Tap Swimming

With the Hero's Clothes on, Link can only swim nearly directly upwards (pressing A) and diagonally up (holding control stick without pressing A), and the iron boots (or unpowered Magic Armor) allow for moving downward. This means that he normally can't swim sideways, but with tap swimming, he can.

How To

For swimming horizontally:

  1. While in the diagonal swimming animation (not pressing A), continue holding the control stick in the direction you want Link to move and toggle the iron boots on and off repeatedly
  2. The length of time the boots are on for each toggle as well as the frequency of the toggling determines whether Link will trend upwards or downwards while moving mostly horizontally
  3. Make sure not to leave the iron boots on long enough to make Link enter the sinking animation

Alternatively, for moving a little horizontally while mostly sinking:

  1. While sinking with the iron boots, continue holding the control stick in the direction you want Link to move and toggle the iron boots off and on repeatedly
  2. Make sure not to leave the iron boots off long enough to make Link enter the diagonal swimming animation if air is a concern

Example use

Pillar Clip

Players will often begin sinking into Lake Hylia for Pillar Clip before positioning Link directly above the pillar, so tap swimming a little horizontally while mostly sinking is necessary to position him correctly for the clip. After clipping through the wall, reaching the loading zone for Lakebed requires moving mostly horizontally and a little bit downward, so it is necessary to tap swim horizontally with a toggling rhythm frequent enough to make Link trend downward.

Note the horizontal speed watch on the right side of the screen in this example. Link's maximum horizontal speed is 8 in the diagonal swimming animation and 1.28 while wearing iron boots and sinking. For the sinking portion of the video, tap swimming allows the horizontal speed to reach 8 momentarily on each toggle but mostly stay low while Link sinks; in the horizontal swimming portion of the video, tap swimming keeps the horizontal speed at 8 most of the time but allows Link to descend slightly.

Other uses

Last updated 04/02/2024 – bewildebeest