Stuck on Commander Honglan in Wuchang Fallen Feathers? The first wall that most players will face in Wuchang Fallen Feathers is the notorious Commander Honglan, who challenges you in the Lotus Pond of the Tang Palace complex and represents a massive difficulty spike. While there are tricky bosses prior to Honglan, the commander is the first to demand precise mastery of the game’s mechanics.
I am by no means a truly skilled Soulslike aficionado, but I’m not terrible either. Nevertheless, it still took me about two hours to beat Commander Honglan my first time around, and new players are likely to face similar stuggles. In this guide, I’ll dive into how to beat Commander Honglan in Wuchang Fallen Feathers, revealing the best tactics that worked for me, including a complete list of my equipment.
How to beat Commander Honglan in Wuchang Fallen Feathers
To beat Commander Honglan, I used a Level 27 magic build that didn’t involve attacking her directly. Instead, I learned to consistently dodge her blows and fire back with a ranged spell, which some might consider spamming and a cheap victory. (To which I say – all’s fair in a Soulslike, especially one that ramps up the difficulty so dramatically with a boss like this!)
Equip a One-Handed Sword
If you want to follow in my footsteps, equip a One-Handed Sword that passively generates Skyborn Might via the Biding Time skill. The Astral Blade is my preferred One-Handed Sword in this scenario, due to its elevated spell damage, but you can also use Darkfrost’s Edge, which boasts a highly useful weapon skill called Evasive Maneuver that gives you a 5-second auto-dodge buff as long as you’ve spent Skyborn Might.
Shimmer and build Skyborn Might
With your One-Handed Sword handy, you’re going to have to practice using Shimmer (AKA dodge) on all of Honglan’s attacks. This is easier said than done, and you should prepare to Shimmer as soon as the fight begins, because she’ll dash at you with a lunge from the getgo.
All of Honglan’s attacks hit hard and are fast, and she usually delivers three or more attacks in a row. The margin of error is small for avoiding them, so until you learn her moveset, this fight is going to take some practice. That said, all of this dodging will consistently generate Skyborn Might, and when you combine this with Biding Time, you’ll almost always have Skyborn Might stacks at your disposal.
Finally, when Honglan backs away to give you a brief breather, unleash a reliable spell for damage. The safest time to do this is when she’s raised her leg for a stomp and you’re out of range, or when she’s busy circling you. Rinse and repeat until Honglan’s dead. She’ll switch up her attacks in the second half of the fight, becoming even faster as she throws daggers and slashes waves of air at you, but if you keep practicing your Shimmer, you can dodge everything.
Use Burning Flames or Infernal Flames
In my playthrough, the spell that worked best against Honglan was Burning Flames (obtained by defeating a solo bird-masked foe in Doomwillow Beach), thanks to its reliable damage and the fact that it also makes Wuchang jump backwards, which is handy in a fight that requires constant dodging.
If you don’t have Burning Flames, Infernal Flames (obtained by defeating the fire-breathing foe in the village courtyard near the Shu Sanctum) also works, though it’ll leave you stationary for a little longer, and potentially open to her attacks.
Equip the right Impetus Repository nodes and gear
In order for this strategy to work, you need to maximise your spell damage, and I took as many One-Handed Sword Mastery nodes in the Impetus Repository as possible in order to amplify my Agility and Magic damage. I also invested in the Centipede Armor set, which can be obtained from Tao Qing after defeating the Blightweaver – Great Centipede boss; this reduces slashing and stab damage, which are Honglan’s two damage types.
If this is a far cry from your typical character build, know that respeccing is free in Wuchang Fallen Feathers, so there’s no reason you can’t switch to a One-Handed Sword build temporarily.
To reiterate, here’s a complete list of what I personally equipped in this fight:
- Weapon: Astral Blade +4
- Armor: Centipede Armor Set
- Pendants: Jade Pendant, Luduan Pendant, Twin Infant Pendant
- Spells: Burning Flames, Infernal Flames
- Benedictions: Bu – Skyborn Ward, Ren – Skyborn Vigor, Wei – Skyborn Magic
Try Longsword deflecting or Dual Blade clashing
Perhaps you don’t want to cheese Commander Honglan with magic. If a direct approach is your thing, try digging into the Longsword or Dual Blades skill trees. The Longsword’s counter attack can deflect Honglan’s blows, letting you follow up with your own strikes. The Dual Blades, on the other hand, allow you to parry via Clash skills, and if you’re a natural at parrying when Honglan’s all up in your face, you might like this method of combat more.
Honestly, it’s fairly easy to build up Honglan’s Obliterate meter, after which you can slice into her for big damage. I simply struggled to consistently do so, as dodging has always been more of my skillset in Soulslikes rather than parrying. So if you’re able to defeat Honglan one-on-one via melee, bravo to you!
A hearty congratulations if you’ve read this far and beaten Commander Honglan! Wuchang Fallen Feathers contains many other tough bosses, so head over to our boss list for the complete rundown. We’ve also got a list of tips and tricks, as well as explainers on the Inner Demon and Madness and Red Mercury systems. Last but not least, our guide on how to transmog will ensure that you look cool while fighting Honglan, and if you’re in search of rare weapons and other items on your journey, why not see our guide on how to use Bamboo Shoots to appease a hidden merchant known as the Panda?
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