Talus are a mini-boss enemy type found in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. You might remember them from Breath of the Wild, and they return in almost the same form this time around, with a few exceptions.
Talus have a weak spot on them that is the only way to damage them. Using a mixture of ranged and melee attacks, you can get the upper hand on them. They don't have a lot of attacks, but they hit hard, which makes them difficult encounters if you don't have many hearts. Despite some differences between the Talus types, they all take damage the same way.
How To Beat A Talus
As mentioned, there are a few different types of Talus in Tears of the Kingdom. Igneo, Frost, Battle, and Stone Talus have been encountered so far, and they all require a slightly different approach when fighting them.
Generally speaking, arrows and fusing materials to them will be your best friend when fighting a Talus. The best practice is to shoot them in the weak spot that resembles an ore deposit jutting out of them.
Unlike other ore deposit crystals in the game, you don't need a striking weapon to damage the crystal; any old weapon will work, so use your most powerful to get it over quickly.
How To Beat A Stone Talus
Getting onto the Talus is your first objective. To do this, start by shooting the crystal with an arrow to bring the Talus down temporarily. When it keels over, climb up the side of it, get to the crystal, and start wailing on it with a melee weapon.
After you hit it a few times, the Talus will start to shake, and when this happens, you can jump off or keep attacking. This shake-off attack doesn't do much damage, so it's up to you if you want to prioritise DPS over keeping Hearts.
When a Stone Talus throws its rock arm at you, use the Recall skill to slam it back into them.
This does no damage but will put them on their backside for a spell.
Repeat the above process of shooting the crystal, climbing, and attacking until the Talus is dead. If you have trouble getting on top of the Talus, you can use your bow and arrows to attack from a distance.
Attaching Bomb Flowers to your arrows will deal AoE damage, which means you don't have to be particularly accurate. Keese Eyes are another decent item to fuse to your arrows since they will home into the target you've locked on to.
Other than the arm-throwing attack, the Stone Talus has several wide swings that are hard to dodge.
If you have time, run away from the Talus when it swings, or try and block the strike with your shield.
Out of all the Talus enemies, the Stone Talus is the easiest to deal with.
How To Beat A Battle Talus
The Battle Talus can cause you problems, especially early in the game. These Talus are walking fortresses that enterprising Bokoblins have commandeered.
The Talus has platforms, structures, and towers attached to it, and it walks around as an imposing fortress. You don't have to kill the Bokoblins, but they will hassle you throughout the fight.
When fighting Battle Talus, you can use Ascend to get immediate access to the platforms on top of it.
Be careful you don't get caught by the hitbox on its legs.
When fighting a Battle Talus, you should use Bomb Flower arrows to clear all the Bokoblins off the Talus. With them on the ground, they can be dealt with easily, and the Talus can hurt them with friendly fire.
Other than the Bokoblins, the Battle Talus fight plays out exactly as when fighting a Stone Talus. Shoot the crystal to get it to lower, climb up or use Ascend, and attack the crystal.
How To Beat An Igneus Talus
Igneus Talus are the most troublesome to deal with since you first need to cool them down before you can climb on them.
Before engaging an Igneus Talus, you should check you have ample stores of Ice Fruit or Ice Chu Jelly. These items will help you during this fight to the point where they are almost a necessity.
When fighting an Igenus Talus, use an Ice Fruit or Ice Chu Jelly to cool down its body. This will make it pause for a while and allow you to climb it without taking burn damage.
Climb up to the crystal and attack as you would a normal Talus. Repeat this until the Talus dies.
Attacks should be blocked if you have a shield strong enough, otherwise, try to run out of range. Using the dodge function isn't recommended since the hitboxes on attacks and dodging are unreliable at best.
When you kill a Talus, it drops an item called a Talus Heart. This has no other use except for being fused to a weapon. Fuse it to whatever you'd like, giving your weapon a significant damage bonus.
How To Beat A Frost Talus
Fighting a Frost Talus is effectively the same as the fight with an Igenus Talus, just in reverse. You want to use fire materials and items to melt the icy armour of the Frost Talus.
As ever, the method doesn't change much when fighting either Talus. Simply strike the weak point with an arrow to bring it down and make your way to attack it.
Obviously, the element of the Talus changes the approach, but the core idea is always the same with each fight.