You've probably spent way too much time manually sticking logs together with Ultrahand. It’s fun for the first hour. Then, it's a chore. If you're tired of rebuilding the same hoverbike every time you want to cross a ravine, you need to get autobuild in TotK as soon as humanly possible.
Honestly? It's the most important ability in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. It lets you instantly recreate anything you’ve built before by using nearby materials or spending Zonaite. But the game doesn’t just hand it to you. You could play for fifty hours and never find it if you don't like exploring the scary, pitch-black basement of Hyrule.
Where is the Autobuild Ability Hiding?
Most players miss this because they're too busy chasing shrines on the surface. To find it, you have to go into the Depths. Specifically, you're looking for the Great Abandoned Central Mine.
Getting there isn't actually that hard, but the atmosphere makes it feel like a suicide mission. You’ll want to head to the Great Plateau. Remember where the game started in Breath of the Wild? Go there. Look for one of the four chasms on the plateau. The easiest one is the North Chasm, right near the Forest of Spirits. Jump in. Don't forget to paraglide, or it's a very short trip.
Once you hit the bottom, look for lightroots. They’re your best friends. They light up the map. You need to head south toward the center of the plateau's underground footprint. If you see a massive structure that looks like an ancient factory, you're in the right place.
The Mystery of the Great Abandoned Central Mine
The Great Abandoned Central Mine is the heart of the Depths' mining operations. When you walk in, you'll see two researchers standing near a green circular pedestal.
Talk to them. Use the pedestal.
Suddenly, you have it. Autobuild.
The game forces a quick tutorial on you. There's a broken cart nearby. You use the new ability to fix it instantly. It feels like magic after hours of fiddling with the Ultrahand glue. But wait. There’s a catch. As soon as you fix that cart, a familiar face shows up. Master Kohga.
The Boss Fight You Weren't Expecting
Master Kohga is back, and he's as ridiculous as ever. This fight is basically a vehicle combat tutorial. Kohga rides around in a big, clunky steamroller-type machine.
Don't panic. He’s slow.
You can just shoot him with an arrow to stun him, then run up and whack him with your best sword. Alternatively, use the Zonai devices lying around. After you beat him, he flies off, swearing revenge and starting a massive side quest called "Master Kohga of the Yiga Clan."
Beating him here is vital because it unlocks the ability to actually use autobuild in TotK without the researchers hovering over your shoulder. Plus, you get a huge crystallized charge, which you need to upgrade your battery. If you want to fly across Hyrule without falling out of the sky every thirty seconds, you need those charges.
Why Autobuild Changes Everything
Before I found this, I was hesitant to build anything complex. Why spend five minutes making a tank if it’s just going to vanish when I walk too far away?
Autobuild stores your "History." It remembers the last 30 things you made. If you build a particularly genius flying machine, you can "Favorite" it so it never leaves your list.
Using Zonaite Instead of Parts
This is the real kicker. If you have the materials lying on the ground, Autobuild uses them for free. If you don't? It creates "green" versions of the parts out of thin air in exchange for Zonaite.
It's expensive at first. A single fan costs 3 Zonaite. A big build can easily cost 30 or 40.
This creates a new gameplay loop:
- Go to the Depths.
- Mine a ton of Zonaite.
- Use that Zonaite to instantly spawn your favorite planes and cars whenever you want.
It completely removes the friction from the building system. It turns the game from a "physics simulator" into a "superhero sandbox."
Finding Schematics to Expand Your Library
You aren't limited to just things you've built yourself. There are two types of blueprints you can find in the world: Yiga Schematics and Schema Stones.
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Schema Stones are usually given to you by Steward Constructs at other abandoned mines. There’s one at the Kara Kara Abandoned Mine and another at the Great Abandoned Central Mine if you talk to the construct after the boss fight. These give you "official" builds, like the Fanplane or the Hovercraft.
Yiga Schematics are found in Yiga camps scattered throughout the Depths. These are way more fun. They’re usually weird war machines or traps. To get them, you have to fly into a Yiga camp, find the guy with the red glowing aura, and knock him off his vehicle. Once he’s gone, the hut door unlocks, and you get the blueprint.
Pro Tips for Managing Your Builds
Managing your history is a bit of a pain. Since it only saves 30 items, your "History" gets cluttered with every random bridge or ladder you glued together for a single Korok seed.
Go into your Autobuild menu and look at the History tab. Press Y to "Favorite" your best designs. This moves them to a permanent list that won't get overwritten. You only get eight favorite slots, so choose wisely. My advice?
Keep a simple "Hoverbike" (two fans and a steering stick) as your first favorite. It's the most efficient way to travel in the entire game. Period.
Common Mistakes People Make with Autobuild
I've seen people get frustrated because their "green" parts (the ones made of Zonaite) disappear if they try to take them apart. This is intentional. You cannot "farm" parts by using Autobuild and then unsticking them. If you try to pull a Zonaite fan off a vehicle, it just vanishes into sparkles.
Also, the "range" of Autobuild is surprisingly large. If you're in a junk pile with twenty different pieces, you don't have to put them in a neat pile. Just stand in the middle, activate the ability, and it will suck all the nearby parts into the correct configuration like a magnet.
Actionable Next Steps to Mastery
Once you have the ability, don't just go back to the surface. The Depths are the only place to get the resources that make Autobuild viable.
- Farm the Frox: These giant frog monsters in the Depths drop massive amounts of Zonaite when you break the ore deposits on their backs.
- Visit the Forges: Take your raw Zonaite to the Forge Constructs (there's one right there at the Great Abandoned Central Mine) and trade it for Crystallized Charges.
- Upgrade your Battery: Take those charges to the Crystal Refinery just outside Lookout Landing. You’ll want at least two full batteries before you start relying on heavy machinery.
- Seek out the other Mines: There are abandoned mines under almost every major town on the surface (Gerudo Desert, Goron City, etc.). Each one has a chest with a Schema Stone and usually a boss or a quest.
Getting autobuild in TotK is basically the "End of the Tutorial." The game starts for real once you can spawn a laser-toting drone at a moment's notice. Head to the Great Plateau, find that chasm, and stop doing the manual labor yourself.