How to beat Aoye, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty’s even more infuriating bull-headed boss

At the end of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty’s Part 3 main quest, In Search of the Immortal Wizard, you’ll face off against a giant bull-like demon called Aoye. It is one of the hardest boss fights in the game.

Our Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Aoye boss fight guide will help you prepare for the fight, and then walk you through this punishing battle.

Preparing for the Aoye boss fight in Wo Long

To get to this point, you’ve already put some time into Wo Long, so you’re going to have options for — and opinions about — your gear. We’ll give you some advice on your armor, but the best weapon in this fight is the one you’re best at using. And you’ve probably used it to kill a lot of bosses already.

You might even be a little cocky about your demon-slaying abilities. Aoye will dissuade you of that immediately.

You’re going to die a bunch of times

Look. It’s going to happen. Aoye is an infuriating boss fight. It has several attacks that will one-shot you — and it loves to open with them.

The GIF above was our literal first experience with Aoye.

Lean into this. Yes, it’s frustrating — infuriating, even — but let it happen. Just practicing your deflection of that first opening attack is going to take time. But you’ll get good at it eventually (and then Aoye will kill you in new and even more infuriating ways).

Learn what you can from each death. Pay attention to the timing of the attacks Aoye uses to kill you. And then come back a little better prepared for the next time.

Level up

We mentioned in our beginner’s guide that there’s not a lot of grinding for levels in Wo Long. And that’s mostly true. But getting some extra Five Phases Virtue Points into your character can only help you in this fight.

The main Battlefield has a recommended level of 25. We were level 35 when we (finally) beat Aoye. It’s perfectly fine to overpower yourself a bit.

Image: Team Ninja/Koei Tecmo via Polygon

In the Part 2 Sub Battlefield called The Flying Swallow of Heishan, there are two of the oversized Demonized Officers not far to the left and right of the starting Battle Flag. These are worth a couple thousand Qi each. Grind on them for as many levels as you want until you’re ready to tackle Aoye again.

Trim down your gear

The fight against Aoye is less about dealing damage, and more about surviving its onslaught of attacks.

We focus heavily on deflecting, so our usual Battle Set is as light as possible to get the best Agility we can. Aoye hits hard, though, so upping your Equipment Weight to as close to 70% as possible is a good idea. You might need to mix and match a little, but a combination of light and medium armor will get you there. That’ll get you an Agility of B, get your defense numbers up, and still give you plenty of Spirit to dodge with.

Any armor that’s got good Water Five Phase resistance will also be helpful, but it’s not particularly necessary.

Upgrade your gear

Now that you’ve got the Hidden Village open, Zhu Xia the blacksmith has a permanent location set up.

Image: Team Ninja/Koei Tecmo via Polygon

Visit her to upgrade your melee weapon and all four pieces of armor to +3 (you won’t have access to the materials to go any higher). If you need more upgrade materials, check some of the previous Battlefields and Sub Battlefields for their rewards.

Pick out your Wizardry Spells

Any Fire Five Phase spells are going to be good against Aoye — even if they don’t do much damage, they’re great for whittling down its Spirit Gauge.

Beyond that, look for defensive spells. We’re a big fan of the Earth spell Enhanced Defense to reduce damage, and the Water spell Cloud Stance to decrease Spirit consumption. Those are both low-level spells, so they’re easy to pick up.

If you’ve got more options, the level 6 Earth spell Rock Toughness decreases the Spirit damage you take, and the Wood spell Spirit Fervor is a level 6 spell that increases your Spirit gain.

Ignore your companion

We brought this up with the Blindfolded Boy during the Zhang Liang boss fight earlier in the game, but your companions are not your concern in this fight. In fact, anyone you bring along is more than likely going to die. Let them. Any time you stop to heal them, you’re opening yourself up to surprise attacks from Aoye.

Beyond that, since you’ll likely die very, very often while attempting this fight, bringing extra people is just going to eat through your supply of Tiger Seals. Stick with Hong Jing, even if her constant “aLlOw mE To aSsIsT YoU” feels like a cruel joke every time you have to start over.

As you get more comfortable and confident, feel free to bring along other Reinforcements by spending Tiger Seals at the Battle Flag. But don’t start off with them.

Before we begin

This fight, frankly, sucks.

Aoye is by far the hardest boss you’ve faced yet — and one of the toughest bosses in the game. That the fight can be lost in the opening seconds is incredibly frustrating, and Aoye hits hard enough that there’s almost no margin for error.

You’re not going to beat this boss on your first or even your fourth try. It’s exacting, and it’s a little exhausting.

Our overarching advice is this: Don’t rush. Drag this fight out as long as you can by staying on the opposite side of the arena. When you’re up close, Aoye has more opportunities to hit you — even if you’re deflecting. Don’t let it eat through your health. Instead, keep your distance to keep control of the pace. That way, you can choose your moments and prepare for the Critical Blows and Fatal Strikes.

Be patient, and you’ll — eventually — beat Aoye.

How to beat the Aoye boss fight

As soon as the fight starts, Aoye is going to attack you. Don’t do anything until after it does. No spells, no items, no encouragement. Just survive the first attack.

Deal with Aoye’s opening attack

Aoye will open the fight with one of two attacks. One of them is a Critical Blow, and it will one-shot you.

Learn to deflect this attack. It’s possible to sprint and dodge to the side to avoid it, but this attack is the primary way you’ll damage its Spirit Gauge. Try to hit the deflect button just as Aoye starts moving.

This attack is going to happen a lot throughout the fight. Afterward, you’ll get a chance to land a couple hits or a Martial Art, but don’t stay close for too long.

The other opening option Aoye usually goes with is a leaping attack. You can sprint and dodge to get away, but this attack is easy enough to deflect — hit the button just before it lands. Aoye is a little stunned after landing, so you’ve got time to land a few hits.

Both of these attacks will happen throughout the fight.

Once the opening attack is out of the way, get some distance and cast a spell or two.

The rest of the fight

The majority of the rest of the fight is about avoiding or deflecting Aoye’s (many) hair-tentacles. It does have a couple other attacks to watch out for, but the majority are just the two huge tentacles on either side.

Luckily, Aoye isn’t great at absorbing Spirit damage. Blocking two of its Critical Attacks (plus using a couple Martial Arts) should be enough to open it up to a Fatal Strike. It’ll take several to get through Aoye’s huge health bar, but we promise it’s possible. Any other deflects you perform are only going to speed up the process.

Avoid the tentacle attacks

Aoye has a variety of sweeping, stabbing, and pounding tentacle attacks. Every one of them can be deflected, but it’s a gamble — you have to stay close to it and deflect both successfully and constantly.

We’re actually going to skip over most of them. You can deflect them, but a better (albeit slower) approach is to just back away. Let Aoye do all of its tentacle-swinging while you’re out of reach and preparing for the next Critical or big attack.

Some of Aoye’s attacks will leave it winded and give you an opening to land a few hits or, better yet, a Martial Art or two. Keep an eye out for these, and just keep chipping away at its Spirit Gauge (and, by extension, its health).

Aoye has a Critical Blow that’s a stabbing tentacle attack. If you can deflect this one a couple times, you’ll actually (temporarily) break the tentacle off while also doing a ton of Spirit damage.

Another to watch out for is when Aoye crawls toward you. Every one of its tentacle slams can (and will) damage you, but they can also be deflected. Once it closes in, it’ll slab both tentacles down and strafe to the side.

A very rare grabbing Critical Attack

Aoye has one other Critical Attack, but it’s exceptionally rare. Aoye will rear back and reveal a mouth on its underside. A few more tentacles will appear, and it will attempt to grab you. This is pretty easy to run away from or dodge.

We even don’t have a gif of it because we only ever saw it once.

Watch out for Aoye’s ice attacks

Usually after landing a Fatal Strike, Aoye will take a moment to regather its strength. During this, it’ll spray out some Water (ice) in an area in front of it.

The best way to avoid this is to just… not be in front of it. After landing a Fatal Strike, stick to the sides or its back.

During the latter half of the fight, Aoye might also spit a line of ice magic. Similarly, just dodge or dash to the side when you see this one coming.