Ganondorf boss strategy in Zelda Ocarina of Time

Ganondorf is your opponent in the penultimate boss fight in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and you must defeat him if you wish to rescue Zelda, restore Hyrule, and ultimately complete the game. The angry Demon King won't go down easily however, as he will use all of his power – namely, the Triforce of Power – to try and put a stop to you.

To make sure that doesn't happen, you'll find my Ganondorf boss strategy for Zelda: Ocarina of Time below, which includes how to beat Ganondorf and how to escape the falling tower following the fight.

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• Ganondorf boss strategy
• How to escape the falling tower

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Ganondorf boss strategy in Zelda Ocarina of Time

Upon entering the fight against Ganondorf in Ocarina of Time, you'll find him having his own little epic villain moment where he's playing the organ in a very dramatic fashion. In front of him, you'll also see Zelda trapped inside of some red ice. Shortly however, he'll dismiss Zelda, psych himself up, and begin fighting you.

First things first, the arena you're standing in will change slightly once the fight begins. There'll be a central pillar in the middle of the room covered in climbable nets, and the floor surrounding it will be missing. If you look carefully, you can hop onto one of the climbable nets and go down into the area below.

Here, you'll find some pots you can smash (pictured below) to restore Health and so forth. Remember to come down here if you need some healing or a moment of respite. To head back up from the area, all you need to do is climb up one of the nets on the central pillar.

As for the fight itself, Ganondorf is aerial for most of it, making attacking him directly with your Master Sword very difficult. To damage him during this stage of the fight, you want to focus on deflecting his projectile energy balls (more on this below) to stun him, then hitting him with his weakness: Light Arrows.

You must use the Master Sword during the fight against Ganondorf. While the Biggoron's Sword (which you get from completing Biggoron's Trading quest) deals double the damage of the Master Sword, Ganondorf will be resistant to it making all that extra damage useless.

For what it's worth, Ganondorf is actually resistant to all weapons that aren't the Master Sword, hence why I suggest that you must use it. There's no other choice really!

Whenever Ganondorf fires a projectile ball of energy at you, you can deflect this using the Master Sword (or an Empty Bottle!) as it comes into contact with you. Though prepare for Ganon to deflect this back, and what ensues is a little bit of energy ball tennis (also known as Dead Man's Volley) between you both – where the energy ball itself speeds up after each deflection – until one of you misses (hopefully Ganondorf!) and takes damage from the projectile.

Once Ganondorf takes damage from a projectile, he'll be temporarily stunned in the air and will glow purple. When this happens, hit him with one of your Light Arrows. If you do this successfully, he'll drop to the floor atop the central pillar, allowing you to jump over to him and attack him with your Master Sword finally (pictured below).

Once he bats you away with a gust of wind, leave the central pillar and return to the platforms around the edge of the room.

When you're done batting energy balls back and forth, Ganondorf will pound the ground, causing some of the square platforms that make up the floor of the room to disappear. You'll now need to not only watch out for Ganondorf's attacks, but be cautious of where you're standing too.

Once you've made your way through a little bit of the fight, Ganondorf will start slinging multiple energy balls at you simultaneously in a horizontal arc (pictured below). Much like the singular energy ball attack, you can perform a sweeping attack with your Master Sword to deflect them, though the important thing to note here is that you can and should charge the Master Sword before attacking (allowing you to perform an Improved Spin attack with increased range). This enhanced attack is capable of deflecting all of the energy balls at once, but don't worry if you get hit by some while doing this. It's bound to happen!

The power of all these energy balls is enough to stun Ganondorf without you having to play energy ball tennis. Just like before, you want to hit Ganondorf with a Light Arrow once he's in this state to knock him to the ground. Then jump over to him and attack him using the Master Sword.

After this, Ganondorf will perform his ground pound attack again, which makes even more of the square platforms that make up the floor around the room disappear. You'll now be confined to the corners of the room or the top of the central pillar that Ganondorf is hovering above. Watch your step!

The Demon King will now also be able to unleash a much more damaging ground pound attack (pictured below). This sees him slam himself on the floor before sending out gloomy masses (that'll damage you on contact) into each corner of the room. Fortunately, you can move to either side of the platform you're standing on to avoid these. (For what it's worth, this attack is new to the Switch 2 remake of the game.)

When you're not dodging these gloomy masses, Ganondorf will continue to attack using multiple energy balls at once. Just like before, hit these with a charged attack from your Master Sword to deflect them and stun Ganondorf, then fire a Light Arrow at him to knock him to the ground.

To then reach Ganondorf now that most of the floor in this room is missing, you will need to fire your Longshot at the climbable nets that surround the central pillar he is standing on. Then, you know the drill; wail away at him with your Master Sword! All being well, this should mark the end of your fight.

Ganondorf does not have a HP bar to help monitor your progress, but this fight fortunately isn't long (especially if you're following this guide). After you've managed to knock Ganondorf to the floor and melee attack him with your Master Sword approximately five times, the Demon King will have been defeated and the fight will end… for now. After the cutscene, you'll find that you have another problem on your hands: escaping the crumbling castle.

Below, you'll find an overview of Ganondorf's attacks during this fight and how to counter them, and below that, you'll find some tips on how to escape the falling tower so you can continue finishing the game.

Ganondorf's attacks

• Single Energy Ball: Ganondorf hurls a single energy ball at you, which you can deflect using the Master Sword or an Empty Bottle. Continue deflecting this whenever he hurls it back to stun him. Then use a Light Arrow to knock him to the floor so you can attack him with your Master Sword.
• Ground Pound: Ganondorf slams himself into the ground, destroying some of the floor around him. Watch your step!
• Energy Ball Arc: Ganondorf hurls multiple energy balls at you simultaneously in a horizontal arc. You can deflect all of these at once by charging your Master Sword before hitting them. These will stun Ganondorf when deflected, then you can fire a Light Arrow at him to knock him to the floor and go attack him with your Master Sword
• Ground Pound Projectile: Ganondorf slams himself into the ground, sending out gloomy masses towards all four corners of the room. You can dodge or sprint to the side of these to avoid them. (This attack is new to the Switch 2 remake of the game.)

How to escape the falling tower after beating Ganondorf in Zelda Ocarina of Time

After you've successfully defeated Ganondorf in Ocarina of Time, you're not done with the game just yet. The castle tower that you just fought Ganondorf in will begin crumbling around you, meaning that you now need to quickly make your escape.

To safely make your escape and kick off the next fight, you need to follow Zelda straight ahead and down the staircase on your right.

At the bottom, Zelda will investigate and open a locked gate on your right. Destroy the pots beside the gate while you wait for her to do that. After this, keep following Zelda and eventually, you'll come to a second locked gate. Again, smash the nearby pots while Zelda unlocks it.

As you enter the next room, Zelda will be locked outside and you'll be ambushed by two Stalfos enemies. Avoid their attacks as best you can, and try attacking them immediately after they've finished their lunge attacks.

Once the Stalfos duo have been defeated, the gates in the room will open and you'll be reunited with Zelda. Continue following her and there'll soon be a brief cutscene. After this, use your Longshot on the target directly in front of you to continue pressing forward (shown below).

Again, follow Zelda until the brief cutscene that sees you both falling through the floor into a new room. Here, Zelda will fend off some enemies while you try to find a way out. In the room, there are three sets of rocks that can be destroyed using Bombs; focus on blowing up the central one, as this is your way out.

After making your escape from the room, continue following Zelda again. You'll soon come to a bridge covered in ReDead enemies. Fortunately, Zelda traps them allowing you to quickly clear them out, and just up past them, you'll find that you've conveniently been led to your next fight.

This is the final boss of the game: Ganon. Good luck taking him down!

Otherwise, that's all for the Ganondorf fight! For more on Link's adventure in Ocarina of Time, especially as you near the end, take a look at where to find all Heart Pieces, all upgrade locations (this includes Strength and Defense upgrades!), and how to get Fire Arrows.