10 Tips for Quickly Defeating a Lynel

Lynels are scary, and everyone knows that. With a thick-skinned centaur body and thousands of HP to prove it, some can even be tougher to beat than Calamity Ganon himself! But don’t worry: they’re not impossible to defeat. And with the right tips and tricks to speed up your battles, you can end up with a hefty amount of extra-powerful Lynel weapons after an easy fight. Here are 10 useful tips for quickly defeating all kinds of Lynels.

10. Use Bomb Arrows

Bomb arrows are one of the most powerful arrows in BOTW. They explode on impact, essentially being a small packet of TNT sent flying towards your enemies. They’re also perfect for fighting a Lynel, as they do more damage than normal or elemental arrows. So go stock up on them at Rito Village’s general store and show the Lynels you mean business… with the only catch being that they don’t explode in rain.

9. Unleash Urbosa’s Fury

Urbosa’s not one of the strongest Champions for no reason. She could best her enemies easily with her special ability, Urbosa’s Fury, which sends out an extremely damaging shower of lightning to a large radius around her. Fortunately, Urbosa hands on this blessing to Link after the completion of Vah Naboris, allowing him to do the same to all of his enemies. And considering the damage done, Urbosa’s Fury is perfect for besting Lynels: it’s one of the few things that stuns the restless monsters for a short time.

8. Mount Them

You can only mount Lynels when they’re stunned, which is why it’s crucial to mount them in every window of opportunity. Make sure to whack them with your strongest weapons while you’re sitting on them. Not only does this do some serious damage they can’t avoid, but it also surprisingly doesn’t affect the used weapon’s durability. They know this, too: before you can get too many hits on them, the annoyed Lynels will throw you off!

7. Aim for the Face

A hidden trick to stun Lynels is to shoot arrows directly at their faces. This will perform a “critical hit” and cause the Lynel to collapse in the same way as Urbosa’s Fury does. It can get tough to shoot precisely at their tiny faces, though. A good way to master the “aim for the face” technique is to glide from a high place and pull out your bow in midair to activate the slow-motion aiming effect (aka bullet time). I highly recommend practicing this technique on other monsters or objects before testing your skill on the Lynel.

6. Use a Multi-Shot Bow

Multi-shot bows not only reduce how many times you have to shoot the Lynel, but also do significantly more damage. They multiply one arrow (or bomb arrow)’s damage by however many arrows the bow is able to shoot. Bows like the Great Eagle Bow, Forest Dweller’s Bow, Duplex Bow, and Savage Lynel Bow particularly excel in this field. Using a multi-shot bow to shoot bomb arrows in midair will prove to be an extremely successful method of defeating Lynels.

5. Perform Two-Handed Melee Combos

If you don’t prefer mounting the Lynel after stunning it, there is an alternate and yet equally successful method of inflicting damage. You can run up to it, choose your most powerful two-handed weapon from your inventory, and use a charge attack to repeatedly whack the Lynel while it’s down. Using this technique will erase a surprising amount of health from your enemy. Once it is back up and moving, though, run away at full speed!

4. Make Use of the Attack Up Bonus

Whether it comes in the form of food, elixirs, or clothing is your choice. Whichever way you choose, the Attack Up bonus can be enormously helpful when it comes to besting Lynels. It increases damage done from all weapons and bow shots, with the told levels determining how much increase there is. Level 3 is the highest possible level. With this bonus, you’ll be surprised how much more damage you’ve done to your enemy compared to the normal weapon damage without any added bonuses.

3. Flurry Rush

Flurry Rushes are one of those tricks you need to master sooner or later. They may seem difficult to pull off at first, but they will eventually become easier and easier as you practice it more. All you have to do is lock onto an enemy with ZL, quickly dodge your enemy a split-second before they attack while pressing X, then press the Y button repeatedly during the slow-motion time. This is essentially unleashing a flurry of attacks on your enemy while they can seriously do nothing. The key in successfully activating a Flurry Rush is timing: once you have a lock on your foe, watch their movements closely.

2. Take the Midair Opportunity

Shooting on the ground is a lot harder than in midair. For one thing, the Lynel can actively attack in real time when you’re shooting on the ground, while the slo-mo aiming lets you secure clear shots while the Lynel is still. This is why you should always, always take the midair opportunity to shoot a good dose of bomb arrows at the Lynel in “bullet time.” It does use up your stamina, but you can feel free to eat stamina recovery foods just so you can spend some extra time shooting the Lynel. In fact, you can actually spend most of your fight in the air, which will defeat the Lynel surprisingly quickly.

1. Parry and Attack

Parrying, dubbed “Perfect Guard” within BOTW, is a technique that is similar to Flurry Rush. You have to hold up your shield and press A just when your enemy is about to attack. This will both protect you from the Lynel’s attacks and open up an opportunity for you to unleash yours. Certain attacks like the Lynel’s circle of fire and fire breath can be nicely returned back to sender, too. As long as you’ve mastered the parrying technique, you don’t have to be scared of Lynels anymore – they’ll probably be scared of you!