The Griocks are the kings of the skies in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, and it’s suicide to mess with them unprepared. But they also have a king, even more powerful and dangerous, who is waiting for you when you’re ready, just to take on a worthy challenge, and incidentally, to take his picture.
King Griock’s Position
This monster flies above the sky island that floats in the sky of Finalis Island, in the southeast corner of the world map.
How to reach it?
There is certainly more than one method, but the one we used was to use the Rabelle Reconnaissance Tower to the southeast, then land on the nearest sky islands. We then used the highest and closest islet as a launch point for a glider equipped with a glider, 3 turbines and a rudder, with a good supply of batteries. Since there are no components available on site, you will have to bring your own capsules to build your vehicle. We still had to finish the rest of the journey by Parasail, using the air currents of the companion piaf. An alternative is to reach the island of Finalis and build a balloon there, in order to reach the sky island from below.
Preparations before the fight
King Griock is not joking. Unless you play very well, you should prepare a few essential items and consumables:
- A good armor set, like the Barbarian Attire or Demon God Attire, upgraded by one or two levels.
- Fairies, so as not to die instantly at the first mistake.
- Food to heal yourself, but which can also give a big speed bonus. This will help you for the end of the fight.
- Bows and weapons with high attack (35-40+).
- A supply of arrows and projectiles for the Amalgam, Bomb Flowers and Eyes will prove particularly useful.
Strategy
As is often the case in Zelda TotK, the best way to win the fight is to be very aggressive, in order to deprive the boss of opportunities to attack and kill you. This is especially true with King Griock, since he has 3 heads that will bombard you independently. If you let him do this, your (short) life will turn into hell. You have to take the initiative by using a abundant amount of arrows modified by the Amalgamwhile aiming for his 3 heads.
Start with arrows + Bomb Floweraiming for the central head if the boss is close. This will allow you to damage all 3 heads, each of which has an independent health bar. When a head’s life is exhausted, it hangs limply and stops attacking.. Once the 3 heads down, King Griock collapses to the groundwhich gives you long seconds to melee attack him.
The secret to combat is to use the arrows + Monster Eye without any moderation. Taking down all 3 heads is difficult with a moving enemy blowing everywhere, especially if you are not sure which one still has life or not. It is better to let your projectile determine it by itself. This will turn your arrows into guided missiles, which will make guaranteed headshots. The important thing is to have a very powerful bow, to take down each head in two shots maximum.
When the boss is on the ground, aim for one of the heads for guaranteed critical hits. Aiming at the body deals almost no damage.
At the start of the fight, King Griock uses long lasers that will chase you, then elemental balls with a persistent effect over a large area. Sprint around the area to dodge them, firing your guided arrows whenever possible, in order to regain the initiative.
Once King Griock’s life will be low, he will fly to very high altitudeout of range of your arrows, in order to bombard you with hundreds of devastating shots for a long time, before finally coming back down. It is possible to kill the boss, without letting him use this technique, but it is really not easy. This requires a weapon with very high damage, used when the boss is on the ground.
Escaping King Griock’s barrage of gunfire at the end of the fight requires sprinting around the area, changing trajectory regularly. The shots will clearly target your current position, but they will also anticipate your movements. Rushing in a straight line is suicidal.
Hiding under the few debris in the area also doesn’t seem to protect against all aerial fire, especially if it lands close to you, rather than directly above you.
