How to beat Tiger Vanguard in Black Myth Wukong
Go get that tiger.
It’s quite the sight in Black Myth: Wukong to be fighting the Tiger Vanguard in what’s essentially a temple square filled with the blood of sacrifices that he’s also been leisurely chowing down on before you’ve come along and interrupted him. It gives you an idea of how formidable an opponent he is.
Certainly, of the two vanguard Yaoguai Kings you fight in Chapter 2 of Black Myth: Wukong, he is the meanest and toughest, and you might also say he bears some elemental similarity with the Stone Vanguard. In any case, with different fighting styles including martial arts and his blade, he is not one to be messed with. But you must overcome him since he has a key item you need to continue this chapter. Not to mention a spell that will come in very handy for all future fights.
This guide will provide all the information you need on how to beat Tiger Vanguard in Black Myth: Wukong.
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How to prepare for Tiger Vanguard in Black Myth Wukong
Tiger Vanguard is located Yellow Wind Ridge at the aptly named Crouching Tiger Temple, the nearest shrine being at the Temple Entrance. As you make your way up the temple steps, trails of blood and leftover remains give you a taste of what to expect from this Black Myth: Wukong boss.
Make sure you have crafted the latest armour available to you. If you have already beaten Stone Vanguard which we recommend tackling first, you should be able to craft the Galeguard armour set. Make sure to equip the Wandering Wight as your spirit for a defence boost too. You may also want to craft medicines that can buff your Health, Mana and Defence; although the boost they give is so minute that it’s not really going to make a substantial difference unless you first master the Tiger Vanguard’s attack patterns.
How to beat Tiger Vanguard in Black Myth Wukong
Compared to some bestial opponents you’ve encountered so far Tiger Vanguard is a little more on the humanoid side, fighting mostly with his fists but also with kicks in a martial arts style. The sword on his back isn’t just for show either, though he’ll use that not as often. When he does get down on all fours is when you have reason to be alarmed though.
When you first enter the arena he might circle-step around you before jumping up high to pounce on you, so you can either try to dodge this or Cloud Step out of the way then rush back into counter. He’ll then start using his fists, swinging his arm back before throwing the punches with a lot of force. This can either be straight one-twos or an uppercut before pounding the other fist on the ground (you might also notice the fists are either glowing or momentarily more human-looking as the tiger fur disappears). He’ll also try to catch you with a sweep kick before making a retreat with a kind of backwards spin kick, the show-off.
He’s got another punch and kick combo where he readies a stance before doing a side-somersault kick, then throws out to punches before side-spinning up in the air that ends with him crashing his leg down on you. All which can be fortunately dodged or perfected dodged if you’re prepared.
If he’s attacking with kicks first, he can sometimes bring his blade into the combo. Yet, you can tell when he usually decides to attack with just his sword as he’ll adopt a stance with one hand reaching for his blade and the other raised up towards his eyes. This follows with a very swift and deadly strike that you can both see and hear clearly, which fortunately does make it easy to learn to perfect dodge.
If you’re at a distance, sometimes the Tiger Vanguard will get his blade out and respond in kind. He’ll swish the blade in a pattern in front of him to summon a cyclone out from the bloody pool at your feet then fire it towards you. While you can dodge these, he’ll also continue swinging the blade that releases slashes of blood towards you. He can also charge at you from a distance, but he’ll actually jump high up during this and try to bring the smackdown from above.
While his attacks are ferocious, it’s his defence that gets frightening as he will turn himself to impenetrable stone and your attacks just bounce off. There’s two forms this can take: the first is he’ll sort of lower himself with both arms out wide waiting for you and, if you attack, he will respond with a killer counter punch. He charges it up before throwing the punch, but it’s easy to panic and roll out of the way at first, in which case you’ll end up vulnerable to the counter so it’s better to wait for it before attempting to dodge.
If you’re busy exploiting an opening with a combo you might not even see him transform to stone, but you’ll see your weapon bounce off and a clanging sound since your staff is hitting a different material. You’ll also notice some cloud emitting from Tiger Vanguard - almost as if you’ve knocked the stoniness out of him. Otherwise, he will normally turn into stone and hold that position. If you don’t try to hit him, he’ll change back to normal form, annoyed you didn’t fall for it.
The second version of this is actually a decoy. He will be on all fours, turning to stone, and, if you hit it, your staff will clang and bounce off but he stays there like a statue. That’s because the Tiger Vanguard has actually teleported somewhere else and is about to ambush you. You’ll have to spin the camera around to figure out where he’s coming from as he’ll perform a very powerful charge attack and you want him in your sights if you’re dodge it. This can be a panciky tactic, and annoyingly, he may even simply reappear behind his stone figure, slightly obscured, and charge through it into you.
The easiest way to approach this decoy is to use Cloud Step, which normally gets you away from the target area, but then you’re also essentially invisible so the Tiger Vanguard will just charge at an unspecified direction. Though you can still get hurt if you stay where you were. It’s best to prioritse your Mana for this function, even though Immobilize can still come in handy if you’re having trouble dodging his tougher combos. Yet, if you’re freezing him as he’s preparing his sword strike, be sure you have a focused heavy that can definitely break his combo otherwise you’re at risk of getting caught by it. Also be sure not to cast Immoblize during his stone phases as it has no effect and you’ll just be wasting Mana
Tiger Vanguard doesn’t really have different phases, just all of these movesets in combination the whole time so it’s a tough fight to endure from start to finish. Play catuiously, making use of spells sparingly and smartly, using medicines to give yourself a little buff if it helps and you’ll eventually take him down.
Tiger Vanguard rewards in Black Myth Wukong
When the Tiger Vanguard is defeated, he’ll turn to stone one more time before fading away, all to a song from the headless musician. The good news is that magic is transferred to the Destined One, giving you the power of Rock Solid, basically the closest Black Myth: Wukong’s gets to a parry mechanic.
You’ll also earn 1652 XP, easily levelling you up to obtain another Spark point and three Silk. He will also drop a Mind Core that you can soon use for upgrading your stats with, as well as Keeness of Tiger - a key item you’ll in fact be able to use right away with a tally in front of the headless Buddha statue just in front of you. This will drain the bloody in the arena and open up a passage that takes you under the temple.
More challenge awaits down there but also your path to the end of the chapter, and an even more formidable boss! But if you’ve also defeated Stone Vanguard, don’t forget you have both key items to open the big gate at Valley of Despair. You’ll also be use Keeness of Tiger to open another gate. You’ll definitely want to make sure you explore more of the secrets and challenges in Yellow Wind Ridge before continuing the main path.