The Wandering Wight is an early boss in Black Myth: Wukong and, while optional, can give you a lot of trouble when you first encounter him.
In this Black Myth: Wukong guide, we’ll walk you through where you can find the Wandering Wight, when you should attempt to fight him, and how to take him down for good.
Where to find the Wandering Wight in Black Myth: Wukong
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The Wandering Wight is an optional miniboss that hangs out just after the Outside the Forest Shrine in the Forest of Wolves in Black Myth: Wukong’s first chapter. To get to him from the shrine, keep right on the path, defeat the wolves, head over the bridge, and look for an open area. You’ll see the Wandering Wight — the big blue guy — roaming around in the clearing, very loosely guarding a cave that leads to the rest of chapter 1.
When to fight the Wandering Wight in Black Myth: Wukong
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The Wandering Wight is quite difficult in the opening hours of Black Myth: Wukong. That’s partially due to the miniboss’ punishing moveset, but it’s mostly an issue with your limited stats, skills, and spells when you first encounter him.
If, for example, you encounter the Wandering Wight before you’ve unlocked your first Transformation spell, you’re probably going to have a bad time. While he’s beatable, he’s very difficult, and you’ll want every available trick up your sleeve before going into battle.
Instead of going right to the Wandering Wight, head left from the Outside the Forest Shrine and go across the upper bridge. Battle the game’s first real boss, Guangzhi, to unlock his Transformation, Red Tides. Once you have it, you’ll be in a much better position to battle the Wandering Wight, as you’ll gain a second health bar while transformed.
It’s worth noting here that the Wandering Wight does live up to its name, and will wander back and forth in the clearing. If you go around the side of the area, you can skip the fight entirely and come back later to earn its very powerful Spirit summon — a system you’ll unlock later in chapter 1.
How to beat the Wandering Wight in Black Myth: Wukong
Image: Game Science via Polygon
The Wandering Wight will literally clap you back to the shrine if you don’t learn his attacks, so lets start there:
- Swipe and shuffle combo: The Wandering Wight’s main move includes lowering itself down and shuffling toward you with its hands. This ability has a surprisingly wide range, and circles around the Wandering Wight. Your best move here is to either disengage or attempt to dodge behind the boss.
- Palm earthquake attack: One of the Wandering Wight’s most dangerous moves is its palm earthquake, which comes in two varieties, both of which have the same animation. To start this move, the Wandering Wight slams its palm into the ground, creating an eruption around where it strikes. Sometimes, this is where the attack ends. But occasionally, the Wandering Wight will continue to push his palm into the earth, creating an earthquake that radiates out from the central location three or four times, getting larger and larger each time. This attack can cover a massive area, so it’s best to run as far away as you can from the Wandering Wight as soon as you see his hand go down. If you’re confident in your dodge skills, you can dodge through each shockwave to get some extra damage on the boss.
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- Stomp combo: The Wandering Wight likes to stomp around as well. Thankfully, the windup here is very long, with the boss lifting its foot up high before it begins. When you see this, back away from the boss, as it has a large area and deals a ton of damage. Be careful engaging too quickly, as it’ll sometimes follow up the attack with more stomps or even a head slam.
- Jumping stomp: One of the Wandering Wight’s more mobile moves, the jumping stomp sees him jump up into the air and attempt to squish you. While he does move pretty quickly here — and can leap across the arena in a single bound — you can tell the attack is coming when his feet fully leave the ground.
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- Hand blast: The Wandering Wight’s hand blast is his most devastating move, as the windup is quick and it can deal massive damage. Watch for the Wandering Wight to pull its hand back and then push it forward. This will shoot a massive line of energy at you, which you can either dodge by moving to the side or rolling through it at the right time.
- Running clap: Another mobile move, the Wandering Wight will occasionally lean down and put its hands to the side. This is the signal that it’s about to charge and clap you. Either run away from the boss immediately or wait until he gets close and dodge. He has a variant of this move where he’ll run toward you, wiggling his arms wildly, and then slam the earth, but the strategy to fight it off is the same.
- Headbutt: The Wandering Wight will occasionally slam his head into the ground and you, if you’re in the way. This is one of the boss’ quicker moves, and you’ll only have a few seconds to react. Watch for him to pull his head back a little; when you see this, dodge back immediately.
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The key to this fight is not getting hit, which sounds like obvious advice, but is important to keep in mind because of how much damage the Wandering Wight can inflict in a single attack — enough that you might need two chugs from your Gourd to recover. Unless you’re confident, back away from attacks rather than attempting to dodge them.
Immobilize and the Red Tides Transformation are your big tools in this fight at this point in the game. Transform using Red Tides as early as possible — although it’s unlikely you’ll get it back unless you really elongate the fight. Build up your meter while transformed and use your heavy attack to light the Wandering Wight on fire, which will do a significant amount of damage over time. Immobilize is great because it allows you to deal a bunch of damage while staying safe, but it will also stagger the boss if you hit him hard enough to break the stun (use a heavy attack with a Focus for this).
Stunning the boss or knocking him off his balance is how to win this fight. Use focus-powered heavy strikes whenever possible to try and push him off his balance. If you’re lucky, you can also lure him to charge into one of the stone poles in the area for a brief stun. This is a great boon, but not worth counting on, as he can easily destroy these pillars with his earthquake attack.
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The trick of this fight — and this is just something you’ll get a hang for as you fight him — is learning when you can get a few hits in and when you need to stay back. As you’re learning the fight, stay close enough to him that he doesn’t constantly charge you while also being far enough away that you can escape his other attacks — there’s a middle ground here that you need to get a feel for so you can stay safe.
When you defeat the Wandering Wight, he’ll drop the Cat’s Eye Beads Curio, some crafting materials, and the Wandering Wight Spirit. Once you’re able to absorb Spirits (don’t worry, you’ll be able to collect any missed Spirits from any shrine once you gain the ability later in chapter 1) you’ll be able to briefly transform into the Wandering Wight to dish out an impressive head slam. You’ll also get a massive boost to your defense whenever you have his spirit equipped, which can really carry you through the first three chapters of the game.
Looking for more help on your adventure as the Destined One? Check out our other Black Myth: Wukong guides, which can help you find all three hidden bells in chapter 1, sober up the Yellow-Robed Squire in chapter 2, figure out how to craft medicine, and track down all of Buddha’s Eyeballs.