With any game focused on tight combat mechanics and overcoming a series of progressively more challenging bosses, conversations inevitably turn toward figuring out the best, worst and most difficult.Black Myth: Wukongis no exception to this, thanks to its 100+ boss encounters, with many of those offering unusual challenges to those wishing to defeat them.
Review: Black Myth: Wukong
The legend of the Monkey King has come to life like never before in Black Myth: Wukong.
Of course, Black Myth: Wukong’s bosses tend to get more difficult stat-wise as the game progresses, but stats aren’t everything. Move sets, hit timing, unique effects, conditions and player progression all play a role, so while a later boss should be more difficult on paper, that is, as manysoulsborne veteransknow, not necessarily the case. Sometimes, even “easy” bosses can rate a top ten spot for the amount of trouble they cause.
This is how it’s gonna be from here on.
In terms of overall power in Black Myth: Wukong, Whiteclad Noble ranks near the bottom. He doesn’t have much health and hits for relatively little damage. He’s also many players’ first taste of what boss encounters in this game are actually like, though. He cannot be easily cheesed in the same way thatWandering Wightcan and some correct dodge timing must be learned in order to avoid and deal decent damage.
How to Beat Whiteclad Noble in Black Myth: Wukong
The Whiteclad Noble is a tough cookie as he uses the water around him in a violent manner.
Whiteclad Noble is more or less the first real challenge players have to overcome and a fun benchmark against one’s progress later on. He’s terrifyingly tough for the beginner, yet trivial to any truly accomplished Destined One.
9Tiger Vanguard
You actually thought you were getting good for a bit there, didn’t ya?
If Whiteclad Noble is the introduction to how things are in Black Myth: Wukong, then Tiger Vanguard is its first major skill check. Where Whiteclad Noble andBlack Bear Guaiwere slow and meandering, Tiger Vanguard is crazy fast and utterly relentless. His fight is so much worse than anything before that there’s a running joke that his pool is filled with the blood of all the newbies he’s killed.
Black Myth: Wukong - Tiger Vanguard Boss
One of many bosses in Wukong’s adventures, we face off against the once beloved Tiger Vanguard as he has given into his hunger.
There’s only one thing to do when it comes to Tiger Vanguard: die until you don’t. There aren’t any secret items to help in this fight, and grinding extra ability points only does so much. It’s either adapt to the fight and progress or don’t and quit.
8Kang-Jin Loong
Get down here already, dang it!
The first fight against Kang-Kin Loong is one of a couple of outliers in Black Myth: Wukong. It’s not so much that the boss herself is mechanically difficult, but rather that the fight itself seems somewhat poorly implemented. As cool as the idea of fighting a flying loong is, in practice it’s rather frustrating.
The main issues with fighting Kang-Jin Loong are the amount of time she spends in the air and the sheer size of the arena. She’s out of reach most of the time, which often leads to impatient rushes to deal damage (and often into stupid deaths) before she goes back up into the air and the wait begins again. Definitely a relief to clear this one.
7Captain Lotus-Vision
Could you please stop shooting for five seconds?!
Confronting Captain Lotus-Vision will send players headlong into Black Myth: Wukong’s other outlier fight. Just like Kang-Jin Loong, Captain Lotus-Vision’s fight suffers from an issue of design. In his case, the issue is a reliance on projectiles, something that the game doesn’t give players many tools to deal with.
Outside of staff-spinning the minor projectiles away, most of this fight must be spent attempting to dodge high-damage sniper shots and the laser hazards that fill the arena. Players must be patient and carefully use tracking-defeating abilities likeCloud Stepin order to exploit the boss’s brief damage windows and avoid the temptation to try ending this very frustrating fight more quickly.
6Yellow Wind Sage
Whatever you do, don’t let him land a kick on you.
Yellow Wind Sage seems like he’ll be easier than Tiger Vanguard at first since he isn’t as outright aggressive. Everyone quickly learns, however, that he more than makes up for it with extremely powerful area-of-effect attacks and a devastating punt kick that’ll outright kill the Destined One if his HP is below half.
Black Myth: Wukong - Yellow Wind Sage Boss
Said to be one of the first real tests of Black Myth: Wukong, the rat king Yellow Wind Sage has some attacks that will absolutely blow you away.
It’s in the second half of the fight that Yellow Wind Sage earns his reputation, though. Not only does he become more aggressive and use longer combos, but he also summons sand whirlwinds that constantly track the player’s position, making combo attempts that much more risky and difficult to pull off. Heavens help anyone who takes him on without Wind Tamer.
5The Scorpionlord
Never mess with a guai’s booze.
To fight the Scorpion Lord is basically to fight a tougher, somehow even more aggressive version of Tiger Vanguard. Just like the blood-drinking tiger, every hit from Scorpionlord is devastating, meaning there’s little margin for error for those hoping to get a win on him.
What really sets him apart from his predecessor, though, is his enraged unpredictability and his ability to inflict poison status. So not only is it more difficult to predict what he’ll do next, but guessing wrong can easily result in a quick and brutal death. Perhaps it would have been better to leave him and his wine alone, eh?
4Yin Tiger
The things we go through for armor upgrades.
Yin Tiger almost feels like a little prank by Game Science on its players. Defeating him is required to unlockthe ability to upgrade armor,but doing so is no small feat. Yin Tiger isridiculouslyfast for his size, able to counter several of the Destined One’s attacks and is difficult to counter himself. He also just loves blocking just about everything thrown at him.
Players do have the option of coming back later after they’ve beefed themselves up a bit, but Yin Tiger still doesn’t make it easy. That whirlwind dive bomb move of his hits ridiculously hard no matter the Destined One’s level and he’s even got follow-up for those that manage to dodge it.
Even worse, no matter whether you win or lose, he’s still entirely dismissive of your fight. Either you lose and he doubts your skills, or you win, and he passively blames his sword for the loss. Ah well, at least he’s willing to upgrade your stuff now, right?
3Hundred-Eyed Daoist Master
You brought the needle, right?
Hundred-Eyed Daoist Master isn’t as aggressive as the Scorpion Lord, but that really doesn’t make his fight any easier. Rather than pressuring the Destined One himself, he instead forces the monkey to come to him and then punishes that mistake. There’s really no staying out of range thanks to his lighting and magic, and coming in close just invites unpredictable sword strikes and body slams.
Making all of this worse is the wonky way in which the game locks onto him, which often robs players of vital damage. In his second phase, he massively ramps up the projectile attacks and the power behind them, in addition to becoming overall more aggressive. He’s also invulnerable until he pulls off a scripted attack, baiting unknowing players into risky strikes or burning their Weaver’s Needle only to see them fizzle.
That little period of invulnerability before the scripted sequence is probably the nastiest quirk of this fight too. Even when you know about it, it’s all too easy to get swept up in the flow of the battle and either just rush for damage or scramble to cancel out his golden domain. Might as well restart the run at that point.
2Yellow Loong
When lightning-fast reflexes aren’t quite fast enough.
Few bosses in Black Myth: Wukong punish carelessness quite like Yellow Loong. He doesn’t care about preferred styles or favorite attacks; those that challenge him either adapt to how he wants to fight or die continually. Unfortunately for most, his style of fighting is a combination of supremely-fast strikes and long combo chains.
This wise old loong also won’t fall for most of Wukong’s tricks, easily resisting the more powerful abilities if launched sloppily without any setup or gameplan. He also resists both Rock Solid counters and blocks resolute strikes; there’s no gaming him without going full exploit, so it’s either that or face him honorably and head-on.
1Erlang, The Sacred Divinity
Even Wukong himself would have a rough time of it.
There’s a reason Erlang Shen is the introductory fight in Black Myth: Wukong. Even though he’s not the true final boss,he’s pretty much the capstone boss:one that players need to put all of their acquired knowledge and experience into defeating. Defeating him legitimately without any exploits is an exercise in endurance, tactics and even straight-up reflexes.
It’s not enough to land a hit on Erlang and expect to deal damage. No, one must first exhaust his full health bar of a shield and then only get a brief damage window. All the while, players must dodge flurries of spear attacks, harassment from his familiar and regularly having their own attacks blocked near effortlessly, among other fun things. The reward is worth it, but man does the game make players work for it.
Black Myth: Wukong
Black Myth: Wukong is an action RPG rooted in Chinese mythology and based on Journey to the West, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature.You shall set out as the Destined One to venture into the challenges and marvels ahead, to uncover the obscured truth beneath the veil of a glorious legend from the past.As the Destined One, you shall encounter powerful foes and worthy rivals throughout your journey. Fearlessly engage them in epic battles where surrender is not an option.Aside from mastering various staff techniques, you may also freely combine different spells, abilities, weapons, and equipment to find the winning strategy that best suits your combat style.
