Shield-Surfing

Shield-Surfing

Link shield-surfing

Games	Breath of the Wild Age of Calamity
Learned from	Overworld
How to Perform	Breath of the Wild: * Hold shield up and jump forward on a slope * Wrangle a Sand Seal Age of Calamity: * Run and press (X) to do a short surf * Press (Y)+(Y)+(X) to attack
Effect	Slide down slopes Attack (Age of Calamity)
Related	Selmie's Shield-Surfing Kiah Toza Shrine Sand Seal Surfing

Shield-surfing is a special movement skill mechanic featured in Breath of the Wild and Age of Calamity. In the former, it allows Link to slide down slopes on top of the shield, while in the latter, it's used as an attack and for fast horizontal movement.

Breath of the Wild

Mechanics

Hold shield up (ZL) and jump forward on a slope (X), then (A).

There are two factors that affect shield surfing, namely:

• The incline of the terrain:

Downward slopes will cause acceleration based on gravity and forward momentum, flat surfaces will cause deceleration and upward slopes will make Link stop.

• The friction of the surface: Low friction terrains cause Link to accelerate quicker, while high friction will cause Link to grind or altogether stop. Friction depends on the terrain, the weather and the shield Link's using.
  • Terrain:
    • Low friction terrains: snow and sand
    • Medium friction terrains: grass and soil
    • High friction terrains: rock and metal
  • Weather: Rain significantly reduces the friction exerted on the shield.
  • Shield type: Different shields have different degrees of friction; these shields can allow shield-surfing and acceleration sustainment even in rocky terrains:
    • Shield of the Mind's Eye reduces friction by 75%;
    • Ancient Shield reduces friction by 85%
    • Radiant Shield reduces friction by 90%

Effects on Shield Durability

The durability of shields is affected by many of the factors mentioned on the previous section, as well as the player's actions while surfing:

• No damage to low Damage:
  • Surfing in snow and sand;
  • Riding sand seals
  • Dirt paths (have medium friction, but don't produce damage)
• Damage: It's produced by two factors, impact and sledding.
  • Impact damage consists of the shock exerted on the shield when first performing the skill, when jumping, or when the terrain makes Link catch air and landing, usually 1 point per jump; small jumps and bumps don't produce damage to the shield;
  • Sledding damage consists of the time Link can shield-surf. This is unaffected by friction. Most shields in the game take 1/4 of a point of durability per second while surfing, but there are outlier shields with different ratios, from better to worse:
    • Ancient Shield - 1/5 point/sec (amounts to ~10:40 minutes)
    • Hylian Shield - Average friction rate, but extremely high durability of 800 (amounts to ~53:20 minutes)
    • Daybreaker and Steel Lizal Shield - 1/2 point/sec
    • Radiant Shield - 7/10 points/sec
    • Royal Guard's Shield - 3 points/sec (Given the fact that this shield only has 14 points of durability, this shield will break the fastest by both the impact and sledding damage, making it the worst shield for surfing in the game)

Gallery

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  The Hylian Shield, best in terms of surfing duration

• 

  The Ancient Shield, best in terms of surfing duration + acceleration

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  The Royal Guard's Shield, worst for surfing overall

Age of Calamity

In Age of Calamity, there are two methods to shield-surf:

• Run and press (X) to do a short surf - mainly for traversing the map
• Press (Y)+(Y)+(X) to do an attack combo

Shield durability and terrain incline or friction are not factors in this game.

Gallery

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  Shield breaking while shield-surfing in Breath of the Wild

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  Link Shield-surfing in Age of Calamity