How to throw items and weapons in Tears of the Kingdom (TotK)

In The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, you’ll come across all manner of items and weapons. Unfortunately, your inventory can hold only so many of them. Difficult decisions must be made, and you can toss what you don’t need if only you can remember how. It’s much more exciting than just dropping stuff on the ground. Here is our guide on how to throw items and weapons in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Note: If you are hoping to fuse an arrow with an item and potentially inflict elemental damage, that’s a similar but separate process we covered elsewhere. Click to learn how to fuse arrows with items.

Tears of the Kingdom – how to throw items and weapons

If you press enough buttons to see what they do, you’ll probably toss a weapon by accident at one point or another. Or, maybe you’re looking to throw a bomb flower at a suspicious pile of rubble. Numerous situations may arise where it makes sense to turn an item or weapon airborne.

To throw items and weapons, start by pressing and holding the right shoulder button. If you’re carrying a weapon in your hand, such as a sword or spear, you’ll lift it up as if to give it a toss. If the equipped weapon is the very one you want to throw, your job is done. Release the button and watch the mayhem unfold.

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Related: How to solve the Red Arrow puzzles in Tears of the Kingdom (TotK)

However, there may come times when you wish to throw something other than a weapon, such as an item. In such a case, continue to hold the shoulder button. Instructions will appear on-screen to let you know what button to press next. While using the Pro Controller, I hold the R button to prepare my throw. Then, I also press and hold the Up button on the d-pad. This brings up a list of available materials. While continuing to hold both the R button and the Up buttons, I then use the right analog stick to cycle between my options. Once I finally settle on what I want to heave, I release the buttons and the item goes sailing through the air.

After initiating the above process, you might come to the horrifying realization that there has been a terrible mistake and you actually have no desire whatsoever to throw an item. This sort of situation might be a tragedy, were it not for the option to cancel a throw. While still holding both the R and Up buttons, press the appropriate button (it’s the B button for me) to back out of using an item. Before you release the shoulder button, press B yet again to also back out of the throwing process entirely, lest you accidentally hurl your sword.

And there you have it. That’s how to throw a weapon or item in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Given the room for error, it’s best not to start the process unless you have definite plans to toss something.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available for purchase from the Nintendo Store.