Within The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, there are multiple ways to get the better of the system, and as stingy as resources can be in Hyrule since the Upheaval, you might want to take every edge you can get. No greater one-up on the system exists beyond the infinite duplication glitches, and if you're not a fan of one, you're in luck. There are two!
Which method you prefer comes down to your preference of difficulty in execution, time consumption, and item durability. If you're stingy with your shields or are really bad at pressing multiple buttons at the same time, you might prefer the bow method. But if you're in a rush and don't like duplicating one-at-a-time, you'll probably like the shield method more.
The methods listed below were fixed by the 1.1.2 patch for Tears of the Kingdom. If you want to continue using the glitches to hoard Diamonds or valuable monster materials, make sure you do so before updating!
Duplication Method: Bow-Fusing
For the bow method, you'll only need:
- The item you wish to duplicate
- One bow
- One arrow
The method itself is a little tricky, and getting the hang of it will take some time and practice. Chances are, you'll need to try multiple times for the first duplication to be successful, but once you fall into the rhythm, you'll be duplicating items left and right.
To begin, take out your bow by quickly tapping ZR. With your bow out, press Up on the D-pad to open your item-fusing menu. Scroll through the items until you find the one item you wish to duplicate and select it.
With your item fused to your bow, you can now open your inventory and go to the bows section.
Drop the bow you are holding and then equip a second bow.
Now, this is the hardest part of the method. Speed is the name of the game here. Being off by a fraction of a second will result in no duplication.
Very quickly press + twice to close and open the menu. This will bring you back to the bows section where you must drop the second bow Link is now holding. Press + again.
If you were successful, you should see the bows lying directly on top of one another. If you failed, the bows will be lying side-by-side.
Pick up the bows, and the item you duplicated (if successful) will now be seen in your inventory.
You can infinitely use this method, and there is no limit on the amount you may duplicate per item. You can duplicate 100 Diamonds and still be able to continue duplication.
This is not a fast method, and it requires a small amount of timing skill in order to achieve.
For this reason, it is far less efficient than the below method, but it is still a nice way to duplicate items when you don't have a shield or a safe spot to jump down from.
Duplication Method: Shield-Surfing Or Paragliding
For the shield-surfing/paragliding technique, you'll need:
- One shield or your paraglider
- At least one item for duplication
- A high place you can safely jump from
There are numerous places you can select. Link's house is a good choice since the terrain is flat (your items won't roll away), the color palette means you'll be unlikely to miss your items visually, and there are no nearby enemies.
However, this location will mean that your shield will gradually lose durability as you use this method.
If you care about weapon durability, you can use this method in places like Gerudo Town or Tabantha Tundra since snow and sand don't decrease shield durability.
You can also simply use your paraglider to avoid this altogether. The method is the same; it's simply your preference.
Starting from your chosen high place, jump off by pressing X and bring out your paraglider. Alternatively, use A and ZL to start shield-surfing.
While midair, press + to open your inventory and select as many as five of the item you wish to duplicate.
The tricky part here is that, once you've selected your items, you must press Y and B at exactly the same time. Failure to do so will result in your dropping all of your items without duplicating them.
As you're falling, you can open your inventory and duplicate as many items as you wish before you hit the ground.
If you duplicate five items at a time and duplicate three times, you will end up with an additional 15 duplicated items when you hit the ground (meaning you end with your inventory displaying 30 total items).
Pick up any of your dropped materials from the ground.
If you so wish, you can climb up again and repeat this process as many times as you like. If you're fast enough, you can duplicate as many as 100 Diamonds (or any other item) in less than five minutes. It's terribly effective, reasonably safe, and moderately easy to perform.