Key Points
Completion Time:
5 Minutes
Difficulty:
Hard
Rewards:
Dark Clump
Must Haves:
White Chuchu Jelly, Ice Fruit, Bomb Flowers, Bow, Arrows
Required For:
Survival

Gloom Hands, officially known as Gloom Spawn, are terrifying, jump-scare enemies that appear out of pools of Gloom in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and hunt you down.

The first time you encounter these horrifying hands with eyes, you may instinctively run away. However, if you’re brave enough to take them on, then here is how you beat them.

How to Kill Gloom Hands in TOTK

To defeat Gloom Hands or Gloom Spawn in Tears of the Kingdom, do the following:

  1. Once they appear, climb up high where they can’t reach you.
    • If you can’t, then keep your distance as you fire at them.
  2. Attach an AOE-based item (such as Bomb Flowers) to your arrow.
    • You should try and fire your arrow into the middle of all the Gloom Hands to damage them all.
Attaching a bomb flower to an arrow in Tears of the Kingdom
  1. Once they’re down to low health, attach White Chuchu Jelly or Ice Fruit to your arrow to freeze them.
  2. Finally, kill them while frozen to make sure they disappear permanently.
  3. If you don’t freeze them before killing them, they will respawn after a short while.
a frozen Gloom Hand in TOTK
Credit – MonkeyKingHero
  1. If you run out of arrows, throw the AOE items you have (Hold R and then press Up to select the item)
  2. If all else fails, run away as fast as you can.

Trying to attack them up close and personal isn’t effective, as they’ll gang up on you and grab you. However, if it is your only option, then make sure to Fuse your weapon to something powerful like a Spike Ball.

Bomb Flowers are by far the most effective item against Gloom Hands, as it only takes six attached to arrows to do the trick.

However, you can also use other AOE items such as Chuchu Jelly or minerals like Rubies or Sapphires. Just be careful to distance yourself from the Gloom Spawn before firing a mineral, as they affect a vast area.

Once you kill a Gloom Hand in TOTK, you’ll get access to a Dark Clump, which can be used to resist Gloom damage in the future.

Link being attacked by a group of Gloom Hands in TOTK
Credit – MonkeyKingHero

Additionally, if the Gloom Hands grab you, you’ll need to wiggle your right joystick as quickly as possible to try and break out.

Gloom Hands will deal Gloom damage to you if they get you. This will temporarily decrease the amount of hearts you have.

There only way to prevent this is by wearing the Gloom-resistant armor in TOTK such as Tunic of the Depths, and Gaiters of the Depths.

If you do happen to lose your hearts, there are plenty of ways to easily recover them. So don’t fear that they’re gone permanently.

author
Former Staff Writer
Whether it's an indie platformer or a 100-hour JRPG, Tom loves talking about games. So much so, he made it his career. Since starting in 2020, he's covered a wide range of topics at sites including TheGamer and The Game Crater.