Dead Man's Volley

refers to a technique in certain battles where Link swings his at an oncoming projectile, turning it back on its caster to inflict damage or cause a Critical Point. In many games, the will return Link's volley. A rhythmic rally ensues where the projectile is knocked back and forth until one party fails to counter and is struck by it. Dead Man's Volley is typically used against primary antagonists or their clones. 
 to be defeated by Dead Man's Volley may have other projectile attacks that require special tactics to volley, or that cannot be volleyed at all and must be dodged. Usually the volleying attack is a single flashing ball of energy. In games where Link rallies back and forth with the boss, these rallies tend to become longer as the battle progresses. These can be shortened by standing closer to the boss, giving them less time to react.
Humorously, Link can perform a volley with items like a , , or in some games.
==Mainline appearances==
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Dead Man's Volley first appears in the battles against Agahnim, who is too powerful to be harmed by anything but his own magic. Agahnim has multiple magical attacks, one of which is a flashing white ball of energy that can be volleyed back at him to cause damage. His second attack is a blue cluster projectile that splinters when struck – it must be avoided.
In the second encounter with Agahnim, he produces two clones which can only perform the one attack that can be volleyed. Link can volley a clone's attack at the real Agahnim, but the clones themselves cannot be harmed.
If timed correctly, the volley can be performed with a swish of the .
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Agahnim's Shadow, the second form of the final boss Shadow Nightmare, is defeated with Dead Man's Volley the same way as the real Agahnim in . It has two attacks: the energy-ball attack to be volleyed, and the splintering cluster to be dodged.
The energy ball can be volleyed with the ; and in , Link can also use an empty Fairy Bottle to deflect Agahnim's blasts.
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 introduces back-and-forth rallies to Dead Man's Volley. It occurs in the second phase of the battle against Phantom Ganon when he casts yellow energy orbs at Link. At the end of the game Ganondorf uses the same attack. Both can be volleyed with a .
Ganondorf has a second magical attack where he launches multiple projectiles at Link. An ordinary sword swipe is not sufficient to fend off the attack as it deflects some but not all of the projectiles. A well-timed Spin Attack volleys all the projectiles back at Ganondorf, stunning him immediately.
Phantom Ganon's projectile changes color from yellow to blue as it is volleyed back and forth (yellow when cast, blue when returned by Link, yellow when returned by Phantom Ganon, etc.).
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The in has two magical attacks similar to those of Agahnim's Shadow. However, the energy-ball attack does not cause damage. Instead, it turns Link into a vulnerable baby for a few seconds. When it is volleyed back at Blue Stalfos, the boss turns into a skull-faced Keese for the same amount of time, during which it is vulnerable to sword strikes.
In the first phase of the battle against Twinrova, Link volleys Koume's fire attack to Kotake, and Kotake's ice attack to Koume. This combines Dead Man's Volley with the Mirror Shield reflection tactic used to defeat Twinrova in .
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In , Gouen launches a colored orb which can only be volleyed by the Link of that color. Instead of rallying with the boss, the can bat the orb back and forth between each other until it hits the boss.
The same tactic is used at the end of the game against Vaati.
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In , Dead Man's Volley is used against Phantom Ganon only. As in , Link and Phantom Ganon volley energy orbs back and forth until the latter is struck by his own attack. This is the first game in which the tempo of the rally increases with each volley.
In Ganon's Tower, Phantom Ganon begins using a greater multi-projectile attack similar to Ganondorf's in . In can be returned with a Spin Attack. 
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Phantom Ganon launches colored energy orbs to be volleyed by the Link of the same color in . During the second encounter in the Temple of Darkness, Phantom Ganon creates multiple clones that throw colorless orbs which dissipate on contact.
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In , during the final battle, Vaati's Wrath launches four energy orbs simultaneously. Link returns them all by creating three copies of himself using the Four Sword.
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In , Link performs Dead Man's Volley against Possessed Zelda when she uses her sword to cast balls of energy. As in , a rally ensues that increases in pace until Zelda is struck by her own attack. Zelda has no Critical Point — the attack inflicts damage on her directly. 
An can be used to volley the attack. 
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In , during the boss battle against the Cubus Sisters, one of the four sisters will launch a blue-white orb at Link. They receive Link's return shot by batting it to and fro amongst each other for a while before sending it back at Link. Link wins a rally when one of the sisters is hit or killed by a return shot.
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In , Bilocyte spits green projectiles which Link must deflect with his sword back towards the boss's protective frills.
In the final battle against Ghirahim, Link returns Ghirahim's sword beams at him by swiping in the right direction, either vertical or horizontal.
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Dead Man's Volley is used against Yuga Ganon in the second phase of the battle in . Like in some earlier games, the Bug Net can also be used to reflect his magic orbs. The orbs can vary in speed during this battle, and if Link fails to strike them swiftly enough, they will briefly bounce before falling onto him, giving him a moment to try and escape their damage. After several exchanges between them, Yuga Ganon will be struck by his own magic and get stunned, then merge into the wall as a Painting.
For the third and final round of Dead Man's Volley, Yuga Ganon will throw two magic orbs in alternation.
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In , Dead Man's Volley is used against Lady Maud, where the magic orb will take the color of whichever of the Links is targeted. After hitting the orb, it will turn yellow and fly back towards The Lady, resulting in the orb being volleyed between her and the Links at increasing speeds. If the orb is not struck swiftly enough by the targeted Links, it will bounce upward and change color to that of another Link, who must then be the one to return the volley. If the Links miss the orb altogether, it will land on the ground and shock them, causing damage. Once the orb has been volleyed enough times, The Lady will catch the orb, spin around, and throw it back in a much larger and faster form. If this final orb is returned to The Lady, it will shock her and knock her back onto the ground. The Links can then strike her with their Swords until she recovers.
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In , a form of Dead Man's Volley can be used against Demon King Ganondorf in which he will launch Gloom based projectiles that can be sent back with the Master Sword, causing damage to the Demon King. Using any other weapon besides the Master Sword for the volley will break immediately. 
There are three variations of this attack. In the first variation, the Demon King will send three flying Gloom orbs towards Link. These orbs can be dodged due to their slow movement or can be sent back to Ganondorf and deal damage if Link swings the Master Sword at them. The second variation has the Demon King summoning a ring of Gloom orbs on the ground around Link. These orbs will close in until one hits Link unless he runs in-between the orbs before they close in to dodge. With the Master Sword equipped, a timed Spin Attack will launch all orbs back towards Ganondorf and deal damage. The final Variation is a wave of Gloom orbs that are launched on the ground from Ganondorf. These orbs can be dodged once the orbs have become spread out enough. You can hit some with the Master Sword to send them back to Ganondorf and deal damage. 
If Link does not have the Master Sword, it's recommended to dodge these attacks. Getting struck by any of the Gloom orbs will cause Link to permanently lose one heart container for the remainder of the battle.
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Ganon briefly uses Dead Man's Volley during his confrontation with Link, although Link deflected it back in a single bout, stunning the Demon King long enough for Link to land a decisive blow.
==Spinoff appearances==
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In , a form of Dead Man's Volley is performed as one of Link's attacks as part of the Great Fairy weapon. The button combo has the Great Fairy briefly release Link from his giant Bottle, and the two volley an orb of light back and forth. The Great Fairy then grabs the orb and attacks surrounding enemies with the blast. As the attack animation is performed automatically, Link does not need to volley the orb for the attack to succeed.
Dead Man's Volley also appears in when fighting against Phantom Ganon. Unlike its other appearances, where the orb is volleyed a random number of times before the boss is hit, Phantom Ganon will always be hit by the orb after the Warrior volleys the orb three times, exposing his Weak Point Gauge. After Phantom Ganon has taken a certain amount of damage, he will change his tactics and no longer attack the Warrior with orbs, thus preventing Dead Man's Volley from being used.
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In , a variation of Dead Man's Volley appears when fighting against the Battle-Tested Guardian. Unlike other variations, this version utilizes the Battle-Tested Guardian's laser instead of an orb, and requires a Perfect Guard to deflect the projectile instead of a Sword. The laser is deflected in a similar manner to a regular Guardian Stalker's laser being deflected, but the Battle-Tested Guardian will deflect back towards the Warrior for a random number of times before bring hit, exposing its Weak Point Gauge. Alternatively, the Battle-Tested Guardian may choose to dodge the deflected laser instead, and resume fighting the Warrior.
Because the Perfect Guard requires a to be used, only Link (equipped with a one-handed Weapon), Urbosa, or Riju can initiate the Dead Man's Volley.
==Crossover appearances==
===Battle Quest===
In , the Dead Man's Volley appears when fighting Wizzrobes in Co-Op Play. Wizzrobe will occasionally throw a glowing orb that is the same color as one of the Links. The color shows which Link is being targeted and must volley the orb. Only Links holding swords will be targeted by the attack. If the orb is volleyed by Wizzrobe, it will gain speed and may change color. It is also possible that the orb will split into three orbs, each targeting a different Link holding a sword.
==Nomenclature==
The name "Dead Man's Volley" is from . The call it that in a taunt before the boss battle on the . The name "Dead Man's Volley" is a reference to the horror theme of that dungeon.
The name is a play on the title of the murder-mystery novel by Agatha Christie.
==See Also==
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