Wo Long: Aoye boss guide, tips and strategies

Need tips on how to beat the Aoye in Wo Long? Players of Koei Tecmo's Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty may as a whole be currently preoccupied with Zhang Liang, the first boss of the game, but you only need to go a little further into the game to discover an even greater threat - the demonic Aoye.

This horrible cow demon uses its otherworldly maw and its long tendrils of iron-like black hair to punish new players for underestimating the beast's startling range. With its dangerous attacks, high health pool, and unpredictable movements, the Aoye fight is one of the big brick walls that many players encounter in the first half of the game, so allow us to lend you a helping tendril with our top tips and strategies on how to beat the Aoye in Wo Long.

Wo Long: Aoye overview

The Aoye is a gigantic demon that takes the form of a malformed cow wrapped in tendrils of black hair. It is one of the strongest early bosses you'll encounter in Wo Long, and awaits you at the end of the In Search Of The Immortal Wizard battleground in Part 3 of Wo Long's story.

The Aoye is a nasty piece of work for new players, mainly because its bulk and unnatural movements can make reading its attack patterns quite difficult. It frequently lashes and swings with its front two tendrils, and can also charge forward with a Critical Blow attack that, as you'll see below, is also its great weakness.

Wo Long Aoye boss fight walkthrough

Above is a video walkthrough of the boss fight against Aoye at the end of the In Search Of The Immortal Wizard battleground. Take a look at the video to see how one can respond to the Aoye's various attacks (particularly its Critical Blows) to gain an advantage in the fight. You can also keep reading for our top tips below.

How to beat Aoye in Wo Long

To supplement the video walkthrough above, here are our top tips and strategies to help you beat the Aoye in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty.

1. Deflect the Aoye's forward charge
2. Use a fast weapon with good deflect difficulty
3. Be patient and don't counterattack too early
4. Let Hong Jing tank attacks in the 2nd phase
5. Watch out for that nasty grab attack

1. Deflect the Aoye's forward charge

One of the Aoye's Critical Blow attacks involves it slamming down both its front tendrils either side of you, creating a "runway" of sorts, after which it charges down the runway towards you. Stand your ground if you see this - it's easy to deflect once you understand the timing. Doing so will momentarily stun the beast, allowing you to get some free hits in.

The Aoye is very fond of this move, and will likely try it multiple times in a single fight, which makes it just about your greatest advantage over the eldritch cow.

2. Use a fast weapon with good deflect difficulty

The Aoye has a long reach and likes to chain together attacks, so it's far better to go for deflects rather than dodges for this fight. It also doesn't give you much time to attack, so a fast weapon is ideal here. These two facts dovetail quite nicely, because in Wo Long the faster weapons tend to make it easier to deflect attacks.

Ultimately you can use any weapon you like against Aoye, but if you're struggling to do decent damage, then try out a weapon like dual sabres or a simple scimitar.

3. Be patient and don't counterattack too early

Because Aoye likes to chain together sweeping attacks with its front tendrils, there isn't much of a window to attack it before you suddenly have to defend again. The worst thing you can do in this fight is get greedy, and try to go for one more attack. Stay patient, and whittle its health down gradually for a much easier time.

4. Let Hong Jing tank attacks in the 2nd phase

In the boss fight's second phase (at roughly 50% health), the Aoye will start to incorporate area-of-effect ice attacks into its tantrums. There are two attacks in particular which make it rather difficult to get close - one where it rears up and roars, shooting ice in all directions, and another where it flaps its front tendrils angrily, and then spits out ice directly on the ground in front of it.

When you see either of these attacks building up, fall back and let Hong Jing tank them. She's not much of a tank, but she can distract the Aoye, allowing you to hit its rear legs, where you're mostly safe from its ice attacks.

5. Watch out for that nasty grab attack

As you'll see from the video above, the only time I was ever in trouble was when I mis-timed the deflect for the Aoye's grab attack, triggering an extended animation where I was chewed by thet Aoye for a while before being spat out. This attack is a nasty piece of work, and could spell the end for players, particularly if the Aoye follows it up with a quick secondary attack - which it has been known to do.

The main issue here is thinking (wrongly) that you're out of range of the grab attack. In fact, the Aoye can lurch forward very suddenly for the second grab in the attack, so you should be prepared to deflect even if you're seemingly out of range. Do this, and you nullify the Aoye's most dangerous weapon against you.

And that's really all there is to defeating the horrifying, lumbering Aoye boss fight in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty! If you're feeling a bit underlevelled when you face it, then it's probably a good idea to use our Wo Long flag locations guide to track down every flag in the region and use them to increase your Fortitude Rank. Or, if you're looking for a slightly calmer task after the Aoye, then do consult our guide on the various adorable little Wo Long Shitieshou dotted about the world.