Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Destroy Ganon, how to beat Calamity Ganon and final boss Dark Beast Ganon
How to complete Breath of the Wild's final adversary.
Zelda: Breath of the Wild's Ganon is the final boss of the game and comes in two parts - Calamity Ganon and Dark Beast Ganon.
Here we explain the final steps you should make before you take on the final trial, how to reach the boss and what you need to do it vanquish it.
If you're after help for parts of the game, consult our Zelda: Breath of the Wild walkthrough and guide.
Destroy Ganon
The Destroy Ganon quest has been hanging over us since the start of the game, and it's time to put it to rest. Before you make your way there, make sure you do the following:
- Complete every Divine Beast - that's Vah Ruta, Vah Rudiana, Vah Medoh and Vah Naboris. Doing so will knock the final boss's health down by half and grant you useful exclusive abilities in combat, making things much easier.
- Navigate the Lost Woods and get the Master Sword. Wherever you go in Hyrule Castle, including facing the final boss, it'll double in power to become an invincible 60 strength sword, perfect for taking on the final challenge.
- Find every Captured Memory to flesh out the game's story and unlock a bonus post-credits cutscene.
- Learn how to reflect a Guardian laser (our how to beat Guardians page explains this step-by-step) and get a decent shield (such as the Hylian Shield from the bowels of the castle) to make the final battle much easier.
- Get through some Shrines for a few extra Heart Containers if you want a slight health buffer.
- Visit some of the four Great Fairies locations to upgrade your armour. They are also home of Fairy items, which will revive you when you run out of health.
All of the above is technically optional - you can just head straight to Hyrule Castle straight from the Great Plateau and fight Ganon if you wish - but things will be much more difficult.
To reach Calamity Ganon and the final boss, then you must reach the Sanctum area of the castle. Hyrule Castle is a huge dungeon, and how you get there is up to you, but there is a helpful shortcut so you can reach it in five minutes or so.
Head to the north east side of the castle, and using the Zora Armour you collected from Zora's Domain as part of the Divine Beasts to swim up the waterfalls to the very top, where there is a rocky outcrop to you right.
Head right round the back of the castle, past the turret Guardian on the wall (sprint past and you'll avoid its laser before it has a chance to fire) and you'll come to a sheltered path way.
Climb onto the outside wall and up the cliff, using the ledges as a place to rest, until you come to the top and the back of the Sanctum area of the castle.
Now go straight ahead - past the Calamity gunk on the floor - and head into the middle of the structure to get started.
How to beat Calamity Ganon
The scorpion-like boss will either be on the floor or running around on the walls, with two differing sets of attacks. In both cases, you'll want to keep a safe middle distance, to avoid his melee attacks and to give you enough time to block or reflect his main laser attack.
On the ground, he can swipe is sword across the arena, causing a series of fireballs (and an updraft you can ride up, allowing you to ping an arrow down from above), or straight down, which if lands on you, can pretty much knock you out in a single hit.
Keep a fair distance to easily see this coming and move out of the way. He can also throw a spear at you, but if you keep your shield up and mobile, it shouldn't cause much bother.
Around these he'll aim at you with a Guardian-style laser. Hopefully by now you'd have plenty of practice with Guardians, and know how to deflect their laser strikes back at them (our how to beat Guardians page explains this step-by-step) which, if successful, will daze Ganon, allowing you to rush in and get some attacks away.
This should be your primary means of dealing damage, as with the Master Sword, you can chip away quite effectively.
When he's on the walls, things change a little. There are more short burst laser attacks; these are harder to deflect, but if you can, he'll drop down and be open to attack, otherwise just sprint in an arc around him or use a powerful shield to block them.
He can also use a series of Rune attacks that you would have faced when taking on the Divine Beasts; simply sprint away from tornados and lightning rods that drop to the edge of the arena, and for blocks of ice, equip the Cryonis and use it on them to destroy them instantly.
Keep this process up, knocking down health, until you get to about a quarter health remains. Ganon will get a little more powerful - he'll do regular laser shots from the wall, for example - so keep up those deflection stuns and rush in with melee damage to finish him off.
Thanks to a new update, it's now possible to play Zelda Breath of the Wild in VR. Want help with the main game? Our Zelda: Breath of the Wild walkthrough can help complete Divine Beasts Vah Ruta, Vah Rudiana, Vah Medoh and Vah Naboris and more. There's also how to get the Master Sword, Hylian Shield and all Zelda Captured Memories and Great Fairy Fountain locations, while our Shrines locations and Shrine maps hub explains where to find and solve every puzzle room, including dragon locations and Labyrinth solutions. We also have a DLC 1 guide and DLC 2 guide, including all Tingle, Majora's Mask, Phantom, Midna outfit locations.
Final boss Dark Beast Ganon
The true final boss is Dark Beast Ganon, set in the fields of Hyrule as you ride your trusty steed and armed with the Bow of Light from Zelda herself.
On the whole, this fight is simple and fairly risk free. Simply run round him in wide circles, and wait until glowing golden spots appear on his body, which you must shoot with your bow. Most will be on the sides, but at one point one will be somewhat underneath, so you may have to move a little closer to reach it.
The only perils come in accidentally running into trees (because that's horse riding for you!) and a laser attack from the front, but if you keep some stamina by, you can spring round the front and easily miss it.
For the final attack, a glowing line will appear on the beast's forehead, which will briefly open with an eyeball.
This is hard to hit, so to get an attack in, run in circles in front of the beast, and after one of his laser attacks (sprint to the side to avoid it) leap off the horse and use the updraft to glide into the air, and use an arial arrow attack to easily aim and land an arrow at the eye, finishing it for good.
And that's it! Congratulations, and enjoy the ending. If you unlocked every Captured Memory you'll get an extra scene once the credits roll, and the game will autosave you back outside of the Sanctum in Hyrule Castle (with a star on your save file to indicate you've finished the game), allowing you to continue playing.
There's surely many things you've missed - from Shrines to Korok Seeds and many side-quests - so why stop now? Our Zelda: Breath of the Wild walkthrough and guide has links to many of these activities and more.