It’s a quiet, cool evening just like any other in the fields of Hyrule. You find yourself wandering over a small hill next to a suspiciously large pool of Gloom, when you hear a low growl and out pop a small army of terrifying hands with eyeballs on them…and they’re all lookin’ at you.
Meet Gloom Hands, or, as the game refers to them, Gloom Spawn. These nasty packs of monster mittens are one of the new enemies you face in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, a product of the sinister gooey substance known as Gloom surrounding Hyrule. In addition to being your new terrifying and creepy nightmare fuel, they are a pretty much certain death if you find yourself caught off guard or unprepared. But fear not! This hand-y guide will share the most effective ways of dealing with these monsters without falling into their clutches.
What Are Gloom Hands?
Before talking about how to beat them, it’s important to know what you’re dealing with when you encounter Gloom Hands. When first spotted, they often look like an unassuming – if rather large – pool of Gloom, so they can be easy to miss if you’re not careful. A good rule of thumb (hah, another hand joke) is to stay alert any time you need to be near a large spread of Gloom for any reason, and to ultimately avoid Gloom entirely in the early game if possible.
When Gloom Hands do show themselves, they will appear in a pack of about 5 hands with eyeballs in the center of each palm. These eyeballs are their crit spot, in case that wasn’t obvious – the spot you should aim to hit hit when attacking. Gloom Hands can move VERY quickly, and you’re liable to get snatched up even if you’re in a dead sprint trying to escape.
When they’re close enough, one of the hands will reach out and grab you, which is pretty much their sole attack move. Once they’ve got ahold of you, they will suck away your life force if you don’t escape quickly. Wiggle your joy con sticks wildly to escape their grasp!
Not only do they drain hearts, but the Gloom effect damages your hearts, meaning you can’t restore them through normal healing means. To remove the effect, you will need to either consume a Gloom healing item like a cooked Sundelion, or, if you’re down in the Depths, find a Lightroot and stand underneath it or return to the surface. These actions will cancel out the Gloom effect, but you will still need to consume a healing item to restore your hearts.
How To Defeat Gloom Hands In Tears Of The Kingdom
If you are feeling daring and want to take one of these bad boys down, there are a few things to keep in mind:
Hold The High Ground
Channel your inner Obi-Wan Kenobi and hold the high ground at all costs when fighting Gloom Hands. Whether it’s a ledge, or the outcrop of a cliff, or a tower, that is the place you should be standing. Gloom Hands cover a very large distance of flat ground very quickly, but they cannot climb or scale tall objects. The best way to fight them is to let loose your wrath from above!
Bomb Flowers Are Key
You should absolutely be keeping a steady supply of Bomb Flowers on hand (yes, another hand pun!) at all times. The area of effect (AOE) on Tears of the Kingdom’s Bomb Flowers is just as great if not better than the Bomb Arrows from Breath of the Wild. Most of the time, you can wipe out Gloom Hands with about 6 or 7 bullseye shots. Lock on to one of the Gloom Hands and fire away. If you only have a few Bomb Flowers, lock on to individual Hands and take them out one by one until you’re down to one or two Hands. You’ll want to kill the remaining Hands quickly, as waiting too long will cause the defeated Hands to respawn.
Ice Effects Are A Good Alternative
If you’re out of Bomb Flowers and/or you’re down to just a couple more of those Gloom Hands, you’ll want to finish these guys off quickly. Attach White Chuchu Jelly or Ice Fruit to your arrows and rain them down from the skies like a chaotic Hylian blizzard. If your aim is true, you can freeze any remaining Gloom Hands, and finish them off with a few solid swipes of your sword.
Utilizing any combination of the above tips and tricks should help you defeat Gloom Hands relatively easily, but unfortunately, that is not the end of the fight. Minor spoilers ahead, so proceed with caution!
How To Defeat Phantom Ganon
Once you’ve bested the Gloom Hands, you will spawn Phantom Ganon, a mini-boss that is definitely no pushover. To fully finish the encounter, you must defeat Phantom Ganon; running away will cause him to despawn, but then the Gloom Hands will return and you will need to go through the whole fight again to spawn him and eliminate the threat for good!
Phantom Ganon is fast, but thankfully, not nearly as annoying as constantly being grabbed and having the life force sucked out of you. Keep your shield handy and try to stay close to him. Rotating in a circle around him and blocking his attacks seems to yield the best results. Try to avoid creating distance and using dodge attacks. Phantom Ganon has a devastating sword slash move that will cause him to close the gap with you very quickly, and parrying this move is extremely difficult. It’s easier to stay close, back up slightly when a pool of Gloom forms at his feet, and then get in close and get in a few slashes while he’s vulnerable. Rinse and repeat, and you should be able to best Phantom Ganon without too much fuss.
Once Phantom Ganon and the Gloom Hands are gone, you should find yourself the proud owner of some awesome new loot. Phantom Ganon will drop a powerful weapon (such as a Gloom Sword, Gloom Spear, or Demon King’s Bow.) The Gloom Hands will drop Dark Clumps, which can be used to create Gloom-resistant foods and armor.
And that’s it! It will definitely take some practice getting used to Gloom Hands and Phantom Ganon’s attack patterns, but if you’re using the tips above, you should come out on top. But maybe don’t make a habit of picking fights with these nightmare fuel Hands, if you can help it.
What are your favorite strategies for defeating Gloom Hands and Phantom Ganon in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom? Comment below and let us know!
