How to beat the Wandering Wight in Black Myth Wukong
Black Myth: Wukong’s first tough optional challenge explained.
Be prepared for many tough boss fights in Black Myth: Wukong, and the first one to properly put you to the test is the Wandering Wight. It's sort of like Pinhead but with a big head, who also hits big.
The Wandering Wight is technically an optional boss in Black Wind Mountain, the first region of Black Myth: Wukong, where you’ll find him wandering around an open area in the forest you have to pass on the critical path. In fact, the first time you reach the nearby shrine, you’ll be transformed into a cicada and can theoretically fly past him unnoticed. While he’ll feel intimidatingly difficult when you’re just starting out, he’s definitely a foe you’ll want to defeat to obtain his spirit for transformation.
Here we'll provide you with all the information you need on how to beat the Wandering Wight in Black Myth: Wukong.
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How to prepare for the Wandering Wight in Black Myth Wukong
The Wandering Wight is in the very first area of Black Wind Mountain called Forest of Wolves, and not far from the rest shrine 'Outside the Forest'. While there’s a few grunt enemies along the path, you can easily defeat or run past them to reach him. The first time you reach this area, you’ll also be transformed into a cicada and can technically get through this area undetected.
Fighting the Wandering Wight at this stage can be more challenging than expected, especially compared to the Bullguard previously as he hits a lot harder. As you’ll have considerably less upgrades and abilities on your first encounter, you might wish to come back later. It’s also worth noting that, while he drops his spirit, it requires a Gourd you won't receive until later. In this case, it may be worth returning to the Wandering Wight only after you have unlocked this feature. We also recommend unlocking Crash for the Immobilize spell as it allows you deal more damage while your target is immobilised.
What can be easy to overlook is that you’ll be earning Sparks as you level up and you should be making sure to spend them via the Self-Advance tab in the menu screen to improve your stats or enhance your abilities. The same goes for crafting weapons and armour, which you have as an option when stopping at a shrine, where there will also be a highlight to indicate if new gear has been unlocked for crafting. It's a good idea to craft some new armour to replace your starting set before fighting the Wandering Wight.
Players who pre-ordered Black Myth: Wukong will also receive some bonus items including the Bronzecloud Staff, Folk Opera armour set, and a special gourd that you can consume five times, one more than the Gourd you start with. While the stats for these will be obsolete by the time you can craft your own gear, equipping these pre-order bonuses will get you a decent advantage early on.
How to beat the Wandering Wight in Black Myth Wukong
With pretty high HP, while also being able to take off a lot of your HP both up close and from afar, the Wandering Wight makes for a challenging foe fairly early on. Even if he may appear slow and lumbering at first glance. Nonetheless, you can usually take advantage with a heavy attack in the Smash stance from the start when he's still registering your presence before you deliver that first easy blow. Using a Focus Point, this move will also stagger him for several seconds, allowing you to dish out a light attack combo that should be enough to grant you another focus point.
While you have limited Mana, you could also follow up by casting Immoblize on him to dish out another heavy attack to stagger him again - anything to give you a strong opening advantage. Sometimes the focus heavy attack on its own is even powerful enough to knock him over on his back, which might even make you feel sorry for the fella. But absolutely do not let your guard down because his attacks are mean. Even though a player with great reflexes can perfect dodge any attack, you still need to know what’s coming in order to react.
In terms of melee, the Wandering Wight attacks with both his arms and legs. He can swipe at you with his arm, pulling it back to give you time to react. While these swings come as a combo, if you immobilize the Wandering Wight then pull off a full combo, it will break his combo. He also has a move where he will charge at you arms open before slamming his hands together in front - again this is telegraphed giving you enough time to react. But getting hit by of these means losing a good chunk of HP, just about enough for one swig from your Gourd to recover.
He can also try to stomp you, slowly raising one leg and then slamming his foot down. There’s variances to this: he may stomp with one foot and then the other, go for a three-stomp combo, stomp with one foot before swinging at you with his arm or two stomps then a swing. Similarly to his charging hand-clap, he can also try to rush you with a running jump kick and then follow that up with a jumping stomp.
Besides melee, the Wandering Wight also has AOE attacks. The most basic form of this is he will come up to you, arms raised in the air, and then slam them down on the ground. This emits a glowing AOE earthquake, which does similar damage as his arm swings and foot stomps. A second AOE quake burst also erupts while his hands are still on the ground, so don’t be too eager to exploit what seems like an opening.
What you have to watch out for is that he will sometimes charge up this AOE, with each successive blast covering more ground than the last. It’s also not always very clear from the markings on the ground whether or not you’re within the blast radius, so our recommendation is to get as far away as possible when it feels like he’s doing a maximum of four AOE ground blasts. It’s during this attack that the area where you’re fighting can feel quite narrow, but it’s actually more of a rectangular aren, so try to make sure you’re running along its length instead of its width.
One nasty attack he also has up his sleeve is a palm blast, which he’ll telegraph by putting his right arm back to charge it up, hand glowing, before he thrusts his palm out. The blast is instant, similar to a beam though it covers a huge distance, and, if you get hit, it can take about half of your HP off. He can do this on its own or use it as a finishier to the AOE blast or stomp combos - the former is easier to anticipate since you’ll already be keeping your distance.
While your light attacks can be fast, the important thing is to wait for your openings but not get too greedy. It’s ideal to get a full combo as it should grant you a focus point. but keep your eye on the Wandering Wight as it can quickly start up its next attack. Save your Mana to immobilize him when he’s in the middle of a damaging combo because, if you can counter quickly or can deliver a focused heavy attack, you can break that combo before following up with some more free hits. While you can string a focused heavy at the end of the combo, the stand-alone is most effective at staggering and, any time you can have the Wandering Wight flailing, the better chance you have of surviving.
Wandering Wight rewards in Black Myth Wukong
For defeating Wandering Wight, you’ll earn 1049 XP - more than enough to level you up and earn another Spark for self-advancement. Along with 761 Will and three Yarn. He will also drop Cat’s Eye Beads, a curio that slightly increases your chances of critical hits, and Blood of the Iron Bull, a rare material used in crafting.
He will also leave behind his spirit, appearing as a purple flame. If you were skilled enough to fight the Wandering Wight without progressing further in Chapter 1, however, you may find a message that you 'Cannot absorb Spirits without guidance'. Not to worry though - once you do unlock the Gourd for doing this, you’ll actually receive it at the next shrine you rest at. Equipping and cultivating this spirit will not only give you a transformation attack that can stagger any enemy, but also raise your defence.
With this early tough spirit out of the way, you might feel more prepared against whatever Black Myth: Wukong throws your way. Just be warned that things will get tougher still!