Ghirahim Overview Ghirahim is a two-stage boss you'll encounter at the end of the Skyview Temple. In order to defeat him, you must engage him in hand-to-sword combat. Yes, he will block your sword with his hands. Stage One In this stage, Ghirahim isn't very aggressive; his only action will be to slowly walk towards you with his right hand, glowing with a dark energy he can use to block your sword strikes, held up. He can and will block your attacks if you telegraph them, so try to avoid doing that. He isn't very dangerous in this form unless he manages to wrench your sword out of your hands after he catches it with his own. If he can grab your sword, he'll be able to smack you around with it several times, shredding away your hearts. Fortunately, he can only take your sword if he manages to block an attack from you and then pulls it out of your hands. If Ghirahim catches your sword, there's an easy way to deal with it. If you'll notice, he'll catch your sword between his index and middle finger, and he'll hold it with these two fingers pointing up. To take back control of your blade so you can deal out some punishment to this guy, yank your sword out by swinging your Wii Remote upwards repeatedly. You can regain control of your blade by yanking it from any direction, however, this is the quickest and most effective, which is good because if Ghirahim has hold of your sword for too long, he will take control of it and you will be in danger. If Ghirahim takes control of your sword, he will continue walking towards you, attacking with it. If he does this, there are two methods you can use to reclaim it. The first and safer method is to use your shield to disarm him. When he attacks you with your blade, use a shield bash to shake his grip and send your sword flying. The second and more dangerous approach would be to try to distance yourself from Ghirahim. He will soon fling your sword like a spear straight at you. This is a tough attack to dodge, but try your best to do so. However, even if it hits you, you can still reclaim your sword at this point. No matter which technique you utilize, run over to where it now lies and pick it up to get yourself back in the game. If you lost too much health in this assault, you can rush to the pots in the room and break them to find hearts, which you can use to replenish your health. Getting tired of playing on the defensive? Then it's time to smack that smug grin off of Ghirahim's face. To deal damage to Ghirahim, you must preform a move known as a feint. This means, fake an attack to one side of him, then quickly attack the other side. You can do this by, for example, holding your blade on his left side, but then slicing him from the right, or perhaps more effectively, holding your blade over his head, then striking with an uppercut. This is a difficult technique to perfect, especially since repositioning your sword too quickly can register as a slash, but if you manage to do it correctly, you will make contact with Ghirahim with your sword. Once you've struck him, batter him wildly with a barrage of slices, as he'll drop his defenses temporarily. After he regains his composure, he'll jump away from you, and the cycle will continue. Repeat this process until Ghirahim enters his second stage. Stage Two In this stage, Ghirahim will start taking you seriously. He'll summon a sword of his own, a black and demonic blade, which he'll use to batter you around in a display of fabulous swordsmanship. He'll also emplore a ranged attack, in which he'll summon what can only be described as red missles which will hover in front of him in a very conveniently-directed line until he sends them out to attack you. To deal with his red projectiles, you can do a number of things. As you'll notice, the projectiles form in a very specific line, either being perfectly horizontal, perfectly vertical, or perfectly diagonal. You can slash these projectiles out of the air using your sword, whether they're hovering around Ghirahim or flying straight at you, by slashing along the line they hover in. This is the aggressive, albeit fancier, way of dealing with these. The second way utilizes your shield. If you want to play it safe and defensive, when he sends the red missles flying at you, shield bash to block them and save your skin. Alternatively, you can simply dodge these attacks. To deal with his swordplay, there are a number of approaches you can use as well. His main attack will be to crouch down, then to charge at you as quickly as he can sprint, ending his rush with a wide-reaching slash. You can dodge this slash if you run and outmanuver the charging Ghirahim, however, as mentioned, it does have a wide reach, so this is a difficult tactic that should only be used if you don't have a shield. If you do have a shield, and count yourself lucky if you do, you can block this attack with a well-timed shield bash. Either way, once this attack has ended (or been put to an end), you have a brief window which you can use to strike Ghirahim with your blade. Once again, he'll drop his guard once he's struck, so always follow up your first blow with a flurry of follow-ups. His other attack is to teleport around the chamber, namely right behind you, to deliver a very sneaky strike with his blade. If you're quick to react, you can run out of the reach of this attack, but if you've damage-dealing on the mind, you must be even quicker. When he teleports behind you, turn to face him and you'll see he holds his blade out in a specific direction. Quickly swing at him so that your sword doesn't make contact with his blade, and you will strike him. Continue battering him until he regains his composure and recovers. Overall, Ghirahim is a tough first boss. If you find yourself hurting for health, there are a number of pots surrounding the edges of the chamber you'll combat him in, and it is helpful to bring a health-restorative potion. Other than that, keep your cool, attack wisely, and teach this albino hermaphrodite a lesson in humillity. Scaldera Overview Scaldera is a walking fireball reanimated by black magic which you'll encounter at the end of the Earth Temple. Scaldera coats itself with rocks, plate-armor that serves to protect it from any of your attacks. In order to defeat it, we've gotta knock that armor off somehow. To attack you, Scaldera will first charge up the ramp you fight it on while coating itself with flames. While these flames are active, you cannot attack Scaldera, however, it's hard to sustain flames while travelling at the velocity of its charge, so they will soon be put out, and Scaldera will be temporarily vulnerable. Now's your time to push it back! Take out a bomb, or if you've run out, head to the top of the ramp and grab a bomb flower you'll find there. Roll the bomb at Scaldera, and if Scaldera gets hit, the explosion will send it careening back down to the bottom of the ramp. Race after it because once it hits the bottom, it will start regaining its composure and readying a new attack. This new attack involves Scaldera spitting fireballs at you. Stay well away if Scaldera manages to initiate this attack, as it makes avoiding the fireballs easier. However, if you want to knock Scaldera's armor off and be able to deal some damage to this Pyroclastic Fiend, you must interrupt Scaldera's attack before it begins. To ready its attack, Scaldera will suck in a great breath of air. You might have this thought cross your mind in the heat of battle, but while he's sucking up the air, he could suck up other things, too. What do we have to toss at him that, when sucked up, would deal massive damage? How about a bomb! You can't use the bomb flowers to do this, considering that they're too far away from the bottom of the ramp, so be sure you have some bombs in your bomb bag. Take one out and toss it at Scaldera while it's inhaling. Scaldera will suck up the bomb and suffer an internal explosion, knocking some of its armor off. This will also stun Scaldera temporarily, giving you an opening to finally start dealing some damage to it. Take your blade and start striking at Scaldera's lone eye. As any practicing optomotrist will tell you, this kind of activity hurts, which is good, considering how that's exactly what we want to do to Scaldera. After a flurry of strikes from your blade, Scaldera will recover, meaning you should really run the heck away. It will charge you again, and the cycle will repeat. You should know what to do, now, though, so repeat the above process to claim victory. A few closing notes to be had; first of all, bombs do not actually damage Scaldera, they only knock his armor off and make his eye, the weak spot that you can deal damage to, easier to hit. If you want to kill Scaldera, you must attack his eye. Other than that, this battle is all about positioning. Don't get too close so Scaldera's attacks are unavoidable, and don't get too far away so you won't be able to get close enough to damage it. Finally, please take note of the many restorative hearts at the top of the ramp. These will help you if you're in a pinch. Moldarach Overview Having slept in the sands of Lanayru for a thousand years, Moldarach is a centuries-old arachnid who's very, very grumpy about being woken up from its peaceful slumber. That stinger looks like it's full of some pretty gnarly poison, and those pincers could squeeze a much bigger man to death. It gets worse when you consider that its rock-hard exoskeleton can render it impervious to any attack. Looks like we've got quite a fight ahead of us... If we're going to survive this battle, we need to know how to deal with Moldarach's many attacks. To preempt Moldarach's pincers, cast your gaze at the eyes that rest inside of them. When they turn from their normal shade of blue to red, that should clue you in to Moldarach's intention to attack with them, and should cue you to jump away as quickly as your retreats can carry you. To elaborate on this, if the eye on the right pincer turns red, then the right pincer will be the one to attack you, and vice versa. If, by chance, Moldarach manages to catch you with its pincer, shake your Wii Remote and Nunchuck rapidly to free yourself. Similarly to how Moldarach telegraphs its pincer attacks, if the eye in its head turns red, this means it's readying an attack from its stinger. That would be a pretty nasty blow if it manages to make contact, so be sure to avoid it. After being locked in combat with Moldarach for a while, you're bound to get sick of its lethal pincers. It's time to strike back and get rid of them. The eyes in the pincers that telegraph its attacks are Moldarach's biggest shortcoming in more ways than one. The eyes not only serve as a warning to when it's readying an attack, but as Moldarach's major weak point. If you can strike the eyes in its pincers with your sword, the pincers will take damage and eventually break. Be warned, however, that you can only strike the eyes if you slash in a specific angle, to avoid your blow being blocked by the hard bits of Moldarach's pincers. Alternatively, you can use a shield bash on an attacking pincer to stun it for a moment, giving you the opportunity to repeatedly attack the eye inside of it. After each pincer has taken enough damage, they'll explode in a glorious display of... Pincer-explody-ness... After destroying both of Moldarach's pincers, it will hide under the sand that serves as flooring for this boss room. It's time to break out the dungeon item to uncover it! Bring out the Gust Bellows and aim it at the slowly moving mound of sand which Moldarach can inevitably be found under. Use the gusts of wind from the Gust Bellows to blow the sand away and uncover Moldarach. Remember this technique for exposing this creature, as Moldarach is likely to repeat this strategy during the course of this battle. After its emergence from under the sand, you can attack the eye in its head (which can only be damaged with a stab), but be warned, as Moldarach can still attack with its stinger. At this point in the battle, you know all of Moldarach's tricks. Finishing it off is just a matter of dealing enough damage to its eye. This battle can be won quickly and effectively if you play aggressively. However, "aggressively" does not mean "wildly", as the key to winning on offense is control. Take out Moldarach's pincers as quickly as possible, and whenever you can, pummel Moldarach's eye, but don't waste any of your sword swings or stabs on attacks that won't hit and/or will be blocked. Other than that, try to avoid Moldarach's attacks and claiming victory in this battle will be no trouble at all. The Imprisoned Overview The seal is giving way! The great monster it's holding back is about to break loose of its shackles and wreak havok on the world! We've gotta stop it before it makes it out of the pit it's been sealed in, or else the world is doomed. Rush down to the bottom of the pit the seal is located in. Take note of the various energy plants and geysers lining the edges of the great spiral ramp, because properly utilizing these is pivitol when it comes to this fight. Once you make it to the bottom, the tremors will cease, and the seal will finally give way.