Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Gleeok locations and boss guide
Three heads are deadlier than one
The The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Gleeok locations are a mix of easy-to-find spots that you’ll stumble on naturally and hidden areas that are exceptionally difficult to reach.
You can always just go around Gleeoks to avoid the hassle – but you’ll miss some of the best fusion and elixir items in the game if you do.
Hyrule has 14 Gleeoks in total, at least that we’ve found so far: three each of frost and thunder varieties, four flame fiends, and four King Gleeoks that are much more difficult to find.
Tears of the Kingdom Gleeok locations
Flame Gleeok locations
Bring your Goron armor or some flame-resistant meals along for these fights.
Bridge of Hylia (Hyrule Field)
This Gleeok is one of the more challenging foes. It guards the bridge’s southern end, and as there’s not much cover to hide behind, you need to be a bit inventive to even get close. Use vehicles – not wooden ones – or springs to get a height advantage, then aim your bow while in midair to activate Link’s special slowdown ability, and fire as many arrows as you can at the Gleeok’s eyes.
Rayne Highlands (Tabantha Frontier)
This one is stomping about in the ancient columns area, just east of Rayne Highlands. If you don’t want to defeat the Gleeok yet, you might want to try and at least sneak by to press the switch there and open a hidden chamber where the Tunic of Awakening is waiting.
Spectacle Rock (Gerudo Desert)
Spectacle Rock is southeast of the desert Skyview Tower, perched on a rock. There’s not much cover, though you can use the rock perch to shelter from the dragon’s flames.
Trilby Valley (Lanayru)
The Trilby Valley Gleeok is a bit difficult to pick a fight with. It’s high above the ground, about even with some of the nearby sky islands. Bring some stamina elixirs – and Turin, if you’ve completed the wind temple – and start from Kadaunar Shrine or Igoshon Shrine, Glide over the valley, fire arrows at the Gleeok’s eyes, and then drop down after it to start the fight properly.
Thunder Gleeok locations
The Rubber Set is an excellent choice for taking these beasts on.
Hyrule Coliesum (Hyrule Field)
The Thunder Gleeok replaces the Lynel from Breath of the Wild. This battle is probably one of the easier Gleeok fights, since you can use the Coliseum’s multiple levels and pillars to hide from the Gleeok’s lightning beams.
South Akkala Plain (Akkala)
This Gleeok is lurking on the backside of the Akkala Citadel. There’s not a whole lot of room on this little plateau, but you can at least use parts of the citadel to hide if need be.
Near Martha’s Landing (Faron)
This one is south of Herin Lake and north of the sea, on a little rise to the west of where the road ends.
Frost Gleeok locations
Take along some freeze- and ice-resistant meals to help survive these tricky beasts.
Tabantha Snowfield (Hebra)
A Frost Gleeok roams the Tabantha tundra in between the glyph and the Hebra stable, near where a Lynel used to be in Breath of the Wild.
Biron Snowshelf (Tabantha Frontier)
This one is just north of the Rospro Pass Skyview Tower. It flies around quite a bit, so you may need to rely on Aerocuda or Keese eyes to hit your mark.
Gerudo Summit (Gerudo Highlands)
Launch yourself out of the Highlands’ Skyview Tower, and angle north.
King Gleeok locations
There are four King Gleeoks, three of which are in the sky in the distant islands shaped like arenas. You’ll need plenty of Zonai devices – including batteries, ideally – and some charges to keep your energy up. The fourth is in the Depths.
Since the ones in the sky are nowhere near any fast travel point, you may want to plunk down a Travel Medallion to make getting back there easy, in case you need to leave and return later.
Scourge of Hebra Sky
The arena is south of Lightcast Island. If you have extra batteries, you should be able to start from Ganos Shrine, use the pre-made fan platform near the Flux Construct boss nearby, and fly up to the island.
Scourge of Gerudo Sky
The Gerudo King Gleeok looks like it’s pretty far away from the Skyview Tower, but with a stamina elixir or two – and Turin’s help – you should be able to reach it with no issue. Some players have even gotten a bit fancy with it and dropped a Wing device from midair, landed on it, and sailed smoothly to the boss fight.
Scourge of Necluda Sky
The Necluda King Gleeok is above Eventide Isle. You have a couple of options for this one, though both involve firing yourself out of Rabella Wetlands tower. You could use materials in the Necluda Archipelago to build a device and fly out to the arena, or you could stick some rockets, a control stick, and three fans on a Wing, bring a Large Zonai Charge, and get there that way.
Scourge of the Depths
The final King Gleeok is under Thyphlo Ruins in northern Hyrule, north of the Lost Woods. It looks more ominous thanks to the darkness, but it’s mostly the same as the other three – which is to say, still very ominous and challenging. Just make sure to bring some gloom-beating meals along.
How to beat Gleeok in Tears of the Kingdom
The three elemental Gleeoks all function basically the same. They shoot beams of their respective elements, cause elemental explosions, and fly around out of reach. Your attacks will only damage Gleeoks when all three heads are down and they crash to the ground. Aim arrows at a Gleeok head eye to temporarily take it out. If you take too long to knock the other heads out, the decommissioned head will spring back to life.
If you’re having trouble with your aim, stick a Keese Eyeball or Aerocuda Eyeball to your arrow. Some players recommend using elemental attachments to your arrows to deal the most damage, but you don’t really have to. Even with weak bows, it takes maybe two critical hit shots – shots that land right on the Gleeok head’s eye – to bring it down. Stronger bows and strong attachments will bring them down even faster.
Once the heads do fall, you have a few seconds to rush in and deal as much damage as possible with your regular weapons.
Gleeoks typically don’t go too far outside their starting position – the Thunder Gleeok in the Coliseum stays inside, for example – so you need to work within whatever limits the arena gives you. They’ll hunt you when you hide as well, so any safe place you find is only going to be safe for a few seconds at most.
Going vertical is a tremendous help, since you can slow down time while you fire off some arrows and take care of the heads without having to worry about beams of fire and lightning. Spring devices or platforms with balloons or rockets are a couple of excellent ways to get airborne with ease.
The easiest way, however, is attaching a rocket to your shield via Fuse. Link flies up into the air when you press the shield button, which is faster and less fiddly than using springs.
Your prep work depends on the Gleeok type you’re facing. In general, you should have:
- Health-restoring meals
- Clothes or meals that give elemental resistance
- Meals that grant bonus hearts
- 50 arrows or more
- A powerful fused weapon (ideally with a Lynel, Hinox, or Black Moblin part)
A few fairies and a second stamina wheel would be grand as well, though they aren’t necessary.
Thunder Gleeoks don’t affect the environment. Frost Gleeoks make the air unbearably cold, however, and Flame Gleeoks heat the air around you. You could consume meals to boost your elemental resistance and use meals to boost attack or defense power instead. If you do take this route, make sure to upgrade them to at least level three or higher. Gleeok attacks drain five or more hearts in one go, so you need all the help you can get.
How to beat King Gleeok in Tears of the Kingdom
Defeating King Gleeok follows mostly the same process, with a few key differences. The King Gleeok has a fire head, a thunder head, and an ice head, so you can’t rely on elemental resistances to stay safe. It also has a second battle phase and a handy extra weakness.
The first phase plays out the same. Find cover where you can, aim for the eyes, whack the heads, and repeat until the King Gleeok flies much higher than usual – after it drops below 50 percent of its health. The King Gleeok will start raining beams of deadly light down. These deal heavy damage if they touch you, and they also create updrafts you can use to glide up and fire off your arrows.
You could also use the rocket shield method and attach an Aerocuda or even a Gleeok wing to your arrows so they fly further and can actually reach your target.
Once you take all three heads out, the King Gleeok will fall to the ground and take a hefty bit of damage on impact. Attack it as much as you can, and then repeat the process until it finally dies.
The King Gleeok leaves behind horns, guts, and wings for fusion and cooking. The horns in particular are an excellent drop, since they offer one of the highest attack buffs in the game.
If you're getting lost in the wilderness of Hyrule, check out our Tears of the Kingdom stable location guide and find out where is the Sahasra Slope Skyview Tower location. We've also got handy guides on how to get the Master Sword and Tears of the Kingdom Memories.