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What is the best Stance in Black Myth Wukong?How to choose between the Smash, Pillar, and Thrust Stance
How to choose between the Smash, Pillar, and Thrust Stance
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Game Science
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Game Science
While you can only use the “Smash Stance” at the start of a new game, the “Pillar Stance” becomes available at level 5 and the “Thrust Stance” can be unlocked at level 20. There’s also the secret “Wukong Stance,” which is only accessible after you’ve beaten the game multiple times. To upgrade and change between Stances, open your menu, choose “Self-Advance”, and add Sparks to the skill trees.
Make no mistake though; just because Pillar and Thrust are unlocked later on, they’re not necessarily better than the Smash Stance. Each Stance has its advantages, and which one’s the “best” mostly depends on your personal playstyle. In this guide, we’ll help you find the best Stance in Black Myth: Wukong for you.
In this guide:
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Which is the best Stance in Black Myth Wukong?
Based on our experience,the best Stance in Black Myth: Wukong is the Smash Stance. Firstly, the sprinting-while-charging ability allows you to quickly smash through minor opponents, which makes exploration much faster. It also works great against bosses, as the sprinting enables you to adjust your timing and positioning before landing the blow. The best thing about the Smash Stance, however, is the Resolute Strike attack; it can nullify an incoming blow, deal a ton of damage, and even gain a massive amount of Focus - basically everything you need to defeat a powerful boss.
That said, every Black Myth: Wukong Stance has its advantages and disadvantages. Before we explore this in more detail, here’s a brief overview to help you find your perfect Staff Stance:
If you want, you can level more than one Stance to use in combat - given the limited number of Sparks, however, it’s typically best to focus on one or two at most. Don’t worry about wasting Sparks though, as you can reset them at anyKeeper’s Shrinefor free.
Smash Stance
Twirl through the sky with the Smash Stance’s heavy attack. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Game Science
On the downside, Smash Stance may not be the best Black Myth: Wukong Stance if you find it difficult to dodge at the perfect moment. You also need to be quite good at anticipating your enemies' movements to time the sprinting and charging correctly.
That “timing” part carries over to the Smash Stance’s special attacks;Resolute Strike and Skyfall Strike. These attacks nullify incoming damage and act as a means ofparrying enemy blows, which the game calls “seeing through” the enemy. Triggering them at the opportune moment can allow you to gain massive Focus (Invigoration passive) while greatly improving Skyfall Strike’s damage (Vantage Point passive). It’ll take some practice, but once you’ve learned this combo, it’ll work great against bosses.
Pillar Stance
Can’t touch this monkey. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Game Science
Who needs a shield when the Pillar Stance allows you to climb on top of your staff andavoid all ground damage? If you’d like to evade incoming attacks more easily, the Pillar Stance is for you; trigger a heavy attack to leap up, build Focus to climb even higher, and slam down upon your enemy with a high-range staff strike. The Pillar Stance is particularly great if you find it hard to use your Gourd in combat, as the Skylarking ability allows you to grab it from the safety of your staff seat. Timing shouldn’t be much of an issue either; unlike dodging, which requires precision, you can trigger the Pillar Stance well before an enemy initiates their attack and it will still work.
Beware that if you hold the Pillar Stance for too long or if the staff takes too many hits while perching, you mayrun out of staminabefore you can land the final hit. When that happens, you’ll drop to the ground and become vulnerable to incoming attacks. You can fix this with the Towering Mountain passive, which will automatically perform a heavy attack upon stamina depletion, but beware that it’s on the lower end of the Pillar Stance’s skill tree. You also need to be careful around larger enemies, as you’ll need to be higher up the staff to avoid their damage (the first level typically won’t do).
If you have enough Focus, you can use the heavy attack during a light attack combo to perform a Sweeping Galespinning attack. It’s quick and has decent range, allowing you to take down several smaller enemies at once, but it’s not very effective against larger opponents - the Churning Gale follow-up attack makes a great improvement though.
Thrust Stance
The Thrust Stance requires stationary charging. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Game Science
The Thrust Stance’s main downside is the possibility of messing up the combos. If you press too soon or too late, you could lose momentum. That said, you can never really miss the Tactical Retreat, so you’ll be quite safe even if you don’t manage to land a follow-up attack.
Wukong Stance
Wukong Stance makes you feel like a legend, but it’s mighty hard to unlock. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Game Science
To activate Wukong Stance, you’ll need to deliver a four-Focus Point heavy attack while wearing all of this gear. This attack is incredibly potent and sees the staff rippling outwards at truly monumental range, whacking any enemy who dares cross your path. This is an especially powerful move during the game’s final boss battles against theStone Monkeyand theGreat Sage’s Broken Shell.
However, accessing Wukong Stance permanently takes a lot of work, as it requires you to unlock every single Relic Skill in the game.You’ll need to first beat Black Myth: Wukong, get thesecret endingto acquire the final Free Mind Relic, and then complete the game three more times via New Game + until you have 18 Relic Skills.Only then does Wukong Stance become a viable option, so we can’t really call it the game’s best stance - especially considering that a majority of players won’t ever see it. Nevertheless, this stance is a mighty reward for the hardest of hardcore Black Myth fans.
That concludes this guide on the best Black Myth: Wukong Staff Stances. To put these stances to the test, head over to ourwalkthrough hubfor all of the guides you need to conquor Black Myth: Wukong’s six Chapters. To further develop your personal playstyle, be sure to use thebest skillsand don’t forget toupgrade your armorandunlock more curio slots.
