Best Defense Builds in Black Myth: Wukong

Key things

• The early game defense build focuses on key items and abilities in Chapter 1 as an advantage.
• A mid-to-late game defensive build improves survivability with spells, ghosts, and curiosities.
• The new game plus features a perfect defense build with Fortune's Favor armor for high defense.

There are several ways to play Black Myth: Wukong. Players can focus on offense, spells, agile doge, or damage mitigation, and there are many ways to augment each of these aspects. From passive bonuses from ghosts to relics to the player's gourd and dunks, there are many options to create an effective build.

The player's access to build options is limited by how far they progress in the game, as many key items and spirits require certain enemies to be defeated, and armor sets require crafting materials to complete. These builds will help players who want to play defensively from the beginning of the game to a few new game plus cycles.

1 Early game defense building

Erasing Chapter 1

• Weapon: Staff of the Wind Bear
• Armor: Ebongold Armor, Gray Wolf Mask
• Spirits: Wandering Wight
• Vessel: Fireproof Cloak
• Interesting facts: Beads for cat's eyes, Agate Jar
• It soaks: Gall Gem, Steel Ginseng
• Charms: Cloud Step, Immobilization

This build is not entirely focused on defense, but when players are starting out Black Myth: Wukongthey will want every advantage they can get. Building this build requires a very thorough Chapter 1, clearing all available optional enemies to gain some key items and abilities.

Taking out a Wandering Wight to get its spirit should be the player's first priority, as it will provide a passive defense buff as well as access to a powerful attack. Immobilization from the Bullguard and Cloud Step from the Black Wind King are two spells that have both defensive and offensive functions.

The next step will be to defeat Elder Jinchi to get the Fireproof Cloak and then take down Wind Bear Guai so players can craft Ebongold Armor and Wind Bear Staff. Players now have the basics of a build and can go into the rest of the game with a slight advantage.

In terms of healing, players will only have access to Old Gourd and Coconut Wine. Augment it with a Gall gem when the snake guard blocking the monkey shop is defeated for a small increase in poison resistance. Steel Ginseng is also available from Aged Ginseng plants, but requires a lucky drop to obtain it.

2 Mid To Late Game Defensive build

Spells, Spirits And Defensive Playstyle Focus

• Weapon: Jingubang
• Armor: Gold Souzi Armor (Heaven's Equal 4 Piece Set)
• Spirits: Flint Chief, Wandering Wight
• Vessel: Wind Tamer
• Interesting facts: Golden Spike, Agate Vessel, Boshan Censer
• It soaks: Bee Mountain Stone, Iron Pellet, Purple-veined Peach Pit
• Charms: Ring of Fire, Rock Solid, Azure Dust, A Pluck of Many

It will take time for players to get to the point where they can really focus on defense as a building strategy Black Myth: Wukong. However, once they hit chapter six, there are plenty of ways to boost defensive stats, as well as make spells, spirits, and curios more survivable.

Even at this point, Wandering Wight still has the best passive for damage reduction, but players may want to check out Flint Chief for its active ability that hardens the player and repels attacks, similar to a solid as rock spell. His passive will also help when a bit more mine resistance is needed. There's also Top Take Bottom, Bottom Takes Top, but the attack debuff outweighs the big defense boost at this stage.

Curiosities are especially important for players who want to focus on defense. The Gold Spikeplate is an epic curiosity that greatly increases defense and damages enemies when they attack. It's powerful, but it's easy to miss as players need to farm the Dark-faced Overlord enemies in Chapter 3 and hope they miss the item. The Agate Jar from Chapter 1 offers a minor defense boost, but it stacks up.

Armor and weapon tie this build together. They aren't exactly defense focused, but players get the best base defense stats from this set and Jingubang completes the set's cooldown reducing bonus. Players will need to obtain a Common Set from the Verdant Path in Mount Hauguo and defeat the Golden Armored Rhino on the Rhino Watch Slope in order to create a Mythic Set.

3 The new defense line-up of the Plus game

Bull King Set And The Dark Iron Staff

• Weapon: Dark Iron Staff
• Armor: Bull King Armor (4 Piece Set)
• Spirits: Flint Chief / Top Takes Bottom, Bottom Takes Top / Wandering Wight
• Vessel: Plantain fan
• Interesting facts: amber prayer beads, gold button, gold spike, agate vessel
• It soaks: Turtle Tear, Heavenly Lotus Seed, Delicate Jade Lotus, Steel Ginseng
• Charms: Ring of Fire, Solid Rock, Azure Dust, Lots of Many​​​​​​​​

Additionally, in the new game, players who focus on defense can also turn it into offense. The Dark Iron staff is only available in the new game plus, but its effect increases the player's attack based on the defense status. This makes it objectively the best weapon for high defense builds.

The Bull King's Armor set is unlocked in Chapter 5 in the player's first playthrough, but cannot be crafted until they reach Chapter 5 again in a new game, plus due to material requirements. Once craftable, it offers the best defensive stats in the game (for now). However, players will need to consider his set bonus, which makes perfect dodge ability impossible. It compensates for this by essentially making players' attacks unstoppable, but it's a trade-off players must account for in order to play effectively.

This can be helped by using the defensive spell Rock Solid in combination with Flint Chief's active ability to reliably deflect enemy attacks. Players here may want to balance out the defensive nature of the build with a Plantain Fan to increase stamina recovery over the Wind Tamer as a vessel.

4 A high-end defensive structure

Fortune's Favored

• Weapon: Dark Iron Staff
• Armor: Fortune's Favor (4 Piece Set)
• Spirits: Flint Chief / Top Takes Bottom, Bottom Takes Top / Wandering Wight
• Vessel: Tamer of the Wind
• Interesting facts: amber prayer beads, gold button, gold spike, agate vessel
• It soaks: Turtle Tear, Heavenly Lotus Seed, Delicate Jade Lotus, Steel Ginseng
• ​Charms: Cloud Step, Ring of Fire, Rock Solid, Life-Saving Strand

As players go through more new games plus cycles, an interesting quirk will appear that can push the defense structures even further. The Fortune's Favor set, obtainable in Chapter 6, will eclipse the Bull King Armor set for defense once the player has fully upgraded all of their relic abilities. Players easily end up with more than 750 defense, which increases the Dark Iron Staff's damage even more.

Unlike the Bull King set, this frees up the use of a perfect dodge ability while maintaining an even higher defense. This can be further expanded by stacking curiosities such as the Agate Jar and Golden Tip. Note that a craft like Wind Tamer increases damage reduction, not defense, so it won't affect the bonus, even though it's a craft worth using.

Defense in Black Myth: Wukong can only take players so far. No build can absorb every hit from the boss in these new game plus cycles. Defensive play is often about finding the best way to avoid or mitigate damage in relation to your current playstyle, whether it's high defense stats or nimble dodging.