Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty players are despairing at its opening boss
Zhang Liang doesn't go easy on players
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty's first boss is absolutely demoralizing players.
Zhang Liang has the honor of being the opening boss fight in Team Ninja's Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. If you thought the boss might be a bit of a pushover because he's the first major fight in the new action game, you'd be dead wrong, as countless players are now finding out to their horror.
The trouble with Zhang Liang is that he's basically a roadblock, demanding players either learn how to parry, or suffer endlessly. There aren't really any viable alternatives to overcoming the opening Wo Long boss - if you can't get the timing of your parries absolutely right, you're in for a miserable time.
Oh, and Zhang Liang has a brutal second phase. If you didn't already know, the boss basically consumes a mystical tablet and grows a monstrous extended arm when you've exhausted his first health bar. This arm completely messes up all the timing parries you've learned, throwing a new gauntlet at you to learn or perish.
Deflecting is absolutely a viable tactic for Zhang Liang, as the tweet below points out. However, you'll still need to parry the red Spirit-draining attacks the boss throws out in both his phases, which can potentially kill you in one hit if you've got less than half your health left.
For anyone jumping into Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, pls note that the first boss is harder than majority of the rest of the game. It definitely doesn’t paint an accurate picture of the overall difficulty imo/it’s really just forcing you to learn to deflect (and level up).March 3, 2023
Once Zhang Liang is down though, Wo Long opens up, because you'll have basically completed the prologue tutorial area. Team Ninja putting Zhang Liang up at the beginning of Wo Long is just downright brutal, a challenge to players to either learn the parrying system, or get out.
Check out our Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty review to see what we made of the full game.
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Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.