Bosses

The useful thing to know about a boss in Tears of the Kingdom is not how hard it is but how many of it there are. A fight you can only have once is a story beat; a fight Hyrule holds 49 copies of is a farm. Our 21 boss pages happen to state the population for nearly every one of them, so this guide runs from the single-copy fights at the top of the world down to the ogres you will trip over in every region, and notes which of the one-offs the Depths lets you fight again after a Blood Moon. Each name links to the full strategy.

One copy, one chance

Ganondorf waits at the bottom of the Hyrule Castle Chasm and is fought in three stages, the last of them airborne against the Demon Dragon; there is no second Ganondorf anywhere in the game. Two more story fights are just as singular. Moragia rises from the Death Mountain crater and is beaten by grabbing a Zonai Wing and firing Yunobo at each of its three heads; Sludge Like ambushes you at Mipha Court, dies to strikes on the purple tongue Sidon's water exposes, and leaves a Royal Claymore. The Seized Construct at the end of the Spirit Temple is a two-phase gloom fight you have inside Mineru's own construct, and Marbled Gohma and Mucktorok close the Fire and Water Temples in two phases each, Gohma's rock armor cracked by Yunobo and Mucktorok's sludge shark cleaned off with Splash Fruit and Sidon's shield. Each temple boss drops a Heart Container and a sage's vow, which is why the quests guide ranks those four quests above everything else.

One copy, then a Depths rematch

Two temple bosses have a second life underground, and our pages give the spots. Colgera, the Wind Temple's ice serpent that you dive through twice per ring, reappears in the Depths west of the Great Abandoned Central Mine and comes back after every Blood Moon, dropping Colgera's Jaw for fusing each time. Queen Gibdo, whose three-phase fight starts outside the Lightning Temple and ends on its roof after the four batteries are charged, waits north of the Abandoned Kara Kara Mine afterwards and pays Gibdo Wings, an arrow fusion that adds range and damage. The temple version is the one that pays the Heart Container; the Depths version pays parts.

Three or four: the tiered and the recurring

A boss that exists in three or four versions is a ladder, and our pages climb each one. Lynels come in four tiers with stated health: Red-Maned at 2,000 HP around Tanagar Canyon, on the West Hyrule Plains and in North Akkala Valley, Blue-Maned at 3,000 on Stalry Plateau and below the Hebra West Summit, White-Maned at 4,000 on Kamah Plateau and Risoka Snowfield, and Silver at 5,000. Every tier drops the Lynel weapons and horns the Barbarian set's upgrades demand. Flux Constructs come as I, II and III and all die the same way, Ultrahand pulling the glowing core cube out of the body, for a bundle of Zonai Charges and devices. Phantom Ganon has three weapon types and appears wherever you burn away Gloom Hands, with one fight throwing five sword phantoms at you in the first wave; the reward is the weapon it carried, which is why the Demon King's Bow is a farm. Master Kohga is fought four times, once each at the Great Abandoned Central Mine, the Abandoned Gerudo Mine, the Abandoned Lanayru Mine and the Abandoned Hebra Mine, and each arena changes the fight more than he does.

The Gleeoks are the same shape at three counts. Our Frost Gleeok page places three on the surface, all in cold regions, each dropping up to three horns, three wings and guts and returning with the Blood Moon. The King Gleeok page counts four, three in the sky and one in the Gleeok Den under the Great Hyrule Forest, and this is the one boss on our pages that pays a Sage's Will. Every Gleeok fight has two halves: on the ground until half health, then airborne, which is when the rockets on your shield earn their keep.

A few, in one region

The Thunder Gleeok is found at a few surface spots and asks for the Rubber set and no metal gear before you target each head from the air; it drops three wings and Thunder Horns. The Igneo Talus lives in Eldin Canyon and its Depths, with one guaranteed inside the Death Mountain East Tunnel while the Death Caldera Crystal quest is running, and pays Ruby, Flint and Amber. The plain Stone Talus is the beginner version: an arrow to the crystal on its back, a climb, a sword to the crystal, and Opal, Amber, Ruby and Luminous Stones on the ground afterwards with a glowing heart among them.

Nine to eighteen: the Depths' population

Three bosses exist in numbers that turn them into routes. Frox, the one-eyed frog of the Depths, has around nine copies and 700 HP each; stun it, then smash the ore on its back, and bring the Depths set because it sits in Gloom. Its armored cousin the Obsidian Frox has 16 copies mapped and 2,200 HP, and a Bomb Arrow into the open mouth is the safe way in. The Battle Talus has 18 across the surface and the Depths and none in the sky; each carries a rare ore deposit that mostly breaks into Diamonds, which makes the 18 of them the most reliable Diamond farm on our pages, and each drops a Battle Talus Heart for fusing.

Forty-nine: the Hinox

The Hinox is the most common boss in the game by a wide margin. Our page maps 49 of them, 19 in the Depths and 30 on the surface, in Regular, Blue and Black variants; the Black one wears metal armor and needs a Shock Arrow or Shock Fruit to open its eye. Every Hinox drops three monster parts and a random fruit, so 49 of them is a supply chain rather than a boss list. Its cousin for the Monster-Control Crew quests is the reason so many of the Bring Peace hunts end at one.

Frequently asked questions

Which bosses can be fought again?

Colgera and Queen Gibdo return in the Depths after every Blood Moon, as do the Gleeoks. Master Kohga is fought four times by design. Ganondorf, Moragia, Sludge Like, the Seized Construct, Marbled Gohma and Mucktorok are once only on our pages.

Which boss drops a Sage's Will?

The King Gleeok, of which there are four. Every other Sage's Will is a sky island pickup covered in the items guide.

What is the toughest enemy in the game?

By stated health, the Silver Lynel at 5,000 HP. Our Lynel page covers the headshot-and-parry routine that applies to all four tiers, and the combat tips roundup covers the fundamentals underneath it.