Wukong has dozens of Yaoguai Chiefs and a handful of Kings that gate progress. Almost every one of them dies to the same three ideas: survive the opening exchange, bank Focus while they whiff, and spend it the moment they over-commit. This page covers the six chapter bosses, the mid-bosses worth preparing for, and the habits that carry across all of them.
The Yaoguai Kings
A universal boss plan
- Spend the first minute on defence, learning the boss's combos and tells.
- Bank Focus during safe windows so a whiffed boss attack becomes a charged Smash.
- Hold Immobilize for over-extensions and phase transitions, not the opening.
- Keep a Transformation and a full gourd in reserve for the final phase.
Reading a wind-up
- Watch the boss's arms and stance, not the effect — the tell is the animation start.
- Perfect-dodge into the attack for the widest counter window, not away in fear.
- Delayed swings are the classic trap; wait a beat before you dodge.
- Once you know a combo, punish its fixed recovery every single time.
The plan that beats almost everything
Give up the first thirty seconds
Do not attack. Circle, dodge and watch. Every Yaoguai telegraphs with a wind-up, and one pass of pure defence teaches you more than three deaths of trading hits.
Build Focus on the safe hits
Light attacks into a dodge generate Focus without committing you. Bank points during the boss's recovery frames instead of hunting for damage.
Spend Focus on over-extensions
A charged Heavy is your real damage. The window is a whiffed grab, the end of a long combo, or a phase transition — not the middle of a chain.
Hold Immobilize, don't open with it
It is tempting to freeze on sight. Save it for the attack you cannot dodge yet, or for the moment a second phase begins and the boss is repositioning.
Keep one escape in reserve
Enter the last phase with at least one gourd charge and one Transformation unspent. Most deaths in this game happen with resources still in the bag.
Mid-bosses worth preparing for
When a fight will not budge
- Change stance. Smash is the reliable default, but Thrust keeps you at range against bosses whose damage is all in close, and Pillar dodges ground attacks outright.
- Re-spec. Respeccing is cheap in this game and a build built for one boss beats a general-purpose one.
- Go and get stronger elsewhere. Chapters hide optional bosses and Vessels; a level or two and one more gourd upgrade changes a wall into a fight.
- Bring a Spirit that matches the problem — a stagger for a boss you cannot interrupt, a heal for one that out-paces your gourd.
💬 Community Strategies & Discussion
Did you find a hidden chest? Struggling with a boss? Share your tips and questions with other mercenaries below!