Best beginner build in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is an incredibly challenging game. Even for players who are veterans of the Soulslike genre, it can have you gripping your controller in fury as you die for the hundredth time. Thankfully, there are ways to mitigate this frustration.

With the game being in Xbox Game Pass, and gaining pretty favourable reviews across the board, a whole new wave of players are jumping in to check out what the fuss is all about. Of course, that leads to many players across the board being bamboozled by Wo Long’s relentless difficulty.

Taking this into account, we’ve curated some great tips for creating your beginner build character that should help beat some of the early bosses and advance you forward with ease in Wo Long.

• Find out everything you need to know about elemental stats in Wo Long.

Best beginner build in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty

In the early hours of Wo Long, the experience can be extremely overwhelming, however, unlike other games in the genre, it’s a lot more straightforward than it initially seems. 

You may feel you are being bombarded with terminology and mechanics, but it also eventually clicks into place, allowing you to create the perfect build for your character. Luckily, we’ve also curated some tips to help you out.

Be aware of your gear weight

While you may be enticed to equip the armour with the biggest defence stats, it’s always worth looking at your gear weight to see how heavy it is. The number is broken into a percentage and will be a different colour, depending on how heavy the armour you’re wearing is.

In Wo Long, you want to aim to have it green, which puts you at a better advantage. This could mean sacrificing armour that would give you better defence, but in the long run, it will help you out.

Having a high gear weight can mean your spirit gauge decreases much faster than it should, meaning blocking, being attacked, and using special attacks will be more prone to staggering you. While it’s great having armour with a higher defence, it’s much more worthwhile practising the game’s parrying mechanics, as this will help you in the long run.

• What is the level cap in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty? Find out here.

Practice with various weapons

As expected with a game of this type, finding the weapon that suits you is beneficial. In the early hours, you’ll get your hands on swords and hammers, but it’s not too long before you’ll gain spears and dual blades.

For anyone new to the genre, we recommend sticking with the Iron Sword and upgrading it a few times when you get a chance. This will easily get you through the first part of the game before reaching the Hidden Village hub. 

You will begin upgrading weapons in the level after the first boss, so, unfortunately, you can’t use this to your advantage before that point. You also can’t do it at any time until you unlock the Hidden Village hub a few chapters in. Up until then, you’ll just have to hope you find the blacksmith on your travels.

In Wo Long, you can replay levels too. This is a great opportunity to test out new weapons in previously completed stages and discover any new setups that could work for you.

Increase the Wood and Earth skills

When you begin levelling up in Wo Long, you will have five skill trees you can put points in. Until you learn how your playstyle will reside with the game, it’s worth focusing on Wood and Earth until you gain your bearings.

Wood will work to increase your health, allowing you to take more hits before being killed. Earth, on the other hand, increases your max weight allowance. As mentioned before, it’s worth keeping that stat in the green, and by putting some points into this, it will allow you to hold higher levelled gear.

Working on these in the early hours will help you learn the mechanics of the game and eventually decide what paths you want to work on to develop your character.

• Here's how to get the Cup of Cordiality in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty.

Focus on wizardry spells that buff your character

One element in Wo Long, which is arguably undercooked, is the wizardry spells you can use. As you level up, you will periodically be able to unlock more and more of these in each skill tree.

Within the Wood tree, you will find a particularly useful spell known as Absorb Vitality. This works at replenishing you and your reinforcements help when dealing damage to enemies. It’s a great tactic to use that prevents you from using your own health flasks to replenish your health.

There are other spells that deal damage to enemies, but in the early hours, it’s worth learning the parrying mechanics and putting these on the back burner. They are fairly underpowered, and you’ll gain a much better advantage by focusing on skills that buff your character.

And with these handy tips, you should have everything you need to know about making the perfect beginner's build in Wo Long. If we discover any new and handy tips, we’ll be sure to update this guide and let you know.

• We also have the full list of achievements and trophies in Wo Long.