Ball and Chain Trooper

The Ball & Chain Trooper, also known as a Ball & Chain Soldier is an extremely powerful enemy encountered infrequently in A Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, the Oracle titles, Four Swords, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, The Minish Cap, and Twilight Princess.

Characteristics
The Ball & Chain Trooper is, as its name suggests, a fully armored knight wielding a massive spiked ball on a chain. First appearing in A Link to the Past, these foes are possessed Hyrulean knights that could toss their mace long distances and inflict heavy amounts of damage whenever Link is within range of their steel weapon. While they could be stunned by the Boomerang, the Troopers could recover quite quickly, not to mention their stringent stamina when it comes down to close combat, as seen in The Minish Cap, as well. There is only one Black Ball & Chain Trooper, and he guards the Big Key and Zelda's prison cell as a Mini-Boss. Later in Hyrule Castle Tower, Link faces many Gold varieties on his way to facing Agahnim. These are the same strength as the jailer, but are more common and appear in pairs or alongside other Soldiers.

A Ball & Chain Trooper also appears in Link's Awakening, simply known as a Knight, sapping one whole heart from Link's life meter upon striking him. He appears on a room with a crumbling floor in Kanalet Castle, and carries one of the Golden Leaves. These enemies also appear serving Onox and Veran in Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages.

In Four Swords and The Minish Cap, they appear only in a gold variety, but are just as strong as ever, often appearing in pairs, and often combining attacks with other enemies. They appear in Hyrule Castle and the Palace of Winds, but also occassionally show up in other locations.

Four Swords Adventures offers a number of different types of Ball & Chain Trooper, with the common gold variety swinging its ball in a constant large loop that increases speed when hit, to the black variety that aims its ball directly at Link much like the original soldier from A Link to the Past, smashing through obstacles in the process. The Red Ball & Chain Trooper adds a new twist to the foe, providing a fiery mace to swing at Link that leaves behind a huge trail of flames. The only safe method of bypassing this flaming barrier is to use the Roc's Feather. The blue variety is extremely rare and only appears in Tingle's Tower during the second Monster Hunting game. These soldiers swing their balls in a loop similar to the gold soldiers, but will switch between swinging in a small loop around their head to a huge lashing swipe that travels extremely far. Ball & Chain Troopers from Four Swords Adventures are often seen alone or in pairs, usually appearing as the last in a swarm of regular Soldiers. They are also quite common in the Palace of Winds, and one final trooper is summoned by Ganon right before the final battle.

Darkhammer
While the incarnations from A Link to the Past to The Minish Cap differ little in terms of physical appearance and attack behavior, the Darkhammer mini-boss, seen in the Snowpeak Ruins in Twilight Princess, inherits many of the armored, ball-wielding traits of the standard trooper, but instead with reptilian characteristics (tail and body shape). By defeating the Darkhammer, Link obtains the very weapon used against him by the foe, the Ball and Chain, the first time Link has been able to use such a weapon in the series.

Weaknesses
In all titles save for Twilight Princess, which requires use of the Clawshot and the Back Slice technique to defeat such foes, Ball & Chain Troopers can be easily disparaged through the use of Bombs. Using the Boomerang to stun, and using the Bow and Arrows come quite handy in Link's Awakening and The Minish Cap, the latter of which incorporates the use of the Roc's Cape to inflict damage from above with the sword, all the while evading the lateral toss of the ball and chain. If Link is low on health, adapting an evasive, strategic approach may be his best bet against these foes, and is a good technique to use in general to avoid heavy damage.

With the Master Sword and the Red Ring equipped in Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons, the Ball & Chain Trooper can be defeated in one fell swoop.

A Link to the Past comic
Ball and Chain Troopers appear briefly in Chapters 2 and 5 in the A Link to the Past comic. In Chapter 2, Link encounters one of these foes after visiting Sahasrahla's Wife in Kakariko Village. However, after the Ball and Chain Trooper swings his weapon at the young hero, Link falls into a bush, and the Trooper misses sight of him. Later in Chapter 5, after Link retrieves the Master Sword from the Lost Woods, he is ambushed by three Ball and Chain Troopers that the young hero quickly defeats with a single Spin Attack.

A Link to the Past manga
Link faces the Ball & Chain Trooper on his way to rescue Zelda in much the same way he does in the game in the A Link to the Past manga. Upon orders from Agahnim, the soldier smashes through a wall to reach Link, and attacks him with his giant weapon. Link manages to avoid getting struck, but is caught by the chain around his neck and dragged across the room. He lands near some pots, and with quick thinking he grabs one and throws it at the Trooper, which knocks the helmet off, revealing nothing underneath. A black mist emerges from the armor as it collapses, and as Link sits shocked, Zelda explains that the soldier was not human and was living darkness controlled by Agahnim.

Trivia

 * The Ball and Chain Trooper is one of the enemies in both Oracle titles that are immune to the effect of Gale Seeds.
 * Onox, the boss of Oracle of Seasons, attacks much like a Ball and Chain Trooper in his normal form, but also uses other attacks unique to his character.