What are the best abilities and skills in Black Myth: Wukong? Game Science’s first major AAA action title has a number of abilities and skills that players can use and unlock over the course of their journey to the west, to the point where it can be difficult to know just where to start.
That’s where we come in. In order to increase your strength as you undertake your journey after assuming the role as the Destined One, you use Sparks obtained upon visiting meditation spots scattered around the world, as well as leveling up. But which is the best when you’re just starting out in Black Myth Wukong? Some may seem obvious, but a few particular abilities are worth prioritizing to gain the edge against some of the hardiest Black Myth Wukong bosses and enemies.
It should be noted the game features incense resting points, where you can reset all your sparks and reassign them to different abilities, meaning you can change tact ahead of difficult fights. When we recommend some abilities for certain circumstances, it may be worthwhile reassigning your sparks.
Also, we’re going to use this point to recommend upgrades that impact your fighting abilities only: you can also use sparks to raise stats like health, stamina, resistance to status ailments and defense, but you can assign those as you deem necessary.
The best skills and abilities in Black Myth Wukong are:
Simian Agility / Deft Evasion
Your foundation abilities are key to victory in Black Myth: Wukong. While you can improve your strength or other abilities for specific attacks or transformations, your base abilities improve your overall stats, and are therefore crucial if you are to succeed. This is also a game without a dedicated block button, making your dodge roll the only way to avoid attacks. You will be dodging a lot of attacks, not just because enemies are relentless, but because a perfect dodge can build focus meters for more powerful attacks.
Simian Agility reduces your stamina cost for each dodge roll, while Deft Evasion makes you more agile, allowing you to move further with each roll. Using this, you can traverse battle arenas and avoid attacks – a crucial combination for victory.
Composure
Similarly to the necessity of dodge rolling in combat, heavy attacks that are enhanced by the use of a fully-charged focus meter are vital to your build. You can charge the focus meter faster by repeatedly striking your opponent, and upon enhancing a heavy attack with focus, you can break your opponent’s attack pattern, leaving them open and vulnerable. This is most effectively used as part of a varied combo, swiping at the enemy with light attacks before using your focus meter to charge at the enemy with a heavy attack that knocks them off-balance.
Composure makes this far easier, allowing you to execute a dodge roll mid-combo and continue the remainder of the combo as though nothing had happened. The result? You’ll find it much simpler to break your opponent more frequently, leaving a wide-open window for attack.
Soaring Strike
Light attack combos are your bread and butter in Black Myth Wukong as your main source of damage beyond spells and transformations. Soaring Strike is a simple in its premise; it makes light attack combos a little more powerful in the right circumstances.
While sprinting, Soaring Strike will deal more damage in the first attack of a light combo. Unless you’re letting your stamina recover, chances are you’ll be sprinting around the arena like a monkey on hot coals, making this vital to invest in.
Offense in Defense
Entering combat, it’s possible to switch between three battle stances, each with varying combos and heavy attacks. Of these, Thrust Stance is arguably the best choice, thanks to Offense in Defense. This allows you to be more offensive in combat. For example, if you’re mid-combo and notice an enemy charging up their next attack, press the heavy attack button to engage in a Tactical Retreat – a large step backwards, out of harm’s way.
If you have a focus point available, you can press the heavy attack button again to engage a Forceful Thrust – a thrust forward with the potential to break an opponent and create an opening for further attacks. When engaged, this attack will become a key part of your repertoire in offense… and defense.
Evanescence
When you begin attaining spells, one of the first that becomes available is Immobilize. This ability allows you to temporarily freeze your opponent in place, allowing for either a safe retreat or a chance to break them and inflict large amounts of damage.
Evanescence improves Immobilize further, provided you time it right. Activating Immobilize as soon as the enemy attack begins will cause Evanescence to trigger an interrupt, staggering your foe.
These are the best Black Myth: Wukong abilities and skills to claim using your first sparks on this epic action game odyssey. However, knowing when to switch out your abilities to adapt to upcoming fights is just as important: in some fights in chapter two, I found it easier to engage in Pillar Stance as I could use the weapon’s heavy attack to perch up high and avoid ground attacks.