Black Myth Wukong Best Skills
These are the absolutely essential skills to unlock first
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Game Science
Guide
by
Ollie Toms
Guides Editor Updated on Sept. 2, 2024 Follow Black Myth: Wukong
Which are the best Skills to unlock first in Black Myth: Wukong? There's no shortage of Skills and ability unlocks in Black Myth: Wukong, Game Science's new soulslike take on the myriad Chinese folklore tales of Journey To The West. Throughout your journey as the simian Destined One, you'll gain access to a splendid selection of powers by using ability points called "Sparks".
Unlike most soulslikes, you can upgrade your Skills at any time in Black Myth: Wukong without needing to rest at a Keeper's Shrine (Black Myth's equivalent of Bonfires). All you need to do is open the Self-Advance screen from the pause menu, and as long as you have "Sparks" to spend, you can upgrade your Skills as much as you like.
You can also use the "Reignite The Sparks" option while resting at a Shrine to completely respec your character at any time for free. So the game really encourages you to experiment with different Skill unlocks and combinations, as you try to craft the perfect build. To help you get started, we've put together the below guide which outlines 15 of the very best, most essential Skills to unlock first in Black Myth: Wukong.
In this guide:
Best Skills in Black Myth Wukong
We'll go over each of these skills in far greater detail below, but at a glance here are the best Black Myth Wukong skills that you'll want to level up first:
| Skill Name | Skill Tree | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Pillar Stance | Pillar Stance | Unlocks Pillar Stance (requires Level 5) |
| Thrust Stance | Thrust Stance | Unlocks Thrust Stance (requires Level 20) |
| Composure | Stamina | Dodging no longer interrupts Light Attack Combo |
| Mobile Spin | Martial Arts | Can move while Staff Spinning to deflect projectiles |
| Offense In Defense | Thrust Stance | Follow Light with Heavy while in Thrust Stance to perform Tactical Retreat |
| Thunder Strike | Cloud Step | When in Cloud Step, Unveiling Strike can be performed with charged Heavy |
| Peace From Peril | Smash Stance | When charging, Perfect Dodges retain built-up Focus |
| Robust Constitution | Survival | Increases Health |
| Rampant Vigor | Survival | Increases Stamina |
| Wrathful Escalation | Survival | Increases Crit Chance |
| Wrathful Might | Survival | Increases Crit Damage |
| Surging Momentum | Survival | Increases damage |
| Quick Hand | Staff Stances | Increases charging speed of all stances |
| Swift Engage | Martial Arts | Increases engage distance of Light Attack Starter |
| Ferocious Form | Transformations | Increases damage while Transformed |
How to level up Skills:
You can level up Skills in the Self-Advance menu as long as you have Sparks to spend. You earn one Spark every time you level up, and you also earn one Spark each time you interact with a Meditation Spot for the first time.
Essential game-changing Skills
I've grouped the Skills listed in this guide into two categories. First, let's go over the absolutely essential Skills which fundamentally change your abilities throughout Black Myth: Wukong. These are the Skills to prioritise above all others.
You should unlock the Pillar and Thrust Stances as soon as you possibly can in any playthrough of Black Myth: Wukong. |
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Game Science
Pillar Stance and Thrust Stance
The single most game-changing thing you can do with a Spark is to unlock a new Stance. Early on in Black Myth: Wukong, you have access to just the Smash Stance. But once you hit Level 5 you can unlock the Pillar Stance, and once you unlock Level 20 you can unlock the Thrust Stance. It won't take you long to reach Level 20 by the way; I managed it shortly after starting Chapter 2.
In my playthrough I didn't find much point in upgrading Pillar Stance further, but just having the Stance unlocked is incredibly useful. With this Stance equipped, you can hop atop your staff and raise yourself out of reach of melee attacks. Enemies can still hit your staff, but it essentially damages your Stamina instead of your Health. It's a phenomenal ability that gives you a huge amount of utility during difficult fights.
Thrust Stance is my favourite, though, particularly once you've unlocked Offense In Defense (more on this below). The whole point of Thrust Stance is that you can charge up a powerful strike that reaches well beyond the range of most enemies, allowing you to very easily and effectively interrupt dangerous enemy attacks. Once you hit Level 5 and Level 20, your next Spark(s) should always go into unlocking the next Stance.
Where to find the Pillar Stance and Thrust Stance Skills:
You'll find both these Skills at the very top of their respective Stance trees within the Staff Stances upgrade screen.
Composure
Composure is one of the most important Skills in Black Myth: Wukong, and I'd advise unlocking it as soon as possible - by Level 8 at the latest. This game-changer of a Skill allows you to Dodge attacks while in the middle of a Light Attack Combo, and doing so will no longer interrupt the combo.
The outcome is that you can get to that final high-damage slam attack at the end of the combo so much more easily and consistently, without taking any unnecessary damage while you're at it. It's a simple Skill, but once you've got it you'll wonder how you ever lived without it.
Where to find the Composure Skill:
Composure is found halfway down the Stamina Skill Tree in the Foundation upgrade screen.
Mobile Spin
Ranged attacks are extremely irritating in Black Myth: Wukong, as they can easily interrupt your all-important combos. You begin the game with a Staff Spin ability that blocks ranged attacks, but you're immobile while doing it. Mobile Spin is an early-game Skill unlock that allows you to move (albeit slowly) while you're Staff Spinning.
This makes it much, much easier to deal with ranged attackers by closing the distance between you and them while also blocking their projectiles. Once you have this Skill unlocked, most ranged enemies become trivial to deal with.
Where to find the Mobile Spin Skill:
The Mobile Spin Skill is found at the very top of the Martial Arts tree in the centre of the Foundation upgrade screen.
Mobile Spin greatly enhances the usefulness of your innate projectile-deflecting Staff Spin ability. |
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Game Science
Offense In Defense
Offense In Defense is a marvellous Skill which upgrades the Thrust Stance, allowing you to make use of it much more reliably and often in battle. Here's how it works: do a Light Attack, then immediately follow it up with a Heavy Attack, and you'll quickly backstep out of harm's way. This move is called Tactical Retreat.
That's amazingly useful in itself, because it allows you to dance in and out of enemies' attack ranges. But if you follow Tactical Retreat immediately with another Heavy Attack, then (as long as you have at least one Focus Point stored) you'll launch forwards after the backstep and deliver a powerful thrust. This move is called Forceful Thrust, and the utility provided by the combo of Tactical Retreat and Forceful Thrust makes the Thrust Stance one of the most versatile and powerful Stances in the game.
Where to find the Offense In Defense Skill:
The Offense In Defense Skill is on the right in the second layer of the Thrust Stance tree, under Staff Stances.
Thunder Strike
Thunder Strike is the single most useful Skill you can unlock for the Cloud Step Spell. Cloud Step allows you to assume an invisible ghostly form while leaving behind a decoy that attracts enemies' attention. Attack an enemy while in Cloud Step form and you'll deal extra damage - but with the Thunder Strike Skill, you can turn that Unveiling Strike into a full-blown charged Heavy Attack, catapulting the damage output so much further than before.
Cloud Step is an amazingly useful Skill regardless, but its Skill tree offers some very hefty benefits. The downside is that Thunder Strike is quite far down the Skill tree, but the upside is that those prior Skill unlocks like Concealed Observation and Converging Clouds synergise wonderfully with Thunder Strike, turning Cloud Step into one of your most powerful damage-dealing Skills.
Where to find the Thunder Strike Skill:
Thunder Strike is the second-to-last Skill in the Cloud Step tree, in the Alteration upgrade screen.
Peace From Peril
I waxed lyrical about the power of the Composure Skill earlier on, allowing you to Dodge without it resetting your Light Attack Combo chain. Well, Peace From Peril does the same thing but for charging up your Smash Stance's Heavy Attack.
This attack is the single most damaging charge attack in Black Myth: Wukong, but it's a high risk attack because you can easily be interrupted by any attack that you have to Dodge. But with Peace From Peril, if you time your Dodge to make it a Perfect Dodge, then you will continue charging up your Heavy Attack without any interruption.
Where to find the Peace From Peril Skill:
Peace From Peril is the very lowest Skill in the Smash Stance Skill tree in the Staff Stances upgrade screen.
Best general Skills
Now that we've gone over the essential game-changing one-off Skills in Black Myth: Wukong, here are some more general (but still extremely valuable) Skills which are always handy to upgrade. Generally, you should spend your Sparks on these Skills anytime you aren't working towards a specific essential Skill.
It's always important to keep your general attributes such as Health, Stamina, Attack, and Defense high, either by upgrading Skills or finding/crafting Celestial Pills. |
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Game Science
Robust Constitution and Rampant Vigor
These Skills may sound dull, but when all's said and done they're among the best Skills for upping your overall power and survivability in Black Myth: Wukong. Robust Constitution and Rampant Vigor can both be upgraded up to 6 times, with each upgrade enhancing the effect. Robust Constitution increases your maximum Health, while Rampant Vigor increases your maximum Stamina.
There's little more to be said here, except that you shouldn't neglect these Skills just because they're boring. You need the extra Health and Stamina in order to survive long enough to pull off the really cool Skills you'll be unlocking elsewhere.
Where to find the Robust Constitution and Rampant Vigor Skills:
Both these Skills are located at the very top of the Survival tree on the right-hand side of the Foundation upgrade screen.
Wrathful Escalation and Wrathful Might
Wrathful Escalation and Wrathful Might are two more attribute-increasing Skills, but with a more specific purpose. Wrathful Escalation increases your Critical Hit Chance, while Wrathful Might increases your Critical Hit Damage. You may not generally care about Crits in games like these, but in Black Myth: Wukong your bread-and-butter attack is the Light Attack Combo, which hits enemies multiple times in quick succession.
Invest some points into these two Skills, and you'll massively increase your general damage output - and that's not even taking into consideration the Crit capabilities of your Cloud Step spell.
Where to find the Wrathful Escalation and Wrathful Might Skills:
Wrathful Escalation is found on the second layer of the Survival tree, while Wrathful Might is the final Skill in the circle at the bottom of the Survival tree. Both can be found in the Foundation upgrade screen.
Surging Momentum
I promise, this is the final boring Skill in this list. Surging Momentum is yet another six-slot attribute-increasing Skill, this time increasing your overall attack damage by a slight amount with each level. The importance is obvious. More damage means you take out enemies faster, so they have less time to deal damage to you. It's the perfect Skill to dump Sparks into when you're not sure what else to do.
Where to find the Surging Momentum Skill:
The Surging Momentum Skill is located at the very bottom of the Survival tree, in the Foundation upgrade screen.
Charged Heavy Attacks change based on the Stance you have selected, but all are incredibly useful in pretty much any situation. |
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Game Science
Quick Hand
The Quick Hand Skill requires you to spend at least 10 Sparks in the Staff Stances trees, but you'll be doing that anyway as you level up. This unassuming, easily-forgotten Skill increases the charging speed of all your Heavy Attacks across all three Stances.
That's a pretty stellar upgrade for any build or playstyle. Charged Heavy Attacks are among the most powerful tools in your repertoire, and you should aim to use them as often as possible. Quick Hand just makes it easier to unleash those potent attacks on your enemies.
Where to find the Quick Hand Skill:
The Quick Hand Skill can be found halfway down the left-hand side of the Staff Stances upgrade screen, just below the dividing line jutting out from the Focused Attack III Skill.
Swift Engage
Swift Engage is always one of the first Skills I max out in a Black Myth: Wukong playthrough. This three-slot Skill massively increases the engage distance of your Light Attack Starter. What this means is that you can begin your regular Light Attack from much further away, and your character will just zip straight to melee distance with the enemy.
Staying mobile and light on your feet is very important in Black Myth, and Swift Engage is one of the best early Skills to help facilitate this. So pick it up sooner rather than later, I beg you.
Where to find the Swift Engage Skill:
Swift Engage is the left-hand Skill at the very top of the Martial Arts tree, found in the centre of the Foundation upgrade screen.
Ferocious Form
I don't particularly rate any of the Skills in the Transformations tree much higher than any of the others; they're all universally useful, because Transformations in general are phenomenally powerful. But if I had to pick one Skill to prioritise in this tree, I'd pick Ferocious Form, which increases your Attack Damage while Transformed.
No matter what form you Transform into, what you're essentially doing is giving yourself a free (short-lived) extra life where you can just be as aggressive as possible without consequences. That's because when your Health hits zero while Transformed, you simply de-transform into your regular body, at the same Health you were at when you Transformed. The aim is to deal as much damage as possible in a short space of time. And what better Skill to help with this strategy than a simple flat increase to the damage you deal with each attack?
Where to find the Ferocious Form Skill:
The Ferocious Form Skill is found in the Transformations upgrade scren; it's the fourth Skill along at the bottom.
With that, we conclude this guide to the very best Skills available in Black Myth: Wukong. Hopefully you've discovered a few Skills that you perhaps didn't realise the true potential of beforehand. You can also prepare yourself for the upcoming fights with our Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 bosses guides. Alternatively, you can head to our guide which rounds up all Black Myth Wukong bosses and their locations. We've also got other guides which walk you through how to absorb Spirits and the game's PC requirements.
