The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess/Enemies

Minibosses are in their own section.

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, at 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 Darknuts 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.

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 chargee 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 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.

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--ball and chain or spin attack.

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.

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.

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

Recommended Weapons: Bow and arrows.

Battle Strategy: These can be killed with arrows. You can also -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).

Notes: Sadly, these seem to be the replacement for octoroks this time around. Damn shame, since before Twilight Princess, 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.

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 enemies
Locations: Same as their normal forms, while Twilight is on those areas. They also appear in the Palace of the Twilight.

Description: These come in Baba, Bulbin, Kargaroc and Keese forms, which are mutated black-and-purple versions of their classic counterparts. 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

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 none.

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, or none.

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: None

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 that 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: None

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: Master Sword.

Battle Strategy: Just stab it repeatedly. It may be weak to an arrow to the eye, in traditional Gohma style.

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 with your arrows.

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 in order of appearance in the game.

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 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.

Alternatively, 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 toados once.

Notes: None.

Origins: Twilight Princess original.

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. After a while it will solidify and start floating around the room.

Transform into human Link and shoot arrows at its head. If you are out or don't feel like wasting arrows, use your clawshot and pull it at you, then slash. Repeat.

Notes: None.

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 its Ball and Chain, Clawshot the target behind it. Then run up to its 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 its weapon, but only if you want to kill yourself or you've got a couple (hundred) fairies with you.

Notes: None

Origin: Twilight Princess original, but looks a 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--even the backslice can't 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. Use 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.

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(Great Bridge of Hylia).

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. 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: Same strategy as at Bulbin Camp.

Notes: None

Origin: Twilight Princess Original.

Phantom Zant
Location: Palace of Twilight, twice.

Description: Name says it 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 kind of a pain, but he's only trying to help.

Notes: None

Origin: Many Zelda games.

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. 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. If you don't, it will get back up.

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

Origins: Twilight Princess original.