The Suanyu bird demon is one of the more difficult enemies in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. You’ll first encounter it in Part 2 of the main story. Although not technically a boss, it has a lot of health and enough attacks to throw you off guard if you’re not prepared for them. We’ll show you the most damaging of these and how to kill the Suanyu on this page.

How to Kill the Suanyu in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty¶

“Suanyu is an enormous demon resembling a grotesque bird. In the northern mountains section of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, it is described as a foul, flying creature with a snake-like frame, four wings, six eyes, and three legs, residing in Mt. Jingshan where taros and peppers grow. It takes its name from how its cry is perceived to sound. It is considered a portentous being - it is said that any state it visits will be surrounded by fear. Unsettlingly, how and why this occurs has never been explained, a fact further bolstering its terrifying aura.”

Suanyu Bird Demon Attacks¶

The first time you encounter the Suanyu, you may have Guan Yu and Zhang Fei at your side. These will likely get caught by one of the many area of effect attacks that the Suanyu uses, so don’t worry too much if you see them go down. Your main focus should be on the Suanyu, looking out for the cues in its animations which indicate when a specific attack is about to occur. We’ll provide a breakdown of its main attacks here.

Lightning Waves Attack¶

One of the most common attacks that the Suanyu will perform consists of four sparks of lightning which emanate from its body, moving outwards towards you. These are easy to avoid if you stand between them, but you’ll need to make sure that you have enough distance between yourself and the Suanyu. This won’t always be possible if you’re attacking it within melee range, but as soon as you see the Suanyu fly into the air, look for the lightning bolts forming from the eyes on its wings. If you see them, dodge or run backwards immediately so that you have enough time to see their path and avoid them. Note that the Suanyu will often use this attack twice in quick succession!

Lightning Bolts and Projectiles Attack¶

This attack is somewhat similar to the other lightning attack, but this time the Suanyu will fire two or four bolts of lightning at you in quick succession. These will hone in on you, so the only way to avoid them is to keep dodging constantly to one side, or better yet - deflect each one. The latter option requires more precise timing, but it’s entirely doable and you’ll gain Spirit if you succeed. You should also keep in mind that the Suanyu likes to use another ranged attack immediately after this one, where it launches projectiles which look like tiny blades at you. They can be avoided by dodging or deflecting, as shown in the gif below.

Head Swipe¶

This is a simple, quick attack which occurs when the Suanyu winds its long neck backwards, before thrusting it out at you in an arc. This one can be easily deflected, but you’ll need some practice and experience of dealing with it in real time to get the timing right. Keep in mind that if you don’t deflect the first head swipe, the Suanyu will sometimes follow it up with a series of others, so don’t let your guard down after the initial one if you haven’t deflected it.

Spinning Attack¶

This attack is fairly easy to see coming - the Suanyu will move its body to one side slightly, assuming a charged stance as it prepares to spin in one direction. When you see this happen, you’ll need to get ready to ether deflect or dodge. The spin can be more difficult to deflect than other attacks, since the precise point at which the attack lands is difficult to gauge. If you can’t get the timing right, a quick dodge away from the beast should suffice.

Fire / Red Bolt¶

This attack is one of the easiest to spot before its coming. The Suanyu will fly into the air and begin charging a red beam from its core, and from the eyes on its wings. This will change for a brief period before firing at you, so you’ll have enough time to prepare the deflection required to stop it. If you do this successfully, you can fire the beam back at the Suanyu, inflicting significant damage and stunning it for a brief moment. You should take this opportunity to charge at the beast and get some free hits in before it gets back up! If the Suanyu flies into the air once it gets up, be ready to deflect or dodge a dive attack.

Dive Attack¶

There’s another attack which begins with the Suanyu charging a red beam, but the difference is that it only charges it from its core, rather than from the eyes on its wings as well. If you see this, be ready to deflect the dive attack as it rushes towards you from the air. A successful deflection will result in the Suanyu being briefly stunned, giving you time to attack for some free hits.

It goes without saying that as you’re deflecting or avoiding these attacks, you should be getting in as many hits as possible to the Suanyu. The aim is to entirely deplete its Spirit so that you can execute a Fatal Strike, and this will be much easier to do if you have Guan Yu and Zhang Fei by your side, so try to inflict as much damage as possible early on to take chunks out of the Suanyu’s health.

If both of your allies die early on and you’re struggling to maintain enough damage to keep depleting the Suanyu’s Spirit, don’t worry too much. It’ll be far safer to attack only periodically so long as you can consistently avoid the above attacks, especially when you consider that deflecting attacks successfully will increase your Spirit, which provides the few attacks you can execute with much more damage.