Tears Of The Kingdom: How To Defeat Hinox
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The Legend Of Zelda has loads of classic enemy types. One of the most formidable is the mighty Hinox. The Hinox in Tears Of The Kingdom is a slower-moving giant wearing the weapons of its prey around its neck, but Link can prove more than a match.
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Hinox is a boss enemy, and many will spawn in Hyrule. Between the regular variant and the undead Stalnox, you'll want to exploit their weaknesses and have a few other tricks, just in case.
Updated by Wyatt Grondin on June 1st, 2023: A section was added describing the loot dropped by each variant of Hinox, including Stalnox. Also added were quick notes on the differences between each variant and how the Hinox uses armor, as well as another method to defeat Stalnox.
Hinox
The Hinox isn't necessarily confined to one area type. They do like to spawn in forests, but this won't be the case for all the known spawn locations, as many appear in caves. Be extra careful if the Hinox you're facing is in a forest, as Hinox and grab entire trees to use in battle. Typically, Hinox will toss the tree at you and try to flatten you with it as it rolls toward you. This is easy to dodge as long as you keep your eyes on the Hinox.
Speaking of eyes, this is Hinox's weakness. An arrow straight in the Hinox eye will do massive damage and force the giant to sit down for a few seconds in pain. As this happens, you can run up and start attacking with your melee weapons. The Hinox can be damaged by your weapons without stunning them first, but this is not recommended. Sometimes a Hinox will wear a piece of thick wood around one of their feet, as this will be armor that you cannot strike through. To be sure of your blow, always aim for the center stomach area when attacking a stunned Hinox.
Only get up close when it's sitting in pain. Also, do not assume the Hinox is a dumb brute; they know that their eye is their weak point. The Hinox will block their eye with their hand if you take too long aiming your shot. Not only do you have to rely on arrows, you have to be quick with them too. Arrows are so important to the strategy of fighting a Hinox that if you go into this fight without any arrows, you should just run away and attempt it later. While you can throw weapons, especially spears, arrows are really the only way to reliably take the Hinox down.
Magic isn't too reliable either, as the Hinox does not seem to take extra damage from it. That said, if you light the grass on fire while the Hinox walks over it, the Hinox will panic, and this gives you an extra opportunity to aim an eyeshot. Remember, using fire directly on the Hinox won't do extra damage, but it does panic when there's a fire under it, simple as that.
One last thing is a reminder not to stay too close to the Hinox when you smack it while it's down. It can get up quicker than you think, and a body slam or other attack with the brunt of its body can one-hit kill you. If you do have the second, though, you can steal the weapons around the Hinox's neck. Only do this if your bow breaks, as you can just collect the weapons after you've killed it.
Hinox monster parts give a huge boost when used as a Fuse on your weapons, and the variant of the Hinox will only make those horns stronger. As for the Hinox themselves, you can use the same strategy no matter if you're fighting a regular, Blue, or Black Hinox, as it will work just as well. Hinox also tends to carry a lot of food, some of it rare, like pumpkins or bananas. Once you find a Hinox, mark that location on your map forever, as they are worth waiting for the blood moon to restore them.
Here's a freebie: Central Hyrule just above Mount Gustaf at coordinates -1021, 0415, 0035.
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Stalnox
Coming out only at night or in specific passages, the Stalnox is the undead variation of the Hinox. A lot of the DNA here is the same, but where they differ will throw you for a loop, especially your first time-fighting. For what's the same, the Stalnox is slow and big and can grab trees to throw at you if fighting in a wooded area.
The weakness is the same as well; shoot it in the eyeball with one of your arrows. The same method of attacking is recommended; only go up close when it's writhing in pain.
As for what's different, the Stalnox can rip out one of its ribs to use as a weapon against you. This means if there are no trees around, the Stalnox can still improvise in a way the Hinox could not. But the biggest difference is that it won't just die when you drop the health to zero. Once you've gotten the Stalnox's health to less than half, one arrow shot will pop out its eye. When this happens, the Stalnox body will be at zero health but cannot be killed, while the eyeball has a health bar and can be attacked directly. Killing the eye will kill the Stalnox.
Link can also pick this eyeball up. It's the same as a rock in terms of mechanics; Link will just carry it over his head and can drop or throw it. However, the eyeball can escape your grip and start to bounce away. It and the Stalnox cannot harm you while this happens, but you need to try and carry this eyeball as long as you can. You're now on a timer; The Stalnox will flee back underground at 5:00 AM if you do not defeat it, but if the Stalnox is still separated from its eye at 5:00 it will instantly die to the sunlight. This method only works on wild Stalnox in the overworld, so you cannot wait out the clock for specific Stalnox such as the one in the Secret Royal Passage.
Hinox Loot
As stated already, Hinox drop monster parts and a surprising amount of food. Here is the full list of each drop and the Hinox variant that drops them:
- Hinox Toenail (Regular, Blue, Black)
- Hinox Tooth (All)
- Hinox Guts (Regular, Blue, Black)
- Hinox Horn (Regular
- Apple (Regular)
- Voltfruit (Regular)
- Wildberry (Regular)
- Palm Fruit (Regular)
- Mighty Bananas (Regular)
- Fortified Pumpkin (Regular)
- Blue Hinox Horn (Blue)
- Roasted Bass (Blue
- Roasted Hearty Bass (Blue)
- Roasted Trout (Blue)
- Roasted Hearty Salmon (Blue)
- Roasted Carp (Blue)
- Roasted Porgy (Blue)
- Sneaky River Escargot (Blue)
- Blackened Crab (Blue)
- Black Hinox Horn (Black)
- Seared Steak (Black)
- Seared Prime Steak (Black)
- Roasted Bird Drumstick (Black)
- Roasted Bird Thigh (Black)
- Seared Gourmet Steak (Black)
- Roasted Whole Bird (Black)
- Stalnox Horn (Stalnox)
Along with the above, Hinox, as mentioned, will drop weapons and bows that are relevant to your current progression level, meaning this loot gets better over time.
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