There are certain types of bosses that make longtime Soulslike veterans want to break their controllers. In Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, that happens when bosses attack en masse, hitting players even while they're in the middle of a parry or attack animation.
The worst offender in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is Zhang Rang, who begins with an army of clones and then respawns them during the battle. One bad block can lead to a chain of events that kills the character at full health. To beat the fight that makes the experts balk takes knowledge of how to handle the situation.
Preparing For The Fight
Gamers may want to change their builds, but getting a full-on respec would involve resetting the instance. Thankfully, there are ways to make whatever build players are currently using work just fine. Get to the nearest flag and make sure that the best equipment is used, both reinforcement slots are filled, and a favorite Divine Beast is ready.
To make the fight easier, farm up morality and fortitude. Interact with a flag and kill previously defeated opponents until hitting the max morality of 25. This makes the player much stronger than Zhang Rang. To get fortitude higher, just in case of a death, make a goal to locate every flag on the map. Also, get the Divine Beast meter fully charged.
How To Beat Zhang Rang
As is the case with most bosses, beating Zhang Rang comes down to understanding the moves and blocking or parrying each attack.
Locating The Real Zhang Rang
Zhang Rang gets a buff from each of his clones still alive, making him just about impossible to kill. Players need to target the clones first. The trick to locating the real Zhang Rang is that he won't have a health bar above his head while he's not targeted.
Zhang Rang's Clones Moves
The clones have all the attacks of the average swordsman minion from the campaign. Most of these attacks can be blocked or countered easily, from the stab to the overhead swat. They do have two specific tricks up their sleeves. In addition to his special attacks, Zhang Rang himself also possesses the moveset his clones have.
At range, the clones will cast orbs. They will briefly charge it up over their heads for a moment, then unleash it as it slowly goes toward the player. They are homing but they can be deflected with good timing.
The clones have an unblockable strike. When one glows red and pulls his sword back, prepare to parry the oncoming dash forward. This is a straight stab and can be blocked simply, there is no trickery to the timing. To make the timing even easier, back up and deflect the attack as the clone is dashing in.
Finally, the clones have a teleport both to escape and to close gaps. Look for the black smoke that appears on both ends of the teleportation. There isn't an attack tied to this, but it does rearrange the field in a notable way for players who aren't seeing all of their surroundings.
Halfway through the fight, Zhang Rang will resummon his many clones so prepare to wipe them all out twice.
Zhang Rang's Moves
Zhang Rang will sometimes summon a temporary image of himself to confuse players.
Unlike the clones already killed, this clone will disappear after a few seconds and make no attacks, its only purpose is to confuse players and take damage on behalf of Zhang Rang.
When tiny blue wisps circle Zhang Rang and he begins charging, he's about to unleash a host of damaging white orbs in front of himself. If players are standing directly in front and take all these hits, it can be instant death. Dodge to the side and gets some free hits while he channels. These are semi-homing orbs, so prepare to sharply dodge if the wave is unleashed in the character's direction.
Alternatively, if the tiny wisps are white as he channels, he's about to call down a massive bolt of lightning on his location. Back up several steps before engaging.
His tornado cast is a different animation. Watch for him to wave his sword up in the air. This summons a tornado that completely surrounds him for several seconds. Because persistent effects can't be parried, the best move here is to get in a quick shot with a ranged weapon or spell from afar.
If Zhang Rang jumps into the air and his sword becomes electrified, he's about to do a spin attack from the sky and back down to the ground. Running away will work as will parrying the blow as he descends.
Usually glowing red indicates that a move is unblockable but Zhang Rang has an interesting exception. If he glows red and waves his sword in the air, he will summon two temporary clones of himself that will go into the air and start hucking down swords.
These attacks are so frequent that the best move is probably to get out of their attack range. They do attack in rhythm, so players who can see both clones can still time out their parries.
When Zhang Rang gets stunned by a negative spirit bar, 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.