The time has come to lip sync for your… oh, wait, wrong subject! Ahem, it’s time for us to master how to beat Ganondorf in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom.
Spoilers are ahead! If you don’t want to know how this ends, don’t continue reading.
It’s been a long time coming, and while there’s plenty of side quests to still do, we can’t keep avoiding the Demon King forever. Eventually, we need to defeat him so that we can get Zelda back.
But the question is how – how do we find him, and how do we land that fatal blow? All this will be revealed in this meaty guide (this is going to be a looooooong one). So, without further ado, let’s begin.
Table of Contents
How To Beat The Demon King In Zelda Tears Of The Kingdom
The key to this battle is preparation: you need to cook a lot of Sundelion meals to replenish hearts destroyed by Gloom if you’re to beat Ganon. Equipping Gloom resistant armour and/or eating Gloom resistant meals will also improve your odds.
Beating Ganon isn’t really about skill, it’s about preparation.
If you start this fight without a sufficient supply of meals, items, and weapons, Link will die quite quickly. Especially during phase two of the fight.
To make this guide as accessible as possible, I’ve clearly split each phase into its own section, meaning if you only need help with only one of them, you can go directly to it. With that editorial note out of the way, it’s time to begin phase one of the final battle!
Phase One – The Demon King’s Army
When you reach the lowest part of the Depths, you’ll be confronted with a whole army of enemies, all of whom are infected by the Gloom. Although this sounds daunting, it’s by far the easiest part of the final boss battle.
There are four waves of enemies:
- Bokoblins
- Lizalfos
- Gibdos
- Moblins
Fortunately, you’ll have the Sages with you, meaning you can use their abilities to easily beat back the tide of enemies. Of course, while the Sages are a great help, having Flower Bombs, Shock Fruit, Fire Fruit, and an abundance of arrows helps too.
You might lose some hearts to the Gloom here, but nothing substantial.
Once you’ve defeated Ganon’s army, the bosses from each temple will appear, ready for another round. But not with you – the Sages will take care of them while you go to deal with Ganon.
Phase Two – How To Beat The Demon King
Now it’s just you and the Demon King himself.
If Ganon hits Link, you’ll lose hearts to the Gloom; the damage itself isn’t too bad… provided you have enough Sundelion meals. Without those, you won’t make it through.
For those of you who used my guide on how to defeat Phantom Ganon, the strategies outlined there are much the same here, only now you’re dealing with one Ganon not several.
Dodging and Parrying will make this battle so much easier, simply because Ganon has a range of attacks, including:
- Charging
- Swiping
- Slamming
Truth be told, you’ll likely encounter all three of these attacks, as Ganon will change his weapon during the fight.
Although you can use other weapons against him, the Master Sword is Link’s best bet.
Once you’ve weakened Ganondorf, we’ll enter into phase two part b, with Ganon growing much larger and more powerful. Also, he massively overcompensates with an enormous health bar, but let’s not get into that…
Phantom Ganons will now join in, but luckily the Sages will come to join the party. They’ll deal with the clones, while you take on the big guy.
Alongside the attacks I mentioned above, Ganondorf will explode with Gloom, fire Gloom projectiles, and basically make this a nightmare. Worst of all, once his health is down halfway (yet again), he wipes out the Sages, leaving you to face him alone.
Whatever you do, avoid the Gloom he fires at you as you can’t replenish the hearts it takes.
Personally, I found waiting for Ganon to attack allowed me to doge out of the way, before quickly attacking him from behind without too much damage done to Link.
Before you start to celebrate, the Demon King isn’t done yet. I’m sorry, but we’re about to enter the third and final phase of the battle.
However, I would say phase two of how to beat Ganondorf in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom is the worst of the three stages, so this next bit will be super easy.
Phase Three – How To Beat The Demon Dragon
Oh yeah, we’re about to experience an epic dragon battle. Before you panic you’ll have to face down a dragon without any help, allow me to reassure you that Zelda will come flying in to save the day.
Link will ride on her back, then jump off to glide towards the infected spots on the Demon Dragon’s body.
Should you end up falling, Zelda will come and catch Link, saving him from a somewhat gruesome death.
Ganon will breathe Gloom balls at Link, but you can easily glide out of the way.
Once on the Demon Dragon, simply target those weak spots to do maximum damage. Then you repeat this process until the Secret Stone on Ganon’s head glows – this is your cue to target it. Land on the dragon’s face and strike the killing blow to (finally) beat Ganondorf.
And it’s done: you’ve successfully figured out how to beat Ganondorf in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, and you won!
Now it’s time to sit back, relax, and enjoy several touching cutscenes. Of course, if you’re eager to keep exploring, might I suggest you learn how to get Autobuild, and discover all Great Fairy locations in TOTK.
