The Nioh games were Team Ninja's take on FromSoftware's SoulsBorne games. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, on the other hand, is the evolution of the Nioh games, with sprinkles of inspiration from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
Like the Nioh games, there's one mechanic in Wo Long around which the entirety of the game's combat revolves. Team Ninja describes this parameter as 'Spirit.' Before you dive into Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, here's everything you should know about the game's Spirit mechanic.
How does the Spirit Mechanic work in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
The Spirit in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is your's character stamina, which governs your ability to dodge, deflect, perform melee attacks, use Martial Arts abilities, and cast Wizardry Spells. It's like the Ki from the Nioh games.
You gain Spirit by attacking an enemy or by successfully deflecting their attacks. Spirit attacks, whether through Martial Arts abilities or Wizardry Spells, does more damage than regular attacks and shrink the enemy's positive and negative limits of their Spirit Gauge.
Your character as well as every enemy in the game, have a Spirit Gauge. Dealing damage will increase the positive limit of your Spirit Gauge. The positive Spirit will be consumed to increase the power of your attacks.
When you take damage, your character's Spirit will venture into the negative limit of the Spirit Gauge. You can't perform Martial Arts abilities or cast Wizardry Spells while your Spirit is negative. In fact, if your character's negative meter gets full, you will become completely defenseless for a few seconds.
If you don't perform any actions, and your Spirit remains unchanged for a while, it will return back to its default state. In this state, your negative Spirit will increase, and your positive Spirit will decrease.
The enemy's Spirit Gauge works in a similar fashion. When you deal damage to them, their negative limit will start to fill. When the meter is full, you can perform a Fatak Strike to deal massive damage. It's a handy maneuver, especially when fighting bosses.
The easiest way to fill an enemy's negative Spirit Gauge is by deflecting their critical blows. These are dangerous moves that, if not deflected properly, will deal massive damage and reduce your Morale. Every time an enemy gears up to cast a critical blow, you will notice a red symbol on the screen. Deflect these attacks properly, and their negative Spirit Gauge will be full in no time.
Guarding works differently than deflecting in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. However, much like every action in the game, guarding an enemy's attack costs Spirit.
And that's pretty much everything you need to know about Spirits in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty.
For more Wo Long Fallen Dynasty news, be sure to check out our dedicated section or some of our Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Guides & Tutorials below:
Basic Gameplay Guides: Morale System Explained | Multiplayer In Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty | Weapon Types List | Every Divine Beast Explained | How To Upgrade Weapons & Armor | Embedment System Explained | Spirit Mechanic Explained | How To Respec Your Character | Martial Arts Explained | How To Get Tiger Seals |
Combat Guides - All Five Wo Long Fallen Dynasty Phases Explained |
Best Spells - Best Fire Phase Spells To Unlock | Best Water Phase Spells To Unlock | Best Metal Phase Spells To Unlock | Best Wood Phase Spells To Unlock | Best Earth Phase Spells To Unlock
Boss Fight Guides - How To Beat Zhang Liang | How To Beat Zhuyan | How To Beat Fengxi | How To Beat Zhang Rang | How To Beat Lu Bu | How To Beat Taotie | How To Beat Sun Jian | How To Beat Aoye | How To Beat Baishe | How To Beat Zhang Jiao |