How To Beat Thunderblight Ganon In Zelda: BOTW

There are a lot of difficult boss fights in Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but one of the hardest to face is Thunderblight Ganon. Found at the end of the Vah Naboris Divine Beast dungeon, players will have to be well-equipped and well-prepared to face Thunderblight Ganon. Fortunately, there are ways to deal with the difficulties of this challenging boss fight.

Well known as the hardest of the Divine Beast bosses in Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, players will have to face Thunderblight Ganon after a lot of other puzzles and with enough stamina, arrows, food, and heart canisters to keep them alive. This will allow them to outlast the demands of the battle and keep them in fine form to defeat Thunderblight Ganon.

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Preparing For Thunderblight Ganon

Taking on the Divine Beasts can be a challenge, but doing so in the right order is also an important component. The first piece of advice then is to face Thunderblight Ganon last out of the various Divine Beasts. This means you will have some extra powers available to you as you seek to defeat him, including Mipha’s Grace to heal you, Revali’s Gale to take you to new heights, and Daruk’s Protection to allow you to take a hit.

But even if you choose to take on Vah Naboris first, there are still ways to prepare. Having a couple of fairies on hand will keep you from dying, cooking powerful recipes in Zelda: Breath of the Wild for hearts and strength buffs, and preparing elixirs that will defend against shock damage can make a big difference.

Rubber Armor that is immune to shock damage is also highly recommended, as are fire or bomb arrows to chip at his health faster. Using a one-handed non-metal weapon with a non-metal shield is also recommended for the same reasons.

Thunderblight Ganon’s First Phase

Once you are all stocked up, and you have successfully navigated Vah Naboris' dungeon, examine the center Sheikah activation point to start the boss fight. During the first phase, Thunderblight Ganon will have two primary attacks.

The first will be that he flies up above and shoots three electric bolts at Link that will bounce around the arena. Don’t try anything fancy just move out of the way. His second primary attack is a teleportation attack where he will come shooting toward Link like lightning for a heavy attack.

Your goal is to dodge the attack, flipping backward seems to work best, with a perfect dodge. This will allow you to flurry rush back in, knock away his shield, and get several good hits on Thunderblight Ganon before he flies away again. This is why you want a good one-handed weapon from Zelda: Breath of the Wild, as a two-handed weapon is not going to give you the speed necessary to hit him hard in this part of the fight.

Performing the perfect dodge will be a little challenging. He always teleports three times before hitting Link, so if you time your dodge when you hear the activation for the third teleport, you should be able to get that flurry rush. If you can’t right away, keep trying until you get the timing of the perfect dodge, as it will be important later.

He will continue with this attack pattern, first electric bolts and then teleporting in, until you get him down to half health. Even if you have him on the ground or are in the midst of a flurry rush, a cutscene will play and he will be teleported away from you. You want to get yourself in a semi-advantageous place at this point, or at least eat some food if you have lost any health.

Thunderblight Ganon’s Second Phase

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When his second phase begins, he will start up high again, but this time instead of more easily-dodged electric bolts, he will send an army of metal spikes down to the ground and then electrify them one-by-one in hopes to hit you with a large amount of lightning. If you get hit by one, there is a good chance you could be thrown into another - or more - and continue to be shocked until you manage to right yourself or you lose all your health.

This attack will continue until it’s interrupted, and the way to do that is by using your Magnesis Power on your Sheikah Slate to pull up the metal spikes and hang one over Thunderblight Ganon’s head. This will cause him to shock himself, and he will fall to the ground. Again, be careful while using your power as it will make it harder for you to see the other metal spikes around you. Of note, the ground will glow green before lightning strikes, so if you see that glow, move.

You can also throw your own metal weapons or metal objects near him to shock him, which can allow you to shoot him with your own arrows. However, the metal spike will cause him to fall to the ground faster than your metal weapons will.

When he does fall to the ground, this is the time to make use of those fire or Bomb arrows with a powerful bow, as he will be vulnerable and able to be hit from a distance. Revali’s bow makes a good weapon choice here, as it will not be affected by the lightning and it has a high attack power.

Be careful, as he will quickly regain his footing, throwing more electric bolts and using the same teleportation attack he did during the first phase, with the addition of a new Guardian-laser attack that works the same way as other Guardian attacks.

During this phase, he will also be fully electrified, so if you try a parry instead of a perfect dodge, you will find yourself shocked and knocked onto the ground. This is why getting the timing right for dodging in the first phase is so important, as it is crucial during the second. However, it is always possible to beat Thunderblight Ganon during his metal spikes phase, so being aggressive then might well keep you alive later in the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.