The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess/Enemies

Aeralfos
Locations: City in the Sky (miniboss), Hyrule Castle, Cave of Ordeals 48th floor.

Description: Tall lizardman with a sword. Basically a lizalfos, except that they have wings, and wield clawshot target designs on shields. Those aren't just for looks. They fly around, occasionally performing dive attacks at you with their swords. One appears as a miniboss, but he fights just like the rest aside from occasionally flying in and out of windows to throw you off.

Recommended weapons: Bow and Arrows, Clawshot, Master Sword.

Battle Strategy: You have to clawshot his shield to drag him down to earth, then attack him with your sword. I recommend Shield Bash--Helm Splitter, as it keeps him stunned and allows you to damage him quite a bit before he can take off again. Be careful not to clawshot him while he's on the ground--you'll be dragged over and he'll slash you away immediately. Try shooting him with arrows while he's flying, and he'll raise his shield, making it easier to clawshot it. For the miniboss, hold an arrow in place and spin around the room, waiting for him to appear, then let loose as soon as he pops in before he can dodge it.

Notes: Looks just like a Lizalfos from Ocarina of Time, oddly. Even moreso than the actual Lizalfos in this game do. Go fig.

Origins: Twilight Princess original, but designed a lot like one from OoT.

Armos
Locations: Temple of Time, Cave of Ordeals 41st(?) floor.

Description: A large grey statue with a huge head. It glows bright blue as you approach it, then starts slamming around its hammer like crazy. It has a gem in its back. You should know what that means by now.

Recommended Weapons: Bow and Arrows, Bombs, Master Sword.

Battle Strategy: Try to pick these off one at a time, because their hammers hurt pretty bad. Use the rolling back slash attack if you have it; if not, just side-hop and run your way around to their backside and slash the rather conveniently placed power gem weakpoint thing. They can also be toppled by bombs quite quickly and en masse if you accidentally activate more than one, and arrows destroy the gems from a safe distance as well. Watch out--when they die, they hop around madly for a while, slamming their hammers around, before exploding. Also, if you're fast enough to get behind it, you can kill them before they even "wake up"--but be careful not to awaken any nearby ones in the process.

Notes: Anyone know if the explosion hurts you? One would think it would, but Dodongos usually explode for pain as well, and THEY don't in this one..

Origins: Legend of Zelda.

Addendum: Explosion does not deal damage. Confirmed by Keptan.

Baba Serpent
Locations: Forest Temple, City in the Sky, Cave of Ordeals several floors.

Description: A red-bulbed deku baba (think Piranha Plants from Mario). Sometimes it straightens up and can be chopped from its roots, at which point it leaps around in a snakelike manner, hence the name. Some hang from the ceiling.

Recommended Weapons: Any ranged weapon, any sword.

Battle Strategy: If they're on the ceiling, shoot them with the clawshot, bow and arrow, or ball and chain (slingshot lacks the power, however) to make them stiffen up, then hit them again to knock them down. They can be stiffened when they're growing from the ground too. Once they start leaping around, slash the heck out of them while guarding against their bites. If it latches onto you, spin attack to get loose and also kill it.

Notes: None.

Origins: Twilight Princess original. Might be based off an enemy from ALttP, however.

Baby Gohma
Locations: Temple of Time.

Description: A small spider with one eye and a pearl-like back shell. It runs around in groups and often attacks from behind.

Recommended Weapons: Anything with attack power.

Battle Strategy: Just stab, shoot, slam, do whatever you need. Spin attacks wipe them out en masse, as does twirling the ball and chain. They're weak, but be careful not to get surrounded, because their damage will add up fast.

Notes: I thought they were baby skulltulas at first, judging from the shell, but since the Armogohma spawns them, I guess the name is accurate after all.

Origins: Ocarina of Time.

Bari
Locations: Lakebed Temple.

Description: Floating jellyfish found in bodies of water. They occasionally pulse with electricity. They electrocute you if you attack at this time.

Recommended Weapons: Clawshot.

Battle Strategy: Wait for the electric charge to subside, then fire your clawshot. You can fire it while swimming, unlike the hookshot from the older games, making them easier to deal with. No other weapons hurt them.

Notes: At least they don't split in two this time...

Origins: A Link to the Past.

Beamos
Locations: Goron Mines, Temple of Time, Cave of Ordeals unknown floor.

Description: Tall rotating casket-like statues on a round base with a glowing pink 'eye'. Others take the form of white statues with rotating hemispheric tops, also with one pink eye. They shoot burning laser trails nonstop once they see you, with limited range.

Recommended Weapons: Bow and Arrows, Hawkeye (optional), Dominion Rod.

Battle Strategy: If you can snipe these from afar, all the better. Just shoot one arrow into the pink eye while staying out of range of their painful lasers. They can often be pushed after collapsing to reveal secret doors or pathways to items.

Added tip from MrPotter: You can use the Dominion Rod and the giant axe-wielding statue to destroy these in one hit. I knew that, but forgot to write it until he reminded me, so here you go.

Notes: None.

Origins: A Link to the Past.

Big Baba
Locations: Forest Temple, City in the Sky.

Description: A gigantic Deku Baba, usually surrounded by a few normal ones. It just snaps around at you and tries to bite you. They grow out of Deku Likes and often hold keys.

Recommended Weapons: Any sword.

Battle Strategy: Use charged or uncharged Jump Strikes to hit him when his vine is fully extended. I don't know what else works, but that works very well. Normal sword slashes do it too, but not quite as fast.

Notes: None really, but if anyone knows of any other weapons that work, let me know, please.

Origins: Twilight Princess original.

Bokoblin
Locations: Pretty much everywhere.

Description: Blue or purple-skinned goblins with white hair and swords. Red ones have a ton of health, but they're all just basic grunts.

Recommended Weapons: Anything that does damage.

Battle Strategy: Just slash the heck out of them. Red bokoblins are far more durable than they look, but they're all ineffective attackers anyway.

Notes: Be careful not to use the Stab-thrust combo or spin attack too much on the red ones--it tends to knock them over, and they appear in large groups, so if you try to Finishing Blow them, you'll tend to get hit by his allies before you can get back up... but if you don't Finish them, your L-target will stay on him and you'll have trouble hitting the standing ones, while the grounded one is immune to normal strikes.

This really only happens much in the Cave of Ordeals and Hyrule Castle's outside area, but it's something to watch out for nonetheless. 'Hold' targeting makes this a non-issue for the most part, though.

Origins: The Wind Waker.

Bombfish
Locations: Lakebed Temple.

Description: A piranha-like fish that, upon being hit, turns into a Water Bomb.

Recommended Weapons: Clawshot.

Battle Strategy: Just shoot them with it and drop them wherever you need explosives. They're more helpful than harmful most of the time.

Notes: If you run out of bombs in the temple, these can save you a lot of backtracking and grief in some places--but don't rely on them too much, because they can't be Bomb-Arrowed, which is also required at times.

Origins: Twilight Princess original.

Bombling
Locations: Forest Temple, Barnes's Bombs, Malo Mart Castle Branch.

Description: Small round bug with spindly legs and a tiny head. It grows out of the ground in fissures, and turns into a bomb when hit.

Recommended Weapons: Gale Boomerang, any sword.

Battle Strategy: Like the bombfish, these are often helpful. The boomerang can be used to knock them straight into bombable walls by targeting them, then targeting the wall. They're your only defense against Deku Likes until you get real bombs later on.

Notes: The second and third locations are shops where they can later be purchased as useable items, oddly enough. They don't attack there.

Origins: Twilight Princess original.

Bomskit
Locations: Hyrule Field.

Description: A small round bird that runs around dropping balls behind it. I think the balls can trip Epona and knock you off, but that might have been something else.

Recommended Weapons: Anything ranged, or Epona herself.

Battle Strategy: Just stay behind them and shoot. If you try to use your sword they'll usually run away too fast to hit them. Epona can run them over.

Notes: After you defeat them, they drop a worm you can scoop up with a bottle to use as fishing bait.

Origins: Twilight Princess original.

Bubble
Locations: Arbiter's Grounds, Cave of Ordeals several floors.

Description: A floating Stalfos skull with bat wings. Sometimes they're on fire or, oddly, blue icey fire.. They just fly around in groups trying to ram you (or burn/freeze you).

Recommended Weapons: Ball and Chain, Master Sword, Bow and Arrows.

Battle Strategy: Spin attack or spin the ball and chain if a mob of these surrounds you. If they're individual, pick them off with your bow. They tend to get knocked over for Finishing really easily.

Notes: Thanks to Keptan for reminding me of Ice Bubbles.. >_>;

Origins: Legend of Zelda.

Bulblin
Locations: Bloody EVERYWHERE.

Description: Tiny masked orcs with horns and glowing red eyes. They wield a variety of weapons, and sometimes ride giant boars.

Recommended Weapons: Bow and Arrow, Ball and Chain, any sword.

Battle Strategy: A single arrow kills any bulblin. The ball and chain can destroy their towers, killing any archers within. Pick off archers ASAP--their fire arrows hurt pretty badly, and disrupt your own attacks. And make sure not to wear the Zora Armor around archers--they're deadly as hell in that case.

For the swordsmen, just use the B+C or sword to spin and kill them. The back slash or charged jump strike can kill several at a time. Or just run away wit the bow out shooting behind you, because it kills them faster than anything else.

Counter mounted bulblins with your horse, and shoot or slash them off the boars. You can take these boars for your own to knock down barricades or even other bulblins if you wish.

Notes: Amusingly, they really suck at boar-riding. They often run straight into pillars at full speed and go flying off the boars. This happens a lot near Eldin Bridge if you want to see for yourself.

Also, no, these are NOT moblins. Sorry, but there are no moblins in this game. The guides that call them that are wrong.

Origins: Twilight Princess original. Based off Moblins from LoZ, however.

Chilfos
Locations: Snowpeak Ruins, several floors of Cave of Ordeals.

Description: Tall knights made of ice with equally icy spears. They stab long-range and can also throw them. They hurt. Bad.

Recommended Weapons: Ball and Chain, Bomb Arrows.

Battle Strategy: If you can lure one away (or encounter a single one, you lucky soul), use the ball and chain to destroy it easily. If they're in a group, well, put on the magic armor, swing like mad, and pray. I really have no strategy for these things. They tend to hit me with throws while I'm trying to swing the B+C at one of them, then I attack one of those while he rebuilds his spear, but the first one has by now already recreated his spear and now hits me again, repeat until I finally get in a lucky hit.. if anyone has a strategy for these that works, for the sake of sanity, PLEASE let me know. -- PokeHomsar here with an easy kill strategy. If you have the Helm Spliter Hidden Skill, use it. It will kill these annoying, anorexic ice beings instantly.

If you have a lot of bombs and arrows and a ledge above them, four or so bomb-arrows can kill these from a safe distance, which is very helpful in the Cave of Ordeals. Sadly, there are only one or two places in the game that this works.

Notes: I hate these things. I REALLY hate these things. Moreso than even the three Darknut combo in the CoO.

Origins: Twilight Princess original. Might be based off an enemy from ALttP, however.

Chu
Locations: Lake Hylia bridge, Cave of Ordeals several floors, Hyrule Field.

Description: A slimy blob that splits in two and reforms.

Recommended Weapons: Clawshot or any sword.

Battle Strategy: There are two ways to go about this: the safe way, and the jelly-collecting way.

You can sit back at a distance repeatedly stabbing them with your clawshot, which will continue splitting them until eventually they die. You have little chance of reaching their Jelly this way, though.

You could also go in and just slash like mad, scooping up jelly whenever it appears. They have a bad tendency to slink behind you and smack you around a bit with their blobby forms though, so unless you really want jelly, I'd suggest just clawshotting them.

They're not very dangerous, by the way. The clawshot is just easier.

Notes: Nintendo really can't decide what the heck a chu(chu) is. First they were their own enemies, then they were renamed Buzz Blobs, now they're renamed Zols/Gels... Whatever.

There are many different types of Chus all with different Jelly to be used accordingly. The most common, and most hated, is the Purple Chu. This Chu will fuse with other Chus (even those of different color) to form a massive Purple Chu. The Jelly of the Purple Chu can do one of three things: heal one Heart, kill one Heart, or knock you down to a quarter of a Heart. The second is the Yellow Chu, whose Jelly can be used the same as Lanturn Oil. The third is the Red Chu, whose Jelly works the same as a Red Potion. The fourth is the Blue Chu, whose Jelly works the same as a Blue Potion. The final, and rarest of all, is the Rare Chu, which is a golden colored and sparkles. The Rare Chu's Jelly has the same effect as the Great Fairy Tears.

Origins: Majora's Mask, although they act more like an enemy originating in Legend of Zelda.

Chu Worm
Locations: Lakebed Temple, Cave of Ordeals unknown floor.

Description: Green bugs in giant bubbles. They bounce around harmlessly.

Recommended Weapons: Bomb Arrows, Clawshot, then any sword.

Battle Strategy: When you first meet these, you'll have to bomb arrow their bubble, then slash them to death. Later on you can pull them out of the bubble with the clawshot.

They really suck at attacking, by the way--nearly harmless.

Notes: Seriously, these guys are useless and pathetic...

Origins: Twilight Princess original, based off an enemy from Majora's Mask.

Darknut
Locations: Temple of Time (miniboss), Hyrule Castle, Cave of Ordeals 39th and 49th floors.

Description: Enormous, heavily armored knights with shields and large swords or maces. They have incredible AI for team work, with less armored ones hiding behind their allies and jumping out to attack, then retreating. They block almost everything, have a formidable repertoire of offense themselves, and up to four can appear at a time. In short, they're a nightmare.

Recommended Weapons: Bombs, Bomb Arrows, Master Sword.

Battle Strategy: Hopefully by this time you have a bunch of sword skills. Wait for them to attack, then sidestep or backslash to get behind them. Once they've been hit once, they're stunned briefly, so stab/thrust them repeatedly. Each hit knocks off some armor--but they have a lot of it, and they're damn good at using shields. Bomb arrows aimed at their feet, or just well-timed well-placed normal bombs, can knock off armor fairly easily.

Once you knock it all off, though, then things get tricky. They throw their mace/claymore at you--sidestep or roll to dodge this, as it hurts. Then they draw a longsword and get serious. They block damn near anything--I don't think even the backslice can hit them unless they just attacked, because they turn and parry it in an instant. If you have the chargeable jump strike, get FAR away from them and use it--it stuns them every time, but if you're close, they'll do a dashing stab and knock you over. Also remember that while they hide behind armored ones, if you disarm the other one they'll get even faster as well, so it's best to just cope with their cowardice and Jump Strike them. Once they're stunned, thrust as fast as you can. Two or three combos of this can usually do the trick.

If 3 or 4 appear at once, use Magic Armor and abuse bomb arrows and jump strike as best as you can.

Notes: Like the Bulblin, despite being similar to a previous enemy, these are NOT Iron Knuckles. Heck, Darknuts precede those anyway (from the first game!). Once you get the pattern down, these become fairly easy, but they're as bad as Chilfos mobs the first few times.

Origins: Legend of Zelda, modified like one from Ocarina of Time.

Deku Baba
Locations: Faron Woods, Forest Temple, City in the Sky.

Description: A blue-headed piranha plant. Just like the Baba Serpent, but doesn't detach from its roots.

Recommended Weapons: Anything that deals damage.

Battle Strategy: Just slash it. You can use ranged weapons to make them stand up to hit them more easily.

Notes: They leave behind a hardened shell when defeated. These shells can be cracked open to reveal 50 pumpkin seeds.

Origins: Ocarina of Time.

Deku Like
Locations: Forest Temple, City in the Sky.

Description: A giant plant growing out of the ground with a toothy maw on top. If you jump over it, it sucks you in and spits you out for high damage. They're immune to most weapons.

Recommended Weapons: Wild Bomblings, Bombs once you get them.

Battle Strategy: Well-timed bombling attacks will provide you with the explosives needed to destroy these early in the game. Be careful not to blow yourself up in the process, though.

Notes: Big Babas sometimes grow out of these, and they often hold keys or are placed so that they block chests or paths.

Origins: Twilight Princess original, based loosely off one from Legend of Zelda.

Dodongo
Locations: Goron Mines, Cave of Ordeals several floors.

Description: Giant scaly green gecko with silver feet and a fat red tail. They spit fire and can walk on the ceiling.

Recommended Weapons: Bow and Arrows, Bombs, any sword.

Battle Strategy: One arrow to the tail can kill them if well-aimed. They can also be fed bombs in classic dodongo style. Or you can use backslash or sidesteps to get behind them and slash their red tails. The Hylian Shield blocks their fire.

Notes: None.

Origins: Legend of Zelda.

Dynalfos
Locations: Temple of Time, Hyrule Castle, Cave of Ordeals several floors.

Description: Dragonlike Lizalfos covered in shiny silver armor with spears on their tails and wielding hatchets instead of swords. They block attacks very effectively and get up far too fast to be FINISHER'd!

Recommended Weapons: Bombs, Master Sword.

Battle Strategy: Use bombs unless you want a really annoying and intense duel with a cheap foe who blocks way too much. Bombs do them in really quickly. Otherwise, Helm Splitter hits them more often than any other move in my experience.

Notes: They sure mauled the spelling.. these were Dinofols in Majora's Mask, and I know I've seen Dinolfos before, but Dynalfos?

Origins: Ocarina of Time.

Freezard
Locations: Snowpeak Ruins, Cave of Ordeals several floors

Description: Giant multiple-eyed ice beast that spits freezing breath. Splits into four or so mini-freezards upon being shattered.

Recommended Weapons: Cannonballs, then Ball and Chain once you get it.

Battle Strategy: When you first find these only cannons can hurt them. That's more of a puzzle than a fight, so I won't go into detail here. The B+C you soon find will annihilate them, however. Just stand by them and spin it until they shatter, then look down and keep spinning to break the babies.

Notes: These look a lot like Sheegoths from Metroid Prime... and attack the same way. Conspiracy?

Origins: Ocarina of Time.

Ghoulrat
Locations: Arbiter's Grounds, Cave of Ordeals several floors.

Description: Invisible rats. They squeak. Midna freaks out if they're attached to you. Only Wolf Senses can see them. They don't do any damage, but they slow you down by latching onto your body, which is often confused for a glitch by new players.

Recommended Weapons: N/A.

Battle Strategy: Go into Wolf Form, hit Senses, then use Spin Attack. That's all there is to them.

Notes: Seriously, it's ridiculous how many people automatically assume they're a glitch...

Origins: Twilight Princess original.

Guay
Locations: Hyrule Field.

Description: A small, somewhat prehistoric-looking bird. They come in large flocks at a time. They also drop mass rupees when flocks are destroyed.

Recommended Weapons: Bow and Arrow, Clawshot(?).

Battle Strategy: Shoot them down before they peck at you. Just aim well and they're not much of a threat at all, aside from their ridiculous quantity.

Notes: Again, when the whole flock dies, lots of money appears.

Origins: Ocarina of Time, based off enemy from Adventure of Link.

Helmasaur
Locations: Lakebed Temple, Temple of Time, Cave of Ordeals unknown floor, City in the Sky, Hyrule Field

Description: A tiny plump dinosaur with a horn on his nose wearing a silver helmet.

Recommended Weapons: Clawshot, any sword.

Battle Strategy: Clawshot to remove their helmets, making them helpless. If you don't have it yet, just block their charge, then roll behind them and stab their unarmored rears.

Notes: The helmets can hold down switches or be thrown as weapons.

Origins: A Link to the Past.

Helmasaurus
Locations: City in the Sky.

Description: A bigger helmasaur with a different helmet and stripes on his back.

Recommended Weapon: Master Sword.

Battle Strategy: His mask is unremovable, so you'll have to roll or sidestep behind him and slash that way. They attack in the same manner.

Notes: What a lame name. They shoulda gone with the classic Helmasaur King...

Origins: Twilight Princess original, based off an enemy from ALttP.

Hylian Hornet
Locations: Ordon Village, the Fishing Hole and some Hidden Grottos.

Description: Um.. a hornet? A swarm appears when you knock down a beehive.

Recommended Weapon: I have no idea.

Battle Strategy: I don't even know if you can fight these. I just ran, and they don't seem to respawn. Anyone know more details?

Notes: None.

Origins: A Link to the Past.

Addendum: Keptan adds,

"You can't fight them. Just run away for five seconds, or jump into any nearby body of water. They should just be avoided unless you need bee larva."

Mario_Bones adds, "You can fight them if you want, I have killed them with some spin attacks."

whosit adds, "just run as fast as you can into water, but dont bother trying to fight them. big swarms can make you lose a considerable amount of health"

Imp Poe
Locations: Almost every dungeon and plenty of other places too, but only at night.

Description: A floating lantern. Senses reveal a Jack Skellington-faced ghost carrying a large scythe and holding the lantern with its feet. It flies around slashing you with both the scythe and, oddly, the lantern. They carry Poe Souls.

Recommended Weapons: N/A.

Battle Strategy: Wolf form, senses, leap attack twice, Finish. MrPotter tells me you can also use Midna's charge attack to instantly knock them over for a Finish.

If you don't Finish them, you can't steal their souls, and I don't think they'll ever die for real.

Notes: Bigger Poes appear in Arbiter's Grounds as mini-minibosses of sorts. They take more hits, and you can latch on with A and bite them repeatedly.

Origins: Twilight Princess original, based off one from Ocarina of Time.

Kargaroc
Locations: Hyrule Field, Lake Hylia.

Description: Giant prehistoric-looking birds with big turkey wattles and funky tails. They sometimes drop bombs but usually just fly around pecking at you.

Recommended Weapons: Bow and Arrow, Clawshot, any sword.

Battle Strategy: You can either shoot these down with your bow, or clawshot to stun them then slash them with your sword if you're stingy with arrows. They're not much of a threat.

Notes: At Lake Hylia, you can summon one of these to ride up to the Zora's Domain while in wolf form. You also use this for a minigame with Plumm.

Origins: The Wind Waker.

Keese
Locations: All over the place. Basically any dungeon or cave.

Description: More evil than the usual Keese design, these have hooked tails and vicious faces. They're just as pathetic, though. They fly around aimlessly and occasionally leap in to slash you while chirping to alert you to their presence.

Recommended Weapons: Anything that deals damage.

Battle Strategy: Just kill them before they hit you with their tails--not hard at all.

Notes: At least they aren't just generic bats painted blue this time. They can also be on fire or on ice (?).

Origins: The Legend of Zelda.

Leever
Locations: Gerudo Desert, Cave of Ordeals floor 29(?).

Description: Small yet plump cactus-like beasts with teeth on top. They unburrow and swarm around Link, then close in to stab with their needles.

Recommended Weapons: Ball and Chain, Master Sword.

Battle Strategy: Like with all ground-based swarming enemies, B+C spinning or spin attacks with the sword do these in really quickly.

Notes: None.

Origins: The Legend of Zelda.

Lizalfos
Locations: Temple of Time, Hyrule Castle, Hyrule Field, Cave of Ordeals unknown floor.

Description: The lesser cousin to Dynalfos and Aeralfos. Lightly-armored lizardmen with axeblades embedded in the tips of their tails. They usually attack in pairs.

Recommended Weapons: Master Sword.

Battle Strategy: Back-slice + finisher or shield bash + helm splitter both take these down with no trouble at all.

Notes: None. But I do miss their awesome voices from OoT.

Origins: Adventure of Link.

Mini Freezard
Locations: Snowpeak Ruins, Cave of Ordeals several floors.

Description: Tiny blobs of ice with a bullseye design on one side. They rebound around the room endlessly once hit or blocked by a shield.

Recommended Weapons: Cannonballs or Ball and Chain.

Battle Strategy: Throw cannonballs at them to wipe them out easily in the beginning of the Ruins. Once you get the B+C just look at the ground and spin it to shatter any that come near. Fighting them with your sword is a terrible idea, but Mortal Draw can help if you're fast.

Notes: None.

Origins: Twilight Princess Original

Moldorm
Locations: Gerudo Desert, Arbiter's Grounds.

Description: A short angular worm with a toothy four-jawed maw at one end. They leap in and out of the desert sands to attempt to bite you.

Recommended Weapons: Clawshot, Master Sword.

Battle Strategy: Clawshot them out of the sand or block them with your shield once they jump. Once you have one on the ground flopping around, stab it to death before it can re-burrow.

Notes: Like Darknuts, these are often confused for another previous enemy--this time the Lanmola. There was a complicated series of name-switching between these two, so there's really no telling which name is correct overall.. but they're moldorms here, and that'sall that matters in this fight.

In the Gerudo Desert, if you kill enough of these enemies, a HUGE one will eventually attack you. Takes double the damage to kill.

Origins: Legend of Zelda, but based more off a boss from ALttP.

Peahat
Locations: Gerudo Desert, City in the Sky.

Description: Floating balls of dirt and plant matter that fly around with propellor leaves.

Recommended Weapons: Clawshot.

Battle Strategy: These aren't really enemies. In fact, they're helpful as heck. You can use them to cross gaps--and in many cases you HAVE to. They also are used to reach the boss of the City, and to reach the Cave of Ordeals and rescue the Eldin Bridge.

Notes: You can find some Peahat Trees in the Gerudo Desert. They also drop soil when you latch onto them while flying. Just a few neat details I found interesting.

Origins: Legend of Zelda.

Poe
Locations: Arbiter's Grounds.

Description: Taller ghosts with lanterns in their hands, they steal the flames of torches that seal a door (?!). They're basically just bigger Poes in fighting style, though.

Recommended Weapons: N/A.

Battle Strategy: Wait for them to turn solid (bright glowing blue), then hit A to latch on and bite repeatedly. Eventually they'll fall down and you can Finish them--but be fast, because they'll get up more quickly than Imp Poes.

Notes: Just like OoT.. Fourth dungeon starts off with four Poes stealing fire. Go fig.

Origins: Ocarina of Time.

Poison Mite
Locations: Arbiter's Grounds.

Description: Tiny black scarabs that act just like Ghoulrats and slow you down majorly, often while crossing quicksand at a bad time.

Recommended Weapons: Master Sword, Lantern.

Battle Strategy: Spin attack to remove them. Not much to these guys.

Notes: None.

Origins: Twilight Princess original (?).

Addendum: JL says,

"The poison mites from Arbiter's Grounds will avoid you if you've got the lantern out."

Good to know.

Puppet
Locations: Sacred Grove.

Description: Also known as "Deku Golems" to some authors, and for good reason. They're leafy mannequins that spawn nonstop and attack by spinning around. They can also hover over water, but not climb ledges.

Recommended Weapons: Any sword or wolf form charge attack.

Battle Strategy: Spin attack or use Midna's "field of dark energy" to wipe them out quickly, but more will spawn endlessly until the Skull Kid is defeated. Avoid them by climbing to higher ground if you must.

Notes: I hate these things too. They're just annoying. :<

Origins: Twilight Princess original.

Pygmy Skulltula
Locations: Forest Temple.

Description: A spider with a skull pattern on its back. It can block attacks.

Recommended Weapons: Any sword.

Battle Strategy: Wait for it to rear back to attack, then use a thrust to knock it off guard. Then proceed to beat the stuffing out of it until it croaks. Remember, blue sparks mean it guarded the hit, red means you connected. It can be hard to tell just from the sound and animations.

Notes: None.

Origins: Ocarina of Time, as normal Skulltulas.

Rat
Locations: Arbiter's Grounds, some caves, many parts of Cave of Ordeals.

Description: ... rats. They run around, screeching and being annoying, and tend to attack en masse, making a huge laggy display of sparks as a dozen rats hit your shield at once.

Recommended Weapons: Anything that does damage.

Battle Strategy: Shoot the stragglers, spin attack the mobs, do whatever you want--they die really quickly no matter what they get hit by.

Origins: A Link to the Past.

Redead Knights
Locations: Arbiter's Grounds, Cave of Ordeals several floors.

Description: Big semi-mummified zombies wielding enormous claymores. They emit a loud scream that paralyzes Link, then swing their blades at him. Spin the control stick to regain control.

Recommended Weapons: Ball and Chain or Master Sword or Bomblings.

Battle Strategy: There are two ways to fight these. Either get close and wait for the scream, break free and roll away. Then Mortal Draw them before they can recover from the slash. Otherwise, stay far away and throw your ball and chain. It'll hit them on the way out, then kill them on the way back in, and it has longer range than their screams.

Notes: No, they are not Gibdos. Same deal as Darknuts and Moldorms here, folks.

Origins: Twilight Princess original, but heavily based off one from Ocarina of Time.

Shell Blade
Locations: Lakebed Temple.

Description: A clam that flops around biting at you in the underwater cave portions of the temple.

Recommended Weapons: Ordon Sword.

Battle Strategys: While the Hookshot worked on these in OoT, it seems that the Clawshot is ineffective here. Just Iron Boots down to the bottom and slash their viscera when they open their shell.

Notes: None.

Origins: Ocarina of Time.

Skullfish
Locations: Lakebed Temple.

Description: A skeletal fish. They swim around and latch onto you. They also seem to be immune to the clawshot, and nothing else can be used while swimming.

Recommended Weapons: N/A.

Battle Strategy: N/A.

Notes: I wonder if they're related to Bago Bagos?

Origins: Majora's Mask, I think, but also based off one from AoL.

Addendum: Keptan says,

"These can be defeated by equipping the iron boots while underwater and then slashing them with your sword when they come close. You can alternately target them with the clawshot while on land to pull them to you, and then slash them with your sword. There's usually not any real reason to fight them, though."

Skulltula
Locations: Forest Temple, Temple of Time.

Description: A larger spider with a skull pattern on its back. It can block attacks.

Recommended Weapons: Any ranged weapon, then any sword.

Battle Strategy: Cut them down from the ceiling with the ranged attack of your choice. Once it lands, Wait for it to rear back to attack, then use a thrust to knock it off guard. Then proceed to beat the stuffing out of it until it croaks. Remember, blue sparks mean it guarded the hit, red means you connected. It can be hard to tell just from the sound and animations.

Notes: In the trailers, they wrapped Link in webbing and latched onto his face, upon which time they would attempt to digest him. Sadly, this awesome attack seems to have been removed.

Origins: Ocarina of Time, as Big Skulltulas.

Stalfos
Locations: Arbiter's Grounds, Cave of Ordeals several floors, random caves.

Description: A tall skeleton with a Bubble-like horned skull. They wear shoulder pauldrons and wield shields along with either daggers or broadswords. After being destroyed, they'll rise again and again...

Recommended Weapons: Master Sword and Bombs, Ball and Chain once you get it.

Battle Strategy: Treat them like a Lizalfos or Darknut or something similar until they collapse, then plant a bomb on the pile of bones or else it will rise again. You can later use the Ball and Chain to both collapse them in one hit and then destroy the rubble. They can also be easily destroyed by just striking them with a bomb whole.

Notes: They sure are easier than in the last few games...

Origins: Legend of Zelda, though its current form originated in ALttP.

Stalhound
Locations: Hyrule Field, Arbiter's Grounds, Cave of Ordeals unknown floor.

Description: An undead skeletal zombie wolf thing. Apparently the replacement for the Wolfos, although not a very good one. They just circle you and occasionally lunge to bite.

Recommended Weapons: None, but sword can work if you don't want to use wolf form.

Battle Strategy: Dark Energy Field (Midna's charge-b attack) instantly destroys tons of these at once. Then hunt down the stragglers with the attacks of your choice.

Notes: None.

Origins: Twilight Princess original.

Stalkin
Locations: Arbiter's Grounds, Cave of Ordeals several floors.

Description: A short skeleton with a long spear. They rise up out of the ground and attack in large groups by poking at you.

Recommended Weapons: Ball and Chain or Master Sword.

Battle Strategy: Same as all other mob-attacking encircling foes--spin either weapon to maul tons at a time. The best part is that a LOT of Stalkin appear at once, and they drop rupees with very high propensity in the Cave of Ordeals, so one or two spin attacks will net tons of money.

Note: None.

Origins: Twilight Princess original, based off one from OoT.

Staltroop
Location: Arbiter's Grounds.

Description: A ghostly shade that appears from underground to block your attacks on Stallord.

Recommended Weapons: Spinner.

Battle Strategy: Leap off the outside edge on your spinner, head towards Stallord, and avoid these guys. If one appears and you can't get out of the way, hit A to attack him and bounce off--try to land on the Spinner track again. They're really nothing more than annoyances.

Notes: None.

Origins: Twilight Princess original.

Tektite
Location: Hyrule Field, Lakebed Temple, Cave of Ordeals unknown floor.

Description: Four-legged jumping cyclops spider. It leaps around and tries to land on you or jump into you with its fangs or claws or something.

Recommended Weapons: Any sword or Ball and Chain.

Battle Strategy: When they appear in small groups, block their lunges then stab combo or backslash them. Large groups can be dealt with in usual fashion--B+C or spinattack.

Notes: None.

Origins: Legend of Zelda.

Tile Worm
Location: Forest Temple, Goron Mines, City in the Sky, Hyrule Castle.

Description: A wobbly tile with a visible "something" underneath it. It punches upwards to knock you away if you step on it. When extracted from its hole, it wiggles around helplessly.

Recommended Weapons: Gale Boomerang

Battle Strategy: Yank them out with the boomerang, then slash them before they recover. Just make sure to get them ahead of time or you might step on another one by mistake. They hurt, and can really throw you off course, no pun intended.

Notes: None.

Origins: Twilight Princess original.

Toado
Location: Lakebed Temple.

Description: An eyeball-like tadpole. Summoned by the miniboss in this dungeon, they can also be found swimming around in a few other rooms. They don't do much besides try to ram into you for minute damage.

Recommended Weapons: Anything that does damage.

Battle Strategy: Kill them fast to make the miniboss allow you to hurt him. In other battles, just ignore them, they really aren't very notable enemies.

Notes: None.

Origins: Twilight Princess original.

Toadpoli
Location: Goron Mines... and probably somewhere else, but I don't know where.

Description: Froggy things living in magma pools or normal lakes. They spit rocks at you as you pass by.

Recommended Weapons: Not a clue. The slingshot didn't do a thing and I was out of arrows, and I had no other ranged attacks at the time, so I have no idea what can hurt him.

Battle Strategy: See above. I just ran by and climbed the ladder fast.

Notes: Since there's also a "water toadpoli" listed in Phantasm's unedited list, it seems they appear elsewhere besides the single lava pool in the Mines, but I've yet to see any.

Sadly, these seem to be the replacement for octoroks this time around. Damn shame, since before TP, they had never missed a single game.

Origins: Twilight Princess original, but based off an enemy from LoZ's incarnation in OoT, which was quite different. That was confusing... oh well.

Addendum: Keptan says,

"Both varieties can be killed with arrows. You can also L-target them and use a shield attack to reflect their rocks back at them (make sure to use the Hylian Shield if fighting a Fire Toadpoli)."

Torch Slug
Location: Goron Mines, Cave of Ordeals several floors.

Description: A reddish four-eyestalked slug with a burning body. They can make a small flare-explosion come out of their body, but are harmless at a distance. They also hang from the ceiling at times.

Recommended Weapons: Bow and Arrow, any sword, or Clawshot.

Battle Strategy: Pick them off from afar with arrows or the clawshot, or stab them with Finish (which appears automatically)--just don't get too close before attacking, or else they'll send out their flare attack.

Notes: None.

Origins: Ocarina of Time.

Twilit Baba, Twilit Bulblin, Twilit Kargaroc, Twilit Keese
Locations: Same as their normal forms, while Twilight is on those areas. They also appear in the Palace of the Twilight.

Description: Mutated black-and-purple forms of their classic versions. Kargarocs make telltale and amusing FRONK trumpet noises when nearby.

Recommended Weapons/Battle Strategies: Same as their light forms.

Notes: You can ride a Twilit Kargaroc before removing the Twilight from Lake Hylia. His FRONK! trumpet is available by pushing A! :D

Origins: Twilight Princess originals, but based mostly off classic enemies.

Twilit Messenger
Locations: At every warp zone.

Description: Black tentacled things with odd shield-like heads and red chests. They march around on all fours and attack in groups. If one is left alive, he screams to revive the others.

Recommended Weapons: Master Sword, or N/A.

Battle Strategy: Much easier than they seem. While they revive if only one is left alive, they do NOT revive UNTIL that point. Therefore, if there are five of them, you can safely kill three individually. Once you get two alone together, use a spin attack (sword or wolf) to finish them off in one hit, earning yourself a portal.

Notes: Sometimes one is hidden behind a "maze" of hologram walls. Take it out first, because it's harder to bunch with the others for a spin.

Origins: Twilight Princess originals.

Twilit Parasite
Locations: Any part of Twilit Hyrule.

Description: Invisible bugs that glow transparently with Sense. Some burrow, some fly, some crawl. Some shoot electric bolts.

Recommended Weapons: N/A.

Battle Strategy: Once you've uncovered one, just lock on and bite until you hit it. They rarely attack, and for little damage--but there are a lot of them in each area, and they can be hard to hit.

Notes: Called Shadow Insects by the spirits. A large one is a miniboss, the Twilit Bloat.

Origins: Twilight Princess Original.

Twilit Vermin
Locations: Hyrule Castle sewers, Palace of the Twilight (?).

Description: Small black bundles of tentacles that squirm around and flail at you helplessly. Basically like rats, but weirder looking.

Recommended Weapons: Anything that deals damage, N/A.

Battle Strategy: Just treat them like rats. They go down quickly, but can be a bit hard to spot at times.

Notes: None.

Origins: Twilight Princess Original.

Walltula
Locations: Ordon Village, Forest Temple, Temple of Time.

Description: A skull-patterned spider climbing on vines or ladders. They can knock you off if you don't kill them before climbing.

Recommended Weapons: Slingshot, Bow and Arrow, Clawshot, etc.

Battle Strategy: Just shoot them once with any ranged weapon you want to kill them and free up that climbable surface.

Notes: What happened to the "skull" part of their name from OoT? :o

Origins: Ocarina of Time, then called Skullwalltulas.

White Wolfos
Locations: Snowpeak, Snowpeak Ruins.

Description: A snow-white wolf that leaps in and out of the snowdrifts to attack you.

Recommended Weapons: None.

Battle Strategy: They usually appear in areas with deep snow Hylian Link can't walk in, so use Wolf form and lunge at them. The Ball and Chain can defeat them rather easily if you insist on fighting as Link though.

Notes: I miss the classic Wolfos. They were cooler.

Origins: Ocarina of Time, albeit in a very different form.

Young Gohma
Locations: Temple of Time.

Description: A furry brown tarantula with one eye.

Recommended Weapons: Good question.

Battle Strategy: I just stabbed the thing repeatedly. After realizing it was a Gohma, I began to wonder if it was weak to an arrow to the eye, in traditional Gohma style.

Sadly, I never encountered another one in the game. Anyone know?

Notes: None.

Origins: Legend of Zelda, in its adult form.

Zant Mask
Locations: Palace of the Twilight.

Description: A giant floating version of Zant's mask. It hovers around, teleports, and shoots giant purple balls of energy. Beat all of the ones in a room for a key.

Recommended Weapons: Bow and Arrow, Master Sword.

Battle Strategy: Shoot it if it teleports away, stab it if it comes close. Dodge the shots with sidesteps or rolls. They can be really annoying if you run out of arrows, because they tend to teleport every time you try to slash them--so be thrifty.

Notes: None.

Origins: Twilight Princess original, though based off Wizzrobes from LoZ's incarnation in TWW.

Zant's Hand
Locations: Palace of the Twilight.

Description: A giant black hand with purple markings that hovers around. It knocks you over and grabs your Sol orb, and if you don't stop it in time, you'll have to start that part of the dungeon over.

Recommended Weapons: Bow and Arrows, Clawshot.

Battle Strategy: Slash it once to activate it, then run like hell. Use the Sol to create stairs and such then clawshot it to you once you get to solid ground. If the Zant's Hand approaches the Sol, shoot it with your arrows (clawshot if you run out, but it's weaker and has shorter range) to stun it momentarily, giving you a chance to flee. Sometimes it can be trapped behind walls, mercifully.

Notes: Sure seems a lot like a Twilit version of a Wallmaster...

Origins: Twilight Princess original, but based loosely off one from LoZ.

Minibosses
Details on each miniboss. They're in order of the game, not alphabetical, this time.

Ook
Location: Forest Temple.

Description: A baboon with something weird on his head. He hops from pillar to pillar, throws his boomerang at you, and summons Baba Snakes to attack.

Recommended Weapons: Somersault, Ordon Sword.

Battle Strategy: Roll into the pillar he's on. He'll leap around, making it a bit tricky to hit him sometimes. Once you knock him down, slash him in his bright red buttocks until the parasite dislodges itself.

Notes: Why do you attack his butt, if the bug was on his head? Seems kinda mean to the poor now-innocent creature.

Origins: Twilight Princess original, but possibly inspired by Goriya from LoZ and Kiki from ALttP.

Dangoro
Location: Goron Mines.

Description: A hulking, armored goron. He pounds around the arena to try to knock you off into the lava below. Eventually, he'll punch, leaving himself open. Eventually he curls up and rolls around madly.

Recommended Weapons: Iron Boots, Ordon Sword.

Battle Strategy: Attach yourself to the floor and wait for him to raise his arms. Remove the boots and run over as fast as you can, then slash him. Get out of the way before he punches you. Repeat this until he curls up for phase 2.

Once he starts rolling around, put on the Iron Boots, target him, and hold A at the right time (like you did to catch the other Gorons before). Then throw him, trying to get him off the platform into the lava. Three baths in magma and he's history.

Notes: None.

Origins: Twilight Princess original.

Deku Toad
Location: Lakebed Temple.

Description: A massive and mutated frog covered in toados with a fat tongue. It sends its tadpole minions after you, then jumps around the room. Upon landing, its tongue rolls out.

Recommended Weapons: Ordon Sword, Bombs.

Battle Strategy: Kill the toados fast, and he'll leap into the air. When it lands, its tongue flops out and it becomes weak to your sword. Slash the tongue until it withdraws, then prepare for another toado barrage.

Notes: None.

Origins: Twilight Princess original.

Addendum: MrPotter says,

"When it opens its mouth after you do a sword combo on its tongue, shoot a bomb arrow into its mouth. It swallows it, then there's a short pause, and the bomb blows up in its stomach, so you can get in another combo on the tongue. It does that every time, so you only need to do the beginning part with slashing the tiny thingies once."

Death Sword
Location: Arbiter's Grounds

Description: A freaky, possibly hanged-in-life ghost wielding a sword.

Recommended Wepons: Sword, Bow and Arrows or Clawshot.

Battle Strategy: The sword starts out imbedded in the ground. Slice one of the ropes and the sword will wave in the air after burning the other ropes. Transform into wolf form and bite the dead hell out of it. After a while it will solidize and start floating around the room.

Transform into human and shoot arrows at it's head. If you are out or don't feel like wasting arrows, use your clawshot and pull it at you, then slash the rest of the dead hell out of it.

Repeat.

Notes: Anyone know if that sword is Twilit?

Origins: Twilight Princess original.

Darkhammer
Location: Snowpeak Ruins

Description: Some short Darknut with a ball and chain.

Recommended Weapons: Clawshot, Master Sword.

Battle Strategy: When it's spinning it's Ball and Chain, Clawshot the taget behind it. Then run up to it's back and slash. Eventually it will turn around so Clawshot the other target if there is one.

You can also Back Slice it or wait for it to throw it's weapon, but only if you want to kill yourself or you got a couple (hundred) fairies with you. I used this strategy so I have no idea if there's another Clawshot target.

Notes: None

Origin: Twilight Princess original, but looks a crazy lot like a Darknut.

Darknut
Locations: Temple of Time (miniboss), Hyrule Castle, Cave of Ordeals 39th and 49th floors.

Description: Enormous, heavily armored knights with shields and large swords or maces. They have incredible AI for team work, with less armored ones hiding behind their allies and jumping out to attack, then retreating. They block almost everything, have a formidable repertoire of offense themselves, and up to four can appear at a time. In short, they're a nightmare.

Recommended Weapons: Bombs, Bomb Arrows, Master Sword.

Battle Strategy: Hopefully by this time you have a bunch of sword skills. Wait for them to attack, then sidestep or backslash to get behind them. Once they've been hit once, they're stunned briefly, so stab/thrust them repeatedly. Each hit knocks off some armor--but they have a lot of it, and they're damn good at using shields. Bomb arrows aimed at their feet, or just well-timed well-placed normal bombs, can knock off armor fairly easily.

Once you knock it all off, though, then things get tricky. They throw their mace/claymore at you--sidestep or roll to dodge this, as it hurts. Then they draw a longsword and get serious. They block damn near anything--I don't think even the backslice can hit them unless they just attacked, because they turn and parry it in an instant. If you have the chargeable jump strike, get FAR away from them and use it--it stuns them every time, but if you're close, they'll do a dashing stab and knock you over. Also remember that while they hide behind armored ones, if you disarm the other one they'll get even faster as well, so it's best to just cope with their cowardice and Jump Strike them. Once they're stunned, thrust as fast as you can. Two or three combos of this can usually do the trick.

If 3 or 4 appear at once, use Magic Armor and abuse bomb arrows and jump strike as best as you can.

Notes: Like the Bulblin, despite being similar to a previous enemy, these are NOT Iron Knuckles. Heck, Darknuts precede those anyway (from the first game!). Once you get the pattern down, these become fairly easy, but they're as bad as Chilfos mobs the first few times.

Origins: Legend of Zelda, modified like one from Ocarina of Time.

Aeralfos
Locations: City in the Sky (miniboss), Hyrule Castle, Cave of Ordeals 48th floor.

Description: Tall lizardman with a sword. Basically a lizalfos, except that they have wings, and wield clawshot target designs on shields. Those aren't just for looks. They fly around, occasionally performing dive attacks at you with their swords. One appears as a miniboss, but he fights just like the rest aside from occasionally flying in and out of windows to throw you off.

Recommended weapons: Bow and Arrows, Clawshot, Master Sword.

Battle Strategy: You have to clawshot his shield to drag him down to earth, then attack him with your sword. I recommend Shield Bash--Helm Splitter, as it keeps him stunned and allows you to damage him quite a bit before he can take off again. Be careful not to clawshot him while he's on the ground--you'll be dragged over and he'll slash you away immediately. Try shooting him with arrows while he's flying, and he'll raise his shield, making it easier to clawshot it. For the miniboss, hold an arrow in place and spin around the room, waiting for him to appear, then let loose as soon as he pops in before he can dodge it.

Notes: Looks just like a Lizalfos from Ocarina of Time, oddly. Even moreso than the actual Lizalfos in this game do. Go fig.

Origins: Twilight Princess original, but designed a lot like one from OoT.

King Bulblin
Location: Hyrule Field (Eldin), Bridge of Eldin, Great Bridge of Hylia, Bulbin Camp near Arbiter's Grounds, Hyrule Castle.

Description: A total idiot, a bad boar rider, a pathetic axe wielder, and a brain the size of a Bombchu all packed into a fat Bulbin with horns.

Recomended Weapons: Any sword, Epona (Field & Bridges), Bow and Arrows(GBoH).

Battle Strategies

Hyrule Field: Just slash him.

Bridge of Eldin: You must joust him off the bridge here. Charge at him, then when he almost reaches you, swerve around and attack. Regular slashes work, but Spin Attacks work best for damage. After around 5 (spinning) to 10 (slashing) hits, he flies.

Great Bridge of Hylia: Here he has traded his stick for a pair of huge shields. Here, if you try to slash him, he just blocks it. Charge and fire your arrows in between his shields, and eventually he falls off. Takes 6 (Bomb Arrows) to 12 (Ordinary Arrows) hits.

Bulbin Camp: Here he has traded his boar for a giant axe, slashing at you. Just attack the hell out of him. If you have the Mortal Draw, use that. If not, Back Slice and Helm Splitter work too. Eventually, he's down and out. No Ending Blow required.

Hyrule Castle: Kick his fat idiotic buttocks like you did at the Bulbin Camp.

Notes: Is this guy really the king of the Bulbins? No, seriously, this guy is an idiot! I-DEE-OT!!!

Origin: Twilight Princess Original.

Phantom Zant
Location: Palace of Twilight, twice.

Description: Name says all.

Battle Strategy: He flies around and warps, making him hard to beat. He also pauses to summon several Twilit Creatures, including Twilit Messengers. This is your chance to attack. Be quick though, as he is fast to his summonings.

Notes: None

Origin: Twilight Princess Original.

Skull Kid
Location: Scared Grove (Off-Map Section)

Description: A puppet-like creature with an annoying and painful sense of humour.

Battle Strategy: Bite (Wolf), Slash (Human, forest area) and Shoot (Bow and Arrows, Arena) him down. He's kinda a pain, but he's only trying to help.

Notes: None

Origin: Freakload of Zelda games from who-knows-when.

Twilit Bloat
Location: Lake Hylia.

Description: A massive version of a Twilight Insect. Holds the last Tear of Light for Lake Hylia

Recommended Weapons: None(you are in wolf form)

Battle Strategy: It will charge itself with electricity, and then it will try to hit you. Dodge it, then jump attack it and keep pressing A. Then it will go into the water for a little bit and do the same thing over again. After you hit it three times, it will lay on its back on the water. Jump on it and use Midna's shadow charge to kill it. I fyou don't, it will get back up.

Note: If it hits you, it will turn your senses off.

Origins: Twilight Princess original.