How to beat Phantom Ganon in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
How to kill the sword, spear, and club forms of Phantom Ganon.
Phantom Ganon appears when you defeat Gloom Hands in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and he drops some useful weapons and materials if you can beat him.
Taking on Phantom Ganon won't be the same every time, as he has three potential forms that appear once Gloom Hands are defeated, each wielding different weapon types.
He's a tough opponent to face if you're unprepared, so we've went over how to beat Phantom Ganon in his sword, spear, and club forms in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom below.
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If you would like to learn more about Link's adventure, visit our Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom walkthrough.
Preparing to beat Phantom Ganon in Tears of the Kingdom
When you kill a group of Gloom Hands, a Phantom Ganon mini-boss will appear, and he's a tough opponent who can kill Link almost instantly if you don't have enough hearts.
Heart and armour requirements
During our encounters with him, Phantom Ganon took off 4 and a quarter hearts each time he hit Link with one upgrade on each piece of our Hylian Armour Set, so we don't recommend taking on a Phantom Ganon unless you have at least five full heart containers. Even then, you probably want to have a few extra, as the gloom surrounding Ganon can temporarily shatter hearts, meaning you can't heal past a certain point until you clear this gloom effect.
If you need to upgrade armour, go visit a Great Fairy location.
To get more heart containers, go to a goddess statue and trade the Light of Blessings you get by completing Shrines. Or, you can trade in parts of Link's stamina bar in exchange for more hearts at the demon statue by the Emergency Shelter in Looking Landing.
Get gloom resistance
That gloom effect around Ganon we mentioned is annoying, but if you bring meals with gloom resistance, you can avoid being damaged by it, meaning you can get closer to Ganon during the fight without taking damage, or losing heart containers. The dark clumps you get from defeating Gloom Hands and other Phantom Ganons is the ingredient that adds gloom resistance to meals.
You can also make meals with Sundelions, which restore broken heart containers, letting you heal past that point again.
If you find Bargainer Statues on your travels through Hyrule, you can also trade in your Poes for pieces of The Armor of the Depths set, which gives you some additional resistance to the gloom effect.
Fuse a strong weapon
Our last piece of advice before attempting to take on a Phantom Ganon is to bring a weapon with at least 30 attack power, preferably a spear so you can have some distance from the gloom effect surrounding Ganon. It's still tough to defeat him with 30 attack power, but anything above this will make the fight far more manageable, as the longer it goes on, the more likely it becomes that Phantom Ganon will kill you.
Some of the best materials for raising weapon attack power through Fusing is:
- Silver Lynel's Bladehorns
- Silver Lynel's Smashed Horn
- Diamonds
- Black Horriblin Horns
Apart from Black Horriblin Horns, these materials are quite hard to get, so sorting your items by fuse attack power, then picking one near the top should be enough to help with the Phantom Ganon fight, as long as you have a decent base weapon to start with, like the Master Sword.
How to beat Phantom Ganon in Tears of the Kingdom
Now that you're fully prepared for the fight, it's time to take on Phantom Ganon!
How to beat all Phantom Ganon forms
As we mentioned above, there are three forms of Phantom Ganon, each wielding either a sword, spear, or club. The basic strategy to beat Phantom Ganon in Tears of the Kingdom is the same for all three variations: jump back when Ganon attacks to activate a 'flurry rush'.
Make sure you're targeting Ganon with 'ZL' while pressing the jump button and moving backwards to consistently get the flurry rush prompt.
In between flurry rushes, stay close to Phantom Ganon so he can't perform a dash attack, as this is hard to dodge or block. However, make sure you're not too close, or the gloom around Ganon can hurt Link and temporarily shatter his heart containers. This is why we recommend using a spear weapon in the Phantom Ganon fight, so you can hit him in between flurry rushes while not taking gloom damage.
If you do step too far back and Ganon does a dash attack, it's best to just block with your shield instead of trying to jump away, as it's hard to get the timing of the jump right.
Alternatively, we've seen other players bring a sword and use it to spin around Phantom Ganon, taking off large chunks of his health while avoiding attacks, but we've not been able to master this technique yet. Still, the option is there if you're feeling confident! Just remember to equip something or eat a meal with gloom resistance if you plan on trying this.
The tips above apply to all Phantom Ganon variations, but there are some differences in the best strategy to beat Phantom Ganon in Tears of the Kingdom depending on the weapon he has, so here's advice on how to kill each form:
How to beat club Phantom Ganon
The club form of Phantom Ganon has three attacks:
- Single strike
- Jump and slam
- Kick
Although the slam attack looks intimidating, targeting with 'ZL' then jumping back is still a great way to avoid taking damage and initiating a flurry attack. You can also jump back from his single strike and kick attacks to try and get a flurry rush.
Just keep in mind that if you're more of a defensive fighter, you can't block Phantom Ganon's jump and slam attack - you have to jump out of the way to avoid taking damage.
You get Dark Clumps, a Demon's King Bow, and a Gloom Club for beating club form Phantom Ganon.
How to beat sword Phantom Ganon
The sword form of Phantom Ganon has three attacks:
- Dash
- A single sword strike
- A charged sword strike
Ganon will raise his sword vertically when he's about to single strike, or horizontally before a charged attack. When you see this happen, make sure you're targeting him with 'ZL' and start mashing the jump button while aiming backwards to avoid the attack and hopefully activate a flurry attack prompt.
We recommend blocking if he tries to dash attack you.
You get Dark Clumps, a Demon's King Bow, and a Gloom Sword for beating sword form Phantom Ganon.
How to beat spear Phantom Ganon
The spear form of Phantom Ganon has two attacks:
- Dash
- A single spear lunge
If you're going to try out the sword charge technique, we recommend using it on the spear form of Phantom Ganon, as his strikes are harder to avoid than his sword and club form attacks.
If you'd like to see the sword charge technique in action, take a look at the YouTube video below created by TorteliniSensei.
If you're not trying this technique, jumping to the left or right when Ganon goes for a spear lunge is recommended instead of jumping backwards.
Again, we recommend blocking if he tries to dash attack you.
You get Dark Clumps, a Demon's King Bow, and a Gloom Spear for beating spear form Phantom Ganon.
Good luck taking on Phantom Ganon in Tears of the Kingdom!