The Final Fight

Time to take on Ganondorf. This is a four-phase fight, so be ready for a lengthy battle!

Ganon’s Puppet - Zelda

Ganon initially takes control of Princess Zelda’s body to attack you. She can float above the battlefield, rendering her immune to your sword attacks, and will dodge any projectiles that you launch her way. So...how do you beat her?

The answer, as usual, is that you have to turn her attacks against her. She has three: a very rare swooping attack with her sword, which can be shielded against; a triforce-shaped glow on the ground which will hit you for one heart container unless you leave the area before it zaps you; and an energy ball that she’ll charge up on the end of her sword and fling at you. It’s this last attack that you have to reflect back to her.

Video Walk-through

Zelda and Ganon's first form require some specific methods to kill.

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How? Well, your shield attack won’t do the job. No, you have to slash your sword at the energy ball to send it back to Zelda. Just wait until it’s on its way, hit the ball with your sword, and it’ll be reflected back towards Zelda. The catch? You have to be almost underneath her to actually pull the maneuver off. If you slash the ball from far away, you’ll have an easy time doing so, but she’ll simply reflect it right back to you. No, you have to be quite close to pull this maneuver off. We preferred to stay almost underneath her and use the spin attack to reflect the ball when it was thrown. Getting the timing down right is tricky, but it can be done with a bit of practice.

Dark Beast - Ganon

Ganon now shifts into his own wolf form, although it’s really more of a mutant wolf/boar/thing. He doesn’t really have attacks here, per se, he just charges at you and attempts to trample you, and he’ll usually be successful. Sometimes he’ll also teleport away and materialize above your head, like Blizzeta. Watch for ominous shadows and dodge out of the way.

Equip your Hero’s Bow here and use it to shoot the white target on Ganon’s forehead when he charges at you. When you hit it, the beast will flip over onto its side and slide towards you, so try to get your shield up as quickly as possible to avoid damage. Regardless of whether you’re successful or not, you have to quickly move around to Ganon’s exposed belly and hit it with your sword.

He may be big, but you've got Midna on your side.

After a couple of successful belly-attacks, Ganon will start to teleport just before your arrow connects with his forehead. This is your cue to shift to wolf form and go lupus a lupus. Wait for Ganon to teleport, then look at the shifting teleport portals that will appear on one side of the arena. One of them will eventually turn blue, just a couple of seconds before Ganon bursts out of it and charges at you. If you face the blue portal, and stand around halfway across the room from it, Ganon will bust out and you’ll get a "Grab" prompt just before he hits you. Hit the A button to grab him, then tilt the analog stick to one side to throw him to the ground. Then, again, run around to his belly and attack it.

In wolf form, he’ll survive two series of jump-attack-and-gnarly-muches, so after the first go-round, smash some jars and get your health back up. There’s a fairy in the jar to the left of the door that’ll give you a nice big boost, so grab that, then grab Ganon again and attack his belly to finish him off.

Dark Lord - Ganondorf: Horseback

You’ll find yourself jousting with Ganon from the back of Epona at this point, while Zelda attempts to help you out by shooting light arrows from her bow. Ganon will attempt to rush you at times and drop you from the horse, but this attack rarely hits; more problematic is his ability to summon five spectral horsemen and send them flying at you while you attempt to pursue him. The horsemen are fairly well spaced, though, so as long as you approach them straight on you can usually dodge between them.

Video Walk-through

We got pretty lucky during this fight, in that Zelda made all her bow shots.

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In order to take Ganon down, you have to stay close enough to him for Zelda to fire her light arrows. This will require you to use the spurs on Epona; try using as many as four or five to get close to Ganon, and turn along with him to cut him off when he turns. When she manages to hit Ganon with an arrow, he’ll glow with light and slow down quite a bit, allowing you to use your final spur counters to close with him and hit him with your sword. It’s best just to try and slash him from the side, although you can also use your spin attack while riding (which would seem to break Link’s back if he really tried it, but hey, it’s a fantasy game).

That’s more or less the long and short of it. Dodge ghost riders, shoot light arrow, get close, hit him with sword. Complications arise in the way that Zelda will often miss with her arrows, especially when Ganon’s turning, but so long as you stay close, she’ll keep trying. She doesn’t run out of ammo or anything, so just stay close and take the guy down.

(Note that if you’re watching our video for this section, we got very lucky and Zelda didn’t miss many of her shots. Normally the battle is a bit more drawn out.)

Dark Lord - Ganondorf: The Duel

Last, but not least, Ganon will unsheathe the sword that was so kindly given him by the sages of the Mirror of Twilight, and confront you in battle. You’ve got no help from Epona or Zelda here; this is truly a one-on-one fight for the ages. Only your Master Sword can be used here; nothing else will damage Ganon.

Ganon moves and acts similarly to one of the armored knights that you’ve fought a few times in the game, but first encountered just before you won the Dominion Rod. In other words, he’s big, slow, and has a big weapon. Luckily for you, there’s not really any big trick to beating him.

The attacks are what you might expect: he’ll try to hit you with his sword. Oh, and he kicks you every now and again. None of these attacks are really likely to hit you, save perhaps for his own version of the spin attack. He can also leap into the air and drop back down for a strike; roll away from him when he jumps.

Video Walk-through

Two men enter! One man leaves!

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As far as attacking him goes, this is mostly a matter of continually using the Back Slice maneuver and hoping it goes through, which it will a fairly good amount of the time. Normally he’ll block your attacks, but every so often you’ll penetrate his defense and be able to get a few blows in, and that’s going to add up over the course of the fight. All you really need to do is stay close to him and continually roll around him, attempting to strike his back, then roll to one side when he attempts his jumping attack. Since most of Ganon’s attacks strike in front of him, your rolling will also act as a defensive measure. When you’re far away from him, resist using your jump attack to close in; he’ll almost always dodge and counterattack. If you unlocked the Jump Strike hidden skill, though, that will work quite well for closing the gap between you and he.

And that’s about it. There’s no particular secret strategy here, like the whole jump-and-strike-Ganon’s-head deal from Wind Waker. You can, however, hit the A button when the "Chance" prompt comes up to engage Ganon in a clash of steel; win, and you'll get to deal heavy damage to him. It's not necessary to beat him, though, and is fairly difficult to pull off anyway. Continue to pile on the damage until you see Ganon take a knee. That’ll be the first sign you’re getting to him. Keep it up, and eventually he’ll fall on his back. Z-target him and use the Ending Blow to finish him off. Don’t forget to watch the credits; there’s a bonus scene included near the end.