What's the Best Stance in Black Myth: Wukong?

Black Myth: Wukong – Which Stance Reigns Supreme?

In Black Myth: Wukong, mastering the Stance system is key to surviving the game’s toughest battles. As the Destined One, you'll have access to three different stances, each offering unique heavy attacks and combo variations. Knowing when to switch stances can turn the tide in your favor, allowing you to unleash powerful combos even against the game’s most formidable foes.

Switching between stances in Black Myth: Wukong is seamless, enabling you to adapt your strategy quickly depending on the situation. However, understanding the strengths of each stance and when to use them is crucial. Here's a comprehensive breakdown of each stance to help you decide: "Which Stance is Best?"

Smash Stance

You start the game with Smash Stance, and it remains a reliable option throughout most encounters. This stance excels in one-on-one combat and works well against enemies whose attack patterns you've learned. Smash Stance's ability, Resolute Counterflow, lets you negate an incoming attack and retaliate with increased force. This becomes even more potent once you unlock the Skyfall Strike upgrade, which enables you to stagger enemies with well-timed combos.

Smash Stance also allows movement while charging a heavy attack and can even charge while sprinting if the right upgrade is obtained. This makes it an excellent choice for initiating fights, as a fully-charged heavy attack can severely damage enemies or eliminate weaker foes in one hit. However, Smash Stance is less effective against multiple opponents unless they are lined up for a Skyfall Strike, making it wise to switch to Pillar Stance in such scenarios.

The heavy attack for Smash Stance is a straightforward overhead slam, delivering substantial damage but usually only affecting the targeted enemy due to its limited range.

Pillar Stance

Unlocked after investing five Sparks, Pillar Stance is the second available option and shines in situations involving multiple enemies or adversaries with far-reaching attacks. This stance’s heavy attack allows you to perch atop your staff, extending it based on your available focus points. While perching puts you out of reach of most melee attacks, attacks hitting the staff will deplete your stamina, potentially knocking you down if it runs out. Releasing the heavy attack causes you to drop, executing a long-range slam with the extended staff that can strike several foes at once.

Pillar Stance’s variable combo, Sweeping Gale, allows you to plant the staff and spin around it, delivering multi-hit kicks. This can be highly effective when surrounded by weaker foes. The Gale's Blessing upgrade reduces damage taken during the spin, making it safer to use. Unlocking Churning Gale lets you follow Sweeping Gale with a wide swing of the extended staff, delivering substantial damage and often staggering enemies.

Pillar Stance is ideal for crowd control and delivering significant damage to multiple targets. However, its lack of defensive capabilities makes it risky against fast, hard-hitting enemies. When dealing with such foes, Thrust Stance might be a better choice for maintaining distance while still dealing high damage.

Thrust Stance

Thrust Stance, available at level 20, focuses on rapid, long-range jabs, taking full advantage of your weapon's variable length. Its heavy attack extends the staff for a powerful, long-range jab that can deal massive damage and stagger opponents. With the Whirling Thrusts upgrade, you can hold the light attack button after the jab to lunge forward, delivering a flurry of close-range jabs—perfect for closing the gap quickly.

Thrust Stance’s variable combo involves a backstep during a light attack combo, creating space between you and your opponent. Tapping heavy attack again while having at least one focus point unleashes a ranged jab, similar to the stance’s heavy attack, and can lead into Whirling Thrusts. With the right upgrades, Whirling Thrusts can transition into a Tactical Retreat, allowing you to disengage effectively.

Thrust Stance offers a highly mobile combat style, ideal for dodging close-range attacks like AOE blasts. While tricky to master, it proves highly rewarding against bosses that introduce new phases with powerful AOE attacks.

So, Which Stance Is Best?

The best stance depends largely on the situation at hand. Smash Stance is a versatile, all-purpose option suitable for most encounters. Pillar Stance becomes invaluable when facing groups or stunned enemies, while Thrust Stance excels at initiating combat and maintaining distance.

In my personal experience, Smash Stance is my go-to, offering a solid balance of offense and defense. I often use Thrust Stance to engage enemies and close distances, with Pillar Stance reserved for dealing with groups or when I’ve unlocked Gale’s Blessing, enhancing its effectiveness against multiple foes.

Each stance brings its own strengths to the table, and mastering when and how to use them can make all the difference in your journey through Black Myth: Wukong.