How to beat Fang Ling in Wuchang Fallen Feathers

Want to beat Fang Ling in Wuchang Fallen Feathers? You will have encountered some powerful bosses on your journey so far, but Fang Ling is undeniably one of the most difficult of the bunch. She is the first boss you encounter that has a second phase, transforming into a monster who fights in an entirely new way.

By taking advantage of the best Wuchang Fallen Feathers builds which use combinations of the best skills and weapons in the RPG game, we've constructed a setup that has been designed to take Fang Ling down. While this is a complicated task due to Fang Ling's Chimera form being radically different from her Perfect Bride form, there are things you can do to make this fight much easier.

Like Honglan, one of the Wuchang Fallen Feathers bosses from earlier in the story, Fang Ling is extremely susceptible to deflects, so we're going to capitalize on this by using the Longsword.

• Weapon: Flamebringer (Longswords)
• Benediction Sockets: Wei - Poise Force, Ren - Skyborn Vigor, Wei - Counter Force
• Weapon Discipline: Deflect
• Temperance: Bone Needle - Fire, Shadow Stone Needle - Strength
• Spells: Divine Ward, Echo of Lu Bingzhang
• Skills: Sword Counter, Sword Savant, Sword Master, Steel Resolve
• Jade Pendant: Eagle Pendant, Lifesteal Pendant, Dragon-Fish Pendant
• Armor: Ming General's Hat (Head), Imperial Uniform (Chest), Lotus Bracers (Bracers), Imperial Riding Boots (Leg Armor)

We're using a slight variation of our Deflect build, this time focusing on Fang Ling's weakness to fire. By using the Bone Needle - Fire as our main Temperance effect and the Flamebringer, we're able to consistently apply a Burn effect to chip away at the boss' health bar. Regarding your armor, use anything with high resistance to Poise Break, as well as high Slash and Stab mitigation stats.

Fang Ling boss guide

In this first phase, Perfect Bride Fang Ling begins the fight by jumping towards the ceiling, sending four corrosive bolts towards you. Try to gain as much Skyborn Might as you can, but don't spend it just yet; wait for Fang Ling to land and make her next move. She can follow up with a variety of moves, but depending on where you're standing, you can provoke her into using specific attacks.

You can force Fang Ling to resort to another long-range attack by keeping your distance, giving you a window to throw multiple Echo of Lu Bingzhang spears using your built-up Skyborn Might. With that said, the better option is to close the gap against her. By doing this, she will charge up a heavy attack, leaving her wide open to a deflect.

Once you deflect her attack, she will stumble or fall over entirely, leaving her vulnerable to at least two swings of your blade. This is true for the majority of her sword attacks, which is precisely why we're going to rely on this method for dealing damage.

On wake up, she usually rolls away from you before deciding on her next attack. Hold off on using any healing items as she might surprise you with a whirling barrage. You will, however, have enough time to activate Divine Ward using your built-up Skyborn Might thanks to its short cast time, reducing the amount of incoming damage you receive for around 30 seconds. It's important to activate this spell whenever you can, as Fang Ling has access to combos that can kill you instantly if you mistime your deflect or dodge. With the spell active, you can survive at least two combos before needing to replenish your health.

Whenever Fang Ling decides to fire off projectiles, she backs away with a red trail following her to signify the attack. Dodge the first projectile, then use the time between her attacks to heal up or reapply your Temperance effects. There are moments when you're going to be staring each other down — if you make the first move, Fang Ling will deflect your attack. However, she takes so long to strike you back that you're able to deflect her counterattack. Don't be afraid to attack first as you can capitalize on this multiple times throughout the fight.

After four deflects, you should be very close to breaking her poise. Keep an eye on your stamina bar because you're going to need to dash up and land the Obliterate Strike. It is possible to miss this window if you've spent your stamina landing the combo to break her poise, so be very careful here as this is your golden opportunity to remove a quarter of her remaining health. This phase of the fight plays out mostly like this, so follow the pattern, and you'll get to see her second phase.

Chimera Fang Ling boss guide

Fang Ling transforms into a Chimera in the second phase, opening the fight with a beast roar. Be warned, this attack is capable of causing you to flinch in place unless you have the Dracolich Pendant equipped. Keep your distance to avoid the roar, then take this chance to reapply your Temperance or activate your Divine Ward.

The Chimera will launch towards you three times in quick succession, but you can afford to take this hit as it doesn't deal a lot of damage. Even if you do take a hit, you're unlikely to receive damage on the follow-up blow as you'll still be on the ground. By the time it finishes attacking, it will huddle to the other side of the arena. Use this opportunity to gain some Skyborn Might in preparation for the next attack string.

Whenever you see the Chimera leaping into the air, it will attempt to strike you as it lands. If it starts to fire a red laser beam into the ground, move towards the side of the monster and start pummeling its body. You might find it easier to land hits during this laser attack if you temporarily stop locking onto the target and aim for its body manually.

There are two more laser attacks to look out for: the 360 beam and the horizontal beam. With the 360 beam, the initial laser isn't difficult to avoid, but watch out for the explosion that follows the attack, causing large red circles in the ground to blow up after a few seconds. Don't attack during this sequence; use it as a chance to gain Skyborn Might. As for the horizontal beam, this is a good time to activate Echo of Lu Bingzhang whenever the laser gets close to utilize its Alacrity effect, preventing any incoming damage during the animation.

If you need to heal, you must create a large gap between the Chimera and yourself to avoid its far-reaching blows. The Chimera typically attacks with one to two swipes when it gets close to you, stopping you from performing any long combos without being interrupted. Whenever the Chimera attempts to hit you several times in the same string, this is your window to launch into a long attack string.

Once you take the Chimera down to 50%, it blasts a laser into the ceiling, causing giant molten rocks to fall to the ground. During this time, you need to point the camera towards the ground to give yourself the clearest view of the impending projectiles, represented by white outlines. These outlines only appear for a few seconds, but that should be enough time to know if you can wail on the boss with a series of strikes. With its health down to sub-50%, you should be close to breaking its poise. Just like the Perfect Bride, make sure you land the Obliterate Strike as you can drop it down to 25% in seconds.

After knocking it down below 50% health, the Chimera does have some extra attacks in its disposal. Fortunately, it hardly ever uses them, so the only real threat to watch out for is a repeat of the ceiling laser blast. Other than that, it should be smooth sailing, as long as you remember not to overcommit to any long combos.

Fang Ling rewards

Here are the rewards you earn for defeating Fang Ling in Wuchang Fallen Feathers:

• 24,000 Red Mercury
• Shu Silk Fan
• Jade Ancient Chisel
• Bitter Severance (Dual Blades)
• Echo of Fang Lin (Spell)

And with all that information, you're now equipped with everything you need to defeat Fang Ling in Wuchang Fallen Feathers. As you continue to progress through the soulslike game, you're going to continue to earn more armor sets to help protect you in combat. Don't forget to check out our Wuchang Fallen Feathers transmog guide to learn how you can gain the protective stats without sacrificing your style.