This Site Teaches You How to Build Weird Crap in ‘Tears of the Kingdom’

There is so much to do in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, but you don’t have to do any of it if you’d rather just fuck around and make weird shit. And certainly many players are coming up with amazing contraptions using the game’s in-depth crafting and physics systems.

While it’s easy to experiment on your own using the building materials lying around Hyrule, and the game features a hidden auto-build feature you can attain during your adventure that lets you quickly create simple mechanisms and vehicles, you won’t find tutorials in-game explaining how to build the wacky, complicated creations currently rocketing around social media. Luckily, the new website ZeldaBuilds.gg lets users upload and share their best creations.

Even better, users can list exactly which in-game materials were used for their builds and offer written instructions so others can recreate them.

That said, Zelda Builds is still pretty new, and its library of crafting recipes is still growing. So to give you some more inspiration, here’s a round-up of some of our favorite things Tears of the Kingdom players have crafted and posted on social media.

Pet the dog

If you’re disappointed Link can’t pet the dogs in Tears of the Kingdom, you’re not alone. To fix this injustice, Jon Cartwright of Good Vibes Gaming built this long-armed backscratcher for one of the game’s many very good boyos.

Automated machinery

Similarly, Twitter user @Liz_Caingcoy uses the game’s simulated physics to engineer all sorts of machines, like multi-use mechanical arms and even automated paddle boats.

Korok torture devices

Koroks—the adorable forest spirits hiding throughout Hyrule—return in Tears of the Kingdom, and many of them are now off on their own adventures. Unfortunately, these little guys get tired pretty easily and require Link’s help finding their way back to their friends—often by attaching them to gliders, wagons, or other improvised vehicles.

However, some players are using these poor vulnerable creatures for some rather sadistic—though admittedly funny—engineering experiments. (But I don’t know what’s up with the people who are straight up crucifying them.)

Trains

Hyrule is a big place that stretches across many miles of varied terrain—and even into the sky and deep underground—and some players are intent on connecting the kingdom’s various regions with magical railroads.

Skateboards

The previous Legend of Zelda game, Breath of the Wild, introduced shield surfing to Link’s repertoire, but by using Tears of the Kingdom’s other crafting mechanic, Fuse, you can combine mine carts and other wheeled vehicles with shields, turning Link’s defensive gear into a skateboard.

Tanks and heavy weapons

Tears of the Kingdom’s version of Hyrule is a dangerous place teeming with Bokoblin hunting parties, deadly bosses roaming the open fields, and strange horrors hiding in caves and chasms. Instead of facing these enemies in melee combat, many players are crafting all manner of heavy weaponry to slay their foes—from catapults and tanks, to flying bombers and attack helicopters.

Orbital lasers

Tanks and canons are one thing, but a flying, unmanned orbital laser is another. Watching player @StickdrawzG take down a Gleeok using this high-tech weapon is one of the coolest things I’ve seen in Tears of the Kingdom so far.

Mechs

When Tears of the Kingdom’s crafting abilities were first previewed, my Twitter feed was full of people wondering if you could build a mech. Well, less than a day after it was released on Nintendo Switch, players were already creating bipedal war machines to rival the likes of Gundam and Mech Warrior.

While Tears of the Kingdom never requires you to build imaginative junk like this—in fact, crafting is just one of the many ways to interact with the game’s massive, highly-detailed world—it’s rewarding when your experimental creations actually work, and it’s fun to see what other players create. Share your favorite Tears of the Kingdom builds in the comments, and head over to ZeldaBuilds.gg to see more.