The new Zelda Tears of the Kingdom abilities and powers look like they're changing up the game a lot, with four new abilities confirmed so far and each one clearly altering the way Link explores and fights enemies. Whether it's rising up into the sky with Ascend or rewinding time with the Recall power, these new powers are worth looking at in greater detail before the game comes out, so you're ready to put them to the best use possible. Here's all the new abilities and powers in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
All abilities in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom revealed so far
Zelda Tears of the Kingdom has confirmed four new abilities at time of writing, which we've laid out below:
You can click on any of these for more details, or just scroll down to see all the info available. The main gameplay trailer revealed so far makes these seem very similar in application to the powers attached to the Sheikah Slate in Breath of the Wild, though obviously their actual functions differ significantly.
Recall
Recall is an ability that allows players to "rewind" time and the path of physical objects, essentially forcing those objects to undo any motions they did recently. We've seen Link use this ability to cause a rock falling from a floating island to rise back up along its trajectory - only this time, Link was standing on it, using it as an elevator to reach those higher islands.
Fuse
This is an ability so complex we've gone over it in our guide on Zelda Tears of the Kingdom fusions and the fuse ability, but for a quick breakdown here: Fuse allows you to create instant combinations of weapons and shields merged with other items, changing how they work and how effective they are. Mix two weapons together for new hybrids, add special materials to introduce new elements to your arrows, stick things on your shield so blocking attacks adds trigger effects. It seems pretty versatile, and can be done quickly and on-the-fly, so it's applicable in the middle of combat. It should not be confused with our next ability…
Ultrahand
Ultrahand is a combination of telekinesis and superglue, allowing you to move and attach objects to form new structures - and more notably, vehicles. Players can lift objects like logs, fans, sails and more besides, and adhere them to other objects (as well as breaking those connections) to result in complex constructions made for a specific purpose. Vehicles are clearly the main focus here - we've seen boats, cars and flying machines put together using Ultrahand - but there's nothing to suggest that you couldn't create barricades, ramps and non-mobile structures at time of writing.
Ascend
Possibly the simplest ability we've seen so far, Ascend causes Link to rise straight up into the air - but there's a catch. There has to be a surface above Link for him to rise up to, such as a ceiling, platform, the underside of an island or similar. Once Link meets that surface, he then automatically passes through it and ends up on the topside of it - effectively Ascending from one flat plane to the one above him in a single motion. You can't Ascend without a surface above you and you have to end up at the next standing plane, so it's less of a flight power and more of a fixed, vertical teleportation. However, with a major addition to the Hyrule map being floating islands, this could be a very useful way to reach those islands in an instant.
How many abilities are there in Tears of the Kingdom?
At time of writing only the four abilities mentioned above have been confirmed for Tears of the Kingdom, but it's also not been declaratively said that those will be the only four, and it's possible we'll see more in the final product. Breath of the Wild had five abilities including the Camera function, and added another one - summoning the Master Cycle - in DLC to follow. Still, it seems like the sheer versatility of features like Ultrahand and Fuse might mean that four abilities is more than enough.
Are the Breath of the Wild abilities in Tears of the Kingdom?
Speaking of which, there's currently no reason to believe that Cryonis, Stasis, Magnesis, the Camera and the Remote Bomb have made the transition to Tears of the Kingdom, though there's also been no clear statement saying that they won't be in it. Tellingly, these powers in Breath of the Wild were tied to the Sheikah Slate tablet device that Link carried around with him - which we notice is conspicuously absent from his belt in gameplay footage from Tears of the Kingdom. For now, we think it's more likely that you won't see these powers in the final game, though we can't say that with absolute certainty.
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