There are four King Gleeok locations in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, three waiting in the Sky, and one dwelling in a Gleeok den in the Depths. These are the toughest optional boss fights in all of TOTK - not only is getting to them a challenge in its own right, but any King Gleeok is incredibly deadly, with massive amounts of health and hugely powerful attacks, matched only by the lure of the rewards you get for slaying these monstrous dragons.
We've got all the locations of the King Gleeoks mapped out for you below, as well as clear tips, tricks and strategies on how to beat them. If you want to go after the toughest beasts in Ganon's army, here's how to find the locations of - and then slay - the King Gleeoks in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom.
King Gleeok locations map for Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
There are four locations where you can encounter King Gleeok boss fights in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom: three in the Sky Realm, one in the Depths.
- Circular sky island above the West Hebra Mountains (Cold weather)
- Circular sky island above Gerudo Desert (Desert weather)
- Circular sky island above Eventide Isle
- Gleeok Den in the Depths beneath Thyphlo Ruins Skyview Tower (Gloom Gleeok)
There's actually a couple of key differences between all these encounters - while the three King Gleeoks in the sky are the same, the one in the Depths is covered in Gloom, meaning any damage it deals to you is permanent and can't be healed during the fight unless you eat meals cooked with Sundelions. Not to mention that the darkness of the depths means that it's harder to see what you're fighting - another major penalty. Maybe save that extra nasty Gleeok for last until you've practiced on the others.
There's one other difference - the weather. The Hebra Mountains arena is at the lowest possible temperature, so remembering to protect yourself against the Zelda Tears of the Kingdom cold mechanics is essential to stop yourself from freezing to death mid-fight. LIkewise, the one above Gerudo is affected by the desert, so it'll be too cold at night and too hot in the day.
King Gleeoks do respawn, though not quickly - they'll reset every Blood Moon, but it hardly matters - they're so out of the way that you'll never encounter them by accident. In fact, it's quite hard to encounter them on purpose.
How to reach the King Gleeok boss fights
Getting to the King Gleeoks in the Sky Realm is hard, as none of them are near any Skyview Towers in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, and they're higher than almost any other island in the Sky, meaning gliding from the more inaccessible ones isn't an option.
Your best bet to reach those higher islands is the use of vehicles - a hot air balloon might run out and dismantle halfway there, so we recommend the popular flying machine that players are using. A few Zelda Tears of the Kingdom battery upgrades and you should be able to make it up there. For easy access back, try dropping one of the travel medallions you can get from Robbie after unlocking the requisite Purah pad upgrade in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom.
How to beat King Gleeok in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
To beat King Gleeok in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, assuming you don't want to build an orbital laser, will require you to basically be good at everything - lots of hearts, lots of stamina, good armor and weapons alike. Failing on any account can be very dangerous, so here's a basic checklist to go through before we get into specifics:
- Have at least 12 hearts and two stamina wheels, ideally much more.
- Make use of the Zelda Tears of the Kingdom armor upgrades system so you have at least an armor rating of 30 total - and that's a baseline "at least".
- Have a variety of the best Zelda Tears of the Kingdom weapons - the King Gleeok has a lot of health, so some of them will break throughout the fight.
- On that note, you'll want at least one fire weapon and one ice weapon, and make them as powerful as possible.
- Make sure you have at least 20 arrows and some Keese/Aerocuda eyeballs - they'll be essential.
- Have two bows or more ready. If they have increased range or durability, all the better - the Zonai Bow is a good choice.
- Have at least three Zonai Springs in your inventory. They're given out by device dispensers in the North Necluda Sky Archipelago,
- Use Hearty Truffles and Hearty Radishes to make some meals that fully restore and increase maximum health.
- Make food infused with Sundelions if you're going up against the King Gleeok in the Depths.
- Save just before the fight! It's such a pain to get up to those islands, you'll want to save once you've made it up there so you don't have to do it again if you're killed.
With that, you'll now be equipped for the actual brawl, which is likely to come in three phases.
King Gleeok Phase 1
At this point Gleeok will fly about above you, each head shooting a beam of energy or huge, slow projectiles. Some will target your allies, others will target you. Here's the basics of how to handle this fight phase:
- When targeted by a beam, run to the left or right, and keep running - slow down for a second and it'll hit you.
- When targeted by a slow projectile, simply go for distance. Their blast radius is bigger than you think.
- Between its attacks, use a bow to shoot the eyes on each head. When a head goes limp, you don't need to shoot it.
- The Fire head is weak to Ice attacks, and the Ice head is weak to Fire attacks. Use fusions on your arrows to give them the correct element with Chuchu Jelly or special fruit.
- Use pillars and the environment to block attacks. They'll block any beams, giving you the chance to pop out and fire back.
- If you're struggling to hit, use a Keese eye or Bomb Fruit. They won't do as much damage, but a homing arrow or AOE attack can be very effective.
Once you've knocked all three Gleeok heads limp, it'll fall to the floor, stunned. This is your chance to do some real damage - equip a Frost or Fire weapon and start hitting the opposite element head as much as possible. Once it gets up, it'll enter Phase 2.
King Gleeok Phase 2
In Phase 2, KG stays in place, standing on the ground and using its wings to create air currents that push you back, while unleashing all the same attacks as before. It's a little easier than the last phase oddly enough, as the ground is more Link's terrain.
- Despite being on the ground, you can't melee attack King Gleeok yet. The regular bursts of wind push you away before you can reach it, and will blast back any loose weapons or items.
- The beam and projectile attacks are otherwise the same, and actually a shade easier to avoid - the fact that the King stays in place means it has a little less manoeuvrability, though the big projectiles land faster as they have a shorter distance to go.
- Otherwise your strategy is exactly the same - target the heads until they go limp.
When all three heads are knocked out, you'll have a chance to run in and hit again. Depending on how much damage you've done at this point, it'll either go back to Phase 1, or move on to Phase 3 - it usually requires about 30% or less health to go to Phase 3.
King Gleeok Phase 3
This is by far the hardest part of the fight, as King Gleeok pulls back high into the air and starts raining projectiles, their targets marked by lines of light. The goal here is to somehow get up to King Gleeok and shoot arrows at its heads to knock them out one last time. There's different ways to do this.
- Ride an icicle. The ice projectiles don't last forever, but if you're quick, you can climb onto them and Recall them to fly into the air and get the shot.
- Lightning currents. The lightning bolts the King fires are very high damage, but after landing they create a brief updraft that can launch you skywards.
- Springs. By far the best and easiest method - take two Zonai Springs out of your inventory and quickly Ultrahand them into a stack two springs high, then fire yourself into the air for slow-motion arrow shots.
Once up there, use the Keese and Aerocuda eyeballs to fire homing arrow shots at Gleeok's heads and knock it out of the sky. It'll take massive fall damage that'll either kill it, or bring it so close that a few sword strikes should finish it off.
King Gleeok rewards
Each Gleeok is usually guarding some treasure - for example, the one in the Depths guards the hat from the Twilight Princess armor set - but also have some rare material drops.
- Gleeok Flame Horn
- Gleeok Frost Horn
- Gleeok Thunder Horn
- Gleeok Wing
- Gleeok Guts
With that, you'll basically be the apex predator of Hyrule - or at least somebody who knows the devastating power of a well-placed spring.
© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission
