The first boss you face in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is Zhang Liang, but don’t let that fool you into thinking defeating him will be easy. In fact, he’s arguably the toughest enemy you’ll face in the entire early game, essentially acting as a wall that players have to break down by embracing Wo Long’s offense-focused combat mechanics.
If you’re struggling to take him down, the tips, tricks, and strategies in this boss guide will help you approach the battle with the right mindset and give Zhang Liang the beating he deserves. Once you understand what Wo Long wants you to do, you’ll be defeating this boss in no time.
Wo Long: Zhang Liang Phase 1
The first phase of the fight encourages him to dynamically switch between offense and defense, as Zhang Liang punishes both turtles and recklessness. This is something you’ll need to do for the rest of the game, so it’s essentially a brutal tutorial for Wo Long’s combat. Here are some tips to help you get through the initial stage.
- Avoid the turtles and constantly keep the block. Zhang Liang will quickly deplete your guard if you do this, and even if you deflect attacks from him endlessly, you’ll never get anywhere without retaliating with your own attacks.
- Focus on deflecting Zhang Liang’s attacks, then follow up with a few of your own afterward.. In addition to dealing damage to the boss’s HP bar, this restores any spirit you may have lost defending yourself and removes Zhang Liang’s.
- When you’re in high spirits, try launching a spirit attack after deflecting one of the boss’s moves.. This lowers his spirit gauge and makes it easier to deplete, leaving Zhang Liang open to a critical hit from Fatal Blow.
- Don’t get greedy; be ready to deflect again after landing a few hits. Being aggressive is important, but so is going back on defense when you see the boss finish off with retaliatory attacks.
- The first critical hit to look out for is a mid-range melee charge. Wait until Zhang Liang is about to run into you, then dodge to deflect him.. As a reminder, Critical Hits are unlockable attacks that glow dark red, deal heavy damage to you, and reduce your morale range by one when they land. However, deflecting them deals heavy spirit damage and leaves your opponent open to counterattacks.
- The second critical hit the boss can do is a close range hit that the boss ends for a second. Wait until the clearing is over to deflect the attack.. If you try to deflect too early, you’ll just dodge and then get hit by the move.
- After dealing a fatal blow to Zhang Liang, hit him with a follow-up martial arts attack while he recovers.. This is a great way to deal extra damage, and since it takes a few seconds for the boss to get up after taking a Fatal Strike, it’s also very safe to do so.
Eventually, you’ll deplete Zhang Liang’s health bar and push him into the scarier (and faster) Phase 2.
Wo Long: Zhang Liang Phase 2
In Phase 2, Zhang Liang is enhanced with supernatural demonic powers and becomes much bigger than he was before. However, despite how different he looks, the process of fighting him is largely the same as in Phase 1. Here’s how to beat the second stage of the fight and take down Wo Long’s first boss. : Fallen Dynasty.
- Phase 2 kicks off with a big area of effect sweep attack. Stay away to avoid it, or alternatively, jump on it.. Trying to deflect the attack is not recommended, as the parry time on this move is quite difficult to master.
- Zhang Liang attacks faster in this phase, so just go for a hit or two between deflections.. Staying alive is more important than maxing out damage in Phase 2, so it’s crucial to mitigate damage as much as you can.
- When the boss sticks his weapon into the ground, be ready to dodge forward or to the side.. By doing so, you can deflect or dodge the column of rock spikes that he sends you directly after.
- When the boss points his gun at you and pulls it back, dodge towards him when he pushes it back at you to deflect. This attack hurts a lot if you don’t deflect or at least block it, so make sure you do.
- Look out for a critical hit from afar where Zhang Liang finishes a hit with his monster hand and deflect it by dodging the attack.. The time window for this deflection is very generous, and it will instantly cut Zhang Liang’s spirit gauge in half upon landing it. You can then follow up with several attacks and a fatal blow once you’ve fully depleted his spirit.
- At approximately half health, the boss will roar and create an area of effect explosion around it.. When you see his body glowing crimson beforehand, move away so you don’t get hit.
- At this point, Zhang Liang will send you an additional column of rock spikes after the first one, so be prepared to dodge or deflect twice.. It won’t always do this, but it’s best to be prepared just in case.
- The boss also takes a much deadlier critical hit where he charges up and fires a flurry of quick hits at you.. Try to deflect the early part of the combo if you can, but if you can’t, focus on trying to parry one of the extra hits to regain the initiative. Alternatively, you can also try to dodge spam, which is the surest way to survive the attack.
- Once your Divine Beast is charged up and ready to launch, using it will win you the fight instantly.. The best way to charge up the Divine Beast meter is to deflect critical hits, so I recommend trying to do that as much as possible.
Ultimately, as long as you maintain a healthy balance of offense and defense while dodging or deflecting Zhang Liang’s critical hits, you will defeat him and emerge victorious.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is available now on Xbox, Windows PC, and PlayStation systems. In particular, the game can be played through a Xbox game pass subscription, and is one of the best xbox games from 2023 to now for fans of intense, high-octane melee combat.
