the market on May 12.
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In yet another testament to the vast capabilities of this building mechanic, one player devised a system that allows them to turn off their helicopter-like vehicle in midair and stay suspended with a minimal energy footprint. This proof-of-concept contraption created by Reddit user Terror_from_the_deep traps a single Zonai Hover Stone in the middle of a propeller-equipped platform which is essentially a manned drone. Since the stone isn't actually attached to the rest of the vehicle, activating it with an arrow after letting go of the Zonai Steering Stick allows Tears of the Kingdom players to suspend the vehicle in midair, essentially serving as what its author dubbed an "air brake" system.
Since the contraption still relies on a battery-powered device to work, this method does not allow players to stay in the air indefinitely. That said, Zonai Hover Platforms barely draw any power, so the technique could certainly have applications in aerial combat, seeing how it offers an extremely efficient way of keeping something like an attack drone suspended above an enemy encampment while it wreaks havoc from above. And as recently demonstrated by an ingenious Tears of the Kingdom rain sensor, a machine such as this one could theoretically even draw power from an enemy instead of Link's battery reserves.
Those looking to experiment with this air brake system should find the newly shared design to be fairly easy to reverse-engineer, as almost all of its components are readily available throughout the game. The only exception is the two giant propellers that many players might have missed during their adventures. Getting those will require visiting Tears of the Kingdom's Gemimik Shrine and fusing its central propeller to a shield, then visiting Tarrey Town and paying Pelison 20 rupees to split the makeshift piece of equipment apart.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available on Nintendo Switch.
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