Combat in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty demonstrates the basic combat mechanics of the game, as well as the special moves you can execute during combat. The usage of Divine Beasts during Wo Long Combat draws upon Chinese mythology and folklore but is still similar in combat mechanics to Nioh's Guardian Spirits. However, in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty combat moves much faster, and the game emphasizes high risk for high reward actions. Players are rewarded when they are aggressive and punished when they are too defensive, forcing a very fast-paced style of combat. In combat, players have an HP bar for their health or hitpoints and a Spirit gauge that acts as a form of stamina and allows you to use Wizardry Spells or Martial Arts. This page covers various information on all of the combat mechanics of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty.
Spirit & Spirit Gauge Mechanics
All Combat in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is based around gaining and consuming Spirit, and at the same time avoiding to lose it by getting hit. This is a mutual convinience, as your enemies will also have to work on their Spirit balance during combat against you, while you try to make them lose Spirit to gain advantage.
You can gain Spirit by deflecting enemy attacks successfully or by hitting them using regular attacks. You will consume some of your Spirit by dodging or blocking attacks, using Martial Arts or casting Spells, you won't be able to perform any of these actions if you run out of spirit. You will also lose Spirit by taking damage or unsuccessfully deflecting an enemy attack.
Combat Basic Strategy
Combat is aboud finding a good balance between performing regular attacks and deflecting enemy attacks to gain Spirit and consume it using Martial Arts and casting Spells, as you can't spam these special attacks or you will run out of Spirit and become much more vulnerable.
Hitting enemies will make your enemies lose their Spirit, they will become staggered if they get hit while their spirit meter is at its lowest, making them vulenrable to a fatal strike. The strategy to defeat Bosses or other Players in PvP is to focusing on lowering your rival spirit first, and then their health points performing fatal strikes which is the best way to deal damage.
Beginners Guide - 8 Tips Before You Play
Wo Long Gameplay Tips: Wo Long Combat
- Always try to stay aggressive and dominant in battle:
The game rewards aggression by filling your Spirit gauge with every successful attack or block, and punishes safe playstyles by decreasing your Spirit gauge with every enemy attack blocked or hit. - Use deflect as much as you can:
Deflect will negate all incoming damage as well as increase your Spirit gauge and put you in a position to attack the enemy. Try to use deflect to create an opening for attack rather than guarding and waiting for an opening, as guarding excessively will likely deplete all of your Spirit and get you stunned. - Use Spirit Attacks at the end of a Normal Attack combo:
Using a Spirit Attack after 3 or 4 Normal Attacks will reduce the usual time taken to do one, and maximise the Spirit damage to an enemy as well as the normal damage. This is especially important against Bosses, as using Spirit Attacks will shrink their Spirit gauge and thus will bring you closer to executing a Fatal Strike. - Do not spam your Martial Arts and Wizardry Spells all the time:
These abilities are very powerful, but need to be used properly to be effective in battle. Using these spells decreases your Spirit gauge, and will leave you stunned if they are overused. When you use them, you are stuck in an animation, giving enemies some time to attack and break your stance as you are weakened from casting the ability. However, when the enemy is staggered, feel free to go crazy with these abilities; just make sure you keep an eye on your Spirit gauge while you do so. - Use Martial Arts when your Spirit gauge is positive:
When your Spirit gauge is positive (blue) it empowers your next Martial Arts attack, dealing more damage to enemies. However, as stated before, do not spam Martial Arts as it will leave you with no Spirit gauge and make you prone to a stance break.
Wo Long Moves and Basic Concepts
Wo Long Combat: Master Fallen Dynasty
(Click images to see video demonstration)
Lock-On in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
You can Lock-On to enemies by pressing the dedicated Lock-On button.
The camera will always directly focus on the target it is locked-on to. You can also see the locked on target's HP and Spirit.
- Lock-on: R3
- Switch Target: R stick while locked on (or if you have set to not focus on locked-on targets, move the camera instead).
(Click image to see video demonstration)
Spirit in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
Spirit is an important parameter during combat.
It increases when you attack an enemy or perform a successful deflection. Spirit allows you to dodge, deflect, perform Martial Arts and to cast Wizardry Spells. When your Spirit is positive, it will be consumed to increase the power of your attacks. Spirit decreases when you use it to perform certain actions or are attacked by enemies.
When your Spirit hits the lower limit from receiving an enemy attack, you will not be able to maintain your stance and become defenceless to any attacks for a short duration. If your Spirit stays unchanged for a while, it will start to return to the default status of ±0. This means a negative Spirit will start to increase and a positive one will start to decrease.
This mechanic is extremely important in understanding how to fight Enemies and Bosses in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. Bosses and Enemies will also have a Spirit gauge which functions exactly how your Spirit gauge does. To get the edge in combat, ensure you never fully reach a negative Spirit and try to stay in the blue or neutral state. Sometimes this will mean you must attack your enemy instead of defending, so that you regain your Spirit and avoid being stunned. As your opponents take more hits and you block/dodge their hits, they will eventually become stunned from reaching full negative Spirit, which allows you to perform a Fatal Strike to deal great HP damage.
In Boss fights, you can use specific attacks to temporarily reduce the size of their Spirit gauge and make it easier to make them stunned, and deal massive damage with Fatal Strikes throughout the encounter.
(The image above shows a positive Spirit Gauge underneath the health bar)
Combat Deflect in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
A huge part of the combat system is deflecting enemy attacks. Pressing your dedicated deflect button at the right time will redirect your enemy's attacks. Timing this action to meet the enemy attack not only allows you to redirect the attack, but it will also lower the enemy's Spirit and shrink the lower end of the enemy's Spirit gauge. At the same time, it will also increase your own Spirit.
- Press ⭘ ⭘ to Dodge and put some distance between you and your enemy.
- Deflect: ⭘ / L + ⭘ right before receiving an enemy attack
- Dodge: ⭘ ⭘ / L+ ⭘ ⭘ quickly
(Click image to see video demonstration)
Deflect Counterattacks in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
Another way to deflect an enemy's attack is to use Deflect Counterattack. Using Deflect Counterattack will quickly change your equipped melee weapon and unleash a powerful blow. Timing this action to match an enemy's attack allows you to redirect the attack like a deflect. Successfully deflecting the enemy's attack and landing your own attack will recover your negative Spirit. This mechanic is very useful as it allows players to seamlessly swap weapons while recovering lost spirit. Using this mechanic often will allow you to use more Martial Arts, as Martial Arts are bound to weapons.
- Deflect Counterattack: R1 + ⭘
Attacks in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
By using Normal Attack and Spirit Attack, you can chain attacks to deal damage to an enemy's HP bar, as well as their Spirit gauge. Normal attacks are fast and do mediocre damage, but can easily increase your Spirit. Spirit attacks are slower but deal much more Spirit damage, which can reduce the enemy's Spirit gauge. Furthermore, when in High Spirit, you can consume the surplus Spirit to deal increased damage with this attack. You will also not falter during attacks and will penetrate the enemy's guard.
- Normal Attack: ☐
- Spirit Attack: △
(Click image to see video demonstration)
Guard in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
Using the dedicated Guard button will allow you to Guard against enemy attacks. Guarding blocks enemies' attack damage at the cost of Spirit. You can still guard when flinching after an enemy attack, except for when you are in a weakened stance. Guarding can backfire very quickly if you become over-reliant on it. The Spirit consumption of guarding can be enough to completely break your stance from one enemy combo.
- Guard: L1
Jumping in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
Unlike Nioh and Nioh 2, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty features a Jump button, allowing for more verticality in world exploration and combat.
Jumping allows the character to get over obstacles and enemies, and climb to higher places. In some cases, you may be able to scale a wall to reach a place that is too high to jump to. You can also use jump to Trample. Trample will allow you to use the body of an enemy to jump again, which is activated If you press the jump button while mid-air and on top of an enemy.
- Jump: X
- Scale: Jump toward a wall, then continue tilting L stick toward the wall
- Trample: X while jumping
Enemy Critical Blow in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
Enemy Critical Blow works similarly to Deflect but is much more impactful. An enemy can wind up to perform a Critical Blow which cannot be blocked with Guard. Taking damage from a Critical Blow will lower your Morale Rank by 1. If you redirect an enemy's Critical Blow, the power of the deflect increases and you can significantly break an enemy's stance and recover your negative Spirit.
- Deflect: ⭘ / L + ⭘ against enemy's Critical Blow
(Click image to see video demonstration)
Fatal Strike in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
A Fatal Strike can be used against an enemy who is out of Spirit and defenseless or is unaware of you. This deals great damage to the enemy and lowers their Morale Rank while gaining Morale Points for yourself. The color of the lock-on marker will change to indicate if you are at the proper distance to perform a fatal strike. Fatal Strikes deal massive damage against Bosses, so be sure to manage Spirit damage well to get the edge in these encounters.
When you have positive Spirit, surplus Spirit will be consumed to increase damage. The color of the lock-on marker will change to indicate if you are at the proper distance to perform a Fatal Strike.
- Fatal Strike: △ near a defenseless enemy
(Click image to see video demonstration)
Shooting in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
Hold down the dedicated Aim Ranged Weapon button to enter a third-person mode, and then use the dedicated shoot button to shoot the Ranged Weapon you are aiming with. While aiming, you can adjust the camera with the analog sticks or the mouse.
Some enemies have weak points and hitting these with a ranged attack will increase the damage and can break their stance.
- Shoot: R2 while holding L2
- Aim: R (Zoom: R3)
- Switch Ranged Weapon: R2 + ←→
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Combat via Martial Arts
Martial Arts are special moves that your character can use to get the upper hand in many situations.
You may unleash a powerful Martial Arts attack by equipping a Weapon with Martial Arts. Doing so will consume Spirit. You cannot use Martial Arts when your Spirit Gauge decreases to the lower limit. Martial Arts will differ depending on the weapon used; Rare weapons can have two kinds of Martial Arts.
- Martial Arts 1: R1 + ☐
- Martial Arts 2: R1 + △
(Click image to see video demonstration)
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Wizardry Spells
Wizardry Spells allow you to cast a mystic technique of the eternal way by consuming Spirit. Each spell has a required Morale Rank to cast, of which you can equip a maximum of 4 at once. You will not be able to use Wizardry Spells when your Spirit gauge is in the lower limit.
Wizardry Spells are separated into groups, with each group being part of the 5 Phases in Wo Long: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. Generally speaking, the Wizardry Spells in each phase have similar roles, such as Wood spells being more supportive and Fire spells being much more offensive.
- Wizardry Spells: R2 + ☐ / △ / ✖ / ⭘
(Click image to see video demonstration)
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Morale Rank
In Wo Long, you will always have a Morale Rank. This is a number that affects your strength in Battle. The same goes for your enemies, who also have a Morale Rank. Wizardry Spells require a certain Morale Rank to cast, and some powerful spells can only be cast with a high Morale Rank.
If an enemy's Morale Rank is higher than yours, it will appear with a different color to indicate its high-level threat. You can gain Morale Rank by defeating Enemies, Bosses and raising Marking Flags, which will raise your Fortitude Rank, which will increase the minimum Morale Rank you can be.
Summon Divine Beast in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
When your Divine Beast Gauge is full, you may summon your equipped Divine Beast. Divine Beasts are mythological creatures from Chinese folklore which can be used in battle as a sort of trump card. By summoning your Divine Beast, you unleash the powerful skills specific to that beast. For example, Zhuque is a Divine Beast of Fire that will engulf the surrounding area in fire when summoned, dealing fire AoE damage. Each Divine Beast has a different skill from the others.
- Summon Divine Beast: △ + ⭘ when Divine Beast Gauge is full.
(Click image to see video demonstration)
Divine Beast Resonation in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
When your Divine Beast Gauge is full, you may activate Divine Beast Resonation to summon your equipped Divine Beast. Activating this ability will power your character and your allies up with special effects depending on the Divine Beast equipped. Each Divine Beast provides different effects from the others.
- Divine Beast Resonation: ☐ + ✖ when Divine Beast Gauge is full.
(Click image to see video demonstration)
Dying in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
When you die to an enemy in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, you will lose your Morale Points and half of your Genuine Qi. The Morale Rank of that enemy will also increase, making them harder to kill after you respawn.
You can regain your lost Genuine Qi and Morale Points by defeating the enemy who killed you; this system is called Revenge. If the enemy is a Boss, you will regain your Genuine Qi and Morale Points by challenging them again.
If you die before regaining your lost Genuine Qi and Morale Points from your previous death, the lost Genuine Qi and Morale Points will disappear forever.
My god, the typos in this piece are astonishing. Is this a legitimate wiki or a 14yr old’s diary?
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