Best Defensive Builds in Black Myth: Wukong

Key insights

• Early game defense build focuses on key items and abilities in Chapter 1 to gain an advantage.
• Building defense in the mid to late game improves survivability with spells, spirits, and oddities.
• New Game Plus offers the ultimate defense build with the Fortune's Favor high defense armor set.

There are different ways to play in it Black Myth: Wukong. Players can focus on attacks, spells, nimble doges, or damage reduction, and there are many ways to improve each of these aspects. From passive bonuses from spirits to relics to a player's pumpkins and drinks, there are many ways to create an effective build.

A player's access to building options is limited by how advanced they are in the game, as many key items and spirits require defeating specific enemies, and armor sets require crafting materials to complete. These builds will help players who want to play defensively from the start of the game and in several new Game Plus cycles.

1 Defensive setup for the early game

Clear out Chapter 1

• weapon: Wind Bear Staff
• armor: Ebongold Armor, Gray Wolf Mask
• spirits: Wandering Wight
• Ship: Fireproof jacket
• Curiosities: Cat's eye beads, agate glass
• Soaks: Gall Gem, Steel Ginseng
• Magic: Cloud Step, Immobilize

This build doesn't focus solely on defense, but rather on when players start Black Myth: Wukongthey will want every advantage they can get. When assembling this build, you'll need to be very thorough in Chapter 1, taking out all available optional enemies to get some important items and abilities.

The player's first priority should be to take out the Wandering Wight to obtain its Spirit, as this will give them a passive defense buff as well as access to a powerful attack. Bullguard's Immobilize and Blackwind King's Cloudstep are two spells that have both defensive and offensive uses.

The next step is to defeat Elder Jinchi to get the Fireproof Cloak, then take out the Wind Bear Guai so players can craft the Ebongold Armor and Wind Bear Staff. Players now have the basics of the build and can start the rest of the game with a slight advantage.

As for healing, players only have access to the Ancient Pumpkin and Coconut Wine. Expand this with the Gall Gem when the Snake Patroler blocking the Shen Monkey Store is defeated for a small increase in poison resistance. Steel Ginseng is also available from aged ginseng plants, but requires a lucky drop to obtain early.

2 Defensive structure in the middle to late game

Spells, spirits and focusing on a defensive playstyle

• weapon: Jingubang
• armor: Golden Souzi Armor (Heaven's Equal 4-piece set)
• spirits: Flint Chief, Wandering Wight
• Ship: Windbender
• Curiosities: Golden spiked plate, agate glass, Boshan incense burner
• Soaks: Bee Mountain Stone, Iron Pellet, Purple-Veined Peach Pit
• Magic: Ring of Fire, Rock Solid, Azure Dust, A Pluck of Many

It will take a while for players to get to the point where they can really focus on defense as a building strategy Black Myth: Wukong. However, once they reach Chapter 6, there are many ways to improve their defense stats and use spells, spirits, and oddities to focus more on their survivability.

Even at this point, the Wandering Wight still has the best passive ability for damage reduction, but players may want to try the Flint Chieftain for its active ability, which hardens the player and deflects attacks, similar to the Rock Solid spell. His passive also helps when a little more curse resistance is needed. There's also Top Takes Bottom and Bottom Takes Top, but the attack debuff outweighs the big defense boost in this phase.

The oddities are especially important for players who want to focus on defense. The Golden Spiked Plate is an epic oddity that significantly increases defense and deals damage to enemies when they attack. It's powerful but easy to miss, as in Chapter 3 players have to farm the Dark-faced Overlord enemies and hope for an item drop. The Agate Jar from Chapter 1 provides a lower defense boost but is stackable.

The armor and the weapon tie this build together. They're not exactly defense-focused, but players get the best base defense stat with this set, and the Jingubang completes the cooldown-reducing set bonus. Players must obtain the common set from the Verdant Path in Mount Hauguo and defeat the Gold Armored Rhino at Rhino Watch Slope to craft the Mythic set.

3 New game plus defense setup

The Bull King Set and the Dark Iron Staff

• weapon: Dark Iron Staff
• armor: Bull King Armor (4-piece set)
• spirits: Flint Chief / Top Takes Bottom, Bottom Takes Top / Wandering Wight
• Ship: plantain fan
• Curiosities: Amber prayer beads, gold button, gold spike plate, agate glass
• Soaks: Turtle tear, heavenly lotus seeds, delicate jade lotus, steel ginseng
• Magic: Ring of Fire, Rock Solid, Azure Dust, A Pluck of Many

In the new Game Plus, players who focus on defense can also convert it to offense. The Dark Iron Staff is only available in the New Game Plus, but the staff's effect increases the player's Attack based on their Defense value. This objectively makes it the best weapon for high defense setups.

The Bull King Armor Set is unlocked in Chapter 5 on a player's first playthrough, but due to material requirements the player cannot craft it until they return to Chapter 5 in a new game. Once craftable, it offers the best defense stats in the game (for now). However, players must consider the set bonus, which disables the perfect evasion ability. This makes up for this by making players' attacks essentially non-stop, but it is a trade-off that players must consider in order to play effectively.

This can be supported by using the defensive spell “Stone Solid” in combination with the active skill “Flint Chief” to reliably repel enemy attacks. Players may want to balance the defensive nature of the build here by using the Plantain Fan for increased stamina regeneration instead of the Windbender as a vessel.

4 Ultimate defense build

Fortune's Favorite

• weapon: Dark Iron Staff
• armor: Favor of Fortune (4-piece set)
• spirits: Flint Chief / Top Takes Bottom, Bottom Takes Top / Wandering Wight
• Ship: Windbender
• Curiosities: Amber prayer beads, gold button, gold spike plate, agate glass
• Soaks: Turtle tear, heavenly lotus seeds, delicate jade lotus, steel ginseng
• ​​​​​​​Magic: Cloud Step, Ring of Fire, Rock Solid, Life-Saving Strand

Once players navigate through several new game cycles, there is an interesting quirk that can push defensive builds even further. The Fortune's Favor set, available in Chapter 6, surpasses the Bull King armor set for defense once a player has fully upgraded all of their relic abilities. Players will easily end up with defense over 750, which will further increase the damage of the Dark Iron Staff.

Unlike the Bull King set, this allows the use of the perfect evasion ability while providing even higher defense. This can be further enhanced by stacking curios like the Agate Jar and the Golden Spiked Plate. Note that a ship like the Wind Tamer increases damage reduction, not defense, so this does not affect the bonus, although it is a worthwhile ship.

Defense in there Black Myth: Wukong can only take a player so far. No build can absorb every boss hit in these new Game Plus cycles. Defensive play is often about finding the best way to avoid or mitigate damage relative to your current playstyle, whether through high defense stats or clever evasion.