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How to beat Queen Gibdo boss in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom

How to beat the Lightning Temple boss.

The Queen Gibdo boss in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Image credit: Nintendo

You have to beat Queen Gibdo in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to complete the Lightning Temple as part of the Regional Phenomena main quest in the Gerudo Desert.

Once you solve all of the Lightning Temple puzzles in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and go above the Asencion Room, Queen Gibdo will be waiting for you, and she's one of the hardest bosses in the game - so come prepared!

Make sure you've got plenty of arrows and a few meals to keep your health steady before starting the fight if you want to successfully take on the Lightning Temple boss. We also recommend bringing a mirror shield to make things easier during the second phase.

For more tips, we've detailed how to beat the Queen Gibdo boss in Tears of the Kingdom below.

10 Things We Wish We Knew Before Starting The Legend of Zelda Tears of the KingdomWatch on YouTube

If you'd like to learn more about Link's adventure, visit our Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom walkthrough.

How to beat Queen Gibdo boss in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom

The Lightning Temple boss in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is Queen Gibdo, a huge version of the annoying Gibdo enemies. She summons tornadoes, spits mud, and charge attacks Link across two phases, and she's one of the hardest bosses in Tears of the Kingdom.

The Queen Gibdo boss from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom looking menacing.
Image credit: Nintendo

If you're really struggling to kill Queen Gibdo, even with the tips below, we recommend eating meals to raise your attack and toughness, and equipping an armor set with good defence stats and upgrading it at Great Fairy locations.

Equipping the Sand Boots can also help to raise your movement speed if you're struggling to avoid the tornadoes.

Once you're prepped, here's how to beat the Lightning Temple boss Queen Gibdo across both phases:

Queen Gibdo Lightning Temple boss - Phase 1

Queen Gibdo has three main attacks during her first boss phase:

  • Mud stream
  • Tornadoes
  • Charge attack

If you've completed the Water Temple, then using Sidon's protective bubble ability is a big help when trying to avoid damage from the mud stream. Or, you can block with a good shield, but this is likely to break the shield. If you don't want to block, try running under the mud stream towards Queen Gibdo to increase your chances of avoiding the attack.

Link using Sidon's protective bubble ability as the player fights the Queen Gibdo boss in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Image credit: Nintendo

We couldn't work out any away to protect ourselves from the tornados except for running far enough to the left or right to avoid them. Keeping a good distance from Queen Gibdo can help space out the tornadoes though, which helps you go through them instead of running to the left or right. Equipping Sand Boots can also help you run away quicker.

Link bracing for a tornado attack from Queen Gibdo in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Image credit: Nintendo

For her charge attack, using Sidon's shield ability or simply running away are the best ways to avoid it, apart from damaging her enough to stop the charge.

The best way to damage Queen Gibdo during both phases of the Lightning Temple boss fight is to use Riju's lightning ability. Yunobo's ability obtained from the Fire Temple is also okay, but deals damage a lot slower. Attaching powerful items like Gibdo bones to your arrows is better for quickly damaging the boss. Monster eyeball items on arrows can also help if your aim isn't great, but you'll lose a lot of damage potential this way.

Link getting ready to shoot an arrow at the Queen Gibdo boss in Tears of the Kingdom.
Image credit: Nintendo

When you hurt her enough, Queen Gibdo will collapse and this is your chance to attack her with your most powerful melee weapons. We recommend using a spear or a sword if you can, as they are quicker than claymores. Make sure you also have all of your Sages on the field, as they will attack Queen Gibdo when she's down as well.

Link attacking the collapsed Queen Gibdo boss with a melee weapon while she's down.
Image credit: Nintendo

Keep repeating the steps above until you take off half of Queen Gibdo's health bar, when a cutscene will play and trigger the start of phase 2.

Queen Gibdo Lightning Temple boss - Phase 2

To make the fight even harder, Gibdo grunt enemies will now spawn and attack you at the same time as Queen Gibdo, who still uses her mud, tornado, and charge attacks.

The tips we mentioned above still apply during phase 2 of the Lightning Temple boss fight, but now you need to destroy the purple hives with Riju's lightning ability. This creates a large source of light that you can run into to avoid Gibdo grunt attacks, and you can even equip a mirror shield to point the light at enemies to stun and kill them quicker.

Link running into a source of light which helps protect the player from enemy attacks during the Queen Gibdo boss fight.
Image credit: Nintendo

Be careful when destroying the purple hives, as you'll take damage if you're too close to them when they explode.

The attack strategy is the same during phase 2, but we don't recommend using the lightning ability on Queen Gibdo until you have burst all of the hives, as retreating to these light sources is key to staying alive. Just keep in mind that even though the grunts can't hurt you in the light, Queen Gibdo still can.

Link attacking a hive during the Queen Gibdo boss fight.
Image credit: Nintendo

You can also attach elemental fruit to your arrows to kill the Gibdo grunts if you can't get close to a light source quickly.

When you defeat Queen Gibdo you'll get a lengthy story cutscene, a heart container, and the Vow of Riju as part of your Lightning Temple rewards.

Link receiving a Heart Container as a reward for defeating the Queen Gibdo boss in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Image credit: Nintendo

Vow of Riju can be equipped from the 'Key Items' menu to summon an avatar of Riju while Link is exploring, allowing you to use her lightning ability whenever you want, except in places like Shrines.

Now that you've beat Queen Gibdo and completed the Lightning Temple, why not take on some nearby Shrines, locate more Dragon Tears, or go hunting for armor sets?

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