Breath of the Wild: Final Boss Walkthrough
We're finally here – Calamity Ganon himself. This grotesque incarnation of the demon god is vicious, but not without weaknesses. Keep your calm and follow this guide, and you'll end Ganon's 100 years of tyranny. Don't give up at this stage as you've come too far to fall at the last hurdle. You can do it! You can best the Zelda Breath of the Wild final boss, comprised of both the Calamity Ganon boss and the Dark Beast Ganon boss.
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Breath of the Wild: How to Beat the Final Boss
Calamity Ganon is hiding in Hyrule Castle's Sanctum, and when you encounter him you'll get help from the four Champions you freed and the Divine Beasts – if you freed them.
If you've decided to head straight for Calamity Ganon, then things are going to be a little more difficult. Without first completing the four Divine Beast dungeons and beating the four bosses, Ganon will instead be guarded by those four bosses, Waterblight, Windblight, Fireblight and Thunderblight Ganon. Read our respective guides for those bosses if you're feeling brave and taking this method!
Calamity Ganon Boss
If you've completed all four Divine Beast dungeons though, the Champions and the Divine Beasts will blast Calamity Ganon all the way down to 50% health, giving you a good headstart on the battle.
During this first phase, Calamity Ganon will use attacks similar to those of his Fireblight, Windblight, Waterblight and Thunderblight incarnations, but on a larger, more deadly scale.
The major difference here is that Calamity Ganon also wields weapons you've seen Guardians use – luckily, you'll be used to that by now, and they function in the same way, though they're far less telegraphed. At all times during this battle you should keep your shield up, and be ready to backflip or jump to the side. On his horizontal sweeps be sure to backflip, and on any vertical slices or thrust attacks, side hop. If you get the chance to Flurry Attack, you'll take off significant chunks of health.
For all of the moves he takes from his Blight incarnations, be sure to dodge and block in the way you tackled those bosses. The ones to remember are Thunderblight Ganon's metal pillars, Waterblight Ganon's ice blocks, and Windblight Ganon's tornados and charged thrust attack. Fireblight Ganon's influence is mostly melee attacks however, which are pretty well telegraphed and offer plenty of chances to perfect dodge.
Projectiles should usually be dodged or shot down, with the beams he shoots with Windblight's cannon arm being an exception. These can be parried, shooting them back at Calamity Ganon – very useful.
Sometimes Calamity Ganon may climb onto the wall and shoot down either beams, or Waterblight Ganon's spear – both can be parried, which will bring him crashing down. You'll want to avoid the other projectiles, and shoot him down with Ancient or Bomb Arrows when you get the chance – though his impact upon coming can cause big damage, so be cautious and keep your distance as he lands.
His first phase can actually be over rather quickly however, especially with the Master Sword and the Divine Blessings on your side. Charging a spin attack with Vah Naboris' blessing on your side will rain down thunder, which can stun Ganon long enough to do even more damage. Keep dodging, parrying and using updrafts to your advantage to take him down.
Calamity Ganon's second phase comes when his health bar is at around 25% - that's half his health down, if you had help from the Divine Beasts. In phase two he acts pretty much the same – except for a glowing orange shield. Any attack on this – even with the Master Sword – will bounce right off, so breaking through this shield is what you need to focus on.
When Calamity Ganon shoots with the arm cannon or the Guardian laser which has a lengthier charge, you can parry these moves with your shield to bring his defences down. The Guardian laser will break your shield if you miss it, so be cautious. If you have Daruk's Protection, the Divine Blessing from Vah Rudania, you can actually just let Daruk himself deflect it.
The other way to get through his shields is melee attacks – as we've said above, just be cautious and be ready to either backflip or sidestep – when you execute a Flurry Attack, it will always do damage.
If you're stalwart enough you'll have taken down Calamity Ganon – congratulations! If was a tough fight, but you succeeded... Or so it seems, when suddenly Dark Beast Ganon arises, and you teleport outside of Hyrule Castle into Central Hyrule.
Dark Beast Ganon
This action sequence isn't tough however – Zelda bestows upon you the Bow of Light, which will be the weapon that kills Dark Beast Ganon. What you have to do here is stay on horseback circling Ganon, shooting light circles that appear on the pig-beast's body. It's actually very straightforward, and shouldn't cause you too much trouble; his attacks aren't even difficult to dodge at all.
Dark Beast Ganon's final weak point will appear above his back between his shoulders – a demonic glowing eye. Jump up for a slow-motion action shot and finish the beast!
And that's it! You've finished Breath of the Wild! But you probably haven't found all those shrines and Korok seeds, no? Just check out the rest of our Breath of the Wild guides for all of that!
Now that Calamity Ganon is down, you'll restart your game outside the boss chamber, but with a star on your save file. Time to clear up all those side quests...
There's a whole bunch more Breath of the Wild articles to read right here on USG. There's Nadia's article on Ganon's new form. Also this piece on how younger BOTW developers have been inspired by Red Dead Redemption 2.