Players will likely be eager to beat the 'In Search of the Immortal Wizard' battle Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty if they comprehend exactly how much this opens the game up afterward. This unlocks Zuo Ci, a character that allows players to finally respec, gamble on mystery items, and redesign the character's look.
There is one boss that stands in the way of the game becoming dramatically better and that is Aoye. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty developers no doubt intentionally made this battle tough in the spirit of the usual Soulslike formula; players who persist and win are treated to critical rewards.
Preparing For The Fight
It's not possible to get a full-on respec yet as the Zuo Ci is not unlocked. Besides, doing so would require restarting the entire battlefield. There is no need for that. Get to the nearest flag and appropriately set up the Divine Beast, call in reinforcements, and equip the best weapons and armor available.
The best kind of preparation comes in the form of farming up morality and fortitude. Rest at a flag and sweet through the battlefield, killing previous opponents until hitting morality level 25. Make it a goal to find all the flags, ensuring that fortitude is as high as possible, and decreasing the penalty should the character fall to the boss. Also, get the Divine Beast meter fully charged before storming in.
How To Beat Aoye
As is the case with most bosses, beating Aoye comes down to understanding the moves and blocking or parrying each attack.
Aoye's Moves
By far Aoye's most complicated move is the crawl. It will lift up an arm and slam it down, then lift up the other arm and slam it down. This is not to be confused with its movement which has very similar motions. If Aoye winds up, it's an attack, otherwise these arms are just moving the creature around.
Be on the lookout for Aoye's slam attack. If it lifts both arms up, then it's going to smash down as it did with the crawl pattern but with more damage and a wider radius.
There is a rather large area on all these crawl attacks, so dodging is inferior to parrying.
Aoye's swipe is another deceptive move. When it lifts its arm off the top of the screen while locked onto it, it's about to attack, but not in a vertical pattern as it might look. This hit is actually a horizontal arc that will damage everything in front of Aoye.
If Aoye covers its face, it is about to do another damage swipe to everything in front of it, this time originating from the face instead of from the side. The timing here is the same as the last attack, prepare to counter immediately after the preparation animation starts.
Watch for Aoye to lower its head. This means it is about to unleash four rapid strikes with its horns directly in front. These strikes as so quick that only a true master of the game could realistically counter each one. The better bet is to dodge to the side and get in some free blows while the attacks finish resolving.
If Aoye turns away, either its left or right tendrils will jab at the ground eight times in rapid succession. As with the horns, trying to parry eight times in such a small window is not a smart move, dodge to the unprotected side and get a few free hits in.
Aoye will occasionally lift its head up and take a deep breath. On the exhale, it will sneeze out an ice field in front. This area deal damage even if parried correctly, so move to the side when Aoye begins to inhale.
Aoye's final non-red move is a belly flop. It will leap across the map and land on the character. Extremely mobile characters can run away from the landing zone but it's rather easy to time out the counter as Aoye descends.
The first of Aoye's unblockable moves is a charge. The creature will glow red, then fall on its face with the red veins going to the horns. This indicates it is about to charge across the field. To time out this parry, run way back as soon as the animation begins, giving the character some distance to time out the charge.
If the red glow goes to its arm instead of its horns, then it's preparing a sudden stab forward. If countered, the character will interrupt the strike. If not, Aoye follows this attack up with a jab from the other arm.
Aoye's third unblockable attack will have the red glow go toward its mouth (which is on the underside of its belly). From this, four new tendrils will pop up. These tendrils will first strike in melee range and then, if not parried, will strike again at ranged attackers. Ranged characters get to see it once before blocking, melee combatants should probably back up for the first attack to receive the same timing advantage.
Most bosses have an automatic unblockable pushback at half health that deals no damage. Aoye is sneaky, though, as it will launch balls of ice all around that deal damage when they land. Watch the skies as it screams and move around the orbs.
When Aoye gets stunned by a negative spirit bar, take a moment to use a Divine Beast for some extra damage before taking the lethal blow.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.