Gloom Spear
The Gloom Spear is a powerful melee weapon obtained by defeating Phantom Ganon after clearing Gloom Hands encounters, but its gloom-tainted nature carries a cost for the wielder.
Key Takeaways
The Gloom Spear combines spear reach with the offensive risk associated with gloom-tainted weapons, making its handling and availability as important as its attack potential.
Gloom-tainted spear
Its defining feature is the Gloom Toll effect: using the weapon can expose Link to gloom, so its offensive benefit carries a direct survivability cost.
Phantom Ganon drop
The spear is obtained from Phantom Ganon encounters, including the appearance that follows a successful Gloom Hands fight; it is not a normal shop purchase.
Reach with a drawback
As a spear, it offers the spacing and thrusting attacks expected from that class, but the gloom effect makes repeated close-range use less forgiving than with an ordinary spear.
Fuse-compatible weapon
The Gloom Spear can be fused with materials to change its attack properties, but fused examples should be treated as configurations rather than separate roster weapons.
Compare by risk, not attack alone
When comparing it with other spears, consider reach, durability, fuse compatibility, and the cost of its gloom effect rather than ranking weapons by displayed attack alone.
Overview
The Gloom Spear is a two-handed spear in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, distinguished by its gloom-related drawback and its association with Phantom Ganon. It is a situational reward weapon: its reach and offensive potential are useful, but carrying it requires the player to manage the cost imposed on the wielder.
The Gloom Spear belongs to the gloom-weapon group rather than the ordinary regional spear roster. Its defining behaviour is the Gloom Toll effect: using or carrying the weapon can expose Link to gloom, so its offensive role is tied to a resource and survivability trade-off. That drawback makes it different from a conventional spear with comparable handling, because simply keeping it equipped can matter during exploration and combat.
Its spear moveset gives it the spacing advantages expected from the weapon class, allowing Link to attack from farther away than with most one-handed weapons. The Gloom Spear is therefore most naturally suited to players who value reach and can control engagements without taking repeated hits. The page treats it as a normal Tears of the Kingdom weapon, not as a separate DLC, pristine, or decayed variant.
The weapon is associated with Phantom Ganon encounters that follow the successful defeat of Gloom Hands. This places it in the broader progression of gloom-related challenges rather than making it a routine early-game pickup. Its connection to Ganondorf's allies also gives it a distinct identity among spears, while its practical value still depends on whether the player can offset or accept its gloom drawback.
Like other weapons in Tears of the Kingdom, the Gloom Spear can be modified through Fuse. Fusing another item can change its combat use without turning every possible combination into a separate weapon entry. In practice, the spear is most notable as a reach-focused gloom weapon with a meaningful cost: it offers an alternative to safer standard spears, but it is not a universally superior replacement for them.
Statistics
Attack and durability are the game’s own published values, not a 0–100 scale. Taken from the project’s verified weapons database, not from generated text.
- Attack40
- Durability16
- ClassSpear
- TraitGloom Toll
- ConditionUntouched
- Compendium#439
Figures verified against Consolidated Game Weapons Database.
Compared to similar melee weapons
| Weapon | Attack | Durability | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gloom Spear | 40 | 16 | Spear |
| Gloom Sword | 41 | 15 | One-Handed |
| Fierce Deity Sword | 38 | 35 | Two-Handed |
| Boulder Breaker | 38 | 40 | Two-Handed |
| Biggoron's Sword | 36 | 60 | Two-Handed |
Attack and durability are the game’s own published values. From Consolidated Game Weapons Database.
How to Obtain
- Reach Hyrule Castle Sanctum and be prepared to defeat Gloom Hands and Phantom Ganon.
- The Gloom Spear is obtained through Phantom Ganon loot; the exact weapon received from an encounter should not be treated as guaranteed.
- No DLC, New Game Plus, vendor, or currency requirement applies.
- 01Go to the Phantom Ganon encounter in the Hyrule Castle Sanctum. Defeat the Gloom Hands there to trigger Phantom Ganon; this is the required boss encounter rather than a vendor purchase, chest pickup, quest reward, or DLC item.
- 02Defeat Phantom Ganon and check the dropped loot for a Gloom Spear. The Phantom Ganon reward is not reliably limited to this weapon, so another Gloom Hands encounter and Phantom Ganon fight may be needed if a different Gloom weapon appears instead. Similar fixed encounters elsewhere in Hyrule provide additional intended opportunities.
Availability
Requires Clear a Gloom Hands encounter and defeat the Phantom Ganon that appears afterward
The Gloom Spear is obtained as a Phantom Ganon drop rather than from a vendor or fixed-price shop.
Mechanics and Handling
The Gloom Spear uses the standard spear moveset: quick forward thrusts with unusually long reach, making spacing its main handling advantage. Its attacks can connect with enemies from farther away than most one-handed weapons, but the narrow thrust pattern rewards lining up targets rather than sweeping through groups. Jump attacks deliver a downward spear strike, while the normal throw discards the weapon as with other melee weapons.
Its charged attack follows the spear class's spinning, repeated-hit pattern. The attack consumes stamina and commits Link to a longer animation, so it is most useful against a staggered, isolated enemy or a large target that can remain within reach. Against mobile enemies, ordinary thrusts are safer because they allow Link to stop attacking and reposition sooner.
Gloom Toll and health loss
The Gloom Spear's defining drawback is its Gloom Toll. Using the weapon in combat causes gloom to accumulate on Link, temporarily reducing the hearts available for healing and making prolonged exchanges increasingly dangerous. This effect is a cost to the wielder, not a separate gloom status that the spear reliably applies to enemies.
The toll is especially important in ordinary surface combat, where gloom damage can compound with environmental hazards or other sources of gloom. It is less restrictive when Link can end encounters quickly or has a reliable way to restore lost hearts. The weapon's appearance and lore support this trade-off, but the gameplay consequence comes from the Gloom Toll attached to the weapon.
Fuse and durability
Fusing the Gloom Spear follows the game's normal weapon-fusion rules: a material can add its Fuse contribution and properties, while the resulting weapon still depends on the selected base weapon for its primary behaviour. Fusion also increases durability, but the amount depends on the fusion context and is not treated here as a fixed universal value.
The spear remains subject to normal weapon durability and will eventually break. Its Gloom Toll should therefore be weighed against the value of spending the weapon on a difficult encounter; fusing it does not make the spear an unlimited resource. No separate weapon skill or special projectile is required to access its defining effect.
Upgrades and Variants
Strengths, Weaknesses and Best Uses
Strengths
- Its spear moveset gives Link more reach than one-handed melee weapons, helping him attack while maintaining some distance from nearby enemies.
- The Gloom Spear is noted for significant damage, making it a candidate for burst-focused melee use rather than a purely defensive weapon.
- It can be fused with materials to tailor its damage or utility to the encounter.
Weaknesses
- Its Gloom Toll imposes a direct cost on the wielder: carrying or using the weapon gradually wears down Link, so repeated use can create a health-management problem.
- The gloom drawback makes it less suitable for routine exploration, extended fights, or situations where Link cannot safely restore or protect against gloom.
- As a spear, it favors spacing and thrusting attacks; it is a less natural choice when enemies are crowded tightly around Link or when a different moveset is needed.
Best uses
- Use it for short, high-priority engagements where its damage and reach can end the fight before the gloom drawback becomes costly.
- Pair it with gloom-management options when selecting a strong melee weapon for hazardous areas or difficult encounters.
- Fuse it when the base spear's reach is useful but the encounter calls for an added material effect or a different damage profile.
Compared With Similar Weapons
| Weapon | Class / role | Distinctive mechanic | Main trade-off | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gloom Spear | Gloom Toll can inflict gloom on the wielder; compatible with Fuse | Self-damage risk and limited acquisition through Phantom Ganon encounters | Players willing to manage gloom for strong close-range hits | — |
| Gerudo Spear | Gerudo weapon trait improves the contribution of an attached material | Less self-contained power; performance depends on the fused material | Builds centered on high-value monster-part or material fusions | — |
| Royal Guard's Spear | Breaking Point rewards continued use as the weapon approaches its breaking state | Shorter remaining durability can make its strongest state risky to exploit | Players seeking burst damage and comfortable replacing weapons | — |
| Zonaite Spear | Zonaite-Powered benefits from attached Zonai devices | Its advantage depends on having a suitable device attached | Construct- or Zonai-device-focused loadouts | — |
Used In
- Phantom GanonPhantom Ganon is the boss enemy associated with obtaining the Gloom Spear; defeating one can yield the weapon after clearing Gloom Hands.
Lore and Design
The Gloom Spear’s lore ties it to the Demon King and his allies rather than to a named Hyrulean soldier or regional tradition. Its gloom-infested appearance reinforces that association, but the game does not document a real-world inspiration or a developer-stated design reference for the weapon.
Its item description presents the spear as dangerous to its wielder as well as to its targets: using it is said to consume part of the bearer’s soul. This provides the narrative basis for its gloom-related drawback, while the exact gameplay behaviour belongs to the weapon’s mechanics rather than its lore. The weapon’s association with Phantom Ganon also connects it thematically to the gloom manifestations encountered throughout Hyrule, without establishing that Phantom Ganon personally forged or uniquely owned it.
Trivia
- The Gloom Spear’s item lore connects its dangerous drawback to the gloom wielded by the Demon King’s forces: prolonged use is said to wear down the bearer’s spirit. This wording serves as a lore explanation for the weapon’s Gloom Toll effect rather than describing a separate upgrade or Fuse interaction.