How to beat the Whiteclad Noble boss in Black Myth Wukong

The Whiteclad Noble is a boss in Black Myth: Wukong you encounter shortly after the Marsh of the White Mist Keeper’s Shrine in the Bamboo Grove. The boss fight against this snake-like warrior is divided into two phases: his “human” form and his “true” form.

At this early stage of the game, there’s not much scope in your build, and the Whiteclad Noble isn’t especially vulnerable to any particular kind of attack anyway. As with many bosses in Black Myth: Wukong, the key to beating him is understanding his attack patterns, and using effective counter-attacking patterns of your own.

Black Myth Wukong: Whiteclad Noble boss guide

As mentioned, this boss fight is too early in the game for you to have developed a distinct build yet. But I will say that I found the following abilities, spells, and perks useful against the Whiteclad Noble: Composure, Soaring Strike, Immobilize with both levels of Crash, Red Tides, the Guangmou Spirit, and the level four Swift Pilgrim perk for equipping the full set of Pilgrim armor. All of those are useful, but none are essential, so don’t feel you need to fully re-spec your build.

Phase one

The Whiteclad Noble always started the fight with the same running jump attack, which you can easily dodge and counter with a combo. He’ll rarely, if ever, let you hit him with a full combo, which is where Composure comes in handy. Dodge halfway through the combo, then resume, and you’ll often be able to hit him with the powerful slam attack at the end of the combo.

Use Red Tides, Immobilize, and Guangmou early on in the fight. Don’t feel you should save them for the second phase—you’ll be able to use all of them more than once. The Red Tides heavy attack is particularly useful if the Whiteclad Noble keeps dashing away from you because it makes you dash at him, and you can then follow up with a combo.

Once you have used up your various special abilities and they’re on cooldown, keep your distance from the Whiteclad Noble and, as long as you have enough stamina, keep sprinting to charge up your Swift Pilgrim damage. His attacks are a lot easier to dodge from a distance, and whenever he does a dash or lunge attack, you’ll be able to dodge it and immediately hit him with a charged combo when he’s recovering. You should avoid going toe-to-toe with him at the edge of his swamp because this is likely to mess up the camera framing, and you won’t be able to see what’s going on.

If you see him crouch down and sweep his spear behind him, then get as far away from him as possible as this means he’s charging an area-of-effect attack. When he plants his spear and spins acrobatically around it, then it’s pretty obvious he’s about to do a flying kick, which is easy to dodge. But remember that a powerful spear strike always follows a flying kick, so always dodge for a second time. When he spins his spear, launching blades of water at you in quick succession, you can sprint sideways to avoid the blades, but when he goes, “Hey-ah!” get ready to dodge the final attack of the combo.

Phase two

While the Whiteclad Noble has more powerful attacks in his snake-y form, they follow similar patterns as those he uses in the first phase, so the same strategy of keeping your distance and letting him dash at you is still your best bet. Your abilities and spells should be cooling down by now, so don’t forget to use them as soon as possible.

Most of his nastiest attacks are preceded by a pretty obvious charging pose and a bark of “Hi-ya!” but there are a few tricky moves to look out for. Remember that it returns to him when he throws his spear, so don’t close in as soon as he throws it, or you’ll get a spear in the back. 

He moves much faster in his snake form, but his attacks are still easy to dodge. You just need to be patient and avoid committing to a combo he can counter. He uses pretty much the same basic lunge attack as in the first phase, and this is the one to look out for. It’s easy to dodge, and you can get several hits before he recovers.

Be patient and avoid over-committing, and you’ll eventually wear the Whiteclad Noble down, defeating him and opening the way into Black Wind cave.