Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom enemies

While you might recognise some elements of Hyrule, there are plenty of new Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom enemies to keep you on your toes. Fortunately, Link has lots of fresh abilities, including the power to combine weapons, to take on these foes. Still, it might help your playthrough to check out what you’re going up against first. So, we’re here to introduce you to the new Zelda: TotK enemies of this huge open-world game.

For more tips and tricks for Hyrulian hijinks, check out our guides to Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Misko’s treasure, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom gleeoks, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom shrines, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom depths, and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom old maps. You can also check out our Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom review to get the full deep dive.

So, let’s get into all the Zelda: TotK enemies you can look forward to facing:

Horriblin
Boss Bokoblin
Aerocuda
Soldier Construct
Captain Construct
Flux Construct
Evermean Trees
Gloom Hands
Like Like
Gleeoks
Battle Talus
Frox

New Zelda: TotK enemies

With so many new parts to Hyrule, it’s little surprise there are lots of fresh enemies to face down. While we’re still trudging through the game to find new Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom enemies, we’ve listed all the ones we’ve met so far. And yes, you’ll be pleased to know, some of these come in brown, black, silver, and gold rarities!

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Horriblin

These new enemies camp on cave ceilings and attack you from afar. Fire an arrow at their head for a critical hit and they drop down, waiting for you to come in and lay a killer blow. They can be a bit hard to spot, so keep your eyes open for their rustling.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Boss Bokoblin

Boos Bokoblins are massive bokoblins – like five times the size – who waddle around with a horn and throw stones at you. Their best technique is when they corral the smaller bokoblins into formation in front of them – creating a line of defence the little guys wouldn’t normally be able to organise. Aim for their big red nose for a critical hit and you should be fine.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Aerocuda

Aerocudas are thrilling airborne enemies. They fly around high above Hyrule, and if they spot you, you better be ready. If you’re gliding high in the sky, they barrel towards you in a spin and can send you hurtling down. Be ready to dodge by dropping off the paraglider for a second – then use Link’s slow-mo arrow ability while falling to land a killer blow.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Soldier Construct

Soldier Constructs are the violent robot enemies you meet at the beginning. Unlike their friendly counterparts who cook food, cut down trees, and hunt, these guys are all about protecting Zonai spaces. They fight in a straightforward way – there’s no real gimmick here. Just buckle up and aim for the head.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Captain Construct

Captain Constructs are similar to Soldier Constructs except they can also fuse items to a weapon. When you see them raise up one arm and a blue fusion beam connecting the tip of their weapon to something else, aim for the eye in the center of their head and get a critical hit – this will cancel the fuse and set them up for an easy fight.

Screenshot of Link taking on a flux construct for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom enemies guide

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Flux construct

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s Flux constructs are excellently inventive minibosses littered throughout the sky islands. Completely made of cubes, they start out as humanoid colossuses. They have one cube in their makeup that is a different color – this is the critical point to aim for. Around halfway through the fight, these cube-based humanoid robots turn into floating UFO-like platforms – find a way to get up high and wail away on their critical point and victory should be yours.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Evermean trees

Evermean Trees are, well, trees. They move around and come at you with their branches – and are quite a scary adversary when they first find you. Do what you’d do with any tree and you’ll be fine; i.e. get out an axe and turn ‘em into firewood, or turn their trunks to ash with some flames. Easy peasy.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Gloom hands

Gloom Hands are horrible and you should run if you see them. They are tough to take down, corrupt Link’s hearts, and are just pretty darn scary looking. If you do want to go for a fight, aim for the glowing eyes in the palms and pepper them with bombs. Be aware, some instances of gloom hands can lead to a second phase of battle where Phantom Ganon pops out. No, we’re not joking.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Like Like

Like Likes are back! This time they come in different forms like Keese and Chuchu. You attack Fire Like Likes with ice. Meanwhile, Ice Like Likes need some fire. You get the gist – just attack them with the right element or get close to see their stone pop out their mouths – that’s the point for the critical hit.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Gleeoks

These angry dragons are more of a boss battle than a regular enemy – so much so we’ve got our own Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Gleeoks guide – but they’re worth mentioning here so you can keep an eye out. With three elemental heads spitting either fire, ice, or lightning at Link, taking on one of these beasts is a massive challenge.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Bubbulfrogs

If you want to get your hands on some Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom bubbul gems, then it’s time to hunt for Bubbulfrogs. You can often find these fast-moving enemies in caves, so be sure to bring a bow and a few arrows to land the one hit you need from a distance.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Gibdo

The closest to a mummy you’re going to find in Hyrule, Gibdo’s gather around Gerudo Town to attack those that live there. Fortunately, Gibdo’s don’t like fire or lightning, so you can use attacks embracing these elements to get rid of the nasty group. Oh, also, there are some that fly. Have fun!

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Battle talus

Link isn’t the only one with the ability to build in Tears of the Kingdom. Wily monsters have made their home on top of some Talus’, creating a Battle Talus that wanders along with planks and fortifications on it. These pose more of a challenge, but thanks to Link’s new ascend ability, you can pop out on top and then wreak havoc.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Little Frox and big Frox

Found in the depths, these lizardy creatures have one eye in the center of their foreheads. The little ones are easy to deal with, but the bigger ones appear as bosses and can suck Link into their mouths. These things can jump, far, so be aware when roaming the gloomy underworld.

Returning Zelda: TotK enemies

Of course, with Hyrule returning, plenty of enemies from Breath of the Wild are back too. Check out the list below for who to expect to bump into.

Chuchus
Bokoblins
Moblins
Hinox
Lynels
Lizalfos
Octoroks
Keese
Pebblits
Talus
Molduga
Wizzrobes
Yiga Footsoldiers

Tears of the Kingdom: Stal enemies

The Stalfos return in Tears of the Kingdom, with Stalkoblins, Stalizalfos, Stalnox, and Stalmoblins. We haven’t seen any Stal-horriblins just yet, but they don’t tend to head out into moonlight so who really knows if they exist.

With that, you’re up to date on the Zelda: TotK enemies so far. For more help in another of 2023’s monster hits, check out our Honkai Star Rail tier list and Honkai Star Rail codes guide.