How do you beat Tiger Vanguard in Black Myth Wukong? We’re not going to lie to you, we really struggled against Tiger Vanguard, but that struggle has only made us stronger. Through hours of repetition, we’ve learned the way of the Tiger, providing us with all the information needed to slay this beast in a matter of minutes.
You’re going to be spending a lot of time taking on Black Myth Wukong bosses, but there aren’t too many as tough as Tiger Vanguard. It’s clear from the outset that this boss isn’t to be messed with, just look at the arena, it’s literally a pool of blood. Black Myth Wukong features several skill trees that you can respec at any time for free, so you may need to make some changes to follow our advice.
Tiger Vanguard recommended skills
We highly recommend attempting this boss fight at a bare minimum of level 20. Of course, the higher level you are, the easier the action game will be. You need to spend the majority of your sparks in the stamina section of the foundation skill tree due to the amount of dodging you’re going to be doing. We also need some additional health due to the sheer damage Tiger Vanguard is capable of dishing out. Finally, Resolute Counterflow gives us access to Resolute Strike, a great way of using spare focus points.
Here are the skills we recommend using to beat Tiger Vanguard:
- Smash Stance – Resolute Counterflow (1/1)
- Staff Stances – Exhilaration (1/1)
- Staff Stances – Instinct (3/3)
- Foundation – Survival (3/5)
- Foundation – Simian Agility (1/2)
- Foundation – Deft Evasion (1/1)
- Foundation – Endurance (1/2)
- Foundation – Everlasting Vigor (1/1)
- Foundation – Composure (1/1)
- Foundation – Bold Move (1/2)
- Foundation – Ephemeral Shadow (1/1)
- Foundation – Vengeful Mirage (1/1)
By this point in the game, you should be able to increase your stats, so check out our guide to improve your build. Your equipment largely doesn’t matter in this boss fight, as long as you’re wearing something in each of the slots, you should be fine. However, we do recommend picking Guangmou as your spirit summon. Its poisonous effect combined with Immobilize is guaranteed to hurt Tiger Vanguard for a considerable amount of damage.
How to beat Tiger Vanguard
The Tiger Vanguard fight begins with a staredown, giving you plenty of time to prepare your attack as he patiently waits for you to approach him. When you step into the arena, he will dash towards the right before leaping into the air with his arms stretched, ready to slam them into the ground. Take this opportunity to dodge out of the way before unleashing a light attack combo, but stop before the heavy attack finisher.
The Tiger will attack you with a two-hit combo, so try to dodge towards his back to avoid the follow-up punch. You should be able to land another partial light attack string before the Tiger cartwheels away to create a gap. Don’t approach him, instead wait for the Tiger to charge towards you. He will leap into the air again, but this time you need to dodge slightly later as he descends slower. Attack him with another light combo to build a second focus point. When he attempts to back away from you, keep close and jump towards him, following up with a heavy attack to cause a stagger animation.
If you create too much space between yourself and the boss, he will whip up tornados using the blood on the stage to hit you from a distance. As long as you stay close to the Tiger, he won’t resort to using long-range attacks. Being far away from the boss doesn’t do you any favors as you won’t be able to land any blows from afar, and the tornados can be difficult to avoid if you’re too close to a wall.
At this stage, the Tiger will pull out his sword and attempt to slash you. Fortunately, this attack only strikes once and needs a few seconds to recover, giving you a window to deal with damage with your light attack. Next, he’ll try to hit you with the same two-hit combo, ideally you should be able to perfect dodge out of the way. This will trigger one of your abilities, providing a damage bonus to your next attack. Watch out for his retreat this time as the Tiger spins away from you, dealing damage with his limbs and tail.
Stand still and wait for the Tiger to unleash his powerful sword slash attack, capable of removing half of your health bar if it lands. As soon as you’ve avoided the attack, activate Red Tides to transform into the Wolf while he recovers. You should have enough time to pummel him with some light attacks before he launches into his trusty two-hit combo. Avoid this string and focus on building your focus meter. When he retreats this time, he’ll launch into a four-attack combo that begins with a spinning jump, moves into the standard two-hit combo, then ends with the delayed leap attack. As soon as he lands on the ground, use your dodge into heavy attack move to spend your focus gauge.
You should’ve dealt enough damage to trigger the Tiger’s defensive stone ability, don’t attack him as you’ll bounce right off. Instead, wait for him to stagger out of it before using the remainder of your Wolf transformation to deal some extra damage. He’ll try his trusty two-hit combo again, dodge it and smash him with another light attack string. If you’ve timed your dodges and landed enough attacks, you should have built up two focus points. As he’s retreating, go for another air heavy attack to hurt him and potentially heal yourself in the process.
With the Tiger at half health, he begins to learn some new tricks, including a charged punch which he launches into after turning into stone. This attack is particularly tricky as the game’s camera becomes unpredictable due to the target temporarily leaving the battlefield, stopping you from locking onto the boss. The Tiger teleports back into the arena with a punch that deals heavy damage, we highly recommend activating Cloud Step. one of your Black Myth Wukong spells, to remove yourself from the situation entirely. Wait for the Tiger to start up an attack string and pick the right moment to attack.
He’s going to alternate between his two-hit and four-hit combo, occasionally taking a moment to retreat before attacking with a new string. This time, you can expect four hits again, but the first two begin with a lunging attack that leads into a stomp. Following this is the delayed leap, which can be punished as soon as he lands with an attack string ending with a heavy attack. He will almost always follow up his two-attack combo with a spinning attack as his retreats, don’t attack right away as you may get caught out.
When he retreats, he sometimes reverts to the charged sword slash attack seen earlier. It’s worth dodging out of the way of this attack rather than using your Cloud Step as we want to save that for the Tiger’s teleport move. With just under a third of his health bar left, you may see the Tiger opt for his sword as he switches up his attack pattern one last time. As soon as the Tiger begins an attack pattern, freeze him in place with Immobilize, then summon your vipers to spit poison at him. The hardest part of this fight is accounting for his latest sword combo, but you should have at least one more Cloud Step available if you need to avoid it.
Tiger Vanguard rewards
After all that hassle, you’re rewarded with the Tiger Tally, Stone Spirit, and Yaoguai Core. The Tiger Tally is a curio that temporarily increases your attack when you land your light attack combo. Most of your damage output comes from your light attack combo, making this curio a great addition to your build. Both the Stone Spirit and Yaoguai Core are materials to upgrade your Black Myth Wukong weapon, so these should be useful to when you unlock your next staff upgrade.
That’s everything you need to beat Tiger Vanguard in Black Myth Wukong. This boss makes the Black Bear Guai fight feel like a walk in the park in comparison, but be warned, your next struggle will be the rat fight. Fortunately, we’ve already got you covered. We also have a list of the best action adventure games if you want to play something a bit easier. Finally, give our Black Myth Wukong review a read to see what we thought of the game.