Beating the final boss in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom can be done early, much like was possible in the game’s prequel, Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Players who start the new Nintendo Switch game will have to go through a series of tutorial missions that will introduce them to many new gameplay mechanics, including how to navigate Sky Islands scattered across Hyrule and Link’s new abilities in Tears of the Kingdom. In a sense, this is similar to BoTW’s Grand Plateau tutorial, which has players introduced to the main gameplay mechanics before setting them off into the open world.

Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s story and ending.After the main tutorial session is done, however, players can explore the new and reformed Hyrule freely, either going along with the campaign or exploring side quests to deepen their immersion into the new continent. Another option is concluding the game immediately after the tutorial by beating the final boss in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom early on, with no campaign progress. It is an extremely difficult feat to accomplish, but one that is, ultimately, possible for players who enjoy the challenge. Doing this will allow them to reach Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s ending within a few hours.

How To Reach The Final Boss In Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom

As demonstrated by Troyfu on YouTube, it is possible to reach the final boss of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom without completing any of the main missions asides from the tutorials. The first step is to head over to the Hyrule Castle Chasm and deep into Gloom’s Approach, at the bottom of the pit. There, they will need to navigate using their glider and find passages that enable them to continue exploring the depths of Hyrule Castle. This place is infested by Gloom, which is a very harmful substance that can break Link’s Hearts, making them unhealable through normal methods.

There are also many strong enemies that pose a threat to Link within Hyrule Castle Chasm, so players should avoid them as best as they can and spare resources (including Hearts) for the upcoming challenge.

Players will have to use Link’s new abilities to continue progressing through the area, such as Recall, which will take the hero back to where a platform originally was. As players progress further into the depths, they will eventually reach Forgotten Foundation. Shortly before this, the help of the sages will be disabled, as it is too deep. Exploring more of the area will lead them to the region that was where the first events of the game happened, and where the start of the final boss fight in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will take place.

The final step before heading into the ultimate challenge that leads to Ganondorf is blowing up a few walls and clearing a path into Gloom’s Lair.

Which Boss Fights To Expect Before Reaching Ganondorf In Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom

Once players reach the end of Gloom’s Lair, avoiding the Gloom spread across the floor, they will enter the main arena. Because players skipped most of the story, they will have to face all the dungeon bosses, sequentially, before starting their main encounter with Ganondorf himself. This is the challenge that players will have to take on before fighting the final boss and beating Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The first boss fight is The Demon King’s Army, which is really just a full set of mobs that are attacking Link.

Though the enemies themselves are not extremely hard to kill, they can swarm up on players who do not move around and clear them out appropriately. The Demon King’s Army battle has a total of four phases and can be very punishing on players’ resources, from arrows to healing foods. After the first boss is dealt with, the second encounter is against Colgera. As demonstrated by Nintendo Unity on YouTube, this fight is against a giant flying insect-like creature and, unlike the previous one, there is only one enemy on the field rather than large groups.

By beating the second boss fight, players trigger the third encounter that leads to Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s final boss. The next creature is Marbled Gohma. While Colgera’s fight was mostly in the air, this one grounds Link once again. The next encounter is against Mucktorok, a small squid-like beast that summons a land-shark creature to the battle. Following that, players will have to face Queen Gibdo, another giant enemy. This boss has moth-like elements in its design and moves around quite quickly.

The next boss is a giant mechanical opponent called Seized Construct. This fight happens in a fairly small arena, so players have to be more careful than ever, as they will also likely have had a few of their resources depleted from all the previous fights. The last boss fight that leads to the encounter of Ganondorf in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is against Phantom Ganon. Similar to The Demon King’s Army, there are multiple enemies on the field just waiting for the chance to strike Link.

The best strategy to beat Phantom Ganon is to pay close attention to dodge opportunities and move around often to not give other Phantoms the chance to land a hit on Link.

Phantom Ganon’s fight is not the hardest among all the boss fights in trials that lead to Ganondorf’s encounter, but it is very punishing and can see players consume a lot of resources if they make continuous mistakes. Beating Phantom Ganon is the last step necessary before facing Ganondorf, the game’s final boss. A few of these boss fights can be skipped if players have saved the sages throughout the campaign.

Strategy To Defeat The Final Boss In Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom

Once players reach the Demon King Ganondorf in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, they will have to prepare themselves for a lengthy fight. The big villain in Nintendo’s new Switch game has three distinct phases. The first one sees players face the reincarnated Gerudo form. Here, he is a strong and agile swordsman that occasionally uses Gloom powers to attack. He wields a katana, a kanabo, and a spear, and is even capable of dodging attacks. The trick to beating him is being wary of his moves and knowing when to sacrifice an attack in order to keep yourself safe.

When his HP bar is depleted, he will trigger a transformation and the start of his second phase. By using the power of a Secret Stone embedded in his forehead, he becomes enveloped in a new power, and multiple copies of Demon King Ganondorf are spread across the arena. The second portion of the final boss fight in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is extremely challenging. To beat it, players will need to try and clear out Ganondorf’s clones to allow Link to move around freely and safely.

Ganondorf’s second form will shoot out tracking projectiles against Link. To avoid it, players should run sideways and, even after they dissipate, continue running in the same direction for a short while in order to escape the boss’ follow-up dashing strike.

The second form that Ganon takes on is likely the hardest encounter in the entire game. Aside from his brute strength across his wide arsenal, Ganondorf also has clones on the field and is capable of dodging and counter-attacking Link’s own hits. After depleting his HP bar for the second time, he will consume his Secret Stone and trigger his third phase, which sees him transformed into a giant dragon. As Zelda assumes a dragon form in Tears of the Kingdom, she arrives to help Link and serve as a controllable platform so that the knight can appropriately position himself.

The third phase is a joyride in comparison to the first two phases, and even a relief if you consider the gauntlet of boss fights that led up until that moment. What players will need to do to finally beat the final boss fight in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is ride Zelda’s dragon form up into the sky, control Link and make him jump, glide, and then land on Demon Dragon’s back, and defeat the Eyes of Malice that are spread across the creature’s body.

It is not difficult to destroy the nodes on Demon Dragon, but players should be wary that they will suffer Gloom damage by simply stepping on the creature. The ideal scenario is to land as close as possible to the targets, quickly destroy them, and immediately jump off to return to Zelda’s head.

While players are soaring through the skies trying to reach Demon Dragon, the boss will shoot out Gloom projectiles that can hit Link. While Zelda in Tears of the Kingdom will occasionally put her body in front of these attacks, helping the hero, it is best to be careful and not take any unnecessary damage. Once all the nodes are dealt with, there is one final step: destroying the Secret Stone on the Demon Dragon’s head.

The task simply requires Link to land on the creature’s head and strike the stone. Once this is done, a short cutscene will play and prompt players to give it the final blow. By doing so, players will have beat the final boss in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and, thus, concluded the game’s campaign – even without going through campaign quests.

Source: Troyfu/YouTube, Nintendo Unity/YouTube

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  The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

  Summary:

  The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the anticipated follow-up to Breath of the Wild, released in 2017. A rare occurrence in Zelda titles, Tears of the Kingdom is a direct sequel instead of loosely connected. In Tears of the Kingdom, Link will take to the skies and learn about a mysterious kingdom in the clouds. Additionally, he will discover the secrets of the dark ones that dwell below and above the earth. The sequel is being built on the same engine as the original, with unique physics tools again being utilized. However, little about the plot and gameplay is known.

  Franchise:

  The Legend of Zelda

  Platform:

  Nintendo Switch

  Released:

  2023-05-12

  Developer:

  Nintendo EPD

  Publisher:

  Nintendo

  Genre:

  Action-Adventure

  ESRB:

  E10+

  Prequel:

  The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

  How Long To Beat:

  35-50 hours