The 10 greatest combat challenges in The Legend of Zelda

In any given Legend of Zelda outing, players are sure to do battle with a wide variety of different foes and monsters as they complete their quest to save the land from certain doom. But the most challenging encounters are often those found outside of the story, waiting alongside the rest of the sidequests in the game for when you feel like deviating from the adventure. Specialized combat scenarios have a long history in The Legend of Zelda, serving up waves of battles with dramatic conditions and stipulations to ramp up the difficulty far beyond what you find in any ordinary dungeon or temple. Of the many combat challenges that have tested our abilities as Link (or other characters), these are the ten that offered the most memorable trials.

10. Floating Coliseum

Players may come across one of six coliseums while exploring The Depths in Tears of the Kingdom, each housing a unique battle within its ringed walls. Usually this means withstanding an onslaught from scores of enemies, but the Floating Coliseum proves the most daunting with just a handful of foes. That’s because its foes are Lynels, an entire team of them. Completing this particular challenge means overcoming five Lynels in a row, including all variants of the beastly warriors: the base form, Blue-Maned, White-Maned, Silver, and lastly another Silver Lynel that is encased in rocky armor. Anyone who has played through the Era of the Wilds games can attest to how formidable a single Lynel can be; having to tackle a squad of them is a downright petrifying prospect.

9. Take ‘Em All On!

With three different difficulty levels that become available over the course of the game in Spirit Tracks, Take ‘Em All On! opens as a fairly standard gauntlet challenge, and then steadily grows into a far more elaborate, and far more grueling test of strength. Its third and final level is one great compilation of the foes that you encounter throughout the story, along with a particularly fun surprise appearance from an iconic foe. Take ‘Em All On! throws everything but the kitchen sink the player: waves upon waves of the strongest enemies, rematches with all of the story bosses (aside from the final boss), and lastly a duel against Dark Link. It’s an awful lot of foes to deal with in one sitting, made even tougher by the lack of recovery Hearts to be found in the rooms.

8. Thunder Dragon’s Lightning Round

After Laynaru gets some pep back in his step thanks to the Life Tree Fruit, players can engage in their choice of different trials hosted by the titular Thunder Dragon. One option is a gauntlet of rematches against Skyward Sword’s bosses, the battles made a little more challenging by removing any of your Potions from your inventory. The most interesting twist to said gauntlet is that aside from the first boss (whom you pick), the order is randomized. This means you may very well be tossed into the Demise fight in just your second round, or go from something simple like the first Imprisoned fight, straight to the third encounter with Ghirahim. The other option is to replay any of the Silent Realms in time challenges, tasking you with completing the nerve-wracking sequences as fast as you can.

7. Treacherous Tower

A Link Between World’s Treacherous Tower plays the long game. Its first two stages, the Beginner and Intermediate levels, are pretty tame. At 5 floors and 15 floors respectively, the average Legend of Zelda fan will breeze through them. The last level, Advanced, is a completely different animal. At a whopping 50 floors, it is a sheer marathon of battles against all manner of enemies found throughout the game. On several floors, what you first see isn’t even the full extent of what you must face, as multiple waves of enemies will appear before you can move on. There’s that, and there are environmental factors that throw a wrench into your plans. Some rooms have their floors coated in ice. Others are enshrouded in darkness. One way or another, there’s a lot for you to deal with if you want to conquer the Treacherous Tower.

6. Cave of Shadows

One of the most challenging combat scenarios in The Legend of Zelda is unfortunately one that most fans haven’t been able to play. Not only is the Cave of Shadows found in the Wii U exclusive Twilight Princess HD, you also need the Wolf Link and Midna amiibo simply to access it. Those fans who have been so lucky to experience it, however, were treated to a sizable addition to Twilight Princess that is far more difficult than anything in the base game. Since you must complete the entire 39-floor mini-dungeon as Wolf Link, that means you must go from start to finish without any of your equipment or healing items. It’s a test in how effective you are at making use of Wolf Link’s and Midna’s offensive abilities, while being mindful of their defensive vulnerabilities and your limited resources.

5. Slumber Dojo

Changing the hero didn’t mean that we were going to miss out on a combat-focused challenge in Echoes of Wisdom. As Zelda proceeds through the story, she unlocks more and more available trials in Kakariko Village’s Slumber Dojo, where the game gets very creative with its battles. It’s not merely squads of enemies that you must deal with — it’s both a strict time limit on each stage, as well as environmental hazards that threaten to impede your progress. The Slumber Dojo is often much more a test in efficiency than it is brute strength, asking you to navigate your surroundings with a balance of care and urgency. Where it really shines is in the Blank Slate Battles, which completely strip away your inventory and only allow you to use Echoes based on the enemies and objects that you find in the room.

4. Savage Labyrinth

As the oldest entry of this ranking, The Wind Waker’s Savage Labyrinth set the bar high early on for combat challenges in The Legend of Zelda. Funny enough, this bastion of seemingly endless monsters can be found atop a quiet cliff over Outset Island, just a stone’s throw away from Link’s house where he lives with Aryll and their grandmother. Who would have ever thought that the idyllic village was also home to a 50-floor mini-dungeon that is nothing short of packed with enemies? The Savage Labyrinth laid out the blueprint for what would make this such a popular piece of side content in Legend of Zelda games, delivering a frenetic endurance test against a sheer army that you wade through room by room. While The Wind Waker may be on the easier side, later floors in the Savage Labyrinth are a significant, and satisfying step up in difficulty.

3. Cave of Ordeals

The Wind Waker set the bar high with the Savage Labyrinth, and just a few years later, Twilight Princess set the bar even higher with the Cave of Ordeals. To say the least, the two 3D entries on GameCube put together a fantastic duo of gauntlets. The Cave of Ordeals runs deep into the sandy depths of the Gerudo Desert, 50 floors in total simply loaded with enemies. More often than not, the enemy count hits double digits on each floor. With Twilight Princess having one of the largest bestiaries of any Legend of Zelda title, it’s just about the most diverse array of foes that you can encounter in a given setpiece. If one run somehow isn’t enough for you, the Cave of Ordeals also adds a couple extra monsters to select rooms should you replay it, including a final encounter that pits you against an imposing team of four Darknuts.

2. Cadence of Hyrule’s Arena Mode

No matter how many floors or rooms they may feature, all combat-centric trials in a Legend of Zelda game eventually come to a predetermined end — except for Arena Mode in Cadence of Hyrule. This particular scenario, released as part of the game’s DLC, lasts for as long as you can possibly survive its endless rooms of enemies, hazards, and occasional boss battles. It only takes a few stages before Arena Mode becomes fiendishly difficult, as the rooms become ever more cramped and filled from wall to wall with foes. Moving to the beat of the music while evading danger at every turn is an exercise in supreme concentration. You won’t be able to stand still for even a second, and one wrong step can spell doom for your run. Find yourself on a hot streak, and you may land your name in the top scores of the online leaderboards.

1. Trial of the Sword

It will be a long time before another combat challenge manages to top Breath of the Wild’s Trial of the Sword. To unlock the full power of the Master Sword, players must conquer a brilliantly designed sequence of battles that embraces the open-ended nature of the game’s very foundation. By removing every last item and piece of equipment from your inventory (as well as the Champions’ abilities) Trial of the Sword recreates the feeling from those early hours of your Breath of the Wild adventure where you build yourself up from scratch, and where even the smallest, most unremarkable collectibles have great value. Each floor is like a small piece cut out from the overworld, featuring elaborate environments with weather effects and geological attributes that you need to be mindful of, but can also make use out of. Overcoming the scores of enemies inside by being resourceful with what scarce materials are available to you is among the most demanding, and most satisfying experiences in the entire series.