Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, while being a fantastical and high-octane Souls-like experience, has a lot that it doesn't explain to its players.
Because of this, there are a lot of nuanced gameplay mechanics and entire systems the players don't know about. And, a lot of these systems or tips would have made a huge difference in most players' initial experience with the game if they only knew about them earlier. With that in mind, let's go over some of the most amazing things someone can do in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty that they likely had no idea was even possible.
8 Max Out Morale To Max Levels A Cakewalk
The Morale system in Wo Long is honestly one of the most unique things this game adds to the subgenre of similar games. The concept of a stage-by-stage based level that governs the damage a player takes and deals based on how much they've already fought (and won) in said stage is, frankly, pure genius. That said, a lot of people don't know the fine details of the Morale System, such as the fact that having high Morale can literally trivialize most boss fights.
The maximum for any stage is 25 Morale, and while this is hard to naturally get to, players who farm up to this level through repeatedly killing enemies or finding all the Marking Flags can do it relatively easily. And, once they've reached this level, the damage they deal (and take) from every boss, including the absurd ones such as Lu Bu, is radically different.
7 Pick & Choose A Weapon That Literally Deflects Easier
Another aspect of all Soulslike games is their generally overwhelming numerical stat systems. Longtime fans of this genre are likely already fully comfortable with the idea of opening their status screen and being bombarded with a page full of numbers. And, in Wo Long, there are even more of these numbers due to the way the Weapons, Armor, and Accessories work. But, one stat that everyone seems to be missing is the Deflect Difficulty stat, found just underneath the Virtue scaling statistics for each weapon.
This stat quite literally determines how easy it is to deflect with that weapon (and deflecting is the primary 'mechanic' of Wo Long's combat system). So, the higher the number, the easier it'll be to deflect with, and it seems to top out at about 130 percent for those who have managed to get lucky enough on their drops.
6 Know Exactly When You Have Enough Qi
This next 'thing' has to be one of the best quality-of-life features a Soulslike game has ever introduced, and it has to do with the Qi counter at the bottom left. As players defeat enemies and progress through a stage, they'll steadily gain more and more Qi. And, once they reach enough, they can spend that Qi to level up and spend a skill point in one of their Five Virtues. But, because the amount needed to level changes every time, it can be difficult to keep track of when a player should head back to the Flag to level.
Well, it turns out Wo Long actually has a way of telling the player this naturally. Keep an eye on the counter, and when the number turns yellow/orange, then that means the player has just reached enough Qi for a single level, which saves newer players from a lot of needless backtracking over the course of their first playthrough.
5 Encourage Reinforcement Allies For Free Buffs
Anyone who doesn't read through all the in-game codex tutorials or watch information videos on a game right after release is probably completely unaware of the fact that they can buff their Reinforcement Companions. That's right, players can make Guan Yu even more useful than he already is.
The input to do this obviously differs from controller to controller, but it's the "Shift" input that players normally hold in addition to a face button in order to activate their Martial Arts. Hold this input and press up or down on the D-Pad to see the player character raise their arm and 'Encourage' their ally. Doing this increases their overall stats for a period of time as well as allows them to use their own Martial Arts, which can be a huge help in certain situations.
4 Use Burial Flags To Heal & Gain Temporary Morale
Now, for anyone who is feeling frustrated constantly accidentally using Dragon Pots in combat to trigger a Burial Flag they stepped over, there's some good news. One, triggering a Burial Flag immediately grants the player 2 points of Morale temporarily, which isn't a ton but is enough to help.
And two, the heal still goes off. This may seem like something that's hard to miss, but there are a ton of Wo Long players out there who are complaining about 'wasting' Dragon Pots without realizing they still healed for just as much using it, but also got the added Morale benefit as well.
3 Equip Any Weapon Without Worrying About Equip Load
Again, this is something that Soulslike fans are probably the most guilty of, and it's being too conscientious of their Equip Load. In other games, having a High Equip load can lead to the heaviest and slowest roll, making it very difficult to dodge anything. And, while this is also true in Wo Long, it's much less 'harsh'. Basically, players either have a butterfly kick dodge, a roll, or the standard short 'hop'.
This much is obvious, but what people likely aren't aware of is the fact that it's only their Armor Sets that actually add anything to their Equip Load. Weapons don't add anything, even the most comically large hammers, so players can equip whatever weapon types they want without worrying about it literally weighing them down.
2 Easily Keep Track Of Morale Gain Per Kill
Now the Morale System in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty has already been covered at length. But, one aspect of it that isn't being talked about nearly enough is the fact that players can actually keep track of how much Morale each enemy kill will add to their overall meter.
While locked on to any enemy, take a look at the Morale number just above the player's Spirit Gauge. There should be a faint white 'blinking' section of the circle while locked on to an enemy. This blinking section denotes the amount added to the gauge if the enemy the player is currently locked-on to is killed.
1 Consistently Backstab Enemies Without A Water Virtue Build
And finally, let's go over something that players can't quite tell if the developers at Team Ninja intended or not, block-sneaking. Basically, when sneaking up behind any enemy, if they're unaware, players will be able to backstab that enemy for massive amounts of damage. But, as anyone not specialized in the Water Virtue (AKA hitting its 'soft cap') will verify, this can be pretty difficult to do consistently. But, if players approach while holding the 'Block' input, they'll massively increase their chances of success.
The reason for this is that, while blocking, the player character moves incredibly slowly and won't ever accidentally start running if the player moves the joystick a bit too suddenly. Because of this, players can rely on backstabbing enemies consistently without 'needing' to put massive amounts of levels into the Water Virtue. Although this Virtue does have some amazing spells, so there's merit to doing so anyway.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty was released on March 3rd, 2023 and is available on Playstation 4&5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.