While exploring the world of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, there are a lot of enemies that Link has to face. Saving Hyrule doesn’t come without some dangers. While Link makes his way across Hyrule, defeats each of the Divine Beasts, and finds all 800 Korok Seeds, there are enemies everywhere. Some of them are a lot tougher to deal with than others. Whether it’s sheer power or the fact that they’re just annoying, some enemies are hard.

Early in the game, players face off against Bokoblins. They may be the first enemies, but anyone who has played Breath of the Wild will know they’re far from the most powerful. The enemies only get more challenging from there. To see the most powerful enemies in Breath of the Wild, ranked from least to most powerful, keep reading!

Of course, Breath of the Wild is also known for being a very challenging game, featuring a bunch of tough enemies that can be pretty hard to take down, especially early on when the player doesn’t have the best equipment around either. This list mentions the toughest foes found in the game that can absolutely pulverize weak players.

15 Hinox

Hinox are huge, cyclops-like monsters. They’re often seen sleeping in fields and will attack Link if he comes to them. After defeating these monsters, Link is welcome to take from the variety of weapons that the Hinox wears around its neck.

The Hinox is quite a large, powerful enemy and can definitely make quick work of Link if the player finds one early in the game. Hinox can even pull trees out of the ground to use as weapons against Link. Instead of fighting a Hinox, players that don’t have many hearts should just sneak on top of them while they sleep to steal their weapon necklaces.

14 Stone Talus

The first time a player finds a Stone Talus, they’re probably pretty confused. These enemies look like just a normal boulder in a field in Hyrule, but they’re definitely not. After a player tries to climb them or comes too close, the Stone Talus comes to life. Unfortunately, they’re completely immune to arrows and swords, so they can be tricky to fight.

But any experienced Breath of the Wild player will know how to climb on the back of the Stone Talus in order to hit the ore. Not only does it give valuable minerals, but it’s also how the Stone Talus is defeated. Because they can be tricky to figure out how to fight and are super powerful, these enemies are definitely one of the tougher ones in the game.

13 Guardian Scout IV

There are many combat trails across the shrines of Breath of the Wild that players need to take on if they wish to make Link stronger. The hardest of these trials involves a fight against the Guardian Scout IV, which is the highest level of this kind of enemy that can be found in these shrines.

These foes are nothing to scoff at. Their hard-hitting attacks, beefy health bar, and their patented lasers lead to many players watching a lifeless Link crumble uselessly to the ground over and over again.

12 Guardians

Guardians appear all over Hyrule in many different forms. They were originally created by the Sheikah, but like the Divine Beasts, were taken over by Ganon prior to the events of Breath of the Wild. There are several different types of Guardians that can be found around Hyrule, but none of them are to be messed with. All of them can shoot powerful lasers and some can even chase Link down if he runs.

Players that are brave enough to try to take on a Guardian will be rewarded with valuable Guardian Parts. These parts can be taken to Purah to upgrade your Runes or to Robbie to create Ancient Gear and Ancient Weapons. But actually beating a Guardian to get these items is not easy.

11 Fireblight Ganon

While the journey to reach Vah Rudania is one of the toughest in Breath of the Wild, the actual fight against Fireblight Ganon isn’t all that challenging. In fact, many players considered it to be the easiest of all the Blight fights in the entire game.

With the ingenious use of both bombs and arrows, most players should be able to get through this fight with a few burns to show for it. Of course, the alternate fight against this being in the Champions’ Ballad DLC is way harder and can prove to be harder… but the fight is still fairly simple once players have an idea of how to beat this boss.

10 Windblight Ganon

Windblight Ganon is a boss that loves ranged combat, meaning that melee combat will be used quite sparingly in the game. So, it’s important to either have a stock of arrows or expendable ranged weapons around to beat this boss.

This battle will depend upon a player’s mastery over ranged combat, with well-placed shots allowing players to get some melee hits into the mix too. As long as players have been prudent and combed through the lands to gain as many valuable pieces of equipment as possible, they should fare well against this boss.

9 Yiga Blademaster

Members of the Yiga Clan can be found at two different points of the game. Link encounters them when he goes to the Yiga Hideout, but they can also find him out and about in Hyrule. After getting past them in the Yiga Hideout, Link has to battle against Master Kohga, but he’s far from the most powerful member of the Yiga Clan.

Yiga Blademasters can take Link out with a single hit if they spot him sneaking around the Yiga Hideout. And if they catch him wandering around Hyrule, they’re pretty tough to battle against. Luckily, bananas can distract them in the hideout and the powerful weapons that Link comes across during the game can take them out when they show up around Hyrule.

8 Waterblight Ganon

Most people would wonder why Waterblight Ganon is placed ahead of the others in this list, especially when it’s the first Ganon Blight that most players would encounter in the game. Surely, the encounter is crafted in a way that lets beginners get through the fight easily, right?

Well, it’s because Waterblight Ganon is the first proper boss that players face which leads to so many deaths. The becomes even worse during the alternate fight that takes place in the Champions’ Ballad DLC, where the player barely has enough equipment to tackle this challenging boss.

7 Lynel

Lynels are centaur-like monsters and the toughest enemies that Link can come across while roaming around Hyrule. Like other monsters, there are different colors of Lynels that represent different difficulty levels. Although all Lynels are hard to deal with, the Golden Lynels are the toughest.

Lynels are not enemies that the player wants to face until they’re prepared. That means good weapons, tough armor, and quite a few heart containers. But, like other tough enemies in Breath of the Wild, there are good reasons to battle Lynels. For one, you’re going to need a lot of Lynel parts to upgrade the Barbarian Armor set.

6 Thunderblight Ganon

Could we really talk about tough enemies in Breath of the Wild without mentioning Calamity Ganon? Ganon is the main villain in the series and the final boss that Link has to defeat in order to save Hyrule at the end. But before he can do that, he needs to unleash each of the Divine Beasts. Doing so will give him special help from the Champions and will make fighting Ganon a lot easier.

The different mini-bosses Link has to face are Thunderblight Ganon, Fireblight Ganon, Waterblight Ganon, and Windblight Ganon. Each one is located in a different Divine Beast and while none of them are easy, Thunderblight Ganon is definitely the toughest. He flies around and shocks Link. It can be hard to catch him in a single spot and the fact that he can make Link drop his weapons makes fighting him pretty tricky.

5 Molduga

The Gerudo Desert is easily one of the best — and most challenging — locations in Breath of the Wild, but people who might want to explore this location peacefully can find their journey interrupted by one of the more challenging enemies in the entire game.

The Molduga is an enemy that will completely maul Link until the player figures out how to defeat them. Staying on high platforms and baiting the Molduga with bombs is the best way to take care of this enemy. Entering this fight without a plan guarantees that Molduga will wipe the floor with players.

4 Molduking

The most powerful Molduga that anyone can fight in the game is the legendary Molduking. Players fight this tough entity as a part of the Champions’ Ballad DLC, and his immense power means that no player should take him for granted.

Players need to make sure that they place bombs tactically, stun the Molduking once it snaps them up, run up for a bunch of melee strikes, and then run away just when it’s waking up. The Molduking hits like a truck, so avoiding damage is recommended for obvious reasons.

3 Calamity Ganon

While most people consider Calamity Ganon to be a surprisingly easy challenge given the circumstances of the battle, there are ways to make this battle somewhat challenging.

For starters, the player can choose to ignore the Divine Beasts so that they can fight Calamity Ganon without his health being shaved in half. Doing so will definitely make the battle all the more challenging as the player deals with what is easily one of the more aggressive bosses in the entire game.

2 Monk Maz Koshia

The Champions Ballad DLC is an excellent addition to Breath of the Wild. It serves as a great challenge as players end up fighting the Divine Beasts once again and unlock their very own Divine Beast in the form of a mobile bike that makes traversal all the more enjoyable.

However, to unlock this bike, players need to clear a dungeon that ends with an epic fight against Monk Maz Koshia, who is easily one of the more challenging enemies in the entire game. It’s a fun battle, where players need to be on the edge of their toes so that they don’t end up being caught off-guard by Maz Koshia’s relentless offense.

1 Igneo Talus Titan

During the Champions Ballad DLC, the player will also be tasked with taking out a special Igneo Talus Titan that can be quite a pain to defeat, mainly due to the arena in which this battle is fought.

Given the fact that the Igneo Talus Titan stands on a pool of lava, it becomes quite challenging to attack its weak spot and actually do some damage. Revali’s Gale or some expertly-thrown bombs can help in this regard, but it’s still a difficult and frustrating battle.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is available on Switch and Wii U.

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