Summary
While exploring the world ofThe 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 playedBreath of the Wildwill know they’re far from the most powerful. The enemies only get more challenging from there. To see the mostpowerful enemies inBreath of the Wild, ranked from least to most powerful, keep reading!
Updated on June 11, 2025 by Ritwik Mitra:Breath of the Wild is one of the greatest video games ever made, innovating on the open-world genre in a way no one could’ve imagined. It served as a base for Tears of the Kingdom to expand on pretty much everything from this game, leading to two highly sought-after open-world games that will go down in history as some of the greatest Zelda games ever made. Breath of the Wild has its fair share of challenging enemies that can decimate Link in no time flat, making it important to target their weaknesses and stay on the offensive to come out victorious.
17Hinox
Huge Monsters Inspired By The Legendary Cyclops
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. They’re slow lumbering beasts, but they hit like a truck if one of their attacks connects.
The Hinox is quite a large, powerful enemy and can 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 who don’t have many hearts should just sneak on top of them while they sleep tosteal their weapon necklaces.
16Stone Talus
A Sentient Creature Made Of Rocks & Boulders
The first time a player finds a Stone Talus, they’re probably pretty confused. These enemies look like just normal boulders in a field in Hyrule, but they’re 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.
Butany experiencedBreath of the Wildplayerwill know how to climb on the back of the Stone Talus 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 one of the tougher ones in the game.
15Guardian Turret
Scattered All Around Hyrule Castle
Amazingly, players don’t even encounter a single Guardian Turret during the time they spend exploringBreath of the Wild’s massive world. These enemies are only present in Hyrule Castle to make the act of infiltrating this dungeon as challenging as possible.
Their energy beams are always a threat, but mostBreath of the Wildplayers will already be skilled enough to deal with this assault. Still, Guardian Turrets shouldn’t be underestimated, and players should use their stationary limitations against them while trying to break these machinations apart.
14Guardian Scout IV
The Toughest Variant Of The Guardian Scout Players Must Best In Shrines With Combat Challenges
There are many combat trailsacross the shrines ofBreath of the Wildthat 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. Players need to memorize their moveset and figure out the appropriate counters to deal with their litany of powerful moves.
13Guardian Stalker
One Of The Scariest Enemies In The Game That Will Decimate The Player If Encountered Early On
Guardians appear all over Hyrule in many different forms. They were created by the Sheikah, but like the Divine Beasts, were taken over by Ganon before the events ofBreath of the Wild. Several different types of Guardians can be found around Hyrule, but none of them are to be messed with… especially the Guardian Stalkers. These enemies can shoot powerful lasers and chase Link down if he runs.
Players who are brave enough to attempt to take on a Guardian Stalker will be rewarded with valuable Guardian Parts. These parts can be taken to Purah to upgrade the player’s Runes or to Robbie to create Ancient Gear and Ancient Weapons. But beating this powerful enemy to get these items is not easy.
12Guardian Skywatcher
Flying Mechanical Monstrosities With High-Damage Beams
If Guardian Stalkers were already a huge pain, then Skywatchers would be the bane of a player’s experience. Even if deflecting laser beams back at these Guardians is a great strategy to defeat them, the simple act of locking on to these aerial machines is a task in its own right.
One way to safely take out these enemies is to pelt their propellers with bomb arrows. It’s an expensive way to take out these foes, but most players won’t mind once they ground these foes and punish them for their insolence.
11Fireblight Ganon
The Malicious Spirit Corrupting The Divine Beast Vah Rudania
While the journey to reach Vah Rudania is one of the toughest inBreath of the Wild, the actual fight against Fireblight Ganon isn’t all that challenging. Many players considered it to be the easiest of all the Blight fights in the entire game. Regardless, players shouldn’t underestimate this fight if they don’t want to be sent to a fiery grave.
Withthe 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 theChampions' BalladDLC 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.
10Windblight Ganon
The Malicious Spirit Corrupting The Divine Beast Vah Medoh
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. Being stuck with melee weapons leads to a frustratingly long fight where players have very limited damage windows to deplete this boss' health bar.
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.
9Yiga Blademaster
The Strongest Members Of the Yiga Clan Who Can One-Shot Link During The Stealth Section In Their Base
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.
8Waterblight Ganon
The Malicious Spirit Corrupting The Divine Beast Vah Ruta
Most people would wonder why Waterblight Ganon is placed ahead of the others on 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? However, things aren’t as simple as they seem.
This is because Waterblight Ganon is the first proper boss that players face which leads to so many deaths. This becomes even worse during the alternate fight that takes place in theChampions' BalladDLC, wherethe player barely has enough equipmentto tackle this challenging boss. While players can tackle this Divine Beast later on in their journey, there’s no denying that the game itself is designed in a manner where the majority of players will encounter this boss first.
