Summary
Soulslike games caught on for a variety of reasons: their grim atmosphere, horror aesthetics, their more calculated approach to combat, and their intense difficulty, all of which are on full display in their boss fights. They require mastery of the game’s mechanics to get ahead, can have intricate lore behind them, and look like the worst kind of nightmares.
Leenzee’sWuchang: Fallen Feathersfollows the same vein, as it takes FromSoft’s formula and gives it a Chinese historical/mythological twist. Its centipedes and maids are challenging enough, and its take on Zhao Yun makes his equivalent inDynasty Warriorslook like a teddy bear in comparison. But they’re just the tip of the iceberg, asthese areWuchang’s hardest bosses.
10Ming General Liu Cheng’en
Giving Players The Cold Shoulder
Going up the icy climbs of Cloudspire will bring Bai Wuchang up against theMing General Liu Cheng’en. At first, he seems predictable, as he always starts his fight with three easily avoidable jump kicks. But that’s just the calm before the storm, as he’s one of the swifter bosses in the game. Without Stab/Slash-resistant gear, his fast sword strikes will end the player’s fight in a few hits.
But players also need their gear to resist Frostbite, as Cheng’en will use the ice and snow against them. Usually, he’ll bring up a blizzard to shrug off the player’s lock-on ability, making them liable to attack in the wrong direction. But in his second phase, he’ll summon an icy whirlwind that’ll kill Wuchang instantly if they don’t move out of its blast radius in time. Ironically, this icy figure will make players feel the heat in combat.
9Mistress Of The Night Huang Yan
Show Her A Good Time And Make It Last
Cloudspire hides other terrors beyond the General as well.Huang Yan, the Madame of Snowfall Palace, doesn’t even need a sword to put Wuchang through hell, as she’ll deflect her blows with just her pipe. She fights within the Snowfall Palace, so players don’t have to worry about her summoning whirlwinds. Just her constant teleporting to avoid attacks.
She likes to keep her distance, from blasting the floor with ice that inflicts Frostbite damage, to flinging Corruption-fuelled objects at Wuchang. If players manage to beat her down enough, she’ll turn intoa monstrous Flying Fox, which will swoop around and inflict multiple frosty area-of-effect attacks. It takes some diligent dodging and smart use of Flame/Fire attacks to bring her down.
8Perfect Bride Fang Ling
Make An Objection Or Hold Your Peace
Compared to the cold shoulder Cloudspire offers, moving around the Bride’s Boudoir seems pretty easy, until Wuchang meets the bride herself,Fang Ling. She was “made” by Huang Yan to be the perfect wife for her son. Instead, she turns into a formidable chimera, who starts off looking human enough, then becomes something more inexplicable as the fight goes on.
Players will need to get a good hang of deflecting, as it’ll stop Fang Ling’s physical strikes in their tracks and give them an opening to inflict Burning Flames and other fire attacks on her. Though that’s easier said than done, as she’ll also rain hanging projectiles, inflict a flinch-inducing roar that’ll stop Wuchang in her tracks, and breathe fire in her second phase. Players have to move and think fast to jilt this bride at the altar.
7Fierce Tiger Zhang Xianzhong
Burning Bright In The Forest Of The Night
The first three bosses here offer some heavy challenges that require quick thinking and a tactical approach to beat. But things only get worse withthe Fierce Tiger, Zhang Xianzhong. Depending on who one asks, he’s either the first boss to put the screws on the player, or a close second or third to later entries, with many players asking for tips on how to get ahead of him.
It doesn’t help that fighting the Tiger is a war of attrition, as his separate phases have separate health bars, and none of his physical attacks in his first phase can be deflected. The player’s best bet is to get their Paralysis/Lightning resistance as high as possible to handle his electric attacks and combine Alacrity and Skyborn Might with Blight/Burn to tip the odds in Wuchang’s favor.
6Bo Sorcerer
Weaving A Tapestry Of Pain With Her Magic
Whether she’s a Sorcerer or a Magus, Bo is a pain in the neck. At least in her Magus form, the player might be more prepared for her. But even though she comes after the Ming General, Huang Yan, and Fang Ling,Bo Sorcereris still a step-up in challenge as she mixes keep-away tactics with her plethora of projectiles, with fast, gap-closing physical attacks.
Luckily, her magic doesn’t induce any status effects, so plain Magic-resistant gear will help against her, and while she doesn’t have any particular weaknesses, Fire, Lightning, and Blight will apply more damage than standard attacks. Otherwise,summoning the White-Robed Elderwill take the edge off the Sorcerer. Provided the player managed to complete their side quest beforehand. If they didn’t, they’d have to take her on alone.
5Commander Honglan
Possibly The Hardest First Chapter Boss Around
When starting the game, players might manage to get ahead of the first few bosses with some rudimentary knowledge of the combat. It might even leave them in a false sense of security where they think they’ve got the basics down. Then they’ll come across Commander Honglan and realize they knew nothing about the game’s combat.
She’s one of the earliest bosses in the game, yet if players haven’t been honing their deflecting/parrying skills up to that point, she’ll have them for lunch. The Longsword is particularly handy for that, as is the upgraded Rampage discipline for opening her up for more strikes. If players can’t get past her, then they’ll never see the end of Chapter 1 of the game.
4The Reborn Dragon Emperor Zhu Youjian
The Last Gasp Of A Dying Ruler
In history,Zhu Youjianwasthe last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, which fell to peasant revolts and the Manchus, who established the Qing Dynasty soon afterward. InWuchang, he (or some form of him) plans on using the Feathering disease to bring back the Ming regime, no matter how many people it infects and deforms.
It doesn’t help that it roars constantly when Wuchang is in melee range, leaving her open to its slam attacks and blood rain in its Reborn form. In Dragon Emperor form, it’ll switch to homing projectiles, magic orbs, and a life-draining vortex attack. At least they both have less health than the Tiger and are weak to Fire/Burn damage. But without good dodging and deflecting skills, and the Dracolich Pendant to nix the Roar’s flinch effects, the player will be in for a rough time.
3Feathery Ambition Xuanyangzi
The Final Hurdle To Jump Before The Ending
The game has four endings, each depending on how much of the game’s side content the player completed and if they got the right items. To access three of them, including the canon ending, the player has to beat its final boss,the Feathery Ambition Xuanyangzi. It’s a giant boss with a giant hitbox to match, so players will have more openings to get a few strikes in. But it also means they’ll have a harder time dodging its attacks.
Its wing strikes, stomps, and claw strikes are nasty enough in its first phase, and things only get worse in the second phase with its tidal waves, water geysers, and outbursts. That, and it deals a lot of Feathering damage, while being resistant to the status itself. So, the player’s best bet is to put on Feathering-resistant gear, dodge wisely, and pile on the pressure since, for a late-game boss, Xuanyangzi is susceptible to staggering.
2Vermilion Feathers Honglan
Getting Revenge Comes At A High Price
Both Bo Sorcerer and Commander Honglan come back for more in stronger, more powerful fights later in the game. But if Bo Magus is a step-up from Bo Sorcerer,Vermilion Feathers Honglanis a whole flight of stairs up from the Commander. Deflecting longswords and clashing axes will still work against her, but the Feathering disease has given her a new bag of tricks.
She can fire off homing projectiles from the air, blitz Wuchang with a blood wave after her strikes, and cover herself with her wing to block all attacks while unleashing a devastating counter. That’s just her first phase, as she’ll throw up more projectiles and waves with her Wing Spin in her second phase. She has no specific weak points, but the Alacrity skill will help nullify her feathers and longer combos.
1Demon Of Obsession
Mastering Madness
Wuchang: Fallen Feathersisn’t just a ChineseSekiro: Shadows Die Twice. It also takes some tips from games likeEternal Darknessbymaking madness a mechanic. The more times Wuchang kills a humanoid entity or dies, the madder she gets, making her deal (and take) more damage, until it maxes out, and she has to literally fight her inner demons.
They each have to be beaten, including the Nightmare Demon, to access the game’s true ending. But to see that final cutscene, players will have to cut down one more foe:the Demon of Obsession. With lightning-fast strikes and a barrage of magical attacks, each with a variety of status effects, players will need to have maxed out their Mana Vases and Weapon mastery just to stand a chance against her.
