The Phantom Blade Zero Gu Wanyue boss is quite a challenge, easily being one of the trickiest bosses up to this point. That's hardly a surprise given that she's entirely immune to damage most of the time, with perfect parries and dodges being the only ways of even temporarily removing her invincibility. That unfortunately means you mostly have to just lock in and learn those attack patterns, but my tips for defeating Gu Wanyue should help too.
Phantom Blade Zero Gu Wanyue tips
Gu Wanyue attacks hard and fast, with rapid combos and lightning-fast strikes that can shred through your health. It also doesn't help that she can partially blind you and that her damage immunity can be only temporarily removed in certain ways, so here are some pointers for dealing with her:
- Watch for the shimmering smokey effect on her body: If you see smoke-like wisps emanating from Gu Wanyue, that means she's immune to damage, so don't waste any time attacking her. The only ways you can temporarily remove this invincibility effect is by parrying or dodging enough of her attacks to break her guard and by deflecting the blue-flash attack where she throws a purple fireball at you. For the latter, the vulnerability period is very short, but you can still get a few hits in.
- Perfect parries and dodges are absolutely essential: In case this wasn't clear already, this fight entirely hinges on your ability to perfectly deal with her attacks. It's especially important for her red and blue-flash attacks as these often cause Soul to automatically execute a counterattack that does a little damage, helping you wear down both her health and Sha-Chi bar at the same time, even when she's normally immune.
- Watch out for her two awful red-flash grab attacks: These are similarly brutal to the Phantom Blade Zero Gold-Masked One's grab attack and Gu Wanyue uses them frequently, so you really need to be on your guard and ready to dodge at any moment. One sees her lunge a great distance at high speed and the other sees her grappling Soul's head from a handstand, and she often uses one right as her smoke cloud dissipates.
- Block when her smoke clouds obscure your vision: Since Gu Wanyue can attack from pretty much any angle and that you can barely see, parrying is very difficult. I found it was best to just hold L1 to block her attacks and occasionally dodge out the way if I could see her coming.
- Keep your distance to avoid her scream attack: If you spend what seems like any more than a few seconds right next to Gu Wanyue, she'll let out a stunning scream that forces you into a quick time event to recover, leaving you highly vulnerable to attack.
- Wear the right Accessories: The Ancient Armor Fragment is fantastic because its damage resistance will make those grab attacks far less brutal. The Medicine Case pairs very well with this to improve your healing. You may also want to consider the Token of Pursuit to boost damage to Guard-Broken enemies or the Reflex Device if you're struggling to nail the perfect timing on her flash attacks - I've explained what some of the best Phantom Blade Zero Accessories are too.
Gu Wanyue thankfully doesn't have a second phase, so once you've emptied her health bar and one last cutscene, your ears will be saved from more singing. For your victory, you'll get a Fanatic's Fragment: Fixation, which is part of an item that is needed to Soul Temper the Fanatic's Sword. Unfortunately, you need to find the other fragments to complete the item first.
But now you can proceed through the rest of Pangzhen by jumping down the well. Very shortly after this is where you'll find the Phantom Blade Zero Mandate Encampment Key, followed by learning how to upgrade medicine in Phantom Blade Zero. Later in Pangzhen, you can get the Phantom Blade Zero Flaming Mane and complete the Phantom Blade Zero Flesh Lily quest too.
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