The Legend of Zelda is one of Nintendo’s longest-running series. With dozens of entries over the years, Hyrule has been attacked by countless baddies, giving series protagonist Link quite a substantial rogues’ gallery. That said, a few of those monsters take things to another level, providing a massive challenge for our hero. These boss characters will almost certainly cause problems for players on their first time through the respective games.
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Here are the six toughest bosses in The Legend of Zelda‘s history.
6) Moldorm – The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Moldorm is here to represent all of Zelda‘s many annoying bosses. Whether it’s Mothula’s constantly-moving arena filled with spikes or having to fight Gyorg in a room filled with water, Zelda is home to some truly frustrating boss battles. These might not technically be the most difficult you’ll face, but you’re just as likely to break a controller.
Moldrom is the ultimate form of that. This massive worm skitters around his tiny arena and only has one weak point. If you hit him anywhere else, you’ll bounce back, potentially falling off the platform, forcing you to restart the fight. Once you understand what to do, it’s not that bad, but even veteran players will struggle to stay on Moldorm’s platform.
5) Onox – The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
Onox is the final boss in Oracle of Seasons, so you know that Nintendo had to give players a challenge. Strangely, this boss’s first phase is generally seen as its most difficult. Considering he turns into a dragon during phase 2, that’s impressive.
Still, the first phase sees you going up against a heavily armored Onox, who will only take damage from spin attacks. However, you’ll need to charge those while dodging strikes from the boss’s morning star. After he takes a few hits, Onox summons Din, who is trapped in a crystal. If you hit that as it bounces around the room, you’ll take quite a bit of damage. It’s a lot to manage, and it left many players cradling their Game Boy Color in distress.
4) Gleeok – The Legend of Zelda
The first Zelda game wasn’t afraid to give players nightmares. There are a few candidates for this list in that game, but the dragon Gleeok has to take the top spot. The first time you face this menace, it has two heads that shoot hard-to-dodge, unblockable fireballs at you. That’s tough, but it’s the second fight that earns it this spot.
Getting around those fireballs when they were coming out of two heads was tough enough. The second fight ups the number of heads to four. When you cut one off, it starts to fly around the room, adding another object to dodge. You have to be fast in this fight, or you’ll quickly find yourself in trouble.
3) Vaati – The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Vaati is one of Zelda‘s forgotten bosses, but that doesn’t make this fight any less difficult. All three phases can trip players up. Nintendo does a great job building up the pace of the fight, causing you to use all of the tools in your belt to come out on top.
In some ways, Vaati is the best version of a classic Gannon fight. Like Link’s oldest enemy, Vaati loves to teleport around the arena and use projectiles to keep players on their toes. I don’t have a Gannon fight on this list (though the Tears of the Kingdom fight came close), so Vaat is here to represent a Gannon-style fight.
2) Monk Maz Koshia – The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Monk Maz is a DLC fight in Breath of the Wild, so many players might’ve missed this one. That said, if you did decide to take him on, you’re going to struggle. Maz clones himself, has nearly impossible to dodge combos, and floats above the battlefield, making it tough to deal damage.
The one saving grace is that, by the time you fight Monk Maz, you’ll probably be deep into Breath of the Wild‘s progression. That means you’ll have tons of tools at your disposal and likely have upgraded your stats. Still, Nintendo brought the pain with this one, showing that modern Zelda games still have bite.
1) Thunderbird – Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
To be fair, Zelda II bosses could’ve made up half of this list. Dark Link and Helmethead are routinely cited as some of the toughest bosses in the series, and for good reason. That said, I wanted to limit each game to one entry to keep things fresh.
For my money, Thunderbird is the toughest Zelda II enemy. Dark Link is the closest contender, but once you know how to cheese that fight by standing in the corner, it becomes much easier. Thunderbird is literally impossible if you don’t know how to get the Lightning spell, but even if you know what to do, this one is tough. Thunderbird spits copious fireballs at you, which are difficult to dodge, and you need to hit its head to deal damage. That’s not easy to do while having to constantly dodge. As the representation for Zelda II, it couldn’t be any other boss at the top of this list.
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