Tears of the Kingdom | How to Unlock the Autobuild Ability

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has a bunch of new abilities that Link and the player can mess around with. From Ascent allowing you completely break the game and exploit the map design to Rewind being able to reverse time, there’s plenty to explore with this new moveset. One of the best new features is Ultrahand, an ability which lets you create and attach different objects together to make anything you can think of. While super fun to use, making objects like vehicles over and over can get a bit tiresome: enter the only optional ability in Tears of the Kingdom, Autobuild.

Autobuild is special in that it’s the only ability not given to you on the Great Sky Island, meaning many may miss it as they explore Hyrule for the first time. It’s an incredibly useful tool, too, and one that lets you massively cut down on building time so you can get back to exploring this vast open world. Everyone should try and get their hands on Autobuild as soon as possible, and this guide hopes to help with that.

Here’s how to unlock the Autobuild ability in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. 

Want more Tears of the Kingdom guides and articles? You can find more here on KeenGamer:

1. How to Get the Champion’s Tunic Early in Tears of the Kingdom | Champion’s Leathers Location
2. Tears of the Kingdom | Mayachin Shrine Guide
3. Get Tears of the Kingdom For a Lower Price with the Return of Vouchers
4. How Tears of the Kingdom Could Solve Breath of the Wild’s Weapon System

What is Autobuild?

Autobuild is the final major ability in Tears of the Kingdom and the only one you unlock after leaving the Great Sky Islands. The ability does as the name suggests: when activated, it will automatically create a finished object or device out of individual pieces. You can think of it like a sped-up, more precise, version of Ultrahand that does all the work automatically. 

There are two ways that Autobuild works. The first is through Schematics. These are pre-made objects that the game has created and engraved onto Schema Stones, essentially blueprints that can be found across Hyrule from quests, exploration and other means. For example, the first Schema Stone you get is for the Fanplane: every time you Autobuild a Fanplane from this schematic, it will always be the exact same no matter what. 

The other way Autobuild works is through history. When you create something using Ultrahand, whether it be your own Zonai Glider or some high-tech machine of war, Autobuild will save that device to the history section and allow you to remake it at a later time. Compared to Schematics, the history function is better for those who want to experiment with their creations, but it obviously requires a good deal more work to build a steady library of available designs. 

Autobuild Schematics Menu

If you have the parts lying around in the world, using Autobuild will allow them to instantly snap and attach. All you need to do in this situation is move the purple ring around so it can pick up each piece, upon which it will snap together onto the main body of the item. 

On the other hand, Autobuild can still be used even if you don’t have the pieces necessary. In this circumstance, Autobuild will create replicated pieces to finish the design in return for some Zonite. These crafted pieces will instantly pop out of existence should you try and remove them from the thing you built. The amount of Zonite require is also pretty high, but this is extremely useful if you need a Fanplane or some other traversal technique in a pinch. 

Overall, while not as universally useful as something like Ultrahand (which can be used for more than just assembling), Autobuild is a great way to save time and energy when playing around in Tears of the Kingdom’s sandbox. While some want to experiment with everything they can get their hands on, others want to just explore the world without worrying about building too much crazy stuff. Autobuild lets you do that, instantly making things you need without wasting time on actually assembling them yourself.

It Assembles Itself!

How to Get Autobuild in Tears of the Kingdom

The Great Plateau

To get your hands (or just hand in Link’s case) on Autobuild, you need to head back to the Great Plateau. What was once the starting zone in Breath of the Wild has been completely transformed in Tears of the Kingdom, leaving an untamed land with secrets aplenty. 

Since Link’s first visit to the Plateau, a lot of things have changed, with the biggest change being that it can be entered from the ground. Head south of the Hyrule Field Skyview Tower and keep going until you come across the familiar Gatepost Town Ruins. There’ll be a massive patch of stone and rock blocking the entrance to the Plateau. 

To clear this, simply equip a smashing or bludgeoning weapon and hack away at the mound until it breaks. Once it does, the water being kept back by the rubble will flow out, opening up a new pathway into the Great Plateau, making the job much easier for you. There’s also a statue here submerged in the mud that you’ll likely want to talk to a quest associated with this area. 

Now that you’re actually on the Great Plateau, it’s time to go underneath it. As in, you need to head to the Depths, specifically the portion directly below the Great Plateau. 

There are four Chasms on the Plateau in TotK, each in a different cardinal direction. If you want to be a bit adventurous, hop down anyone you like: they all converge on the same area in the end, after all. In fact, the North Chasm entrance is right next to where you entered the Plateau. 

However, each of the Chasms leads to a different part of the mines below and some of these areas are much harder to navigate than others. As such, we recommend heading to the East Chasm, instead. While you will have to walk a bit further, this Chasm is the quickest way to get to the Autobuild ability without needing to worry about stumbling around blind in the darkness of the Depths.

Into the Depths

Once you’ve made it to the Eastern Chasm, hop on in. The scenery will begin to change as you get deeper and you’ll eventually find yourself in the Depths, a massive underground area spanning nearly the entirety of Hyrule. While you’re here, any damage you take cannot be healed and there are constant streams of gloom everywhere you go. Oh, and it’s pitch black at basically all times. 

When you land in the Depths, it’s going to be hard to see where to go. Fortunately, if you took the path from the Eastern Chasm, you’re in luck: directly to the left when you land will be a set of Zonai devices and a mine rail. Along with a few regular minecarts, the Zonai devices on offer include Lights, Fans and even a Wing.

Minecart Ready to Go

Quickly cobble together a makeshift travel device by using Ultrahand to attach several Zonai devices to a minecart: a fan for the back, a light for the front and a Zonai battery if there’s one lying around. When you’ve completed your masterpiece, slap it onto the minecart rails and then whack the fan to get going.

This stretch of rails will take you right to the Great Abandoned Central Mine, the location where you can find the Autobuild ability. Taking any other Chasm is much more difficult as you either need to traverse through several different rail systems or you simply need to hoof it on foot. For now, simply wait until the minecart reaches the end and then hop out.

The Great Mine Awaits

Some Old Friends (and New Ones)

Upon exiting your vehicle and arriving at the Great Mine, it can be tempting to go exploring. What you should do if you want to head straight for the Autobuild ability, though, is climb to the top of the ruins you find yourself on. There’s a broken set of stairs right next to where you park the minecart which can serve as easy leverage to get you up.

When you finish your climb, you’ll arrive at the top of the Great Mine. Here you’ll see a deactivated Construct from the Sky Islands, with two researchers looking over it. Speaking to them will reveal that they’re trying to activate the Construct and obtain whatever power it holds. Fortunately for you, Rauru’s hand can activate the Construct just like you activate Shrines. 

A Friendly Face in the Dark

Doing this will wake up the Construct who will then gift you the Autobuild ability. You won’t be able to enjoy your new toy just yet, though. The researchers reveal themselves to be Yiga Clan members and big boss Koga shows up for an interesting rematch against the one who ruined his life.

Beat Koga and he’ll go scampering off deeper into the Depths, leaving you to mess around with your shiny new Autobuild ability. 

Autobuild Acquired

That was how to unlock Autobuild in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.