Stone Talus Heart uses, boss strategy in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Talus is one of the recurring enemies in The Legend of Zelda. Tears of KingdomThey are brought back with style. Whether it’s the Battle Talus with its Bokoblin friends, or the simple but deadly Stone TalusThese enemies are not to be underestimated.

If you’ve taken any of these titans down, you may think that you can run in and do the same thing for all, but there are subtle differences that you will want to know about. You can die by bringing down the Stone Talus.

Also, it has the annoying habit to try to be Basarios by burying in the ground and waiting to pancake any Hyrule heroes who happen to show up.

The Stone Talus can be found in Tears of the Kingdom

The FirstStone TalusYou will likely stumble upon the Crenel Hills Cave. This is directly north of the Battle Talus you’ll find on Orstedd Bridge, but it’s a fair bit more difficult.

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Head into the cave and do a ring around the outside, breaking all of the mining points you can, but be careful you don’t go into the water. That way Talus lies…

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

The Stone Talus and Tears of the Kingdom

A bow and a few arrows are essential to success, just as with the Talus. This is the fastest way to lose. We’ve tried it with all kinds of bombs, and other thrown objects. Make sure you’ve got a good supply of arrows.

At the start, make a mad rush to jump on top of the Talus’s head as it wakes up.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

This is a great way to “cheat” the first chunk of damage out of this boss. You have 12 seconds to hit the boss with a weapon that can be held in one hand before it throws you off. You will lose one quarter of your heart if you linger. This may not seem like much, but it’s important if you have five or fewer hearts.

You can sprint away and dodge any projectiles it throws your way, then shoot at the glowing blue rock on its rear. Get ready for another mad dash, but be careful because, when it hits the dirt (that’s when it’s ready for you to climb on top), the impact of its head hitting you if you jump the gun can eliminate more than four of your hearts if you’re wearing low-level armor.

Once again, you can sprint, jump and climb the Talus’s head. This Talus stands up faster than its Battle Talus cousin — if you’re familiar with that fight — so make sure you’re quick. Once again, you only have enough time to hit 12 times.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

Repeat this depending on the weapon you are using, one or two more times before it is too late.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

The Luminous Stone Talus HeART

With a bunch of precious gemstones (The Luminous Stone, Amber, RubyThen, Opal), the Stone Talus drops a Luminous Stone Talus Heart. Like the Flux Construct 1 Core and the Stone Talus Heart, you can’t pick this up — what you can do is attach it to a weapon to give it a massive damage spike.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

Simply put, equip a weapon that hasn’t been fused yet (we used a Zonaite Sword), use the Fuse ability and create a Luminous Stone Talus Hammer. Attack power increased from 6 up to 21. +21 attack.

That is huge, and given that you’re about to wallop some poor unsuspecting Bokoblin with it, it really gives a whole new twist to the phrase “kill them with love”…

Note: You can fuse the Talus Heart to your shield, but it doesn’t give you any stats, making it a waste of a super-rare item.