Even though Skyward Sword is often written off as one of the worst Zelda games in the franchise, it manages to outdo its sister games when it comes to dungeon design and maintaining an actual difficulty curve. The average 3D Zelda falls off almost immediately, but Skyward Sword remains a challenging game from start to finish – sporting some of the toughest bosses in the series.
The Ancient Cistern is the fourth dungeon in Skyward Sword and one of the most engrossing set pieces in The Legend of Zelda. The whole temple styles itself around Buddhist mythology, even going so far as to reference Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s 1938 short story, The Spider’s Thread, which stars the Buddha.
The boss of the Ancient Cistern is Koloktos, an Ancient Automaton based on the Asura that appear in Buddhist and Hindu lore. Koloktos is arguably the best boss in Skyward Sword, fighting off Link with multiple weapons & standing out as a genuine test of your swordsmanship.
Phase 1
Koloktos is a six armed statue that begins the fight wielding two short axes and guarding the weak point on its chest with two other hands. Your main goal during the first phase of the battle is to rip off Koloktos’ arms with your Whip. You’ll need to bait Koloktos’ strikes by walking right up to him and then dodging before his punches connect.
If you time your jump correctly, Koloktos’ fists will get stuck in the ground and you’ll be able to pull at the joints on his arms to rip them off with the Whip. Now that Koloktos only has four arms, he’ll lower his guard to hit you if you get too close. Bait him yet again, dodge, and rip off his arms to expose the red weak spot on his chest.
Rush in and attack as much as you can before Koloktos summons all his arms back to him. Simply repeat this process again to deal enough damage to shift Koloktos to his second phase. It’s worth keeping in mind that Koloktos will throw his axes at you if you keep too much distance, so stay on the offensive.
Phase 2
Once you’ve damaged his weak point enough times, Koloktos will grow legs and wield a sword in all six of his hands. You won’t be able to fight him off in a proper sword fight, but you can still bait his strikes to your advantage. Walk up close to Koloktos and then jump out of the way as soon as he readies his attack. He’ll try to hit you with three swords this time, but do a backflip and then immediately use your Whip to rip off his arms.
Run over to one of the dropped swords, pick it up, and then run to Koloktos’ legs. Dodge any incoming attacks and then chop his legs off. Now that Koloktos is immobile, hammer into his chest with his own sword until you’ve dealt enough damage that he restores his body. As the battle continues, Koloktos will summon Cursed Bokoblin to distract you so kill them ASAP. Keep tricking Koloktos into losing his weapons and then tear him to pieces.