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You know a Soulslike is truly kicking in when it tests your capabilities and puts you on a pedestal with a hard-hitting task, andWuchang: Fallen Feathersdoes that very well with its boss fight against Commander Honglan, one of the toughest bouts yet in the early game.
She’s pretty much thisgame’s Genichiro from Sekiro—a skillcheck main story boss fightthat tests your wits and reaction skills to the utmost. And dare I say she’ll give you a run for your money here, especially after how much she tormented me and my co-workers.
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Luckily, with the grueling time I spent battling her and learning her entire moveset, I’ve prepared this guide to help you overcome this boss fight with a strategy and a breakdown of every essential thing, from her attack pattern to the rewards you get for overcoming her.
Where To Find Commander Honglan
Being one of themain story bosses of the game, there’s a bit of groundwork that you’ll need to accomplish to unlock the fight against Honglan—don’t worry, I’ll try to keep this brief for those who’ve already gained access to her fight.
Commander Honglan can be fought at the Tang Emperor’s Palace.Specifically, her battle arena is situated in the massive water pond located in the center of the palace. You’ll obviously need to partially empty that first with a nearby mechanism activated via the Buddha Statue.
The Buddha Statue item can be found once you’ve beaten the Tang Palace Maid in the large quarters here.Once you’ve beaten her, follow along with me by climbing the ladder here, crossing the scaffolding, and you should soon be able to activate a shrine here.
From the shrine, go towards the left side under the tori gates.Be careful of the traps laid down here by the nearby bandits. Cross through the building here from where one of the bandits ambushed you, and here you can pick up the Buddha Statue near a woman’s corpse, as shown above.
From the shrine, head up the stone stairs this time. There’s a structure in which you may place the statue.This will activate a cutscene in which the Tang Palace pond begins to drain, revealing a jagged blade in the middle that can be picked up.
Head back down to where we fought the maid, and from here, you’re able to hop into the shallow watering hole to initiate the boss battle against Commander Honglan, who refuses to let anyone take this mysterious item.
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Best Build For Commander Honglan
Let me break it down in the easiest way possible;I don’t recommend anything magic-related because this fight is primarily gimmicked around the clash and deflect mechanics,and for our strategy, we’ll be using the latter here.
Firstly, the most essential component of your build in this fight is theSword Counter skillfor your longsword—and yes, this is also the weapon we’ll be using against Honglan. Be sure also to grab both of the additional skills of the Sword Counter; they’re equally important.
If you’re lacking any Red Mercury points to grab these skills, be sure to re-spec anything that you won’t be using, since we’ll primarily be using the longsword for this fight. But feel free to use a secondary weapon with which you’re most comfortable.
Additionally, albeit a bit risky, the Vorpal Blade spell is also great if you’re looking to maximize your damage when Honglan is at a distance, even though I suggest against using spells.
Lastly, be sure to have adequate stat scaling; I focused on Agility and Strength to increase my weapon’s damage, but Vitality and Endurance are equally important here.
Commander Honglan Moveset
With the build suggestions and location out of the way,now comes the important section where I’ve outlined the major attacks to watch out forwhen fighting against Honglan in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers.
Description
Thrust Charge
Honglan will always open the fight with this move as she charges at you with her sword. Furthermore, this is the most crucial attack of our strategy here, since you can easily deflect this and will need to maintain distance to ensure she repeats this move.
Penta Knife Throw
Honglan hops backwards and throws out five throwing daggers at you. These have a tiny hitbox and can be deflected with your Sword Counter skill, but I’d advise perfect dodging these to gain aSkyborn Might chargeeasily.
A standard stomp attack with a short range, but it can heavily damage you if caught in it. Honglan can mix this up after any attack; simply step dodge backwards to avoid it.
Double Fist
Honglan will enter a brief stance before pushing out two quick palm strikes. Easily avoidable without any evasions if you’re not constantly up close and personal with her here.
Double Slash
Honglan slashes at you, followed by another slightly delayed horizontal slash. This can be slightly tricky to evade due to the abrupt animation, so I suggest deflecting them or just evading to the back as she does the first slash. With enough distance, she won’t even hit the second one.
Dual Wind Arcs
A transitional attack for the second phase, where Honglan will jump backwards and charge up to launch two wind arcs at you. These cannot be deflected much like the rest of these projectiles in her second phase, so learn to dodge them.
Whirlwind Cuts Into Jumping Slice
After doing her dagger throw, Honglan will immediately charge at you with a tornado-like slash before unleashing a jumping attack to finish it off strong. I strongly suggest dodging this attack entirely; you can try deflecting the Whirlwind cuts, but the jumping pounce attack is not blockable.
Thrust Charge Into Vertical Cuts
The Thrust will now have a reduced distance, but if delivered without interrupting, Honglan will follow it up with a flurry of vertical slashes. If you can deflect the initial Thrust Charge just like in the first phase, it’ll skip the vertical cuts entirely.
Horizontal Wind Arc
A deadly charged arc projectile that has a sweeping range, so attempt to lock down the timing for the perfect evasion to avoid it.
Angled Wind Arc
Similar to the wide horizontal arc, this one has a quicker animation but doesn’t cover much of the screen either, so you can dodge this one easily.
Vertical Wind Arc Into Thrust Charge
This is the last one, I swear. With the vertical arc projectile, Honglan will follow it up with a quick thrust attack from the sword. Again, we want the thrust attack to deflect it, so be wary when she does this one.
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How To Beat Commander Honglan
First Phase
The entire strategy (at least for the majority of the first phase) that I’ve prepared basicallyboils down to deflecting her thrust attack, since it is the easiest attack to telegraph in her arsenal.Plus, you can bait her to do that whenever at a median distance in the fight.
The more you may go without getting damaged in the fight and constantly deflecting and countering her attacks, the faster you’ll fill up that meter to trigger an Obliterate Strike. It’ll also mean you can quickly transition the fight to the second phase once Honglan’s HP reaches the halfway mark.
To reiterate, a bit risky,but you may also squeeze in a couple of shots from Vorpal Blade spell right before she does the sword thrust from range.
Just play it safe here. Get a few hits in and then back out to lure her into doing the thrust charge.The knife throw is easy enough to learn and dodge, but that double slice might catch you off guard, along with the footstomp being mixed in randomly after her attacks.
Depending on your skill level here and whether you can trigger an Obliterate Strike on her, you’ll either safely manage to get through the first phase without expending all of your Manna Vases or only need to use a couple to heal when she hits you with a couple of attacks.
Second Phase
This is where the frustration and fatigue from this fight can build up,but since you may keep practicing to achieve that perfect run, you’ll have it in the bag eventually. If my co-workers and I could defeat her, so could you, because the thrust attack strategy still applies in this phase.
In the second phase, Honglan will be far more aggressive, giving little to no opportunities to heal yourself or get your bearings. Even if you’re at range, she’ll try to snipe you down with her wind arcs, which I’ve shown above—they can’t be deflected and must be evaded.
If you want to heal in this phase, I’ve found that her jumping slice attack gives you a brief period to quickly chug a Manna Vase.
However, the strategy is still the same; bait her thrust attack, even if it has a shorter range this time,and when she does launch the vertical wind arc, get ready to deflect, because she’ll likely follow that up with the sword thrust.
Lastly, since she’ll mix up her attacks a lot in this phase,I strongly suggest getting only a single hit or two in and then immediately backing out,because her new multi-hit attacks in this phase can destroy your HP unless you miraculously dodge or deflect them.
The jumping slice that I mentioned may also provide you with a window to possibly land a charged backstab to break her poise instantly.But other than that, persistence and patience are key in this fight since it may take you a while to take her down.
Commander Honglan Rewards
In addition to achieving the trophy/achievement for successfully fending off Commander Honglan(yeah, spoiler alert, she doesn’t die), you’ll receive the following rewards for overcoming this boss fight:
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