Thunderblight Ganon
Thunderblight Ganon from Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
Title | Scourge of the Divine Beast Vah Naboris | |
Games | ||
Dungeons | Divine Beast Vah Naboris | |
Rewards | ||
Threat |   | |
Attacks | Electric Balls | |
Effective | ||
Related | ||
Thunderblight Ganon is a boss in Breath of the Wild and Age of Calamity. It was sent by Calamity Ganon to corrupt the Divine Beast Vah Naboris.
Breath of the Wild
" This phantom of Ganon attacked the Divine Beast Vah Naboris and was responsible for the demise of the Champion Urbosa. It specializes in quick, lightning-based attacks."
Thunderblight Ganon killed Urbosa during the Great Calamity, eventually serving as boss of the dungeon when Link came to free it of Ganon's control 100 years later. If Link doesn't fight Thunderblight Ganon inside of Vah Naboris, he will later encounter the boss in the Sanctum inside of Hyrule Castle, where he will be the last Blight that Link faces there. Due to its blinding speed, Thunderblight Ganon is the most difficult Blight to encounter and one of the most difficult bosses in the game.
In the EX Champion Urbosa's Song DLC quest, Thunderblight Ganon is fought again with limited equipment in the Illusory Realm.
Strategy
Phase 1
During the first phase of the battle, it is recommended to stay on the bottom floor where there is the most space to work with. Thunderblight Ganon has two attacks during this initial phase. The first will have him launch some electric balls at you and these can be easily avoided by just moving to the side. Its other attack involves him quickly moving around the room, warping to three spots in a matter of a second, with the third spot being right next to Link. It'll then deliver a vicious sword slash. The best method to attack him during this phase is to hold out your shield, and just before it's about to attack you, do a backflip. If you time it right, you can perform a Flurry Rush. Equip your best one or two-handed weapon to do the most damage. Repeat this method until half its health is gone.
Phase 2
The second phase of the battle involves Thunderblight Ganon dropping several stakes into the ground and then electrifying them, along with a small area right around them. You want to use your Magnesis ability here. Right when it tosses the stakes into the ground, run away so you aren't immediately near any of them. Then use your Magnesis to grab one to the stakes before it gets destroyed. Lift it up and push it towards Thunderblight Ganon to cause damage. This is easier to do from a higher elevation as opposed to the ground floor.
During the second part of the second phase, it is recommended to drop back down to the bottom area. This phase is similar to the first phase, except Thunderblight Ganon is now electrified and hyper-aggressive. If you have a metal shield, be sure to un-equip it. You will want to do a lot of running away during this phase, avoiding at all costs its electric attacks. When it does its warping attack, instead of slashing once, it will slash three to five times in a row. Thus, if you are performing a backflip to do a Flurry Attack if you do not time it perfectly, it will almost certainly hit you on its second or third sword slash. When its sword and shield are electrified, I would recommend just sprinting away from all of his sword slash attacks, and then just totally smash the attack button while it is using his sword.
When Thunderblight Ganon's health is low, it will perform a charged laser shot at you. It is advised to avoid trying to do a Perfect Guard of this, instead, just run away or hide behind a pillar so that the laser does not harm you. Alternatively, you could take a big risk and try to deal a lot of damage to it while it is charging its laser.
Phase 2 Skip
It is actually possible to skip Phase 2 of the fight entirely, but this is extremely difficult, as Thunderblight 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 Thunderblight Ganon, and possible for those hits to rack up enough damage.
Because Statis+ will wear off on Thunderblight Ganon extremely quickly, the primary method to rack up enough damage on Thunderblight Ganon is to get in midair for bullet time and spam enough bow shots to deal enough damage. Depending on the circumstances in which Thunderblight is being fought, this may take anywhere from 800-2000 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+, Thunderblight 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 Thunderblight fight exists if Thunderblight is the first of the four Blights to be fought, and is fought in Divine Beast Vah Naboris, 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 Thunderblight 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 Thunderblight before moving in for the kill, as otherwise Phase 2 will commence and landing a weapon throw will become difficult or unnecessary.
Notes
- Since Thunderblight's strategy depends on giving electric shocks to Link, it's recommended to use non-metallic weapons like bone weapons and ancient weapons, since they're not conductive, so Link can't drop them when attacked.
- Thunderblight's electric attacks can be completely neutralized by wearing the ★★ tier Rubber Set, or having Level 3 Shock Resistance.
- Armor that provide some electric resistance includes the ★★ tier Desert Voe Set and the Opal Earrings, neither of which provides immunity like the aforementioned Rubber Set.
- It's not possible to ever engage Thunderblight Ganon wearing the Thunder Helm anywhere because acquiring it for usage depends entirely on the defeat of said blight. It can't even be used in the Illusory Realm because the weaponry and armor are preset there, with no real-world inventory items being available.
- As shown in the next section disclosing Blight HP, if choosing to engage the Blights by entering the Divine Beasts, it's not recommended to engage Thunderblight Ganon last, since it's the most powerful and difficult to fight of all the blights. Engaging it last out of the four Blights will give it the most HP.
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
Thunderblight Ganon makes its appearance after Calamity Ganon emerges with its goal being to corrupt Divine Beast Vah Naboris and take the Champion Urbosa's life. Urbosa is trapped inside when she confronts it, and she gets into a sword fight with it, and she is pushed to her limit which she is tossed to the lower levels of Naboris and drops to her knee in exhaustion as Thunderblight Ganon goes in for the kill. Before hope is lost for the Gerudo Champion, the Gate of Time appears as Riju and Patricia emerge and ram into Thunderblight Ganon before it could reach Urbosa, who tells her that they need to focus on the battle for now. Thunderblight Ganon starts to gain the upper hand with its speed, but help arrives in the nick of time as Link and his friends managed to destroy Thunderblight Ganon, so Urbosa can use Naboris's lightning to create an updraft on top of Mt. Rhoam so they can save Revali and Teba.
After noticing that the Champions and the Divine Beasts were spared, Astor sacrifices the Yiga Clansman and uses their souls to revive Thunderblight Ganon and the other blights and sends them to attack Master Kohga and Sooga. During the EX The Yiga Clan's Retreat Guardian of Remembrance Scenario, the Blight Ganons pursue the Yiga Clan relentlessly with intent on taking their lives and had both Kohga and Sooga at their mercy, but the latter used a Yiga technique to immobilize them and urges Kohga and the other survivors to flee, leaving him with the four demonic monsters alone. Sooga's final fate in the battle is currently uncertain.
During the Each Step Like Thunder Scenario, Astor summons Thunderblight Ganon as well as the other blights upon encountering Link, Princess Zelda, and Impa in order to defeat them. Link faces them alone while Impa and the princess flee, but the latter does not want to lose Link and turns back and as she did, her power is unleashed, and it stuns the Blights and powers down the Guardians. The Blights recovered enough to try to stop Purah and her allies from activating the failsafe with Thunderblight Ganon preventing the ancient furnace from working, but they are defeated again.
During The Future of Hyrule Scenario, Thunderblight Ganon and the other blights are faced off for the last time before they are slain for good before the confrontation with Astor, Harbinger Ganon, and evenutally Calamity Ganon itself.
Thunderblight Ganon's design has been changed slightly; its weapons are still the same, yet they are electrified and constantly surrounded by yellow-green electricity and utilizes balls of electricity against its foes and it can create multiple clones of itself to overwhelm its adversaries. The fight against it is altered to make it somewhat easier and more balanced, even when the difficulty is set to Easy.