By this stage in The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom things are getting pretty tough, so our guide and tips for how to defeat Phantom Ganon could come in handy. It’s the kind of boss fight that can become frustrating as you get decimated by its sword swipes, but there are plenty of tricks to help you complete it.
If you’re reading this then you probably aren’t that fussed about spoilers, but if don’t want any then you might want to back out now if you haven’t completed all of the Regional Phenomena. We’ll keep story details to a minimum, but if you still want to read the guide without them you can skip the next few paragraphs to the section below.
AdvertisementWhile the Phantom Ganon boss fight is first encountered at Hyrule Castle, you can take on a version of it at the Labyrinth in the north, so it’s possible to get a similar boss fight before the story progression. You also have to fight it again in more tricky circumstances, so we’ll cover that in the section at the bottom of the page.
The main Phantom Ganon appears iin TotK after you’ve chased the fake Zelda around Hyrule Castle and fought off the monsters that she conjures each time. It’s essentially a malice projection of Ganondorf, but the name has also got links to the final boss fight from Breath of the Wild, which shows the connection between the man and his demon form.
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How to defeat Phantom Ganon at Hyrule Castle
After a bit of projected monologue from Walking Dead Ganondorf, the Phantom Ganon boss fight starts and you get five of them to take down. You can work out the timing for the perfect dodge to get flurry rush for each of its attacks, but this can be hit and miss unless you’re incredibly well practices.
AdvertisementInstead, there are other ways to avoid its attacks and defeat it. The first of these is just to keep your shield up and and move backwards. That should help you avoid most of its hits with a certain amount of calm.
You will have picked up some strong shields throughout your trek around Hyrule Castle to chase down Zelda, so these will definitely come in handy against Phantom Ganon. Make sure you’re backing off though, because its double spin attack can hit you on the second go around unless you’re moving away from it.
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As soon as it’s finished the move, sprint back in and get in a few hits of your own. If you haven’t already fused your strongest monster part to a spear, now’s the time to do it. It’s got good range and will have high attack stats to help you do way more damage with each strike.
You should be able to get in a five hit combo with the spear, but maybe only three with a sword swipe, so don’t stay in close too long otherwise you’ll be caught by a counter swipe. It doesn’t take long to finish one of them off, but get set for the next to phantom teleport over to you and go for an instant strike.
AdvertisementMove away from the point that it lands in and raise your shield as soon as it gets a fixed location. Make sure you circle to the side as you retreat to ensure that you don’t get stuck against a wall, which would probably mean getting hit by Phantom Ganon.
If you do get hit, get some health from whatever food you’ve got and if you’re really struggling then look at the buffs you’ve got in your meals. The other approach that we’re recommending as part of the guide is to sprint away from it when it’s coming in for an attack and then sprint back in to hit it.
It means you don’t have to have your shield up the whole time. It’s a bit more risky, so give both tactics a go to see how you get on. Even if you’re going with the shield-up tips, knowing that you can sprint to avoid its attacks will still come in handy.
The other thing that works well is an arrow to the head, which you can see being used a lot in the second phase for the Phantom Ganon boss fight video below. You need to adjust your aim whenever it drops for a skim attack, but you can see it’s a good way to thin out their ranks when it makes the transition.
AdvertisementYou can use Yunobo to hit it too or grab a shield from Sidon if it’s hand, but this can be a bit of a distraction, so you might not want to go looking for them. There’s already a lot going on in the Sanctum of Hyrule Castle, so trying to do too much can easily see you getting caught.
However, with all of that you should have enough to defeat Pahntom Ganon and trigger the next big development in the Legend of Zelda tears of the Kingdom. You can use the stairwell as a good place to retreat to for sniper arrow shots, but if they get close move and return fire to finish them off.
How to defeat Phantom Ganon with arms?
TotK throws Phantom Ganon at you again at the Labyrinth and in a later story section with very close quarters to fight in. There’s only one of the phantoms, but you get multiple Gloom Arms to fight before it appears, so if you don’t have the right setup and tactics then you might get blitzed.
When it’s just down to Ganon, the guide notes above will work just fine, but you’ll have the hands to deal with first, which can make things difficult. If you don’t have Gloom protection food then you definitely need some, so you might be better off backing out of these boss fights and getting better prepared.
You can get Dark Clump from the statue next to Josha at Lookout Landing for some of your Poes and then use this in cooking to give you a Gloom-resistant buff. To replace hearts damaged by Gloom you need to use Sundelion in your cooking, and both of these will help you defeat the hands pretty easily.
Use Yunobo’s move to stun a number of them and get in your hits. It’s best to try to do this as quickly as possible because the Gloom puddle will spawn more hands if you leave it too long. Hit them with everything and button mash when you get grabbed to be able to defeat them and then you’ve just got the Phantom Ganon to finish it off.
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