Battle Talus boss strategy in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

As you advance through The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, you will come across all manner of strange beasts. Sometimes, those beasts ride other beasts into battle.

The Battle Talus is one such baddie — home to three Bokoblins, this Stone Talus Variant comes with more offensive capabilities than its cousin, but it doesn’t hit quite as hard and it has less health, too. This is all great news if it’s your first Talus battle, but that’s not to say it’s an easy fight by any means.

It’s pretty easy to spot, thanks to its hulking great form, but if you’re not ready for a four-on-one battle, you’ll quickly find yourself smushed into the pavement.

Where to find the Battle Talus in Tears of the Kingdom

The first Battle Talus you will likely come across is to the east of the Lookout Landing beneath Hyrule Castle, on your way to visit Tukarok Shrine. You can spot it just at the end of the Orsedd Bridge.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

If you’re approaching this enemy, make sure to make a beeline for the blue cover just south of the road. This boss hits hard, and indestructible cover will be your best friend.

How to defeat the Battle Talus in Tears of the Kingdom

First things first, make sure you’re packing a bow and good few arrows. And equip your Ascend ability.

You’ll want to duck behind cover and take out the three Bokoblins riding the talus (one on each shoulder, plus the head). This isn’t essential, but it will make your life easier.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

Once that’s done, look for the big black rock on its left shoulder (the right side if it’s coming at you). You can target this with ZL if you need to, to make things a little easier.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

This next bit is tough, as it requires careful timing. Once you hit the black rock, the Battle Talus will be briefly stunned and take a knee. You need to sprint under it and use the Ascend ability to “swim” through your enemy. It’s a little weird, if you think too hard about it, but it works.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

Once you emerge at the top, jump out and whale on the black rock with your strongest weapon. If you’ve defeated the Flux Construct 1 and have a 20-ish-power weapon, now is the time to use it.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

If you don’t deal enough damage, the Talus will throw you off. You’ll probably take some damage in the process, but simply hit the black rock again and repeat the process of ascending and smacking the black rock.

Be careful though — without the cover of the blue tarp, you’re open to its attacks. Not only does it lob rocks at you, but it packs quite the punch.

How to use the Stone Talus Heart

Along with a whole bunch of precious stones (amber, ruby, and opal), the Battle Talus (and standard Stone Talus) drops a Stone Talus Heart. Like the Flux Construct 1 Core, you can’t pick this up — but what you can do is Fuse it to a weapon to grant a massive damage spike.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

Simply put, equip a weapon that hasn’t been Fused yet (we used a strong Zonaite sword), then use the Fuse ability and create a Stone Talus Hammer. The attack power on our weapon jumped from 7 to 20, meaning this almost tripled its attack power with +13 attack.

Note: You can fuse the Stone Talus Heart to your shield, but we do not recommend it. We did the science for you, and as you can see, you get zero buff to your shield for doing so.