Black Myth: Wukong | Beginner's Guide

A beginner's guide to Black: Myth Wukong to get you started.

Game Guide by Nine_toes on Aug 22, 2024

Black Myth: Wukong is one of the most anticipated games of 2024, and so far, it has managed to meet our huge expectations with its action RPG mechanics and real next-gen visuals. The focus on Chinese mythology is certainly a nice touch.

Despite the initial impressions, putting it in the souls-like category is difficult because the exploration, checkpoints, and several mechanics just don't align with the formula we have been seeing in this subgenre. Black Myth: Wukong firmly lies in a category of its own because it is surprisingly deep.

There are a lot of things to worry about when you start Black Myth: Wukong, but it is surprisingly simple once you take a proper gander at it all and how easy Game Science has made it for you to experiment. You'll be able to learn about all the basics of Black Myth: Wukong here without getting into spoilers because games like this are best experienced with the sense of discovery.

Staff Stances

You shouldn't ignore Staff Stances in Black Myth: Wukong. You've got three stances—Smash, Pillar, and Thrust—all of these work alongside the skills you unlock in the skill tree. Smash is your starting stance, and it is the most well-rounded stance. Pillar unlocks at level five, and it introduces special attacks. Then there's Thrust, which I consider to be the strongest stance, thanks to its many charge attacks. It is available once you hit level 20. The beauty here is that you're not stuck with just one stance.

You can switch between them in and out of combat. If you're unsure about what to upgrade first, start with skills that help all stances, like Exhilaration, which increases your health recovery whenever you consume a focus point. This gives you a good foundation while you figure out which stance is the most fun for you.

Gear and Set Bonuses

Wukong's gear also comes with set bonuses that considerably change your play. Every piece of gear has a rarity level. It ranges from uncommon to legendary, and these sets cater to different playstyles.

Take the Pilgrim's Garb, for example. It's an early-game defensive set that gives you a bonus that requires you to keep moving to keep an attack bonus active. If you pair this with skills that boost your stamina, you can sprint longer and keep that damage bonus going longer.

Upgrading your gear requires Yarn, while Will, which you earn by defeating enemies, is your currency for purchasing and crafting items. This is also why Black Myth: Wukong is not a Souls game. You have separate currencies for this stuff that isn't lost when you die. There are a lot of things to try, so try to read the descriptions of things and see what combos you can come up with.

Magic and Transformations

It is important to pay attention to magic and how it ties into your combat versatility. I know it's easy to get confused by the different transformations you see in the game, where you temporarily take on a new form and use a powerful move. But remember, transformations are not the same as your regular magic skills.

You can think of transformations as ultimate abilities that require a lot of chi (mana) to activate and have a longer cooldown period. On the other hand, magic skills are more flexible, allowing you to use them more frequently. For example, Cloud Step costs 30 chi and has a 35-second cooldown, while Rock Solid, which also costs 30 chi, only has a 15-second cooldown.

What's great is that you can keep customizing these skills through the mysticism and alteration trees. Lots of room to experiment here. Ideally, you would want to save your transformations for the stronger enemies, but at the end of the day, you can just play around and see what feels best for you.

Combat Skill Tree

There are three main trees in the skill tree of Black Myth: Wukong, Stamina, Martial Arts, and Survival. Each of these trees caters to a specific playstyle, and you can put your Spark points into whatever skill that seems appealing to you. You don't have to worry about being locked into a certain build because you can reset your points whenever you want at checkpoints with no penalty.

For a general idea of what to expect from each tree, you can get skills related to sprinting, dodging, and other movement-based skills in the Stamina tree, increase stuff like maximum HP and Defense stats with the Survival tree and unlock new combat moves in the Martial Arts tree. It is all pretty straightforward, really.

Weapon Upgrades and Mysticism

On top of upgrading your gear, you shouldn't forget to upgrade your weapons. Not only can you upgrade your gear, but you can also upgrade your weapon, and here's another potentially confusing subject within this combat topic. Weapons and how they work. Remember I mentioned transformations, right? Well, there's another type. This is where you can completely embody the essence of a fallen enemy. You've seen this, I'm sure, and while in this embodiment, you aren't allowed to use the legendary main weapon that Sun Wukong uses.

You're forced to use the weapon of the enemy you've embodied. For example, the nameless warrior. With the flame glaive called Red Tides. You can literally become him along with others, and you can unlock them by defeating them. You can't simply switch to the Red Tides weapon like Wukong, which I used to think. However, you can attain different stats within the rarity system with various stats, and they can also be upgraded. And this is with Wukong style. This is cool because these stats have unique effects that work only with specified spells.

Use The Healing Gourd

Finally, let's not forget the Healing Gourd. It is what you consume to keep yourself alive by replenishing your health. You can refill it at checkpoints; there are ways to upgrade it to increase the charges. The gourd also has enhanced healing effects when within the Ring of Fire skill.

You can also find drinks and medicines that provide temporary effects consumables. All of which can be obtained by defeating foes or purchasing them. You can also use the healing gourd to heal your enemies and increase your health by purchasing them and finding them in certain areas. Some consumables even permanently increase your health or mana.

Check out the Black Myth: Wukong Review, and other guides below.