How to beat Lynel in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The Lynel is a recurring sub-boss in the Legend of Zelda series, and can be very intimidating — especially for the uninitiated and unprepared. Not only are these centaur baddies fleet of foot, they are incredibly strong and resistant to all elements. To quote the Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom compendium, “Only challenge a Lynel if you’re very well prepared.”

That, or if you fancy, use our little trick that allowed us to reliably kill a Lynel in around 45 seconds, without taking any damage.

Lynel locations in Tears of the Kingdom

There are several Lynels across the surface and the Depths in Tears of the Kingdom. We’ve found 15 Lynel locations, so far, on the surface level of Hyrule. Check out the map below to see their locations:

Graphic: Jeffrey Parkin, Johnny Yu/Polygon | Source images: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

In the Depths, there are many locations to find Lynels, but there does happen to be one location with multiple Lynels. Be warned though, you will have to fight multiple gloom afflicted Lynels in a row if you decide to take part of the challenge in the Floating Coliseum.

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The Floating Coliseum can be found in the Depths directly under the Coliseum Ruins, which is located in the Hyrule Fields region. You can also find an armored White-maned Lynel near the Mu-ustust Lightroot, which can be found to the southwest of the Floating Coliseum.

How to defeat Lynel in Tears of the Kingdom

There are at least two ways to defeat Lynel in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. One is the traditional, skill-intensive way; the other is an absolute cakewalk. Let’s cover the “proper” way first.

The traditional way to beat a Lynel

When fighting a Lynel traditionally, you’ll want to play it cool and keep up the defensive. A strong shield (possibly with a Beam Emitter attached if you fancy doing some extra damage), a firm grip on ZL, and a hair trigger on the X button, ready to Flurry Rush the Lynel to within an inch of its life.

First, you want to approach Lynel from behind, being as sneaky as you can.

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Once you get close enough, you can mount it like any horse in the game. However, rather than trying to soothe it and make a centaur friend, you want to mash the attack button like your life depends on it. Your stamina wheel will deplete very quickly and you will eventually be thrown off.

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You’ll now have a very annoyed Lynel who will run away — and an exercise in dodging arrows and waiting for it to charge. If it stays upright, just keep sprinting away. But once it hunkers down and tries to rush you, get ready to dodge and Flurry Rush.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

While it’s upright, you can try to land a headshot, like in the screenshot below, but you see that big shield it carries? It uses it, and those blades will damage you as it runs past you.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

Keep dodging and flurry rushing and you might eventually beat it, but you will likely lose a lot of hearts in the process — unless you’re very deft at the game.

Instead, we present to you a second option that requires a little prep, but significantly less skill, time, effort… Y’know, all that good stuff.

The easy way to kill Lynel in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Thanks to the invention — or at least rediscovery — of Zonai devices, Hyrule has a new string in its bow when it comes to taking down baddies. It may seem a little strange and unconventional, but bear with us.

For this method, you will need:

• Around a dozen arrows
• Bomb flowers
• Gibdo bones (or something similarly strong)
• A spring (as inthe Zonai device)
• Any melee weapon (even a torch will do)
• A strong bow (we recommend a mighty Lynel bow, as it shoots three arrows at once. You can find one at the map location below, and you should track it down, as it’s key when fighting Gleeok as well).

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

First, head to the Lynel’s location and save (in case everything goes wrong). Once it notices you, stop and place the spring, then jump on top of it. Once you grab your weapon, the Lynel will begin its attack (likely with an arrow). Quickly ground-pound and get airborne.

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You don’t want to get too high, just high enough that you can glide close enough to see its health bar. When that happens, quickly draw your bow to slow down time. Send some bomb arrow(s) at the Lynel (plural if you’re using the mighty Lynel bow, single if you’re not).

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

The reason for the bomb is twofold: first, it deals a chunk of damage, but second (and more importantly), it sets fire to the grass and creates an updraft that you’ll need to use. Ready another arrow, but this time Fuse a Gibdo bone (+40 attack) or something similarly. If you’ve done the Gerudo part of the story, you should have dozens of these.

Pay attention to your stamina wheel — when it’s almost empty, you’ll want to drop to the ground and open your paraglider just before you hit the ground so you don’t take damage.

This part is clutch; recover as much stamina as you think you can get away with — half a wheel to a wheel was enough for us. Quickly catch the updraft to get airborne again.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

While in the air, fire off another salvo of Gibdo arrows. It took two rounds for us before landing on the ground entirely unharmed.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

This is, admittedly, a fairly granular tactic, but it works. The only damage we took was from the fire, running in to get a cool finishing shot for posterity’s sake. Hubris hurts, as they say…

What rewards do you get from a Lynel?

This boss drops a selection of Lynel riches, almost all of which you will be interested in. First and foremost are the Lynel bow and the Lynel shield. The bow is 3x10 attack power, and the shield offers 30 defense, with counterattack.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

As to the monster bits, you’re looking at a Lynel saber horn, which gives a whopping +22 Fuse attack, along with a slightly less powerful Lynel mace horn (+18) and Lynel hoof (+10 Fuse attack power).

Update (June 6): We’ve updated this post with additional information on where to find Lynels.