Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty completely overwhelmed us all with a ridiculous first boss fight. This boss requires perfection from the player — and you’ve only just begun learning the mechanics! After 30 minutes of tutorial exploration, you’re thrown into the deep end. Every boss after the first is a total cakewalk if you learn how to exploit the systems of this game to give yourself the biggest advantage possible.
For the first boss, all you can do to make the battle easier is boost your Morale. This same system will make literally every boss in the entire game much easier — all the way up to the very last boss, which doesn’t allow you to boost Morale. Everything else? You’re free to grind and reach maximum Morale. It’s all about the damage you take. There’s a lot to explain about the morale system, and about the first boss.
The first boss is a major roadblock for starting players. Here’s some tips you can use to finally overcome the boss.
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How To Beat The First Boss | Zhang Liang Guide
The boss at the end of the tutorial section is Zhang Liang, a brutish Yellow Turban bandit that wields a giant hammer. He is surprisingly fast, and glues himself to you when dishing out combos. He has two forms, which is extremely rare in Wo Long. For whatever reason, this first boss is one of the hardest in the entire game. It isn’t until the last half of this 30+ hours adventure that you’ll face anything even remotely difficult compared to Zhang Liang.
Here’s a quick list of tips and tricks that will make this boss much, much easier. He still requires precision and practice, but with these tips you’ll (eventually) overcome the challenge.
- Parrying is important. Learning how to parry and when to time your parries is essential for this boss and all future bosses. Essentially, you’re better off barely moving in this battle. Stand still and let the boss come to you. Parry his attacks!
- When the boss glows red, they are about to unleash a Critical Attack. You can parry these — and parrying Critical Attacks is one of the most important skills in the entire game. Parrying a Critical Attack will drain a large chunk of Spirit from the boss. Usually, it only takes a few Critical Attack Parries to break a boss and leave them stunned.
- While a boss is stunned, you will be able to perform a Fatal Strike. This attack deals incredibly high damage. You can take of 20% or more of the boss health bar with a single Fatal Strike.
- Parrying normal attacks lowers the boss’s total Spirit meter. This is also very important for all future boss fights.
Dealing Fatal Strikes also has the added benefit of stealing Morale from a boss. Each boss begins with 20 Morale. By using a Fatal Strike, you’ll take their Morale and add it to your own. That makes you stronger and the boss weaker. Unfortunately, if you get hit by a Critical Attack, you’ll always lose one Morale.
- Morale is a unique stat that can only be raised on a specific mission. You start every mission at 0 Morale and can raise up to 25 Morale. You earn Morale by planting flags, defeating enemies, and using Fatal Strikes on broken enemies.
- Explore the tutorial map thoroughly. Find Battle Flags and Flag Markers to increase your maximum Fortitude and raise your Morale.
Raising Morale makes boss battles much easier. For the first boss, I recommend practicing until you can consistently parry Critical Attacks. Once you understand the basics of the boss fight, grind Morale by defeating the same weak basic enemies over and over again. Use the Battle Flag to rest and restock healing items, then go back and defeat more enemies. Once you’ve located all the Battle Flags and Flag Markers on a map, you’ll actually earn Morale much faster.
Reaching maximum Morale makes bosses way easier — they deal less damage to the player, so you’ll be able to fight longer without healing. The downside is that bosses can steal your Morale by unleashing Critical Attacks. If you whiff a parry and get hit, you’ll lose morale. Morale can never go lower than your total Fortitude, but all your grinding is useless if you can’t parry Critical Attacks.
Using Morale and parries to deal damage and weaken the boss is the best strategy. Here’s a few more tips to keep in mind while fighting the first boss.
- General Tips | Boss Fight Guide:
- Don’t dodge to avoid attack. You’re better off sprinting. Sprinting doesn’t cost Spirit, but you will automatically break if you’re hit while sprinting. Dodging is useless in this game. Parries and directional parries and much better.
- Parry forward into an enemy attack to more consistently score a parry. The timing doesn’t change, but the size of the parry area will increase when parrying in a direction.
- Your ally won’t help much in this fight. He will occasionally distract the boss. Use that time to heal safely.
- Use Martial Arts whenever you have excess (blue) Spirit. It won’t lower your Spirit below the medium as long as you have some excess Spirit to spend.
The name of the game here is Parry. There are two phases to the first boss — the second phase is actually easier. The second phase of the boss will Critical Attack more often and takes far more Spirit damage when parried. As long as you consistently score parries, you’ll finally take down the boss. Seriously, why is this first boss so hard? Once you master parries, the rest of the bosses are simple. You’ll only fight harder bosses in the last few hours of the story.
