Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty’s elemental magic damage system is built around Five Phases of elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. These Phases come up most prominently in the game’s Wizardry Spells, but they’re also involved in all of your armor as Resistances.
Our Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Five Phases and elemental damage guide will explain the strength and weaknesses of each Phase compared to the others (with a handy chart to boot) and teach you how to master the five elements in combat.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty elemental affinities, strengths, and weaknesses chart
The Five Phases of elemental damage are arranged in a star shape. Each element is strong against (or “overcomes,” in the game’s parlance) the element two points clockwise from it. That’s really confusing, so here’s a graphic to explain it:
Fire Phase overcomes Metal Phase (“metals melt under extreme heat”), and Metal Phase, in turn, overcomes Wood Phase (“a sharp implement like an axe slices through wood”). It continues like that through the remaining three — wood sucks nutrients out of the earth, earth dams water, water extinguishes fire — in a rock-paper-scissors series of strengths (and, reversed, weaknesses).
Five Phases versus Five Phases Virtues in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
First, there’s a difference between the Five Phases (elemental damage types) and Five Phases Virtue Points. When you level up your character at a Battle Flag, you spend Genuine Qi to increase your Five Phases Virtues (which, in turn, improve your stats). Those Five Phases Virtue Points aren’t the same as the elemental damage of the Five Phases.
Similarly, every melee weapon has Attack Bonuses based on your Five Phases Virtue Points — polearms get a bonus from your Earth, Wood, and Fire Virtues; and scimitars get a bonus from your Water, Metal, and Fire Virtues. This does not mean your melee weapons will deal elemental damage based on your Five Phases Virtue Points — they won’t.
Increasing your Five Phases Virtues, however, does increase your attack power with Five Phases attacks (Wizardry Spells) and resistance to Five Phases attacks. This is where the Five Phases are most important to your character. Increasing your Metal Virtue, for example, increases the power of your Metal magic attacks and your defense against Wood magic attacks (like in the chart above).
How to use Five Phases in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
Understanding how the Five Phases work will give you an edge in Wo Long’s brutal fights.
First — we’re repeating ourselves because it’s confusing — your Five Phases Virtue Points don’t deal with elemental melee damage, so use whatever weapon best fits your playstyle and your stats to deal as much damage as you can.
Where you can use the Five Phases offensively is with your Wizardry Spells. If you’re up against an enemy who is hitting you with a lot of Fire magic, hit back with Water spells. It’s possible to counter spells this way.
After that, look to the damage your taking. Under every piece of armor in your equipment, each piece (of each set) has bonuses or penalties to each of the Five Phases. If you’re facing off with an enemy that attacks with Metal-based Wizardry Spells (curses and poisons), switch into armor that’s resistant to Metal.