Why Wo Long’s Zhang Liang is so good at killing you

Zhang Liang in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is a gatekeeping first boss that gives players a hard time - and teaches them the important basics of the game. If you're ready to learn about the importance of manipulating the spirit bar and the mindset you need to take on Zhang Liang, Polygon's Doctor Pat Gill is here to help.
0:00 Who is Zhang Liang?
0:38 Setting up the boss fight
1:55 Learning Zhang Liang's moveset
4:42 The Rules of Wo Long
8:18 The Practice Pyramid
10:38 The Last Word
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[@polygon]

How many tries did it take you to beat Zhang Liang?

[@sb9269]

About 4 tries! lu bui was not bad either my elemental build had him soaked most of the time!

[@daddyqaht441]

At least 9

[@jordanetherington1922]

I lost count. Weirdly Lu Bu felt easier to me. Probably because I understood the system better. I still lost a bunch but it made more sense

[@andyj9988]

Died about 10 times thought id finally done it then saw there was a phase 2 and uninstalled

[@vigil2249]

I counted: 63 tries. Then after 30 hours of play I started a new character: 9 tries. It gets better, but I'm still bad!

[@MisterTTG]

the long animation of the player character getting up off the ground and turning to the camera to remind the viewer he's looked like mr. bean the whole time is the funniest thing in this video

[@FanOfMostEverything]

The Pyramid of Punishment may be a dumb term made up for the purposes of this video, but it's very helpful way of thinking about deling with multiphase bosses. Thanks, Pat.

[@grzeg_]

I'm gonna use it in life now, thanks Pat. I don’t give two shits about fighting games, but will always watch, cause you make sense to me

[@arathain2]

As soon as you said the name I understood it, before the explanation. Good concept.

[@nogoodcontentallowed8509]

pats videos are always so informative. for example, in this video i learned that apparently the reason zhang liang is such a difficult fight has something to do with "mechanics" and "attack timing" and not because you get too distracted staring at his pecs. weird

[@ambergristones]

This comment came to mind every time Pat mentioned bottoming out

[@danialcauley3569]

+1 for the "take a break" advice I read a theory somewhere about why this works so well. When you successfully do something, like dodge or parry an attack successfully, it feels good. That is, dopamine is released. Your brain will essentially remember the signals and neuron connections that led to this "reward". So when you take a break, your brain will essentially work a little harder to preserve those connections that led to the reward, while letting the signals and connections that led to failure weaken and fade away. So a big part of why taking a break is so crucial to practice is so that your brain has time to forget how to be bad at the thing.

[@LimeyLassen]

That makes me wonder if trying to brute force your way through it makes you worse at the game because you just get locked in bad habits.

[@danielled8665]

Thus why adhd sucks so much. We don't have as reliable a release of that "remember this! Pay attention!" Hormone lol

[@davidwebster6081]

Taking a break is SUPER IMPORTANT! When I'm trying to learn a really tough part of a song, I end up repeating that part like six times, but then I have to just give up, move on, and come back to it. It's amazing what a day or two can. You come back and BAM, you're breezing through stuff that previously you got wrong every time.

[@kenpokid10]

Latent learning, baby. When you're trying to accomplish a difficult task, take a break. In the background, your brain will subconsciously keep working on the thing you were doing. This is why you'll sometimes come back to it later and be like "oh, this seems way more doable all of a sudden"

[@underdog353777]

It's a pretty universal effect of learning, I don't know if it's a dopamine thing since it applies to less pleasant forms of learning as well. If you study 1 hour for a test each day for a week you will retain more than if you study 7 hours the day before the test by cramming. Cramming will keep that information in your short term, but the 1 hour a day strat will keep you remembering those lessons for years. Rest between information is crucial to retaining it. You can often tell the person who relied a lot on cramming a lot by seeing if they ever say "I don't remember anything from school."

[@callisquirrel9622]

That second spirit bar joke fucking got me cackling, god bless

[@jennegatron]

Pat's taste in games is radically different from mine but I LOVE these videos where he breaks down & analyzes why the stuff he likes is compelling design.

[@taylor3950]

Completely agree. I’ll never ever play a soulslike but learning about the tactics and pitfalls is really interesting

[@KevinHoulihanMykal]

Thank you for selling me on this game, I promise I will apply nothing that I've learned and do terribly.

[@polygon]

Excellent. Glad we had this chat.

[@Michael_Lindell]

Just remember not to manipulate the spirit bar too hard... You'll regret it in the morning.

[@polygon]

ayyyyyyyy

[@bassistheplace246]

In hindsight, I rly love how this boss acts as a gatekeeper and trial by fire for new players. Most of the other bosses are easier compared to him, but he makes sure the player is determined enough to persevere and ready to learn the bosses’ mechanics and from their own mistakes.

[@Ghfjfjfhs]

Eh, I mean, I think they should have worked another boss or two to teach you some mechanics before throwing him in. Having played Sekiro, I didn't have a hard time with him, but I did have to watch a video to explain how the spirit meter, divine beast, and spirit attacks work. Would have been better to have bosses to drill the spirit mechanics before throwing you into this fight.

[@LoonerFlight]

I have literally no stake in this or the Margit video, as I've never played those games, but damn are they awesome dives into how games work

[@tomasdelcampo2]

About that last point. The only time I ever took a break from a boss was owl from sekiro because forced to stop playing. Came back and beat him almost flawlessly nearly immediately after struggling so much (much more than with 99% of other bosses)

[@OG10Speed]

I love that Lu Bu is and forever will be the poster boy of "don't fuck with this guy."

[@brutalbeard9441]

There's a secret lesson here, that Lu Bu makes sure you learn -> Deflect everything, while blocking, and dodge nothing. No matter your build, you gain plenty of spirit from deflecting boss attacks - more than enough to compensate for the regen loss of blocking. This allows you to not take dmg any time the timing throws off your deflections. Lu Bu can swap rapidly between melee atks, charges, and ranged attacks - and he hits HARD. If you're not blocking while you deflect then mistakes are deadly, and if you're trying to stay back rather than deflect the quick hits will get you because you can no longer maintain the spirit to just keep blocking. Also, Morale is one of the biggest "bars" for calculating dmg, stay on top of it :-)

[@phamson9435]

i would highly recommend holding the block button while attempting to parry if you're struggling to parry , so that if you screwed up the parry, you're still blocking the attack.

[@firerednaxela]

"There's a new bastard in town" is a powerful opener

[@quintussertorius4447]

What a rags to riches story. Zhang Liang goes from a minor character who gets stomped in the first level of every dynasty warriors game to badass boss. I love to see it.

[@rionsanura]

i felt so bad for tina when we were watching the constant deaths live. now i understand why the margit-prodigy strats weren't working.

[@Ratsos12]

I saw the company and thumbnail, and went Yay Polygon is back! Then it turns out that wasn’t the awesome dude Polygon with the great hair, it was some impersonator faux polygon. I’m really hoping the original returns and brings glory and joy back to this channel.

[@PatrickAllenNL]

I loved to play as Zhang Liang back in Dynasty Warriors 2. At the end of his combo you could torpedo an enemy very far away through the fild and army, very fun

[@victoriahawco3893]

“Guide to Losing” is such a banger concept

[@cyberspacecat]

It's really weird how this guy only seems to be surpassed in difficulty by Lu Bu relative to where your skills are at that point in the game. It's a really fun gatekeep boss to master, similar to Genichiro in Sekiro or Gascoigne in Bloodborne, but it was disappointing that it peaked so early. (other than that optional triple human enemy fight, god..)

[@malkeyor4]

This guy I only took 2 tries on, in part just a general learning thing but for me the boss just felt like a strong introduction to the parry mechanic. If you don't get it you get screwed. I had a lot more difficultly with Lu Bu but the one I struggled with the most was Lu Bei since he has such a wild and tricky to follow attack style and patterns.

[@kin-3877]

The 3 human fight was such bull. Everyone I've seen do it have to run away constantly and that's a boring way to fight. Same with that flying lightning boss. I hate bosses that need you to run away constantly or are always flying away from you

[@polygon]

Yeah, Zhang and Lu are definitely the cleanest fights I've done. I've felt like every other boss has been messier, both in combat design and visual design, and even though I have a hard time even seeing what they are doing, I've been able to bash my way through them in 1 or 2 attempts. Also, I'm so mad at myself for putting in the time on that 3 man fight. I got it after many, many attempts, but it's not the kind of fight I came away from feeling like I figured it out. -Pat

[@HMCarsSOA]

Lu Bu was not nearly anywhere as difficult as most people made him out to be in my opinion, don't get me wrong he was definitely a good challenge and an amazingly designed fight. But people were talking about him as he was Malenia type difficulty lol. For me, he doesn't compare to Pontiff Sulyvahn who was the gatekeeper of DS3. And i found Liu Bei to be more difficult to be honest.

[@HMCarsSOA]

@@malkeyor4 Agreed, i always find it crazy that people had such a tough time with Lu Bu but a far easier time with Liu Bei. Liu Bei was my wall in this game, his criticals are trickier to dodge, you need to pay more attention to lightning, he can outright one shot you with his grab, Lu Bu was far more forgiving for me.

[@ljpimpin11]

Great video bro keep it up 💯

[@sweetgold]

this boss fight was rlly strange cause in phase 1, he's a fully stagger-able boss, which rarely appear in souls like games cause u can literally button-mash stun-lock him, and in phase 2, even though I was struggling with him for a bit, I finally read the on-screen tutorial prompt, entered the game's super saiyan mode and triggered a cutscene that counted as a win despite him having over half his life left, it could have been a bug, i'm curious if anyone else experienced this, it seemed as if phase 2 was not a skip check but rather a passive backhanded way of trying to teach u to engage with the super power mode mechanic as it triggers an insta win

[@kitthekat6844]

Why does he look so much like Mr. Been, it's uncanny!

[@LimeyLassen]

Take it to the bank boys, he's just like Mr. Bean

[@Demurr]

I'm not playing or planning to play this game but goddam does Pat make an interesting video I watched to the end

[@wellurban]

Exactly! These videos help confirm for me why I avoid games that are focused on boss fights (I play games to relax and explore, not to bash my head against a brick wall for hours), but they’re very watchable as videos.

[@daddyqaht441]

Finally someone talking about how awesome this game is, highly recommend it.

[@cooldennis6860]

Love this series. Pat is a treasure

[@cloud99vii27]

I don't even have bought this game but wow you re so good at explaining things, time break advise is good, I learned this in years of gaming and It works

[@gwen9939]

This game had a stellar combat system and feel that unfortunately the game itself wasn't too aware of. Boss fights and single enemy encounters were a lot of fun but multiple enemies were more frustrating than fun, and the level design was honestly pretty subpar. There were fortunately very short levels and a lot of boss fights so speeding through the game to get to the good parts can be fun, but it's not a good sign that the game is better if you skip 60% of it.

[@DoctorMegabytes]

another Pat Gill video that makes me feel really good about playing video games :’)

[@arsonwithstyle3122]

I laughed, embarrassingly hard at that spirit bar gag

[@polygon]

Pat told me this was “one of the dumbest insert gags I’ve ever done” and he’s WRONG it was the best - Simone

[@goeddy]

the second phase is actually way easier if you block. he has no punishes for running out of spirit in that phase so you can just keep your distance, block all his stuff and deflect the red glow attacks to take him down.

[@caseysailor9301]

Ah, another banger video from Pat 'Gatesopencomeonin' Gil!

[@edge1710]

Yes you can all do that and get gut etc. Or you can press circle and triangle (on playstation) when that third meter is full and end the fight in a cut scene just like the first boss in Nioh.

[@yemitruechild1200]

I loved this fight. I think a lot of these tips reminded me of good monster hunter mindsets.

[@justincox225]

Joke lines that changed how I think about fight patterns: "It's not BOWWW... it's Bap-BOWWWW. 'S jazz baby!"

[@mcwillip]

block is goated, opened up the fight for me

[@JS-kr8fs]

That practice pyramid is so spot-on. Unfortunately, I'm afflicted by the arrogant asphalt, where when I start to feel like I got this, I mentally slack off, start regressing out of frustration from failing earlier and earlier, and just have to start over from the bottom.

[@PsychoWarden]

The irony of this video is that blocking is pretty central to the strategy for beating Lu Bu.

[@ambermiller3751]

the sound effects in this video are god tier

[@Almontri]

I hope you make a follow up to Lu Bu's fight. As usual Pat I thank you for your insightful look at fighting games :D

[@Prederick]

I, personally, would like to watch a "Streamer Seems Mildly Annoyed by Elden Ring Boss Fight" compilation.

[@flinnja]

you forgot "oh yeah and if you read one of the million tiny things on ur screen theres a button combo you can press halfway thru second phase that is an actual insta-win"

[@JesseNapalm]

The "practice pyramid" is what keeps me from being able to enjoy any kind of soul games. The first phase of bosses becomes an unskippable cutscene you can lose.

[@LimeyLassen]

I think a well designed multiphase boss is one where the first phase teaches you stuff that's useful in the second phase.

[@LS-jj4sy]

I've never heard of this game or character but I'm gonna watch this video

[@Haewatis]

another one of the aspects that make the fight usually difficult is the presence of tutorial pop-ups explaining wholly new mechanics underlined by our blind friend telling you to do somethin or other which is sometimes meaningful but mostly just distracting fluff

[@npzabov]

Excellent Mr Bean! Good job :)

[@tekh_v01]

3:48 TENTACLE SWEEEEP

[@BlueLightningSky]

I don't think this guy is the hardest boss in the game but he's definitely the hardest relative to where he is at for most players both in terms of actual mechanical skill and character levels.

[@pedroscoponi4905]

This is legit all I needed to see to want to try Wo Long. I just hope my pc can run it... 😬

[@benzxdrine]

Why is no one talking about how good the Mr. Bean recreation is?

[@polygon]

IT'S SO GOOD

[@williamkershisnik9917]

I will never play this, but I will watch any Pat video.

[@n.s.mcmahon6180]

I was gonna get this game. Thanks for showing me that I'd hate it. I kind of have shit to do right now and can't fall into the 'fight a single boss 1,000 times' trap again.

[@medievalsim]

this is literally the first i've heard of this game and damn it if i gotta wait til i can get it now. so into dynasty warriors-like settings, but not gonna be into the spoilers til i get the game.

[@lincekid]

5 times or so. I ended up only parrying and never blocking which is apparently how this game was designed to be played

[@MokeyandMokeyinc]

Lu bu took me longer than zhang Liang but I enjoyed every second of fighting Lu bu

[@lingwd7755]

Polygon, thanks for NOT censoring Russian curses there, was fun to listen 10:28

[@polygon]

tbf we didn't censor our english curses either

[@lingwd7755]

Well, that is true. And for that I am thankful too)

[@gianghuynh9570]

Pretty much FF14’s every savage raid tier. Whenever you see a Phase 2 practice Party Finder of the final boss, you are gonna have to think of it like the phase 1 practice going into it otherwise you won’t have a good time. And each phase is further divided into mechanic mini phases that can fail and prevent you from seeing the next phase. And it’s a game where a wipe may only be your fault 1 out of 8 times.

[@thew0rm105]

Mr Bean hmm yes very good character.

[@Pencliff]

I don't have the patience or attention span for these games. Dark Souls 1 took me years to finally get round to getting all the achievements and I am now satisfied with the genre... he said while Pat convinced him he now has to try Wo Long and see what these bars are all about

[@christophersteeves9435]

Lu Bu was such a pain in the ass😂

[@DanielSolis]

Is there a name for this series of "Doctor Pat" videos?

[@lilwage6910]

there's still a freaking lu bu in this? i'm so fucked

[@polygon]

GOOD LUCK

[@CinnamonToastKing]

You hold block while trying to dodge. Joke or not, not using block will make your life 500 times harder. If you hold block while trying to dodge, you have a 2/3 chance of not taking damage instead of 1/3. If you hold block and dodge too late.....well, you block it! Dodge too early, and you will get hit but maybe block, and if you get it right you deflect!

[@Ric_Vicious]

*sad dolphin noises*

[@AssOnAPlate187]

DON'T PURSUE LU BU! - The Dynasty Warriors Series

[@undeniablySomeGuy]

oh my god i lost it already at mr bean!!!

[@Graterstuuf]

Jon Taffer is unbeaten in this game.

[@Giga-lemesh]

The final fight in sekiro defeated me. I didn’t know it was the final fight and I gave up 😭

[@heavykev]

Hilarious commentary… this was a fun watch.

[@Dasblackman]

Lu Bu is the best fight in the game and one of the best Team Ninja has ever made

[@tonyjoestar2632]

There's a reason he's The General Of Man: he obliterates them

[@iatwiatw]

The biggest problem with this fight is that you’re a beginner both as a player and as a character. This is THE moment when you need all the HP, flasks, buffs, armor, etc that you can get. But because you’re just starting out, you have room for only two or three mistakes. The last four or five bosses for example have devastating attacks and most have two phases or other units at the same time. But at that point you have so many tools (and practice) that it’s actually possible to cheese your way through them and fight somewhat carelessly. So there’s a bit of irony in this game in that regard. Except for the stupid tigers. They’re fucking hard whatever your level 😂

[@ShapezPuller64]

I'm so grateful for the fact that I never played Dark Souls in its day so I never developed the taste for recreational masochism. Bullet: dodged. Great vid, Pat! This looks horrifying!

[@sakuraheony]

i feel like i just watched a cultivation novel glossary

[@davissmith9598]

Zhang Liangs 2nd phase is just Ken Kaneki if he weren't a nerd

[@teafling]

This game didn’t originally appeal to me but my housemate got me to give it a go. Zhang Liang *is* a bastard and this fight is absolutely rage-inducing, buuuuuut… it did also hook me well enough that I stuck with it and finished the game. The Lu Bu fight is a LOT easier (and even more so if you utilise the phase affinities system).

[@Nemarmac]

More Pat

[@dmagik8]

Thumbs up for patrick

[@datafoxy]

This is the only way I can enjoy Souls like games.

[@San_The_Sly]

Having never played Wo Long, I’m boiling down what has been taught in this video to “Stop playing Elden Ring and start playing Sekiro”. The spirit bar system seems very similar to posture breaking.

[@andrewnicon]

If this guy is your gatekeeper, good luck with Lu Bu.

[@Yoarashi]

FYI, the subtitles are broken.

[@polygon]

can you describe how they're breaking? I can't see anything wrong on our end. - Simone

[@Yoarashi]

@@polygon All the subs appeared as one continuous clump at the start of the vid

[@polygon]

Hmmm I'm not able to replicate that, so hopefully it's not happening for you anymore? Sorry if it is still broken!

[@Yoarashi]

@@polygon Seems to be working now, on phone at least. Was on pc earlier

[@AngelBeatYunara]

It's time to meter maker!

[@handthatfeedsmusic]

I keep thinking Pat is BDG. (I love you too, Pat.)

[@jeffreyhodes]

lets goooo

[@teethgrinder83]

This guy nearly broke my brain so I had to stop playing for a while 😂

[@Guimhj]

Pyramid of Punishment is why I haven't beaten Hades and won't for a while lol

[@zahrtreiv8643]

Just wait until Zhang Liao, who is like Genichiro if he was on crack and had a stand

[@Mike-zk5jc]

zhang liang = lydia tár, interesting, something to think about

[@r1n8k]

You should change the Channel name to PolyPat because it seems like its just him here and also, he's a cuttie.

[@whathitwonder4037]

It's all Jazz bebbe.

[@yoyofun1]

Thumbs up if this guy gave you no trouble

[@Sneezac]

Why do i always hear "Jean-Leon" ?

[@limogesalexandre]

I tried Lu Bu like 30 time with all the cheese I could and got once below 1/4. After that I just quit, the game is not good enough for me to try again

[@MorningDusk7734]

I think the Pyramid of Practice is a fantastic way to think about Dungeon-Crawler style games like Hades or Enter the Gungeon. You're gonna die a lot in Tartarus, then die a lot to Meg, then walk into lava a bunch in Asphodel, then die a bunch to Lernie, then get swarmed by eyeballs in Elysium a bunch, and die a LOT to Theseus, all before you even get to see the door to the final boss. But, by the time you get to kill Theseus the first time, you're probably not dying to Tartarus hardly at all, are you? Sure, Meg might catch you a few unlucky runs, but you're not really focused on overcoming that obstacle anymore when you start a run.

[@user-wn8xc7ly2f]

Not sure why or how but this boss was the easiest one for me so far in the game. I was parrying him so easily and beat him on the first try. Maybe I just got lucky!

[@snefansson]

It's funny that I only had problems with two bosses in the entire game. And one of them is the first freaking boss. Second run of the game and yeah he's just the hardest for me. It's the delays:(

[@DannoHung]

I wish Souls-like games would go away and plastic instruments would come back. If I'm just gonna be memorizing the button inputs, I'd rather listen to a fun song.