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Ever wish you could fly further with the Paraglider? Tired of running out of stamina mid-flight just before you reached that island? The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom has its fair share of amazing armor sets, but there's one that stands out as an absolute must-have for early game exploration: the Glide Armor Set.
This Zonai-themed wing suit gives you more control while diving through the skies, allowing you to move further without using any extra stamina. With it, you can really make the most of the Skyview Towers spread throughout the map, and the best part is that you can pick up this armor as soon as you unlock the paraglider. Here's everything you need to do to get the Glide Armor Set.
Updated by Nick McDonald on June 20, 2023: The Glide Set is undeniably one of the most useful armors in The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, and while it's important to know how to get it, it's also important to know what to do with it once you have it. The set's usefulness only increases as you upgrade it, so we've added a small section explaining how to upgrade the armor, what materials you'll need, and what the second upgrade set bonus is.
How To Get The Glide Shirt
To unlock the Glide Shirt, you'll have to make your way to a spiral-shaped sky island above Ludfo's Bog and complete the challenge on it. While you can get all the parts of the Glide Set in any order, the Glide Shirt is the first and easiest piece to find, so this is the best place to start.
If you're not sure where to go, head towards the Lindor's Brow Skyview Tower and unlock it if you haven't already. Let it launch you into the sky, and after doing so, look for the nearby platform to the southwest.
On this island, you'll find a small stone ring that you can activate. Do so and a green ring will appear on the end of the platform. Jump through this ring, and as you're falling, go through each ring as it appears until you land in a small pool of water at the bottom.
Once you land, you'll be greeted by a Steward Construct who explains that you just did a trial run of an old Zonai test of courage. It'll offer to let you try the actual challenge, and as you may have guessed, this is the challenge you'll have to complete in order to get the Glide Shirt.
Completing The Courage Island Challenge
As the construct explains, you'll only have 35 seconds to pass through each ring on your way down. If you miss a ring or take longer than 35 seconds, you'll be allowed to finish your dive but won't get the Glide shirt as a reward. On top of this, each attempt will cost you one Zonai Charge, so make sure you have plenty before you start your attempts.
This skydive challenge is relatively straightforward. Each ring appears close to the last one, and there aren't many obstacles you could hit on your way down. Even if you get a little too close for comfort to some rocks, don't shy away.
Time is your biggest enemy in these challenges. If you fail to pass each ring within the time limit, you'll have to try again and waste another charge, but if you accidentally slam into a rock, you'll just have to reload your latest autosave which means you'll still have that charge in your inventory.
If you're having trouble hitting the rings, try to watch the green light that moves toward where the next ring will appear. This can give you a bit of advanced warning on the direction and speed changes you'll have to make.
Once you pass through all the rings within the time limit, you'll be rewarded the Glide Shirt, and if you managed to beat the high score of 20 seconds, you'll even get a Large Zonai Charge too. If you didn't beat the high score, you can try as many times as you want even after you get the shirt.
This is the essential loop you'll need to follow to unlock each piece in the set: find a spiral-shaped sky island, complete the skydive challenge, and receive the corresponding piece of armor. However, the other islands won't be as straightforward as this one.
How To Get The Glide Mask
The Glide Mask can be found on a sky island northeast of the Mount Lanayru Skyview Tower, but unlike Courage Island, it's too far away to simply glide to. Instead, you'll have to get a bit creative.
After launching yourself in the Lanayru Skyview Tower, land on the nearby sky island with a small fountain. On this island, you should find a stone platform with four Fans, four Batteries, and a Control Stick attached. This rudimentary hovercraft is your ticket to getting around this sky archipelago.
Use it to fly up and to the southwest to another small island. However, keep in mind that this one will be guarded by two constructs firing rocket arrows. This island has the exact same hovercraft design on it, but unlike the one you rode to get here, the four Batteries will still be fully charged. Swap out your vehicle and use this next one to fly toward the spiral of rock to the southwest.
You don't need to aim for the top of the spiral. Since it's so high, it's likely faster to land on the island at the bottom instead. Talking to the Steward Construct there will let you warp to the top and try the challenge. After this short trial run, you'll also unlock a shrine on the island that you can use to come back any time you'd like.
Completing The Valor Island Challenge
This challenge is significantly harder than the first. It features a number of tight turns and close calls all while the air below you is obscured by clouds constantly passing by. As with the first, you'll have to dive all the way to the bottom within 35 seconds, spending a Zonai Charge on every attempt. Once you successfully complete the challenge, you'll be awarded the Glide Mask.
While this is possible with any gear, you'll likely want to equip the Glide Shirt since it'll help you make fine adjustments as you aim for the various rings. Additionally, as with the first challenge, you'll want to keep a close eye on the green light that flies to the next ring whenever you pass through one.
If you want to make it to the bottom in time, you'll also have to accelerate while skydiving. To do so, press the right bumper while falling to go into a dive, and once there, hold the right bumper to accelerate and race toward the ground. To make it within the 35-second limit, you'll have to accelerate whenever it's safe to do so (and even when it's not). Like the first challenge, there is also a high score to beat of 25 seconds, and doing so will require accelerating nearly the entire time.
If you can complete this challenge, you'll be rewarded with the Glide Mask. However, if this challenge is proving a little too tough for you, you can try to get the Glide Tights first instead. Having another piece of the set will give you far more control while diving and make the tight turns much easier to make.
How To Get The Glide Tights
The Glide Tights are the third and final piece in the Glide Set, and they can be found directly to the south of the Thyphlo Ruins Skyview Tower. There's a catch, however. The spiral sky island isn't close enough reach easily, and there's no helpful Zonai vehicle around either.
Instead of getting creative, you'll just have to make up a little bit of distance on the end of your glide. Launch yourself out of the Thyphlo Ruins Skyview Tower and land on the nearby sky island to the south.
In the center of this island, there's a launcher that you can aim with a wheel. Align this device so that it points directly at the spiral sky island further to the south, and then fire yourself in that direction.
If you have both the Glide Mask and the Glide Shirt, make sure you have them equipped, and use the extra distance they provide paired with your Paraglider to make it to the bottom of the spiral island. It'll be close, but it is possible. If you don't have the other two pieces, you can get there instead by packing a stamina-restoring food or upgrading your stamina at least once.
Once you're on the island, talk to the Steward Construct, and you'll be asked to complete a trial run of the challenge before unlocking the nearby shrine.
Completing The Bravery Island Challenge
The basic rules of this challenge are the same. You'll have 35 seconds to pass through a series of rings, spending one Zonai charge for every attempt, but there is a twist: The rings won't stay in one place. Instead, they'll all move in a circular pattern as you approach them, meaning you'll have to make constant adjustments to your dive in order to hit them.
For this reason, it's best to complete this challenge last, as having both other pieces of the Glide Set makes hitting these moving rings a piece of cake. However, to do so within the time limit, you'll have to carry over tricks from previous challenges.
Follow the green light after passing through a ring, and don't be afraid to accelerate. If it looks like you'll miss a ring, open up your glider quickly to turn on the spot. While there's not much chance of hitting a floating rock in this challenge, you'll likely miss a ring or two on your various attempts, so come prepared with plenty of Zonai Charges in your inventory.
Once you complete the challenge, you'll be awarded the final piece in the Glide Set, the Glide Tights. However, as with the other challenges, there is a high score of 25 seconds that you can try to beat.
Upgrading The Glide Armor Set
The Glide Set on its own is a useful tool to have for exploring the skies above Hyrule, but it can do a lot more once it's been upgraded a bit at the Great Fairy Fountains. Once you've upgraded each piece of the Glide Set to the second level, you'll unlock the Impact Proof set bonus when wearing them all. This set bonus makes you completely impervious to fall damage of any kind, letting you dive from great heights without worrying about what you're going to do when you get to the ground.
If you're looking to upgrade the Glide Set to get the set bonus or just want it to have a bit more defense, here's what upgrading the set to each level will cost you:
|
Enhancement Level |
Armor's Defense (Total) |
Upgrade Cost (Rupees) |
Required Materials |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Basic |
6 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
One Star |
12 |
30 |
9 Keese Wings |
|
Two Stars |
18 |
150 |
15 Keese Wings, 18 Aerocuda Eyeballs |
|
Three Stars |
27 |
600 |
24 Aerocuda Eyeballs, 18 Aerocuda Wings |
|
Four Stars |
48 |
1500 |
30 Aerocuda Wings, 24 Gibdo Wings, 36 Gleeok Wings |