Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom: How To Defeat Mucktorok

It's not often that bosses get silly in the Zelda franchise, but when they do, they're pretty memorable. Tears of the Kingdom's Water Temple is home to one of the series' most unusual boss fights, and while funny on the service, can be a bit of a mess.

If you're doing the Regional Phenomena quest in our recommended order, this will be your third boss, and you'll encounter it at the end of the Sidon of the Zora Main Quest. However, whenever you do this fight, it doesn't make it any less annoying to get through. We're the clean-up team here at NL, however, and we'll help you get through the mud.

Here's how to defeat Mucktorok, the boss of the Water Temple.

Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom: How To Defeat Mucktorok

How to prepare for Mucktorok

There are a lot of ways you can approach Mucktorok, the Scourge of the Water Temple, and every single one of them concerns the element of water.

Bring chuchu jelly and splash fruit for this fight. This is less for damage, and more for getting rid of the sludge both on the boss and on the floor. You'll also want to bring lots of arrows and Keese eyeballs, as when the boss runs away from you, it's hard to catch up to it without a long-ranged attack.

Otherwise, you can rely on Sidon for a lot of the battle — he can protect you from taking damage but also clear out the sludge if you want to save those items (or you simply don't have any). Lastly, bring your best weapons — we want this slippery squid (we know, we know) out of the door.

How to defeat Mucktorok

Phase 1

The first phase of this fight is pretty straightforward. Mucktorok will swim around the arena, and you need to clean off the sludge on its body to expose the octopus underneath.

To do this, you need to use Sidon or rely on water-based items to throw (or fire with arrows) at it. make sure you track Mucktorok because it'll swim in circles quickly around the arena's perimeter.

It will attack either by ramming into you or by firing a mudy laser in your direction. Both attacks are hard to dodge if he's close, but just run as fast as you can. When you get a chance, hit it with water — twice with items or once with Sidon — and it'll be exposed. Muckotorok will then run away. Fire an arrow at it to knock it over, then whale away at it as much as you can.

You can also abuse the low gravity of the Water Temple and jump into the air, using the height to go into slow-motion and fire arrows at the boss.

Phase 2

There's one big change in the second half of the fight — Mucktorok covers the arean is huge spalshes of sludge. This means your movement options are limited as the sludge will slow you down significantly. So now you're battling with the elements as well as the boss itself.

We recommend cleaning the sludge as much as you can, either with Sidon or your items. Mucktorok will top up its mess, but you can keep getting rid of it if you have an abundance of resources. the boss will also get a new attack — when it squirts sludge into the air, if you get it, you'll take damage.

This is otherwise the same fight, except when you reveal the true Mucktorok, it will now jump around the arena. Use those Keese eyeballs to help stun him so you can run up and make the most of it being out in the open.

The second phase might take a while — the sludge slowing your movement, plus the boss' high speed makes this a little irritating. Luckily, it doesn't do too much damage and you can always use Sidon's shield if you're worried about getting hit. You'll get it down eventually.

Once you've washed that problem away, you can claim a Heart Container. Talk to Sidon to get some info on the history of Hyrule and when you return to Zora's Domain, not only will Sidon become the new king, but he'll also be the Sage of Water. As he can't travel with you, Sidon will give you the Vow of Sidon, Sage of Water, allowing you to use his shield ability when you need to.

Check out our boss hub for a collection of all of the bosses and powerful enemies in Tears of the Kingdom. Otherwise, head on over to our full Zelda: TOTK walkthrough for more tips and tricks.