Waterblight Ganon
Waterblight Ganon from Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
Title | Scourge of the Divine Beast Vah Ruta | |
Games | ||
Dungeons | Divine Beast Vah Ruta | |
Rewards | ||
Threat |   | |
Attacks | Spear Jab | |
Effective | ||
Related | ||
Waterblight Ganon is a boss from Breath of the Wild and Age of Calamity. It was sent by Calamity Ganon to occupy the Divine Beast Vah Ruta.
Breath of the Wild
"This phantom of Ganon attacked the Divine Beast Vah Ruta and was responsible for the demise of the Champion Mipha. It attacks with a spear and ice magic."
Waterblight Ganon killed Mipha during the Great Calamity, taking control of Vah Ruta for Calamity Ganon, eventually serving as boss of the dungeon when Link came to free it of Ganon's control 100 years later. Due to Lanayru being in relative close proximity to Kakariko Village, it may well be the first Blight that Link encounters. If Link doesn't fight Waterblight Ganon inside of Vah Ruta, he will later encounter the boss in the Sanctum inside of Hyrule Castle, where it will be the second Blight that Link faces at the Sanctum.
In the EX Champion Mipha's Song DLC quest, Waterblight Ganon is fought again with limited equipment in the Illusory Realm.
Strategy
Phase 1
During the first phase of the battle, Waterblight Ganon will wield a massive spear and will attack you with it. The most risk-reward method of battling it is to wait for it to attack and then try to time a Perfect Dodge on it by hopping away at the last second, followed by a Flurry Rush where you can deliver a number of attacks in a short period of time. The much safer route is to keep your distance and use projectiles such as arrows, or even just tossing your weapons out at Waterblight Ganon.
Phase 2
After Waterblight Ganon has lost half its health, this will trigger the second phase of the battle. The room will flood with water and only four platforms remain. Waterblight Ganon will create a block of ice and launch it towards you. The block can be disintegrated by using the Cryonis ability, so be sure to keep that handy, or frozen with Stasis. As the battle progresses, Waterblight Ganon will begin to shoot three ice blocks out at a time, and then five ice blocks. These can be quite damaging, so be sure to have Cryonis readily available.
After you get rid of the ice blocks, there is an opening where you can shoot Waterblight Ganon with an arrow. After successfully hitting it, Waterblight Ganon will move to a different platform. It is best to just stay put, unless it moves to the platform close enough to where you are standing. Arrows with an elemental effect, such as Ice or Shock arrows, will often stun it long enough for you to get over and wail on it. Just repeat this process over and over until its health comes down. Occasionally Waterblight Ganon will use its spear to attack, at which point, just do your best to avoid it. If you can time a Perfect Dodge, this is another opportunity to get in a load of damage. It may also fire laser shots at Link from its eye.
If you do run out of arrows, then Perfect Dodges are about your only method of dealing damage. You can also freeze one of its ice blocks with Stasis, and then hit it back at it. You can damage it with bombs, but it is hard to get close to it.
Phase 2 Skip
It is actually possible to skip Phase 2 of the fight entirely, but this is extremely difficult, as Waterblight Ganon must be reduced all the way to 0 HP from above the Phase 2 threshold in a single frame. Difficult as it is, if an enemy is hit by Stasis+ and then multiple attacks are dealt to them while under the effect of Stasis+, all damage they would've taken during Statis+ will be dealt to them, instantaneously. Thus, it becomes possible for multiple hits to be dealt in the same frame to Waterblight Ganon, and possible for those hits to rack up enough damage.
Because Statis+ will wear off on Waterblight Ganon extremely quickly, the primary method to rack up enough damage on Waterblight Ganon is to get in midair for bullet time and spam enough bow shots to deal enough damage. Depending on the circumstances in which Waterblight is being fought, this may take anywhere from 800 to 2000 damage to kill the boss in one go; regardless, the best way to rack up that damage is to use a 5-shot Savage Lynel Bow with Ancient Arrows, Ancient Proficiency and a Lv3 Attack Up meal. If enough damage has been dealt, the upon the expiration of Statis+, Waterblight Ganon will instantly die; he will still do his Phase 2 transition, but the fight will end as soon as that cutscene ends.
Additionally, an alternative method for skipping Phase 2 of the Waterblight fight exists if Waterblight is the first of the four Blights to be fought, and is fought in Divine Beast Vah Ruta, giving it its lowest possible HP pool of 800. In this scenario, it is actually possible for a single hit to deal more than 400 damage with a sufficiently powerful weapon, skipping Phase 2 entirely if enough damage was done during Phase 1 without outright ending Phase 1. With Ancient Proficiency, a Lv3 Attack Up meal and a Critical Hit (caused by throwing a melee weapon), an Ancient-type weapon with 50 base attack or a Guardian-type weapon with 57 base attack can deal more than 400 damage when thrown, such that Phase 2 can be skipped if Phase 1 is carefully damaged down for a finishing throw. Notably, an Ancient Battle Axe++ deals 421 damage when thrown (requiring Waterblight take 379-399 damage beforehand), an Ancient Battle Axe++ with a maximum +15 might modifier deals 526 damage (requiring 274-399 damage beforehand) and an Ancient Bladesaw deals 445 damage (requiring 355-399 damage beforehand). Other Ancient- or Guardian- weapons can suffice, but great care must be taken not to deal too much damage to Waterblight before moving in for the kill, as otherwise Phase 2 will commence and landing a weapon throw will become difficult or unnecessary.
Health Points
As with all the Blights, this Blight's Health Points (HP) depend on a number of factors, including the place where they're fought, and given that circumstance, the number of Blights that have been defeated before it.
| Location of Fight | Location Dependent Calculation |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyrule Castle's Sanctum | HP + 3 × (HP / 2) Base HP for Blights at location = 800 Not dependent of previous encounters so: 800 + 3(800/2) = 2000 HP for every Blight |
2000 HP | 2000 HP | 2000 HP | 2000 HP |
| Divine Beast | HP + (Nº of previous Blights defeated) × (HP / 2) Base HP for Blights at location = 800 Dependent of previous encounters, as it's cumulative |
800 + 0(800/2) = 800 HP |
800 + 1(800/2) = 1200 HP |
800 + 2(800/2) = 1600 HP |
800 + 3(800/2) = 2000 HP |
| Illusory Realm (DLC)[HP 1] | HP + 4 × (HP / 2) Base HP for Blights at location = 500 Not dependent of previous encounters except for access to Illusory Realm, so: 500 + 4(500/2) = 1500 HP for every Blight |
1500 HP | 1500 HP | 1500 HP | 1500 HP |
Footnotes
- ↑ Unlocking EX The Champions' Ballad DLC requires defeating all the Blights, the recovery of the Divine Beasts and completion of their respective quests.
Age of Calamity
Waterblight Ganon was created by Calamity Ganon to corrupt the Divine Beast Vah Ruta and kill the Zora Champion Mipha. In the Water and Fire Scenario, it is seen battling the Zora princess and froze the water in the area which deprives Mipha of her usual way of attacking and it rushes at her with its icy flail and Cryonic formations and throws them at her. Before the attacks can land, the Gate of Time appears and Sidon emerges to block its attacks, refusing to lose her again to Mipha's surprise. Waterblight Ganon starts gaining the advantage over them, as Mipha approaches it despite knowing how strong it is, which Sidon protests against her doing so. Sidon's actions have brought enough time for Link and the heroes to catch up to them and with their combined efforts, Waterblight Ganon is slain, having failed to take Vah Ruta and kill its Zora pilot, which allows Mipha to help cool the lava flows to help them assist Daruk and Yunobo.
Waterblight Ganon is later revived through the sacrifice of the souls of the Yiga Clan by Astor along with the other Blights and the prophet sends them after Master Kohga and Sooga. During EX The Yiga Clan's Retreat The Guardian of Remembrance Scenario, Waterblight Ganon and its elemental counterparts chase down Master Kohga and Sooga until they have them surrounded until Sooga uses a Yiga technique to immobilize them and allow Kohga and the surviving Yiga Clanmates to escape without him. Sooga's final fate is currently unknown.
During the Each Step Like Thunder Scenario, Astor confronts Link, Princess Zelda, and Impa at Fort Hateno and summons the Blight Ganons to take their lives. Link battles them alone as Impa and Zelda flee, but the former breaks free and runs back and in the process, her power awakens, which stuns the blights and exorcizes the Guardians from corruption. The Blights recovered after a while and tried to prevent Purah and her allies from activating the failsafe, but they are defeated again.
In The Future of Hyrule, Waterblight Ganon and the other blights are the major enemies that the heroes encounter before facing Astor, Harbinger Ganon, and eventually Calamity Ganon. All of the blights are destroyed for good.
Waterblight Ganon's design is much more different than it was in Breath of the Wild, with it also wielding an ice flail in addition to its spear and utilizing more of its ice abilities, which makes it a much bigger threat. It is notably more challenging in the boss fight, even when the difficulty is set to Easy.