- Tears of the Kingdom Demon Dragon Boss Guide - August 2, 2023
- Tears of the Kingdom Stable Guide - June 8, 2023
- Tears of the Kingdom Regional Phenomena Guide - June 7, 2023
We all know a good endgame boss always has a final form up their sleeve just when you think you’ve won. There’s nothing more simultaneously frustrating and exciting when the boss’s health hits zero, only to reveal they have something even stronger up their sleeve.
In Tears of the Kingdom, the final trick up Ganondorf’s sleeve is turning into a dragon.
This final part of the boss fight isn’t difficult but is very cool, if a little daunting initially. It’s a cinematic experience, more focused on the climactic finale of the game than flexing your combat skills. But that means the format changes suddenly and can be confusing.
This is for you if you’re about to hit the final boss and want to go in prepared. I’ll go over my best tips and tricks to help make the end of this game as seamless as possible. But first, SPOILER WARNING! This Tears of the Kingdom Demon Dragon Boss Guide will cover the final conflict of the game and will extensively refer to late-game plot twists.
What Is the Demon Dragon?
The Demon Dragon is the final form of Ganondorf in Tears of the Kingdom. It is the creature he turns into after consuming his secret stone, an action that allows a person to gain great power and immortality, but at the expense of their humanity and sense of self.
This is the second time you see it happen in Tears of the Kingdom, provided you’ve found all the geoglyphs and watched all the memories.
The Demon Dragon is a long flying beast with black scales, red spikes along its back, and gloom pouring off it. It has large horns and a bright red mane that wraps under its chin to mimic Ganondorf’s beard when he was a Gerudo.
It’s one of five dragons found in Tears of the Kingdom, three of which were in Breath of the Wild before it. The other four are the light dragon, which is secretly Zelda, and Naydra, Farosh and Dinraal, the guardians of the three Goddess Springs and named after the three goddesses of the tri-force.
Unlike the other four dragons, you can’t interact with the Demon Dragon outside combat. While you can collect parts of the other dragons, like their scales and talons, you can’t do that with the Demon Dragon. Once it is defeated, the game will end, and your last save will plant you right before the final boss fight.
When Do You Fight the Demon Dragon?
The Demon Dragon is the third stage of Ganondorf’s boss fight, not including the waves of monsters before it.
After finding the fifth sage, Mineru, and tracking down Kohga at the Rito Village Mine in the depths, the game will direct you to seek out Ganondorf underneath Hyrule castle — although there’s nothing to stop you from going there on your own without instructions.
There’s a series of tunnels to pass through deeper and deeper underground, pitting you against stronger and stronger enemies, including a silver lynel and gloom hands. Eventually, you’ll return to the area from the very beginning of the game, back when you were with Zelda, and return to Ganon’s resting place.
Before entering, you’ll fight swarms of bokoblins, lizalfos, gibdos and moblins with the five sages before you face Ganondorf himself.
There are two stages to fighting him. The first is identical to fighting Shadow Ganons, just like inside Hyrule Castle before you meet Mineru. The second stage is much more challenging as Ganondorf is hard to land flurry rushes on and can permanently remove your hearts if he hits you.
However, after you’ve finally defeated that second stage — taking out its ridiculous amount of health — a cutscene will play of Ganondorf, in his final bid of desperation, swallowing his secret stone and turning into the Demon Dragon.
How to Defeat the Demon Dragon
After defeating Ganondorf’s second form, the Demon Dragon catches Link in its teeth and pulls him out of the depths into the skies. Once up there, Zelda swoops in to save you and aids in defeating Ganondorf once and for all.
To win this fight, you must attack the weak points along the Demon Dragon’s back until all of them have disappeared. This reveals the final weak point — Ganondorf’s secret stone — on the dragon’s forehead. Attacking this will end the fight. There will be a special button prompt to land the decisive blow.
Battling the Demon Dragon is methodical and not particularly difficult. It follows this general flow:
- Zelda carries you high into the air
- Dive from Zelda and land on one of the weak points
- Hit the weak point until it disappears and you’re thrown from the Demon Dragon
- Zelda picks you up to repeat the process
This sequence intends to be cinematic and exciting, so it isn’t demanding gameplay-wise. But there are a few things to catch you out.
As you fall, the Demon Dragon will launch balls of gloom into the air. These will destroy a heart of health if they hit you, so be sure to avoid them. Landing on the black scales of the dragon will also damage your health, but you can recover this damage. The large red craters around the weak points will not harm you, so aim to land on them.
It’s best to stay still while waiting for Zelda to collect you after being thrown from the dragon. The light dragon will come to meet you; you don’t need to go to her. If you do try, you’re more likely to miss her, and she’ll fly under you. Trust the AI. It will home in on Link, even if it looks like it won’t.
If you take too long to land on the Demon Dragon, it will eventually take off, and you’ll have to try again. You have ample warning about this.
The spines on its back will flash red, and the dragon will stop spewing balls of gloom. Right before it takes off, red mist will surround the dragon, which is your last indicator. If this happens, try to avoid getting hit by its movements and thrown off course, and then wait for the light dragon to pick you up again.
Once you take out all the weak points and destroy the secret stone, you will have defeated Ganondorf, the dragon exploding and gone for good.
From here, the game’s final cutscenes play out, saving Zelda, landing back on the surface and rolling the credits.
Other Important Information
Although you can’t collect pieces of the Demon Dragon, it is still a part of the compendium at number 201. If you have any interest in filling it out, you’ll want to take a second to snap a picture of Ganondorf.
This is easier said than done though. You can’t use the camera while airborne, so you must get the picture while standing. The best way to do this is to take it from the tip of the light dragon’s nose when she picks you up. You’ll need to get into a position from which you can look down at the Demon Dragon.
Of course, if you can’t get yourself a picture, you can always buy one from Robbie at the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab. Although it’s anyone’s guess where he got it from.
Another quick pointer for this fight is that it helps you to have the Glide set. This gear allows you to control your speed and direction better when falling. With it, you can aim for the weak spots with greater precision long before the Demon Dragon threatens to move on.
Most importantly, however, when all three pieces are upgraded twice at a Great Fairy Fountain, the set bonus will negate fall damage. This means you won’t face any danger when falling directly on top of those weak spots and slashing away at them with reckless abandon.
You win the set from the three skydiving challenges found across the skies of Hyrule. For more information, check out our handy guide!
FAQs
Question: How do you beat the Demon Dragon in Tears of the Kingdom?
Answer: Working together with the Light Dragon, you must take out all of the weak points along the Demon Dragon’s back as it flies through the sky. Once they’ve all been destroyed, you’ll reveal the secret stone on its forehead and slashing that will defeat the beast.
You must use the gliding mechanics to reach the weak points and avoid the gloom shooting at you as you fall. You don’t need special weapons, but having the master sword is useful.
Question: How do you damage the Demon Dragon?
Answer: You can only hit the weak points along the Demon Dragon’s back. The black scales and its underbelly are impenetrable, and only the bright red eyes will take damage. You won’t need any special weapons for the task, but the Glide Armor Set will be helpful.
Question: Can you fight the dragons in Totk?
Answer: In Tears of the Kingdom, you can only fight one of the dragons, the Demon Dragon. The Demon Dragon is Ganondorf’s final form during the endgame boss fight and takes place in a cinematic battle closing out the game.
There are four other dragons in Tears of the Kingdom, the Light Dragon, Naydra, Farosh and Dinraal. These four are not killable creatures. Instead, they drop valuable monster parts when you strike them, usually with an arrow. There are five kinds of dragon parts to collect, scales, spines, claws, horns and fangs.
After farming a dragon part, you must wait 10 minutes before taking another. You can ride on the dragons while you wait, but some require special gear to avoid getting hurt, such as cold resistance and flame guard.
Tears of the Kingdom Demon Dragon Boss Guide: Final Thoughts
The Demon Dragon boss fight is an excellent ending to this masterpiece of a game. The cinematic excitement following such a tough battle against Ganondorf is a perfect way to make the climax feel meaningful and dangerous, like you and Link are ridding the world of a world-threatening entity.
The fight itself is easier than what comes before it, but is a trade of difficulty for the rule of cool. Followed by a heartwarming wrap-up to your adventure, I can think of few other ways this game could have improved its ending.