Press "Enter" to skip to content

Game Guides

Uh oh! You've reached a glitched section of Hard Drive where the news is real!

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Guide: How to Kill Gloom Hands

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a new game in the Legend of Zelda series that features a vast open world, a deep story, and a variety of tough enemies and challenges, including Gloom Hands. The Gloom Hands, or Gloom Spawn, are dark red hands covered in the gloom that emerge from pools of gloom on the surface layer of Hyrule. These enemies are fast, strong, and can inflict gloom on you, which reduces your maximum hearts temporarily. They also respawn if you don’t kill them all at once. This article will explain everything about how to kill Gloom Hands and continue your quest.

How To Beat Gloom Hands in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

There are multiple ways to defeat Gloom Hands in the game. So, let’s break down each method individually and help you beat these monsters.

Get On A Platform and Wait for Them to Disappear

The easiest way to deal with Gloom Hands is to avoid fighting them altogether. If you see a pool of gloom on the ground, stay away or climb onto a platform where the hands cannot reach you. The Gloom Hands will eventually lose interest and disappear on their own, leaving behind Dark Clumps that you can collect. Dark Clumps are useful materials that can be used to craft gloom-resistant armor and weapons or traded with merchants for rupees and other items.

Keep Your Distance and use Ranged Attacks to Kill Gloom Hands in Zelda TOTK

How to kill Gloom Hands in Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

If you have to fight the Gloom Hands, make sure to keep your distance from them. They will charge at you with their deceptively fast speed and grab ahold of you, destroying your hearts in the process with their gloom status effect. To avoid this, use ranged attacks such as arrows or boomerangs to hit them from afar. You can also use your shield to block their attacks, but be careful not to let them surround you or corner you.

Defeat Them All at the Same Time With Explosions

Gloom Hands can be killed, but not easily. The best way to kill them is to use explosives such as Bomb Flower arrows or Bomb Fruit bombs. These weapons will produce area-of-effect damage that will stun the hands and reduce their health quickly. You need to kill all five of them simultaneously, or else they will respawn soon after. If you manage to kill them all, be prepared to face Phantom Ganon, a powerful boss that will appear in their place.

Defeat Each One While It’s Frozen

Freeze Gloom Hands to defeat them easily.

Another method of killing Gloom Hands is to use Ice Fruit-infused arrows to freeze them. Ice Fruit is a fruit that grows in cold regions of Hyrule that can be used to create ice arrows that freeze enemies on contact. You need to freeze each Gloom Hand when it dies, or it will return to life. This method requires more precision and timing than using explosives, but it can be effective if done right.

Finished with fighting enemies for a while? Check out our guide on how to fix the Gerudo Canyon Skyview Tower in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom!

We\'re giving away 50 Hard Drive t-shirts and other merch items to Patrons this week.
Become a patron at Patreon!