Black Myth Wukong Guide: Complete Guide & Walkthrough

Honestly after 120 hours across two playthroughs I kinda feel like this game punishes button mashing harder than anything I've played, one blind run and one 100 percent run giving you completely different experiences with the combat system and how you approach every single encounter differently once you actually know what's coming.

You need patience but not the Dark Souls kind where you sit behind a shield forever waiting for an opening that never comes, more like Sekiro rhythm except you're also managing spells and cooldowns and transformations and spirit skills all layered on top of each other in ways that can feel genuinely overwhelming for the first ten hours or so until something just clicks in your brain and suddenly everything makes sense.

And once the rhythm clicks the combat feels incredible, like genuinely some of the best third person action I've touched in years, and NG+ becomes a victory lap where you finally get to use your full build from the start instead of cobbling it together for the last two chapters like some kind of desperate scavenger hunt for scraps of a coherent build.

So here's what I wish someone told me before my first run, organized by chapter priority rather than chronological order because some of the most important stuff in this game is permanently missable and I learned that the hard way through my own stupidity and stubborn refusal to look anything up on my first playthrough when I should have just swallowed my pride and checked a guide.

I've found that Chapter 1 has a few things you really do not want to miss and Wandering Wight is the big one because if you kill him before reaching Black Wind Cave his spirit is just gone forever with no way to recover it no matter what you do, and the Auspicious Lantern needs all 3 bells rung before entering the cave which is straightforward but surprisingly easy to screw up if you're just wandering around blindly like I was on my first run through the area without a clue what I was doing.

Seperate issue entirely but worth knowing.

But Chapter 2 ratchets up the missable content significantly and Mad Tiger requires the Old Rattle-Drum quest that took me forever to figure out tbh, plus the Wind Tamer Vessel from the Drunken Boar questline is absolutely required for the secret ending and if you do not get it you're doing another full playthrough whether you like it or not because there's no other way to reach the true ending without it.

And Chapter 3 has Captain Wise-Voice and Captain Lotus-Vision plus Spell Binder hidden on the top floor of the pagoda and I cannot stress enough how important Spell Binder is because it disables all your spells but gives you an absurd attack and crit buff that becomes the core of the best NG+ build in the entire game and missing it tanks your damage potential for the entire back half of the game with no way to compensate for it.

Chapter 4 is where the missable stuff gets really punishing if you mess up the order because Scorpionlord disappears permanently if you kill Duskveil first and I checked this on my NG+ file just to make absolutely sure I wasn't spreading misinformation online, his arena is just completely empty with nothing there at all, no corpse and no loot and no way to get him back until the next playthrough which is genuinely brutal game design.

Seriously.

Nothing.

The devs really commited to making this missable and there's no warning and no hint and no nothing, you just lose access to an entire boss encounter and all of its rewards because you killed a giant chicken in the wrong order.

So Chapter 5 has Baw-Li-Guhh-Lang and those two weirdos Top Takes Bottom and Bottom Takes Top and the Plantain Fan vessel from the Pale-Axe Stalwart questline that stretches across multiple zones and requires you to keep track of an NPC who moves around constantly, and Chapter 6 requires all 4 Loong bosses for the true ending plus every single secret vessel item collected across the entire game.

Miss one thing anywhere in chapters 1 through 5 and you're locked out of the true ending.

That's it.

No recourse.

Game over for that ending.

So Chapter 1 Black Wind Mountain then and the boss order that actually minimizes backtracking rather than the order the game presents things to you, starting with Bullguard first because you literally cannot miss him since he's the tutorial boss standing right in your path blocking the only way forward, then Wandering Wight but do not kill him yet because he's way overtuned for level 1 and you'll just bang your head against a wall for no reason other than stubbornness.

Trust me on this one.

Come back after Guangzhi who unlocks the Red Tides transformation and that thing trivializes Wandering Wight completely, turning what was a multi-attempt struggle into a one-shot victory lap that feels almost unfair.

And Lingxuzi is surprisingly easy with Red Tides since the burn damage just keeps ticking while you dodge around like a maniac, and Baw-Li-Guhh-Lang the optional frog has a realy janky hitbox on the tongue grab so you need to dodge earlier than you think because the timing feels completely wrong compared to every other attack in the game and you'll get grabbed through your iframes constantly until you learn to compensate for it.

But Whiteclad Noble is the first real wall for most players with two phases and a deceptively long poke combo in phase two that catches basically everyone on their first attempt because the animation simply does not match the actual hitbox timing at all and you'll eat the full combo thinking you were clear.

Frustrating fight.

Legitimately.

For Wandering Wight cheese you open with immobilize after getting Red Tides then dump your full light combo and transform immediately while the burn damage keeps stacking and stacking in the background and it feels almost unfair how much easier the fight becomes.

Took me 3 tries blind and 1 try with this method.

Night and day difference honestly.

The Ancient Guanyin Temple hidden area requires ringing all 3 bells scattered across the chapter and the third bell hides behind an illusory wall near the Black Wind Cave entrance which is easy to miss if you're not actively hugging walls like a paranoid maniac scanning every surface.

This area gives you the Fireproof Mantle and it basically trivializes the chapter's final boss which is otherwise a real endurance test.

Chapter 2 Yellow Wind Ridge is where your build actually starts to come together because you finally get enough Sparks to specialize in something meaningful rather than spreading points thin across everything like a confused new player who doesn't know what anything does yet and is just clicking buttons hoping for the best possible outcome that never comes.

For the first 30 Sparks or so I'd max out the Stamina tree with Simian Agility reducing dodge cost and Deft Evasion extending the perfect dodge window, then Foundation into Survival for at least 3 points because the health pool feels way too small without it and you'll get one-shot by things that should absolutely not one-shot you at that stage of the game.

Stance you pick exactly one and only one, do not split points across stances or you'll end up mediocre at everything.

Smash Stance gives the most damage per point early while Thrust Stance gets good around Chapter 4 with the right gear setup and starts to pull ahead of Smash in terms of both damage and utility.

Immobilize you max the duration extension since it's your panic button through Chapter 3 and you will need it more times than you think you will.

The Drunken Boar questline is both missable and required for the secret ending and the chain goes like this. Find the drunken boar in Fright Cliff and give him a sobering stone, then meet him at Crouching Tiger Temple where he asks for jade lotus which you farm from the lotus plants right there in the area, and when you return he's fighting a Yellow-Robed Squire so help him out and this unlocks the Wind Tamer Vessel area plus a secret boss you'd otherwise never find through normal exploration ever.

Tiger Vanguard is where I saw most people quit honestly because his delayed slam attacks are specifically calibrated to roll-catch you and it works way too well the first dozen times you face him, but the trick I've found is counting one two after he raises the sword then dodging and he also has zero poise against heavy attacks in smash stance so you charge a heavy while he's posturing and stagger him right out of the animation and it feels almost cheap once you get the timing down.

Chapter 3 The New West and the Pagoda Realm might be the most divisive area in the entire game and I totally get why because the curse mechanic constantly reduces your max HP while lantern enemies swarm everywhere and the level design is intentionally disorienting in a way that works a little too well for its own good and makes you want to stop playing multiple times throughout the section.

A few things that help you survive the pagoda. Equip the Calamity Prevention Mantle from Chapter 1 hidden area to reduce curse buildup and kill all 9 lantern enemies before the boss to get the Auspicious Lantern curio that you definitely want for later sections of the game where curse becomes a recurring mechanic that you'll have to deal with repeatedly.

Spell Binder sits on the top floor before Captain Wise-Voice.

Do not miss this.

I am dead serious, it fundamentally changes your entire build for the rest of the game in ways that nothing else comes close to matching and if you miss it you'll spend the entire back half of NG wondering why your damage numbers feel so low compared to everyone else who bothered to explore the pagoda properly.

Captain Wise-Voice himself is not actually hard but the runback is absolutely miserable and there's a shortcut from the second shrine where you drop down the hole in the floor and hug the left wall to skip most of the lantern gauntlet that the game forces you through otherwise, saving you several minutes of fighting the same enemies over and over while the curse slowly drains your health bar.

The Non-Able and Four Captains questline is the longest quest chain in the entire game and required for the true ending and you need to find all four captain spirits across Chapters 1 through 4 without missing a single one because missing even one locks you out until NG+.

Not sure about this but I think you also need to talk to Non-Able at specific trigger points or the whole quest chain breaks silently and you'll never know until it's too late and you're staring at a locked ending wondering what went wrong and whether you should just look up the ending on YouTube.

Chapter 4 The Webbed Hollow has what I think is the best boss design in the entire game with the Hundred-Eyed Daoist Master featuring three distinct phases, arena hazards that actually matter and aren't just set dressing for the environment, and a phase 3 that absolutely punishes greedy play in a way that feels harsh but completely fair once you learn the patterns and stop trying to squeeze in extra hits during unsafe windows.

Scorpionlord positioning is critically important because he's in a hidden cave behind the Temple of the Spider main hall and if you fight Duskveil the giant chicken boss before killing Scorpionlord he just disappears permanently with no warning whatsoever and no indication that anything is wrong until it's way too late to do anything about it.

Gone.

You lose his spirit, his drops, and all progress toward the secret vessel and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it except start a new playthrough or wait for NG+.

The devs really commited to making this missable with zero mercy for players who do things in the wrong order.

Violet Spider quest gives you a choice and neither option is clearly the right one. Give her the Webbed Pass and she becomes a summon later but betrays you in the final zone, or refuse and fight her immediately for unique curio drops instead. Tbh the summon version is kinda underwhelming and I'd take the curios every single time without even thinking about it for more than two seconds because the curios provide a permanent passive benefit while the summon is only useful in a handful of fights and actively detrimental in others.

So Chapter 5 Flaming Mountains is basically your vessel collection deadline and by now you should have the Fireproof Mantle from Chapter 1 and the Wind Tamer Vessel from Chapter 2 with the Plantain Fan coming from the Pale-Axe Stalwart questline in this chapter.

Stop and check your inventory right now before proceeding any further into the chapter.

If you're missing either of the first two go back immediately because after the Yaksha King fight you're locked into the endgame with no way back and no warnings and no prompts and no "are you sure you want to continue" dialogue box.

Just completely locked out of everything you missed with no recourse whatsoever.

Yaksha King has one of the most punishing grab attacks I've seen in any game and it tracks your dodge direction which feels genuinely unfair the first few times you encounter it and die instantly without understanding what even happened because the tracking is so aggressive that it feels like the game is cheating.

Dodge into him not away from him which is completely counterintuitive but consistent once you get the timing down through sheer painful repetition and muscle memory.

Chapter 6 Mount Huaguo and the secret ending requirements means you need all 4 Loong bosses scattered across Chapters 1 through 5 each hidden in a waterfall cave somewhere most players walk right past without ever noticing because the game gives you zero indication that these caves even exist. Red Loong in Chapter 2 behind the waterfall near Sandgate Village, Black Loong in Chapter 3 at the Valley of Despair hidden cave, Cyan Loong in Chapter 4 at Purifying Spring behind some illusory rocks, and Yellow Loong in Chapter 5 at Flaming Furnace Pass in a secret area that requires a specific key item to access.

Beat all 4 Loongs and collect all 4 vessels then after the final boss you can interact with the giant stone egg and this triggers the true ending which is the Four Heavenly Kings boss rush followed by Erlang Shen in what might be the hardest fight in any action game I've played in the last five years bar none.

The best endgame build I've tested uses Thrust Stance maxed out because the charged heavy has absurd tracking and range, Spell Binder with no spells but roughly 80 percent more damage at max level, Scorpionlord spirit for poison buildup on every single hit, Weaver's Needle vessel for passive crit chance, two Beast Buddha curios stacking attack, Cat's Eye Beads for crit damage, and the Pilgrim Set fully upgraded since movement speed directly converts to a damage multiplier that gets genuinely ridiculous against endgame bosses with large health pools that would otherwise take forever to chip through.

Erlang Shen is genuinely harder than anything in Elden Ring's base game and I say that as someone who beat Malenia hitless after weeks of practice and memorization and learning every single frame of every single animation in that fight until I could do it in my sleep.

Three phases each with a different weapon form and he input-reads your heals which is infuriating but mostly fair once you learn the patterns and stop healing at bad times when he's clearly in a punish window waiting for exactly that input.

Phase 1 with the spear you stay mid-range and bait the thrust combo then punish after the third poke while using heavy attacks to break his regenerating shield or you'll never make meaningful progress and the fight will drag on forever until you run out of resources and die slowly to attrition rather than any single mistake.

Phase 2 with the axe is all AoE constantly and the horizontal sweep hitbox extends behind him which feels genuinely unfair until you learn the jumping heavy from thrust stance clears the sweep if your timing is absolutely perfect and you don't hesitate for even a frame.

Phase 3 with sword and lightning he summons clones and the real Erlang has a faint gold glow on his weapon tip so you either kill clones to reduce his defense or ignore them and burst him down.

Both approaches work but killing clones is safer for first clears when you're still learning the fight and don't have the damage output to burst him before the clones overwhelm you.

The Four Heavenly Kings fight is more of a spectacle setpiece than a mechanical challenge and you should just enjoy it at that point because you've genuinely earned it after everything the game throws at you across dozens of hours of punishment and frustration and triumph.

The fights where I saw the most death screens and had to put the controller down and walk away for a bit to cool off before trying again.

Erlang Shen phase 3 specifically with something like 40 plus deaths and I stopped counting after a while because it was just demoralizing to see the number keep climbing.

Yellow Wind Sage without the Wind Tamer Vessel being a brutal war of attrition that feels genuinely unbalanced and unfun in a way that makes you question whether you're supposed to have the vessel for this fight.

Scorpionlord where poison plus aggression equals zero healing windows and you just melt before you can react to anything.

Yaksha King and that grab attack I keep mentioning because it really is that bad and it never stops being annoying no matter how many times you've seen it and learned the tell.

Whiteclad Noble as the first real skill check that filters out players who haven't learned the combat properly and probably never will because they refuse to adapt.

And if you're stuck on Yellow Wind Sage just stop what you're doing right now and go get the Wind Tamer because the vessel completely negates his tornado phase which is otherwise an absolute nightmare to deal with and will drain all your healing resources before the real fight even starts, turning what should be a manageable boss into an impossible wall that makes you want to quit the game entirely and never come back.

So that's basically the full route and the thing about this game is that NG+ changes everything about how it feels to play because your build actually comes together around Chapter 5 of the first playthrough and then NG+ finally lets you use it properly from the beginning with all your tools and spells and transformations available from the start.

Kinda wish the pacing was better on that front honestly, would have made the first playthrough feel less like a desperate scramble for usable abilities.

But the second run feels so good it almost makes up for how awkward the first playthrough's progression curve is and how much stuff you can permanently miss along the way without ever knowing you missed it until someone casually mentions a boss you've never heard of and you realize you locked yourself out three chapters ago...