Commander Honglan is one of the toughest bosses you need to get through early on in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, and she can make your life miserable if you don’t have the right weapons or approach.
While all of Wuchang: Fallen Feathers’ bosses are challenging in their own way, some are definitely harder than others. In the first chapter, you’ll likely get past most enemies within a few attempts once you learn their unique attack patterns and when to counter.
At least, that’s the case until Commander Honglan halts you in your tracks. This fight is designed to be an early skill check, acting as a tease for some of the really brutal encounters to follow.
So, if you’re struggling to get past her, here’s how to beat Commander Honglan.
Commander Honglan overview in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers
Commander Honglan is the final boss of Chapter 1, found in the palace courtyard. You must defeat her before starting Chapter 2, but you can go back and farm Red Mercury to level up as much as you want beforehand.
She uses a mix of sword attacks, as well as punches and kicks, before moving on to wind attacks in her second phase.
While not quite as challenging as some of the later bosses, she does mark a significant step up from the rest of Chapter 1. She acts as a skill-check fight, ensuring that you’ve mastered the systems well enough to progress.
Commander Honglan strengths & weaknesses
In truth, Commander Honglan doesn’t have any specific weakness, which is what makes her such a fierce enemy.
As a sword-wielder, you can use deflect to parry some of her attacks, as long as you’ve mastered the timing. Plus, she is open to long-range spells, which carry very little risk on your part, but the windows are few and far between.
Her greatest strength is her sheer speed. On your first few attempts, her combos feel relentless and put you on the back foot so often that it’s tough to know when and where you’re supposed to follow up with a counter.
Preparation: Best weapons & skills
To make the fight as easy as possible, you’ll want to run a Longsword and a One-Handed Sword. We went for Lashing Whip and the Astral Blade, but you can easily swap these for your preferred options in these Weapon Types.
Longswords are great all-rounders, and, crucially for this fight, have the Sword Counter Discipline once you unlock it from the Impetus Repository. This will help make some of the longer combos easier to survive, as you can parry them to avoid damage.
You’ll also need Windforce to unleash quick, heavy attacks that stun her and open her up for big damage.
Meanwhile, One-Handed Swords should be used to buff the damage of your spells, which are absolutely crucial.
It’s also vital that you have both Biding Time and Sword Saint unlocked before you start. These allow you to gain Skybound Might every few seconds while holding a One-Handed Sword, or on every second hit of a light combo with a Longsword, meaning you’ll have access to spells and Weapon Skills more often.
How to beat
While it may seem counterintuitive, it’s actually best to stay relatively close to Commander Honglan, even when she’s slashing at you continuously. At least for the first phase. This gives you the best possible chance to dodge, parry, and even land the occasional blow of your own.
While there are a few small windows for you to land a hit or two, what you’re really waiting for is the martial combo where she throws a series of punches and kicks in quick succession.
If you avoid all of these and dodge the final hit to position behind her, you can spend one Skybound Might to unleash a heavy attack with your Longsword. This stuns her and opens her up for an Obliterate Attack, which takes a huge chunk out of her health.
The second phase is much like the first, only Honglan now has a couple of wind attacks added to her arsenal, which she uses to fire waves at you from range. Thankfully, these are relatively easy to dodge and great for farming Skybound Might.
During this stage, it’s best to continue doing what you were doing before, but occasionally fall back to invite the wind attacks. This is where your spells come into play.
Once you’ve successfully dodged them, you can clap back with Echos of Lu Bizang, which launches a flaming spear across the battlefield. Just make sure that you’re holding your One-Handed Sword when you cast it, as this will significantly buff the damage.
Rinse and repeat until you’ve whittle down her health bar and can finally move on to Chapter 2. This will likely take you a few attempts to master, especially the timing of the dodges, but with a little patience and the right setup, you’ll have her beat no time.
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