This launch title is considered by many as the best game that year and its legacy was further cemented with 20 million copies being sold by 2020, making it one of the best-selling video games of all time. One of its most interesting quest lines is ‘Divine Beast Vah Rudania’ and the final boss in that quest, Fireblight Ganon, being a very tough opponent. Luckily, we created this guide specifically for that fight and after reading it, you should have no problems understanding how to beat Fireblight Ganon. As this battle has two distinct stages, we’ll talk about each individually.
Fireblight Ganon Stage One
In this stage, Fireblight Ganon prefers to swing his sword and try to get you that way. In his other forms, he won’t prefer close combat as much and will instead look to kill you with fireballs, but we’ll get to that in a moment. Luckily, Fireblight Ganon will have several easily telegraphed sword swings, but if you mistime your movement, he will most likely kill you with a single hit, if you have a low number of hearts. Either way, you should keep your shield raised at all times if you’re not attacking, just in case he clips you. So you won’t have to study his movement, here’s the list of his attacks:
Vertical slice - this move is pretty obvious to spot because it’s rather slow. Your best bet against this move is a side jump and if you’re close enough, you might be able to counter-attack him. Horizontal sweep - this one might be a little trickier. It’s a lot quicker than the vertical slice, and it’s a little harder to get a good shot at Fireblight Ganon after avoiding it. A backflip is our recommended choice of getting out of the way, but you may find it tougher to land a melee attack this way so feel free to use the bow and arrow. Spin attack - a slower and predictable move than the horizontal sweep, but with a bigger possibility of getting damage inflicted upon you. The spin attack has three hits of which only the first one can be blocked. This move might need you to observe it first before dealing with it, but fortunately, it has a very slow windup. Like with the horizontal sweep, we recommend using the backflip to get the perfect dodge. Air attack - at a certain point, Fireblight Ganon will launch into the air and when he does that, you should lock on to him or face towards him so you can keep track of him. When he’s airborne, Ganon will shoot missiles towards and you can try raising your shield to protect yourself, but the better solution would be to run around and try your best to avoid getting hit. It’s important to note that although you can technically shoot at the missiles and knock them out of the air, it’s not recommended to do so as it’s a high-risk, high-reward type of move.
Because these moves are far-reaching, that means you can get really close to Fireblight Ganon and be relatively safe, and free to inflict blows of your own. Your best shot at inflicting the most damage is using Flurry Attack, preferably after you dodged one of his swings. After you lowered his HP to 50%, he will take to the air and raise a fiery shield, indicating that the second stage has begun.
Fireblight Ganon Stage Two
The very first thing he’ll do in this stage is throw a great fireball which creates an explosion when it hits the ground. It can deal a lot of damage, so your best bet is to stay away from the impact zone by either running as far away as possible or finding a good place to hide behind, so it can shield you from the blast. At the moment he’s charging up the fireball, you’ll notice the weak spot in his plan - the air being sucked around him which allows you to throw your own missile. If you get a good hit, he’ll crash land and you’ll get a brief window of opportunity to attack him with your melee weapon before he takes to the air once again. This time, he’ll throw another fireball attack but without the charge-up period. This one is also best avoided, but you can also go for a riskier maneuver and try to shoot the fireball out of the air. Either way, he’ll hit the ground and you’ll be able to apply the same tactic as in the first stage. However, you need to be extra careful as this time, his sword will be on fire and he’ll be able to inflict more damage if he hits you. Upon impact, his flaming sword will set the ground on fire which can provide a gust of wind for you to take advantage of and glide upwards to evade damage. You can also use it for a ranged attack which is also possible from the ground. The best advice is to stay calm and focused, but most importantly, disciplined. Charging for an attack in the nick of time can get you easily killed, so be careful. If you persist with this tactic, Fireblight Ganon will eventually fall and you will have beaten the Vah Rundania questline, provided you beat the other bosses as well. One last important thing - after beating Fireblight Ganon, you should stick around and get a Heart Container.
