Zhang Liang is the first boss of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, and unlike the first bosses in most games, Zhang Liang is quite a huge challenge for a boss who you face 15 minutes into the game. You basically need to master every aspect of combat explained till that point if you want to have a chance of defeating Wo Long Fallen Dynasty Zhang Liang.
Prior knowledge about the boss and his moves will help you when you face the boss, so here, we will tell you about Zhang Liang’s move set, and some tips to help you face the boss in battle.
After defeating the first main boss, you might struggle a bit on the main boss of second main mission in Wo Long, Zhuyan for which have a separate guide as well.
Zhang Liang attacks
Zhang Liang, General of Man has two phases during the fight in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, and we will discuss both of them.
Phase 1
The fight starts off with a frontal slam from Zhang Liang. The attack doesn’t have a long-range, and a slow rewind, so you can start off with some decent damage as soon as the fight begins.
Most of Zhang Liang’s attacks are single swings or slams to attack you or reposition. If you are far away, Zhang Liang will use a dash or jump attack to close the distance between you and himself. The jump attack ends in a power slam and the dash attack ends in a swing.
Zhan Liang’s chain attack is a series of slashes and strikes from various directions. The combo has 4 swings at least and can vary up to 3 extra swings. The first 2 swings of the chain can be deflected and you can stun Zhang Liang at any point in the chain using Martial Arts or Spirit Attacks.
If you fail either to deflect the first few hits or stun him early on, we recommend getting out of the way. Zhang Liang is locked in the combo and won’t stop otherwise.
Lastly, you will see a number of different charged attacks, or Critical Hits. These are stronger than regular hits, and every critical hit is a single attack, not a part of any combo or chain. You need to time your deflects for these attacks, as the timing is different than for regular attacks.
Phase 2
In the second phase, Zhang Liang becomes much more aggressive and his attack range increases significantly. You need to be extremely agile and your reactions need to be on point.
The most common attack Zang Liang uses in the second phase is the ranged swing. The swing covers a large area, and dodging the attack is almost impossible. The attacks are well-telegraphed, and there is quite a delay between the startup animation and the actual swing and these can be easily deflected.
The swings can be followed up with a quick shove, and it always comes as a follow-up to the swings. It’s better to dodge this attack the going for deflect.
The main long-range attack for the second phase has Zhang Liang pointing his weapon toward you from a distance, and then immediately charging at you. The attack has no wind-up, so you need to keep an eye out for the attack when at a distance from Zhang Liang.
Zhang Liang gets access to two additional ground slam ranged attacks here. The first has an AoE effect as well. Zhang slams his weapon on the ground, tearing the ground up. The second attack has Zhang Liang jump into the air and slam the weapon on you. This attack can sometimes be a critical hit, increasing the damage.
How to defeat Zhang Liang in Wo Long Fallen Dynasty
Since you have limited Dragon Pots to heal, we would recommend learning the Wood phase spell to heal you with attacks for this fight.
We said that Zhang Liang is a quite difficult boss, and you need to practice and learn to deflect before you can properly face Zhang Liang. The boss is agile and powerful, and waiting for opportunities to hit can drag the fight and be difficult.
The best option you have is to deflect. You can practice your deflecting on regular enemies you fight on your way to the boss.
Don’t skip the tutorial. There are two benefits to the tutorial. First, you get to learn all the basics of the game along with advanced techniques. This way, you’d have an idea of all your abilities before going into the main game. Secondly, you will earn enough Genuine Qi to get a few levels up before you even enter the boss fight.
Along with this, you will also find a few Genuine Qi Flakes and Fragments in both the tutorial and the first mission, so you will be able to level up multiple times before even facing Zhang Liang.
Pick and choose your weapons. You don’t get a lot of equipment and weapons early on, but whatever you have, pick the best and the highest damaging weapon you have early on. Along with that, make sure you don’t overload yourself.
We recommend that you keep your weight below 25% of the total limit so your dodges and deflects don’t drain Spirit at all. Now, we know that this might be easier said than done, so we advise you to keep your weight under 70% at all times, so you don’t face a movement penalty. This would be a huge downfall when fighting Zhang Liang.
In the first phase against Zhang Liang, you can afford to be a bit aggressive. Light and fast weapons like Swords can allow you to hammer him with attacks quickly and chip away at his health. When he starts blocking your attack, use a spirit attack to bypass his block and continue hitting him again with regular attacks.
Deflecting two of his critical attacks and following up with a fatal strike should be enough to bring Zhang Liang close to defeat in the first phase.
During the second phase, it is best to keep your distance and just focus on deflecting his attacks. When he slams his sword on the ground and you see rock spikes moving towards you, be quick to dodge. Without mastery of deflection, there is no way to defeat Zhang Liang during the second phase so take it slow and make sure to deflect every critical attack.
About halfway through his health in the second phase, you will get a prompt to unleash Divine Beast energy. This will defeat Zhang Liang completely and finish the mission.
