There are some truly tricky boss encounters in Black Myth: Wukong, some optional and some mandatory. The Whiteclad Noble is perhaps the first real mandatory challenge in the game, and you’ll have to deal with two forms of him if you wish to traverse the Black Wind Cave behind him. Keep reading to learn how to defeat him and what you’ll get as a reward.

Table of Contents¶

If you want to jump straight to our strategy, or perhaps see what rewards you get for beating the Whiteclad Noble, check out the following table:

Whiteclad Noble Location¶

You won’t have to do too much to find the Whiteclad Noble, as he’s on the main path through the Black Wind Mountain of Chapter 1. Once you pass through the open Snake Trails and take out Guangmou, you’ll find some stairs that lead up to the Marsh of White Mist Shrine, this is the final Shrine before the battle with the Whiteclad Noble.

Before that, though, take a look to the left of the Shrine to find your first Luoija Fragmant Vine, and once you pass down the the wooden walkways, you’ll trigger an encounter with the Shen Monkey. This will unlock the Gourd Upgrade System that lets you use your newly acquired Vine to increase the number of uses. Not only that, you’ll also be able to add a Soak to your gourd, these grant you special effects when taking a sip. For now, you’ll only have the Gall Gem the Shen Monkey gave you and the Celestial Lotus Seeds that you can purchase, this second Soak will help with the battle ahead.

Preparation¶

Before you head into the marsh at the bottom of the walkway, make sure you’ve spent any Sparks and have the best armor available. Points in the Immobilization spell is always useful, and consider upgrading your Dodge too, you’ll be needing it a lot. For your Spirit, the Wandering Wight Spirit is very useful if you have it, not only will it deal heavy damage and knock him back, but also increase your Defense.

Whiteclad Noble Phase One Boss Strategy¶

As mentioned at the top, you should know that the Whiteclad Noble has two phases, the second of which starts after you deplete all of his HP. As such, pace yourself with your consumables and your Transformation, it’s much better to save it for the far more difficult second phase.

The first phase has many attacks up his sleeve, and you can find more details about each below:

Spear Slam¶

The Whiteclad Noble will leap toward you and slam his spear into the ground, dealing light damage should it hit you. When you see him leap in the air, roll to either side to avoid it (you’re likely to get his should you roll backward).

Spinning Spear Combo¶

This is a three hit combo that sees the Whiteclad Noble first perform a somersault slash, into swinging around his spear, and a final slash through the air. You’ll need to keep on top of your dodges here to avoid this attack, the first two are easy enough by keeping your distance, but the final part of the combo comes quickly so get ready for it.

Water Slashes¶

The Whiteclad Noble will spin his spear around, letting out slashes of water that seek out in a line before following it up with a thrust. This is deadly if you’re caught in it, but easier to avoid than you may think. He lets out a total of four slashes (in quick succession) before the thrust, so keep moving to the left to avoid it and then get ready to dodge to the side of the thrust.

Spear Throw Combo¶

Another combo that the Whiteclad Noble can use, this will see him perform a quick three-hit strike with his spear (without moving) before taking two steps back, leaping into the air and throwing his Spear in the ground at you. He will then call this back to him which will also inflict damage should it hit you. The first part of this is easy to avoid, just create some distance but be ready for the Spear throw that comes and dodge to the side, just make sure you’re not near it when he calls it back.

Sweeping Spear Combo¶

Like the above, only this time, the finisher will see him perform a massive sweep around him. This is once again easy to avoid if you dodge away from him, creating some distance.

The main thing to note about the Whiteclad Noble in general is that he’s extremely agile, so be ready for him to dart around the place. Most of his combos, save for the Water Slashes, relies on you being in close proximity, so if you make it a habit to dodge away from him often, you should avoid the brunt of his attacks.

The main thing to note here is that a lot of his combos have finishers, and these can catch you out if you’re not prepared. It appears that he seems to favor the Spear Throw Combo, but like all of his combos, if you use a smash attack on him (such as the Heavy Attack in the default stance), you can knock him out of it.

Be careful not to waste too many resources in this first phase, avoid using your Transformation altogether, but your Spirit should be fair game, as you will most likely generate the needed Qi again during the second phase. If you’re low or out of Gourd uses, you’re better of trying again, as you’ll more likely take a lot more damage during the second phase.

Whiteclad Noble Phase Two Boss Strategy¶

Once you deplete his HP for the first time, a scene will trigger and the Whiteclad Noble will transform into his true form, that of a serpent! Not only will the Whiteclad Noble have most of his original attacks, but he’ll also gain access to more powerful moves he’ll mix in. You can learn about these new attacks below:

Spinning Thrust¶

The Whiteclad Noble will slash once in front of him in a large arc dealing moderate damage, before moving backwards and swooping in with a thrust after it. The thrust can hit you from a fair distance and should you get hit with both parts of this combo, you’ll need to heal yourself immediately. Once you see him move backwards, prepare for the thrust and dodge to the side.

Circle Sweep¶

The Whiteclad Noble will lower himself into the water and perform a double sweep, each time causing the water to rise in a circle around him. This is a simple one to dodge, once you see him lower himself, back away.

Water Crash¶

He will rise into the air while spinning his spear and then slam it down, causing a massive tide of water to shoot off in a line in front of him. This will deal moderate damage should it hit you, but there is a long windup as he rises into the air, so this is your cue to get ready to dodge to the side (you will get hit if you dodge backward).

The first thing you’ll notice about this second phase is that the Whiteclad Noble is far more aggressive. Whereas in the first phase he would bait you and stand back, waiting for you to strike first. Here, he won’t do that, he’ll keep coming at you so be ready to dodge at all times.

The Water Crash is his big new attack here, and it’s easy to get hit by unless you dodge to the side. Dodging backward will cause you to get hit by this still as it hits in a line, but this aside, all of the other new attacks should be easy enough to avoid provided you use the same tactics in phase one. This is the time to also use any status enhancing medicine you may have and use your Red Tides Transformation once you have this phase down to about half HP.

Whiteclad Noble Rewards¶

Once you defeat the Whiteclad Noble, you’ll obtain a Jade Fang and a Stone Spirit along with the usual substantial EXP reward. The Jade Fang will let you craft your first new weapon at a Shrine, the Twin Serpents Staff which will increase the damage of your Light Attack Finishers, especially when in a body of water! You’ll also discover you can now craft the Serpentscale armor set using any Yarn you have, this is the best armor in Chapter 1 outside of the set you get by defeating the secret boss of the Chapter, Elder Jinchi.