Best Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild glitches

It's no secret that we at iMore love The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It's one of the best games on the Nintendo Switch, and even four years after its release, gamers are still exploring the beautiful ruins of Hyrule and theorizing about its secrets. They've also had plenty of time to break the game, discovering glitches, exploits, and tricks to perfect speed runs and make their own fun in Zelda's sandbox.

Most of these glitches have been around since the game's launch and don't require any additional hardware to pull off. These glitches are meant to be fun and even useful, but make sure you save your game before attempting anything that might ruin your game progress.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild glitches: Whistle Sprinting

A glitch found almost immediately at launch; players realized that you can make Link sprint at top speed without losing stamina. To pull this off, hold down on the D-pad and repeatedly tap the sprint button. This will make Link attempt a whistle and run at the same time. While it looks a little silly, Link will run at almost top speed, while not draining a drop of stamina. No horse necessary.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild glitches: Horse Sliding

Speaking of horses, have you ever felt like jumping off of your horse only to shoot hundreds of feet through the air at a high velocity? If you said yes, first off, what's wrong with you? And second, this glitch is for you.

To gain momentum while dismounting your horse, find a steep slope and place your horse parallel to it. Mount it by holding ZL and pressing X. Ride your horse, and the moment you jump off, you'll go flying through the air. The distance and speed depend on the distance you've already ridden, while the direction you are launched depends on the direction you were facing. Even nicer, you can use this trick on the Master Cycle as well.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild glitches: Build your own flying machine

Sailing through the skies using Link's paraglider is one of the coolest things you can do in Breath of the Wild, but to really take flight, you'll need to build your own flying machine. This one requires a little bit of practice, but it's worth the effort spent. In short, you must place two objects on top of one another, but the object on the bottom must contain metallic parts. Then, climb up onto the object and use Magnesis to manipulate the metallic object. This should lift you off the ground.

There are many ways to build your own flying machine, but the best combination by far involves a crate on a minecart. However, feel free to try out different combinations to see what you like best.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild glitches: Bullet-Time Bounce

Launching things through the air is pretty fun, but launching Link through the air? Even more so. This glitch allows you to launch Link through the air extremely fast in any direction. All it takes is a shield, a bow, and an item that can freeze an enemy.

To pull this glitch off, head to a ledge that overlooks an enemy (making sure it's not a red variation). Freeze the enemy in place, and use the Shield Surf to jump off of the ledge, pulling the bow out mid-descent. If your shield makes contact during the fall, immediately stop the slow-down by pressing Y, unequip the bow, and press B twice. If done correctly, this will send Link flying through the air at an incredible speed. Pair it up with the paraglider and you can travel great distances in seconds.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild glitches: Defeat bosses in one hit

This is a glitch that'll kill any boss in one shot, or leave them really close to death. It'll work on every boss, even Calamity Ganon himself! To pull of this glitch, go to the boss battle trigger and stop just outside of its range. Now shoot a bunch of arrows at the location the boss spawns during the cutscene, and quickly activate the battle while they're in mid-air. If done correctly, the boss will take a huge amount of damage, instantly killing it once the cutscene ends.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild glitches: Duplication glitch

Has your favorite weapon broken and the only thing you want is to get it back? Well, this glitch will duplicate any weapons, shields, and bows found in the game, so you'll never have to deal with that hurt again.

To activate this glitch, you'll need at least 7 multishot bows and at least one shock arrow. Equip one of the multishot bows along with the shock arrow. Tap ZR and then drop the bow on the floor, equip another bow, and do the same. Repeat six times, and Link should start disappearing on the menu screen.

From here, just equip the item you want to duplicate via the quick change menu, and swap it out for the one you want to replace in the inventory. If done correctly, the item that Link is holding will not have changed. Now drop the item you have equipped and it should have been successfully duplicated.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild glitches: Endless Magnesis

Magnesis is one of the most useful runes found in Breath of the Wild. It's so useful in fact, that we never really want it to end. This glitch will see that Magnesis will continually attempt to attach to a metal object and get stuck in a loop.

To pull this glitch off, find a metal block and stand as far as the attach distance will go. Activate Magnesis, and rotate the camera so it faces Link, Now your Magnesis should be stuck in an endless cycle and Link can walk around carrying the Magnesis rune in his hands. Getting hit or turning the camera behind Link cancel the glitch.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild glitches: Daruk's Perfect Parry

This one is a simple glitch that ensures the player won't consume a use of the ability Daruk's Protection, and it's really easy to trigger, too. Simply hit ZL as soon as you get hit to activate Daruk's Protection. If done right, you'll avoid damage and the use of the ability. It even prevents you from taking fall damage!

Hyrule can wait

Breath of the Wild has provided hours upon hours of fun for Switch owners, whether they're fighting for the fate of Hyrule, or messing with the game's physics. Word of warning: Remember to save your game before attempting anything potentially game breaking. As Zelda celebrates its 35th anniversary, be sure to check out all of the other Legend of Zelda games available on the Switch, including Breath of the Wild's prequel, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.