Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s 10 Hardest Boss Fights, Ranked

There are a lot of hard boss battles in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and ranking the top 10 toughest boss fights depends a lot on the player’s skills, weapons, and armor at the point at which they’re fought. The best fights require Link to utilize his entire skill set in quick succession, from his bow and arrow to his Flurry Rush to his Champion abilities. To stand up to the hardest bosses, the player must also combine these skills with fast reaction times, weak spots, and the ability to read the ways their opponents telegraph their incoming attacks.

While players are still discovering secrets in BOTW to this day, the expansion packs in particular go to great lengths to provide new combat challenges for the player, including The Master Trials DLC and The Champions’ Ballad DLC. Tears of the Kingdom will most likely build upon this pre-existing system, giving Link new abilities to weave into combat, raising the stakes even higher and out-competing even the most difficult boss fights from Breath of the Wild.

Related: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Release Date, Story, Trailer

10 BOTW’s Guardian Scout IV Protect The Hardest Shrines

The Guardian Scout IV model is found in the shrines of Breath of the Wild. The Guardian Scout IV uses three separate blades to attack, plus an in-built laser cannon for any players that try to attack from afar. This enemy’s design is creepy, partly resembling a spider and moving with an anxious, jittery pattern that feels unpredictable.

While BOTW‘s Ancient Shrines are known for their puzzles, these shrines test the player’s combat proficiency. Thankfully, Guardian-themed weapons are a great counter to this machine, and they also drop their own weapons upon defeat.

9 The Stone Talus Requires Precision Movements

The Stone Talus are golem-like enemies from Breath of the Wild. They trick the player into approaching them by sitting sedentary like regular boulders, but once approached will rise up and attempt to crush Link. Their first appearance is the most jarring: they are invulnerable to bladed weapons and arrows, making the player feel powerless.

However, once the player sees the ore deposit on the Stone Talus’ back, their weak spot becomes clear. Revali’s Gale is a great counter to these enemies, allowing Link to fly over the Stone Talus and land on their backs.

8 Breath of the Wild’s Guardians Snipe Link Down

BOTW‘s Guardians can be tough to defeat. Although they were originally created by the Sheikah, Ganon took them over just like the Divine Beasts and now uses them to hunt down any living beings that cross their path.

Their intimidation comes not only from their alien-robot aesthetic, but also from their incredibly powerful lasers and the foreboding score that accompanies their appearance. Their eye is the weak spot: an arrow hit with pinpoint precision can immobilize them temporarily. The player can also attack their underside, but this is far more heavily fortified.

7 Yiga Blademasters Can One-Hit Kill Link

The Yiga Blademasters are the most powerfulfoes from the Sheikah tribe’s enemies. When they’re met inside the Yiga Clan Hideout, Link is entirely defenseless. A single strike from the Yiga Clan Blademasters at this point will take Link out. However, they can also be comically distracted by bananas, and Yiga Clan members are known for theft, which makes them both intimidating and foolish.

Out in Hyrule Field, Breath of the Wild’s Yiga Clan Blademasters can also catch the player off-guard. Thankfully, Link is typically better equipped to face them one-on-one out here, bringing them down in a fair fight.

Related: Zelda: Breath Of The Wild – The 10 Best NPCs, Ranked

6 BOTW’s Elemental Blight Ganons Are Stronger In The Champion’s Ballad DLC

The different blights of Ganon serve as the main story quest bosses of BOTW. Each blight lives inside a different corrupted Divine Beast and weaponizes a different element to protect their quarry. Waterblight Ganon is perhaps the easiest and can be countered using the Cryonis ability.

Thunderblight Ganon is definitely the hardest, electrocuting Link with lightning bolts that can make him drop his weapons and stun-lock him into submission. In the DLC, blights must be fought again but with constrained resources that force the player to use strategy and wits to defeat them.

5 Breath of the Wild’s Gold-Maned Lynels Set A Challenge For Masters

Gold-Maned versions of the notoriously smart Lynels from Breath of the Wild only appear in Master Mode, a special mode available in The Master Trial DLC. Lynels of any sort are notoriously difficult: they’re the toughest enemies found freely around Hyrule, with large sweeping attacks and the ability to close distance quickly with a devastating charge.

Gold-Maned Lynels are by far the most difficult: they have 7500 HP, use a jump shockwave attack that knocks Link back, and can spit out spheres of flame. Players should only bring their best equipment and be willing to fight with patience, waiting until after the Lynel’s attacks to strike.

4 Calamity Ganon Has Flexible Difficulty

While Zelda fans are hoping to learn more known about Calamity Ganon’s origins, he serves as the final boss of the whole story in Breath of the Wild. His form looks like a twisted abomination of Sheikah technology and scarlet-colored Malice. Calamity Ganon uses many of the elemental attacks previously seen in the blight fights, but these are relatively easy to avoid.

His Guardian sword attacks, however, are much faster and are better blocked than countered. Calamity Ganon is most difficult if the player decides to face it without having reclaimed any of the Divine Beasts, heading straight to Hyrule Castle after The Great Plateau.

3 Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s Molduking Requires Precise Timing

The Molduking is an upgraded form of the annoying Molduga enemy from Breath of the Wild that is only available in The Champions’ Ballad DLC. In theory, the Molduking follows the same strategy as the Molduga: plant a bomb tactically, let Molduking swallow it up when it jumps out of the sand, then slash it while it’s stunned.

However, this is easier said than done as the Molduking is incredibly fast, doesn’t stay stunned for as long, and hits much harder than its inferior Molduga brethren. Annoyingly, the Molduking will also try to flee on low health forcing you to chase it for the kill, much like in Monster Hunter.

Related: Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Is Set Up For A Heartbreaking Moment

2 Breath of the Wild’s Igneo Talus Titan Pits Link Against The Terrain

Another enemy introduced in The Champions’ Ballad DLC for Breath of the Wild is the Igneo Talus Titan. Much like the aforementioned Stone Talus, the Igneo Talus Titan keeps its weak point hidden behind it. However, this time the player can’t run up to the Igneo. Thanks to the diversity in the map of Hyrule, the floor is covered with a lava puddle.

This fight requires Link to go airborne, either using the lava’s updraft with his paraglider or using Revali’s Gale. The player then needs to use an ice arrow to cool down the beast before taking on its ore deposit. The combination of midair combat and the tank-like enemy make this fight an endurance match.

1 Monk Maz Koshia Sets a Not-So-Friendly Challenge

Monk Maz Koshia is the final boss of The Champion’s Ballad DLC, and earns his spot as a fight even tougher than anything seen in the base game. Although Maz Koshia is Link’s friend, this fight is a trial to ensure that Link is worthy of the Champion’s mount: the Master Cycle Zero, a motorcycle with which to freely traverse Hyrule.

In this massive eight-minute fight, Maz Koshia will progress through five different phases that see him channel the attacks of the Yiga Clan, Thunderblight Ganon, and the Guardians. Monk Maz Koshia demands mastery of every combat technique the player has used in Breath of the Wild.

More: Great Breath Of The Wild Locations That Tears Of The Kingdom Must Include

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