How to use Ultrahand in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

A handy guide, if ever there was one.

Screenshot by Dot Esports

Early on in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Link (that’s you) loses his arm in a terrible accident. Fortunately, your mysterious savior, Rauru, comes to your rescue, amputates your FUBARed arm, and replaces it with his very own. Soon enough, you need to use your new Ultrahand and its Ability to Create, and it can be a little tricky to get used to.

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How to use the Ultrahand in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

When you first get the Ultrahand, you just need to press L to activate it. Once you’ve got other special equipment, then you’ll need to hold L to open the radial menu, then use the right stick to select the Ultrahand when you want to use it.

Screenshot by Dot Esports

Anyway, once the Ultrahand is activated, you’ll see red, shimmery, ever-expanding circles emanating from around you, and you’ll get a crosshair on your HUD. Look around a bit and you should see that some objects are now highlighted orange. If you aim the crosshair at those objects, they’ll turn green. Any object that’s highlighted in this way can be grabbed using the Ultrahand. So, to grab an object, aim the crosshair at it, and press A.

Once you’ve grabbed an object it’ll move when you move. So, you can move it back and forth and side to side by moving the left stick. And you can move it up and down and side to side around yourself using the right stick. You can also move it away from and towards yourself by pressing up and down on the D-pad.

Related: How to get the Paraglider in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

How to rotate objects with the Ultrahand in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Screenshot by Dot Esports

Sometimes the above movement controls aren’t enough because the object you grabbed is upside down or the wrong way around. That’s where rotation comes in handy (Ultrahandy, if you will). To rotate an object using the Ultrahand, hold R (not ZR, like I keep doing) then use the D-pad to rotate it. If it’s upside down, use up and/or down on the D-pad to put it the right way up. And if it’s back-to-front, use left and/or right on the D-pad. If you get confused and want it back how it was, just press ZL to reset it (again, not ZR like I keep pressing).

How to detach objects using the Ultrahand in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Screenshot by Dot Esports

By moving an object close to another grabbable object, you can attach the two together by pressing A. This is a way of turning two useless objects into one very useful one. But accidents will happen. Sometimes you make a mistake, or an object attaches at the wrong angle or at the wrong place. Fortunately, you can always detach objects from each other. To do this, grab the objects that are attached to each other, then quickly waggle the right stick from side to side. This will shake the objects and they will come apart.

Now you can use the Ultrahand, the Ukouh Shrine should be easy-peasy.

Author
Image of Gavin Mackenzie
Gavin Mackenzie
Gavin Mackenzie has been playing video games since the early 80s, and writing about them professionally since the late 90s. Having been a writer and editor on various British magazines including PLAY, GamesTM, and X360, he's now a freelance guides specialist at Dot Esports.