You unlock the ability to harness Spirits by speaking to the Wise Master in the Bamboo Grove, Chapter 1. Spirits are fueled by Qi, a resource that builds as you participate in combat. Using your Spirit ability at the right time can absolutely turn the tide of battle as most Spirits can stagger bosses, disrupting their combos. After collecting some Spirits, remember to Cultivate them at a Shrine to make them more powerful!
Pro Tip: You can swap your Spirit at any time, but doing so depletes your Qi. You can recharge your Qi through combat or by resting at a Shrine.
Finding Spirits
There are over 50 Spirits to collect along your journey. Some of them are found by defeating bosses or mini-bosses, but others come from stronger versions of normal enemies marked by blue flames. Use your Gourd to collect the Spirit after defeating your foe, since there are so many different Spirits you should experiment whenever you get a new one to find something that fits your playstyle.
How Do Spirits Work?
Spirits offer a passive bonus and an active effect. For example, the Wandering Wight passively increases your defense when equipped. Spend your Qi to activate him, temporarily taking his form to slam your head down damaging (and likely staggering) any unlikely foes caught in the strike. Some Spirits are interrupted when you take damage, so you need to position yourself carefully when you use them. Others like the Wandering Wight are difficult to interrupt, and some defensive spirits like Non-Void give temporary invulnerability.
Spirit Cultivation
Spend Will and materials at Shrines to enhance your Spirits through Cultivation. This gets expensive, and you won't have the resources to enhance everything unless you do several playthroughs. Therefore you need to prioritize enhancing the Spirits that you use the most, or the ones which are exceptionally powerful.
| Cultivation | Will | Materials |
|---|---|---|
| Rank 2 | 1,500 | N/A |
| Rank 3 | 3,000 | 1x Blood of the Iron Bull |
| Rank 4 | 6,000 | 2x Blood of the Iron Bull |
| Rank 5 | 9,000 | 1x Knot of Voidness |
| Rank 6 | 12,000 | 1x Knot of Voidness |
Best Spirits
There are a lot of Spirits you can collect and use along your journey. Some of these provide specific effects to support a niche playstyle, while others are more broadly applicable. But there are a few options which stand above the rest and provide significant power increases through their active or passive bonuses.
Chapter 1
- Wandering Wight
- Found in the Forest of Wolves, Chapter 1.
- Passive: Defense
- Take the form of the Wandering Wight and use your head to deliver a staggering blow to a foe directly in front of you. This Spirit has a fast animation, deals heavy damage when fully upgraded, and inflicts a heavy stagger. You can use this Spirit ability to break Yellowbrow's golden skin or crack the wall to gain access to the Loong Scale.
Chapter 2
- Earth Wolf
- Found in Sandgate Village, Chapter 2.
- Passive: Focus on Hit
- You can use the Earth Wolf to inflict a continuous stagger on enemies. Increasing your Focus generation is also one of the stronger passive effects as more Focus means more Charged Heavy Attacks! The animation is fairly long which makes this Spirit vulnerable to interruption so pay attention to your timing and position when using the active.
- Gore-Eye Daoist
- Found in the Yellow Wind Formation, Chapter 2.
- Passive: Mana
- The passive Mana boost already makes the Gore-Eye Daoist a potent Spirit choice. His active effect is particularly interesting, as he leaves behind an empowered staff that provides buffs for a generous duration. When fighting a boss that doesn't move around you can combine this with Ring of Fire and A Pluck of Many to massively increase your damage output.
Chapter 3
- Non-Able
- Found near the Brooks of Bliss, Chapter 3.
- Passive: -Mana +Atk/Crit
- When you use Non-Able you use a variety of martial moves depending on your button inputs. This Spirit recharges rapidly and is capable of staggering enemies. As a result, he is your best choice for disrupting enemy attack patterns. However, his passive comes with the downside of reducing your maximum Mana.
- Non-Void
- Found in New Thunderclap Temple, Chapter 3.
- Passive: Stamina Recovery when Hit
- Despite having a weak passive effect, Non-Void is well worth using! His active is a backstep dodge that comes with generous iframes and it has a very low Qi cost. If you're struggling to avoid a specific attack think of this as a second Cloud Step which you can use to negate most if not all of the mechanic.
Chapter 4
- Puppet Tick
- Found in the Webbed Hollow, Chapter 4, near Yellow Loong's location.
- Passive: A Pluck of Many costs less Mana.
- The spiderlings summoned by Puppet Tick pack a punch and they explode on death dealing even more damage and inflicting the Poison Bane. In addition, the Mana cost reduction on A Pluck of Many can mean the difference between casting it once or twice within a given fight.
Chapters 5+
- Flint Vanguard
- Found on the Cooling Slope, Chapter 5, near the entrance to Bishui Cave.
- Passive: Scorch damage and Burn Resistance.
- The Flint Vanguard does absurd damage if you are able to land every hit in the sequence. This is probably the highest damage Spirit in the game. Plus when the direct damage doesn't finish a foe off the burn continues to tick adding additional damage.
- Baw-Baw-Lang-Lang
- Special
- Passive: Jumps/Jump Attacks cost less Stamina.
- You need to beat the Frog boss found in each chapter to collect Tadpoles, then fully upgrade Baw-Li-Guuh-Lang. Once you do he transforms into Baw-Baw-Lang-Lang. This Spirit has 4 different active effects depending on which elemental frog is chosen but all of them are excellent for dealing damage and staggering foes.
Summary
Our Spirit Guide covers how to absorb Spirits into your Gourd, Spirit Cultivation costs and some of the best Spirits to use throughout your Black Myth Wukong journey.
Written by: Tenkiei
