3 Tips for Getting Unstuck in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty

I don’t typically play Souls-style games, but after Team Ninja’s Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, I think I will. It’s easy to understand the concept of getting better through failure, but accepting it doesn’t come easy. I mean, we grew up with Zelda holding that death counter over our heads, right? But for some reason, failing to beat Wo Long’s opening boss 63 times didn’t phase me. Every failure made me want to go back and try again. That said, having not played a single Souls game before, I didn’t know if just learning to parry right would be enough—and for a panic button presser like me it was kind of an impossible task. But then I realized three easy steps to overcoming that first boss and, ultimately, every one after it. They’re three simple tasks that when done right will set you up for success while maintaining the game’s challenge.

Like most games in the genre, learning how to parry is essential to beating a boss and just not dying in general. Wo Long has no shortage of telegraphs about when to parry, with opponents glowing red when they’re about to land a critical strike. But timing isn’t necessarily something you can learn, and I say that from experience. While it’s easy to beat bosses once you master the parry, there is no shortage of enemy strength variation. While you can take multiple hits from some bosses (or versions of bosses) others will lay you out immediately. And if you find yourself stuck on one of them, these three tips will lead to victory instead of a crushing defeat.

Here’s how I learned to stay upright in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty.

Farm Genuine Qi

While you can’t change Wo Long’s difficulty, you can take advantage of its Genuine Qi system. After five straight immediate deaths against the first boss thanks to missed parries I decided to just level up. While I could have banged my head against the wall to “get good” I decided to think smart. More health would make it easier, right? That’s what the Genuine Qi system is for.

As you kill enemies, you gain Qi, with more coming from those you get revenge on, meaning you kill them after they’ve defeated you. You then use Genuine Qi to increase any of your Five Virtues Values: Wood Virtue (HP), Fire Virtue (Attack), Earth Virtue (Equipment weight limit), Metal Virtue (Spirit), and Water Virtue (Stealth). So to put it simply, if you’re stuck, you can farm to increase your level in any of the virtues (Wood was the way to go for me) until you feel comfortable enough to progress.

That said, increasing your level doesn’t make you indestructible, but it does move you from being killed by one missed parry of a critical hit to three depending on what you increase. Additionally, the ability to do this is balanced out by the fact that each level requires an increasing amount of Genuine Qi. But be aware—spend the Qi while you have it, because it all goes away if you die. Fortunately the HUD will tell you when you’ve reached the amount you need to purchase the next level.

Raise Your Morale Rank

The next tip is a simple one: raise you damn morale rank. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty uses a Morale Rank system to rate both you and the enemies you face. This is an easy way to tell if you’re ready or sorely lacking when heading into a fight. You gain morale as you defeat opponents, and you lose it when you’re hit. And when you die? Well, it resets to zero or to whatever number your fortitude is set at, which is decided by how many Battle Flags and Burial Flags you have planted. For the particularly difficult bosses and mobs, spending time increasing your rank before fighting them can allow you an edge against an enemy (particularly mini-bosses) to help you on your way, even if you’re struggling.

You can do this pretty much infinitely, as you can with farming Qi. Just head to a battle flag, rest, and boom, every enemy you just defeated is back up. Running through the zones and choosing to fight enemies again might be repetitive, but it actually isn’t the worst way to spend your time. While it may seem a bit cheap (like Qi farming) it also helps you better understand the different enemy types that will continually come into play in the rest of the game, and that’s never a bad thing.

Fight Every Mini-Boss

As each enemy gets layered on top of the next, you’re pushed to adapt to each style as you play. It starts with soldiers, then moves on through demon-possessed corpses, demon tigers, demon birds, witches, giant hogs, and more. You have to pay attention to the enemy in order to defeat it, whether it’s a mob, mini-boss, or main boss. But when it comes to testing yourself before a main boss, mini-bosses are obviously the way to go. While you can avoid them, they’re often guarding chests that may have better armor or Battle Flags that will increase your fortitude which makes them a must to take down. That said, fighting the same one multiple times also yields a lot of Qi and helps you better understand how to parry and how your companions interact with a tougher opponent instead of just peeling off and picking up a part of a mob.

Mini-bosses also help teach you upcoming mechanics and moves variations of future main bosses you’ll encounter throughout the game. Mini-bosses also get easier as they reappear, especially after moving to mob status as you encounter new enemy types later on.

When you’re stuck in Wo Long, there is always a way out. Failing and learning to accept that failure are essential to the game and the genre it sits in. But because of that, every map is filled with opportunities to get better. Whether that’s learning new mechanics from a mini-boss to help down the line (or to just practice your parry on a tougher enemy than a trash mob) or just rerunning an entire map to raise your rank to have an advantage over your enemy, these small things all amount to having a better advantage against bosses that have defeated you time after time. Don’t think that you’re removing the challenge by taking steps like raising your level. Instead you’re allowing yourself to get hit three times instead of once before you’re defeated. You’re learning to coexist with the challenge, using the game’s established system to overcome it. When there isn’t an easy mode, you learn how to adapt using tools given to you by the developers, and that’s part of the beauty of a Souls game.