What do falling rocks do in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom?

What the heck do those big ol’ rocks that fall from the sky in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom actually do? 

My first instinct was to hit them with my trusty weapon, but it bounced right off. (I say trusty—it shattered into a thousand pieces minutes later.) You can’t mine the rocks for materials either. But you can use them as a surfboard to fly back up into the sky. Here’s how.

What to do with the rocks that fall from the sky in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The rocks aren’t just falling from nowhere. They’re crumbling off all the many sky islands above us.

As soon as a rock hits the ground, run up to it, jump on it, and use your Recall ability to wind back time and ascend into the heavens. The screen will turn a shade of grey and after a few seconds, your rock will rise.

To use the new Tears of the Kingdom Recall ability, simply hold down the L button on your Nintendo Switch to bring up the radial menu. Then select Recall from the wheel, aim at an object (in this case a big fat rock), and press the A key to proceed.

When the rock reaches its destination, you can either explore a sky island for some shiny new treasure or skydive back down to Hyrule. In the case of the video above, there wasn’t an island to explore, but it did give me a good vantage point and steered me in the right direction. I used the rock to search for Shrines and save some time on my journey.

If you don’t have a paraglider at this point, I recommend getting one as soon as possible. If you try riding a rock without one, chances are you’ll fall straight to your death.

I wasn’t so lucky with my first flying rock but the second one took me to a cute little island. On it sat a chest containing a Large Zonaite. Not the best loot this time, but it was certainly better than nothing.

I did, though, enjoy watching the sunrise as I lept back down to Hyrule.