PSA: Tears of the Kingdom’s Best Quality of Life Feature Is Easy to Miss [IGN]

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is out now, and simply bursting at the seams with secrets, hidden treasures, little detours, and easter eggs. Its main story path is fairly easy to follow in the midst of all that, and generally will get you to collect all the key powers, items, and story points you’ll want before eventually beating the game. However, Tears of the Kingdom’s best quality of life feature sits somewhere in between main story and secret, and is possible to miss entirely. We’re talking about the Autobuild power.

For those who are trying to avoid major spoilers, here’s the short version: Autobuild is essentially a power that lets you instantly build any design you’ve previously made with Ultrahand, either using parts in the area or materials you have on hand. It’s a genius timesaver, and one well-worth getting, but it’s waiting at the end of a quest chain that, while major, isn’t necessary.

For a spoiler-free hint: follow the quest chain that begins with “A Mystery in The Depths” once it becomes available, and you’ll eventually pick it up at Lookout Landing from Josha. We also have a detailed guide on how to get the Autobuild ability earlier than this, if you want.

Warning: Spoilers for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the kingdom follow below the video. Read on at your own risk!

Essentially, Autobuild is your reward for discovering The Great Abandoned Central Mine in the Depths, which you can stumble upon on your own or find by following a series of mysterious statues pointing the way across the Depths. Once there, speak to the Zonai attendant, and assist the NPCs who ask you to rebuild their cars. You’ll then face a fight with an old enemy from Breath of the Wild before securing Autobuild for good.

It’s hard to emphasize enough just how useful Autobuild is, especially once you start unlocking “Schema.” Schema are essentially blueprints for Autobuild that will let you Autobuild brand new devices that are optimized for certain purposes, like a really good glider or cart. You’ll need the resources each time, but these are especially useful when traversing the Depths, as you can pillage the different Zonai waystations for parts.

While Autobuild is technically a key ability of Link’s new arm implement, it’s extremely easy to inadvertently put off finding Autobuild until very late in the game, or skip it entirely. We recommend prioritizing the Mystery in the Depths quest to get Autobuild early on, as it will make your journey around Hyrule much easier.

Once you’ve got Autobuild, there’s plenty more to do, and we have it all catalogued in our full guides to Tears of the Kingdom.

• 14 Things Tears of the Kingdom Doesn’t Tell You
• How to Uncover the Full TOTK Map
• TOTK Cheats and Secrets
• All Amiibo Unlocks We’ve Gotten So Far
• How to Find and Unlock the Great Fairy Fountain

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.