How to beat Stone Vanguard in Black Myth Wukong
Between a rock and a hard place.
To progress Chapter 2 of Black Myth: Wukong, two yaoguai king vanguards stand in your way: Stone Vanguard and Tiger Vanguard. Both have key items that are important for opening up a huge gate in the Valley of Despair right where you fought King of Flowing Sands and Second Prince of Flowing Sands.
While Yellow Wind Ridge splits into many paths and you’re free to tackle each vanguard in any order you wish, as well as other optional bosses, we recommend taking on Stone Vanguard first as the less difficult of the two in Black Myth: Wukong. Still, this is no cakewalk, and as a boss made of stone, you better believe they can hit hard and make effective use of the rocky environment.
Here you'll learn everything need about how to beat Stone Vanguard in Black Myth: Wukong.
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How to prepare for Stone Vanguard boss fight in Black Myth Wukong
Stone Vanguard can be found in an area of Yellow Wind Ridge called Fright Cliff in Black Myth: Wukong. The nearest shrine is called Rockrest Flat.
As always, check that you have crafted the latest gear available to you. At this point, you should be able to craft the Ebongold set as well as the Twin Serpent Staff. Although you may have enough materials, you may find that you’re beginning to run short of Will, the game’s currency. If you’ve been picking up pieces of gold, make sure you sell them at the store at the shrine. Failing that, you can always fight some minor yaoguai nearby, rest, rinse and repeat.
Remember to continue self-advancing with Spark Points. By now you should also be able to unlock the third of the Destined One’s staff stances, the Thrust Stance, which we would recommend for this fight. You can also equip Wandering Wight’s spirit for a defence boost.
How to beat Stone Vanguard in Black Myth Wukong
The trick to the Stone Vanguard fight, which also applies to other boss fights in Black Myth: Wukong, is knowing not to foolishly rush in despite being an agile monkey. Assuming that Stone Vanguard is a slow and heavy boss would be your first mistake.
It’s quite beast-like, with short stubby leggs and two large and sharp arms that are often resting on or buried in the ground, so more four-legged than bipedal. It will use its arms to attack you the most but, while these swings or slams are relatively straightforward to read for a perfect dodge, it’s actually the AOE earth spikes it creates after its melee attacks that you have to watch out for.
It’s very easy to dodge the physical attacks and assume you have an opening to start wailing on the Stone Vanguard, only to then be caught by the AOE spikes for the problem is, when you’re hitting it up close, it’s easy to miss the signs.
For instance, when it raises its arms in the air before slamming them down on the ground, the arms will start glowing to signal it’s about to follow up with the AOE attack. You should either be keeping your distance before this happens or using Cloud Step to try and warp behind it, because the AOE is mostly in front of the Stone Vanguard. Nonetheless, some of the damage area is also behind it too, so you should still wait until after the attack has happened before attempting to follow up. It won’t always end its attacks with an AOE, but it’s better to be sure instead of rushing in with your combos.
We found the Thrust Stance heavy attack works quite well against Stone Vanguard as its range means, after keeping your distance, you can still land an effective attack without having to rush back in. If you’ve been self-advancing your skills, you should also hopefully be able to gain up to two Focus Points. A heavy attack that spends both points at once also deals more damage, while also temporarily staggering it.
If you keep your distance too much it can also just start hurling rocks at you, which should be easy to dodge. Yet, it’s still better to wait for it to come to you rather than charging in yourself. Cloud Step can alleviate things, but, since this has a cooldown and your Mana is limited, we recommend only using it to avoid a tricky attack; such as when the Stone Vanguard leaps in the air and covers a surprising distance to slam down towards you.
Another move to watch out from Stone Vanguard is when it starts poking its arms at the ground to summon smaller rock minions that jump towards you. You can dodge them as they’ll break up on impact, but, just as the last couple fly towards you, the Stone Vanguard itself will also bound up towards you. So, if you don’t have Cloud Step or can't perfect dodge out of this, it’s going to hurt a lot.
Immobilize is also handy for freezing the Stone Vanguard during one of its attacks and, if you can get in a focused thrust, you can stun it for longer to get in a few more free hits. Just avoid using the spell when it’s performing one of its jumping attacks because you don’t want to freeze it and find yourself out of reach to punish it.
One annoying thing we found is that while you should be aiming for its big arms, when targeting the Stone Vanguard and fighting it in front, you’re more likely to be attacking it in the centre. Since its arms are propping its body higher up, you sometimes run the risk of not actually hitting anything in front of you due to this.
With high jump attacks and raised arms slams giving you a decent anticipating window, it’s best to work on getting perfect dodges, which can also build up focus points quickly. Then, when you use your focused heavy attacks, you can deal more damage and get more free hits to build focus again. Keep it up and this vanguard will crumble soon enough.
Stone Vanguard reward for Black Myth Wukong
Defeating Stone Vanguard will earn you 1652 XP, which should level you up and grant a new Spark point, along with 1350 Will and three Silk. It will also drop Sterness of Stone, a key item required for accessing certain areas in Yellow Wind Ridge, as well as a Mind Core that can be used for upgrades later.
If you return to a shrine, you’ll also discover that you can now craft the Galeguard armour set, so hopefully you’ve got enough will and materials to spare. That should significantly toughen you up for the next Vanguard on your list. Hope you’ve got the eye of the Tiger Vanguard!