Coming to Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty from the Nioh games will mostly make for a familiar experience. Mostly. Most of that game’s hallmarks are present here and the level and general campaign structure will undoubtedly ring a lot of bells. But the way you’ll manage stamina is quite different and might take a bit of time to wrap your head around. This guide is going to explain how Spirit works in Wo Long, so you’ll be able to hop into the game without having to figure out the system’s intricacies from scratch. It’s not too complicated, though. It’s just different.

When you enter a level in Wo Long, your Spirit will be neutral. It’s a small bar that shows up in the bottom of the screen whenever you do most anything. Let’s start with what doesn’t use any Spirit. You can use your basic attack, run, and jump as much as you want without worrying about putting yourself at a disadvantage. The Spirit bar has two sides – red on the left and blue on the right. When you hit enemies with basic attacks or deflect an enemy attack, you’ll gain blue Spirit up to a certain amount.

On the other hand, using Spirit attacks, Martial Arts, Wizardry spells, using deflection without parrying anything, dodging, and getting hit (including when you’re blocking) all accrue red Spirit. If you accrue enough red Spirit to fill up the left side of the gauge and then take a hit, you’ll enter Spirit Disruption, which will stun you and leave you completely vulnerable to any attack. Enemies in Wo Long can be quite vicious, so you’ll either be blocking or dodging rather regularly. You’ll need to focus on gaining blue Spirit while your red Spirit routinely increases, so it’s a balancing act.

How Spirit works in Wo Long

It’s typically not a good idea to start a fight with anything that uses red Spirit. You’ll be at neutral Spirit most of the time you’re not in combat, so starting a fight and immediately using a hefty amount of red Spirit will put you at much greater risk of Spirit Disruption. Instead, you should start fights by getting in some basic attacks and deflecting anything you can. Once you have some blue Spirit, it’ll be safe to start using other abilities. Keep in mind that hitting enemies with your basic attack will accrue blue Spirit regardless of whether or not they’re blocking.

Enemies also have Spirit meters that are visible alongside their health bars. It will usually behoove you to force them to enter Spirit Disruption. Hitting them with Martial Arts, Spirit attacks, Wizardry spells, or deflecting their attacks will increase how much red Spirit they have. Once their red Spirit is full and you hit them, a red dot will appear that will allow you to pull of a Critical Blow, which will do a large amount of damage. This is what you’ll want to use to sufficiently hurt most bosses while carefully managing your own Spirit to keep from entering Spirit Disruption.

That’s really all there is to Spirit in Wo Long. Just remember to keep up the pressure with basic attacks and deflections and you won’t find yourself stunned as much. Granted, enemy Critical Blows can do a huge amount of damage, so sometimes Spirit won’t even matter as much as just getting the timing for deflections down. But every little bit helps. And so does setting your weapon on fire and then beating an enemy to death with it. The more you know.

Screenshot by PC Invasion