Demon King Ganondorf
- This article is about the boss fight with Demon King Ganondorf. For his character profile, see Ganon#Tears of the Kingdom.
The Demon King Ganondorf, upon switching to his second phase
Title | The Menace Unleashed | |
Race | ||
Gender | Male | |
Games | ||
Location | ||
Quests | ||
Dungeons | ||
Rewards | N/A | |
Threat |  | |
Attacks | ||
Effective | ||
Weapons Used | ||
Health | 2,500 HP (first phase) | |
Related | ||
Demon King Ganondorf is the penultimate boss of Tears of the Kingdom. He is encountered at Gloom's Origin, all the way at the bottom of the final passageway deep beneath Hyrule Castle, and is responsible for the Gloom that blankets the Depths and all previous bosses before him. He is the only boss to have two different entries in the Hyrule Compendium, one for his initial phase, and another for his second/third phase.
Battle
"An evil man who lived long ago in the era of Hyrule's founding. He was imprisoned beneath Hyrule Castle for ages, but the magic weakened, and his power has been steadily growing since. Now he has revived as a threat beyond the knowledge of any. A master of every known weapon, he will not hesitate to crush any foe who stands in his way."
When Demon King Ganondorf is first encountered towards the end of the game, he still resembles his mummified "phantom" self, resting in a nest made of Gloom where his power is being restored. He fully reappears after slamming his fist down into the nest causing a tremendous Gloom eruption, which fully restores his original Gerudo form as it was before the game's Imprisoning War. In battle, he will often attack Link with his Gloom Sword, but can at any point switch over to a Demon King's Bow, a Gloom Spear or a Gloom Club, with which every attack he does disables heart containers. In addition to that, Ganondorf unleashes with his bow and club some swarms of gloom wraiths that upon making contact with Link permanently take away one of his hearts, though it will deal standard damage if Link is down to just 1 Heart Container (this damage would otherwise be fatal, but it can be withstood with 1-hit protection) and reduce durability of all weapons and shields other than the Master Sword it touches at 1. Unlike any previous boss in Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom, Ganondorf is the only other person capable of executing a Perfect Dodge besides Link, and will perform a counter-dodge if Link attacks first. It is recommended to wait for him to dodge your attack, and then perform a Perfect Dodge on his counterattack, which will leave him vulnerable to a Flurry Rush. He has 2500 HP in this phase.
"The fearsome form that Demon King Ganondorf attained after unleashing the power of the secret stone. The ancient sages were no match for him and only barely managed to contain his devastating power. The gloom he produces is a corrosive substance so foul that it can wither anyone who touches it."
When his health bar is depleted, Ganondorf will activate his Secret Stone, transforming his clothes into a glowing red fiery texture, growing his now glowing red hair tremendously long, and restoring his health bar, extending it all the way to the edge of the screen, effectively doubling its max. This massive health bar contains 5000 HP, though there is a stopper halfway through (where normal healthbars stop), effectively creating two more phases with 2500 HP each. A pool of gloom now follows him almost everywhere he navigates in the arena, and he will spawn multiple Phantom Ganons to attack Link at the same time. At this point, the other Sages join Link in the battle, each fighting one of the Phantom Ganons while Link battles the real Ganondorf himself.
When Ganondorf reaches half of his new max health, he will dispel his Phantom Ganons and shove all the sages away, effectively stunning them and turning back the battle to a duel. During this effective third phase, he unleashes many more gloom wraiths with all his weapons and can even Perfect Dodge Link's Flurry Rush. It becomes more recommended to now do Perfect Guard or at least attack him first to have to deal with only one Perfect Dodge instead of waiting to dodge his attack first. When his health has been fully depleted and he is nearing death, Ganondorf rips his Secret Stone from his forehead and swallows it, effectively turning into what becomes the fourth phase of the boss battle, the Demon Dragon.
In all of his phases, Ganondorf is 80% resistant to Beam Emitters, should the player try to use them on him.
Strategy
Despite his extremely high HP, there actually exists but one weapon that is capable of killing each of Ganondorf's three phases in a single Flurry Rush. A Royal Halberd✨ fused with either a Molduga Jaw (and +7 Attack Up mod or better) or Stalnox Horn (with a +10 Attack Up mod; any lower and Ganondorf survives), in conjunction with Bone Attack Up armor, a Lv3 Attack Up meal and 11 hits of a Flurry Rush will deal over 2500 damage in one go, instantly ending each of Ganondorf's three phases. Other weapons with the exact same combination such as Knight's Halberd✨ (at low HP), Lightscale Trident (while wet, no +Attack mod) or even Royal Broadsword✨ can get close to the 2500 damage mark, but don't quite reach it, even with a maximum +10 Attack Up mod.
Another cheap way to quickly kill Ganondorf is by throwing low-durability (3 or less durability) Royal Guard's Claymores with Gibdo Bones at him. With a Lv3 Attack Up meal, Bone Attack Up armor, this already deals 1231 damage per thrown claymore; two thrown claymores will deal 2462 damage, leaving Ganondorf with just 38 HP left before the end of his current phase, at which point any decent bow will be sufficient to finish him off. Additionally, getting +Atk mods on any of the claymores will push them over the 1250 damage mark, as will using Royal Guard's Claymore✨'s as the base weapon. With six such claymores and (if using unupgraded, decayed claymores) a bow, Ganondorf can be quickly killed in under 90 seconds.
Gallery
Ganondorf in first phase
Ganondorf in second phase
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Trivia
- Like Calamity Ganon, this Ganondorf doesn't hold the Triforce of Power but instead draws his power from his own Secret Stone.
- In his Demon King form, Ganondorf shares a strong resemblance to Demise from Skyward Sword, sharing its coal black skin, flaming red hair and the title of Demon King.
- Ganondorf's appearance has a samurai motif, with all his weapons being of Asian origin (his sword is a katana, his mace a kanabō, his spear a naginata and his bow a yumi) and his Demon King form resembles a typical description of an Oni.
- When Link enters the battle, the Master Sword is recharged and has infinite durability.
- Unlike in Breath of the Wild, completing the dungeons does not reduce Ganondorf's maximum life points. Here, the Sages will enter the battle in the second phase and distract the Phantom Ganons, so Link is no longer overwhelmed and can focus on the Gerudo.