Black Myth: Wukong is an action RPG where you play the role of The Destined One, the successor of Sun Wukong in an epic dark fantasy reimagining of the Journey to the West. With its in-depth combat system, players will need to learn and master its mechanics in order to style on the many enemies and bosses that the game has to offer. This guide will provide some helpful advice and gameplay tips to help you get started on Black Myth: Wukong.
Table of Contents
📌Basics in Melee Combat
Much of the game will have you use the Ruyi Jingu Bang staff weapon, which will be your only weapon. At base, you have three different stances: Smash, Pillar, and Thrust. Each stance drastically changes your moveset and speed depending on the combat encounter you’re in. You can freely change stances at any time. Meanwhile, you also have defensive options to help you survive against tougher bosses.
🥢 Mastering the Three Stances
Smash stance is the default and is a balanced form that combines both light and heavy attacks. Smash stance is the most versatile as it is decent for fighting bosses while also excelling at crowd control with its myriad of sweeping attacks.
Pillar stance has the unique feature of extending the length of your staff, which allows you to avoid ground attacks and gives more power to your overhead attack. This stance also allows you to deal with aerial opponents since Wukong will gain more height the more you charge this stance’s heavy attack.
Thrust stance gives you the most range with your staff by charging your heavy attack for a devastating single-target blow. This moveset is absolutely effective against bosses and, if timed right, will deal more than half a boss’ health bar if you charge a heavy attack long enough.
⊹ The Focus Mechanic
In order to pull off your special melee moves, you’ll need to build up enough Focus to get a Focus point. You gain Focus by either landing enough light attacks, executing a Perfect Dodge or charging up your heavy attack long enough. You can spend these points to initiate either a long light attack combo or a devastating heavy attack, depending on the stance you use.
💨Learning the Dodge System
Though you have a lot of offensive options, enemies will still put up a fight and will have attacks that have hyper armor. This is where the Dodge comes into play. The Dodge is your primary means of defense, as not only can you avoid attacks, but it can also empower you with buffs if you commit a Perfect Dodge. To put it into perspective, think of your Dodge as the Sekiro deflect or the Bayonetta/Nier Automata Dodge system.
Perfect Dodging is done when you Dodge an attack just before an enemy lands a hit on you. When you leave an afterimage, you have successfully made a Perfect Dodge.
💫 Combat Spells
As you progress through the game, you’ll unlock new spells that will help you out in combat, like Immobilize, Azure Dust, and Rock Solid. Each spell does have a mana cost, which can only be restored when resting at a shrine.
👥 Shapeshifting Forms
Another aspect of combat in Black Myth: Wukong is your Shapeshifting, which provides different utilities and powers for much of your experience in the game. The first Shapeshift form you unlock, Cicada Form, is primarily used for exploration and stealth but many other forms grant you combat bonuses and new movesets to play around with. These do not cost any mana, but they will consume a lot of Stamina in the process.
⏩ Black Myth: Wukong’s Progression Systems
💪 Self-Advancement and Sparks
To unlock new passives and synergies with your many abilities, you’ll need to level up. In Black Myth: Wukong, this is called Self Advancement, and to unlock passives, you’ll need Sparks, which are your skill points for this game. Not only do you have skill trees for your core character skills, but every Stance, Spell and Shapeshifting form has its own skill trees that provide new passives and bonuses to further advance your builds.
🥋 Gearing Up
As you explore the world, you’ll find pieces of gear like armor, staffs and curios that will aid you in your journey through their many stat buffs. Armor sets give extra defensive stats and unique set bonuses for you, while Curios have small stat bumps when equipped on your Curio slots. You’ll also find different staff weapons with increasing damage as you progress through the game normally. There are also Vessels that are found hidden in each chapter of the game that gives the biggest power to your character.
👉 Tips and Tricks For Starting Black Myth: Wukong
- The game has plenty of secrets hidden throughout the world, with chests, item locations, and even secret questlines that will reward you with permanent stat boosts. If you want to explore without worry, the Cicada form you unlock early on will be extremely helpful for your secret hunting. Also, make sure to back track to the earlier zones since some secrets require items from later stages of the game.
- Combat is very methodical and requires some patience on your part, as attacks and dodges have an animation lockout. Getting too greedy for damage in the game is a surefire way to being sent back to the shrine you last rested on.
- Early on, putting some points to your Smash stance skill tree is the best use of your Sparks since this allows you to get way better combos for the early boss fights, with some points to your core skills as you need them. Once you unlock the other two stances, distribute them based on your combat preference.
- Feel free to experiment with different skill trees, as this game allows you to respec your Sparks for no cost at anytime. If you’re stuck in a boss, try changing up your build to see if a new one can handle it.
- Practice your Perfect Dodging maneuvers by getting a feel for the right timing on dodges. You can start with the Wolf Yaoguai enemies in Chapter 1.
