The Tang Palace Maid is one of the earlier bosses you’ll face in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, and she acts as a great introduction to the game’s combat mechanics. While she may seem intimidating at first with her fiery attacks and eerie presence, the fight itself is pretty manageable, especially during your first encounter. This guide will help you find her and give you tips to win both encounters.
How to Find the Tang Palace Maid Boss
You’ll first come across the Tang Palace Maid while progressing through the main story at Buddha Cliffs in Worship’s Rise. It’s right on the main path, so you really can’t miss her.
Later, you’ll run into her again at Palace Hill. Starting from the Palace Hill shrine, turn around and head back a short distance along the path you just came from. Look for a temple with a long ladder on the side. Climb down that ladder and go through the front entrance of the temple. Once you enter, a boss fight with the Tang Palace Maid will begin.
How to Defeat the Tang Palace Maid Boss
The Tang Palace Maid is more of a tutorial boss than a serious threat. She isn’t very strong or fast, and during the fight, you might even see a few tutorial pop-ups explaining some of the game’s core mechanics.
One thing to watch out for, though, is the Burn status effect. If you get hit by her fire-based attacks too often, the burn meter will fill up, and once it does, you’ll start taking constant fire damage, and any incoming attacks will hurt more. To help with this, it’s a good idea to wear armour that offers solid fire resistance.
She doesn’t have much health, and she’s especially vulnerable from behind. If you manage to get around her and strike her back, you’ll quickly build up the gauge needed for an Obliterate attack, a powerful critical hit that deals massive damage. So try to stay behind her whenever you can.
You’ll run into her again later in the game, too. In that fight, she’s much more aggressive and will bring some new moves to the table, making her a bigger challenge the second time around.
How to Defeat the Tang Palace Maid Boss in First Encounter
Watch out when the boss pulls out her fire weapon; she’ll do a quick double swing with it, and both strikes come out fast, one after the other. You won’t have much time between them, so be ready to dodge quickly.
She also has a fast thrust attack that comes straight at you. It might be tempting to dodge backwards, but don’t it has surprising reach and can still hit you even if you think you’re safely out of range. Your best bet is to dodge to the side instead.
This boss fight isn’t too tough, so don’t stress too much. The Tang Palace Maid only uses two main attacks, and they’re pretty easy to read once you’ve seen them a couple of times. She’s also quite slow, which gives you plenty of chances to dodge around her and strike from behind; that’s where she’s most vulnerable.
If you use heavy, charged attacks, you’ll stagger her and throw her off balance for a moment. This also fills up the enemy lock-on circle faster, and once it’s full, you can land an Obliterate, basically a powerful critical hit that can take off nearly a third of her health in one go.
You can even make use of the raised platforms in the arena. Since she moves so slowly, you’ve got time to jump off and land aerial attacks without much risk.
How to Defeat the Tang Palace Maid Boss in Second Encounter
In the second encounter, the Tang Palace Maid returns with the same attacks from your first fight, but this time she’s much quicker and more aggressive. On top of that, she also brings a few new moves into the mix.
One of her new abilities is a magic projectile attack. She’ll ignite her weapon and swing it toward you, creating floating magic orbs that slowly drift in your direction. If they hit you, they’ll not only deal damage but also inflict the Despair status effect, so try to avoid them at all costs.
She also has a brutal combo now, a rapid series of five attacks. It starts off like the double swing from before, but it’s much faster, and she’ll chain four quick hits together. After that, she briefly slows down before finishing the combo with a sudden thrust, so be ready for that delayed final strike.
Lastly, she can attempt a grab move. You’ll see her start sprinting at you with one arm stretched out. If she gets close, she’ll try to grab and restrain you. The trick to avoiding this is to dodge slightly forward and to the side; her grab doesn’t track very well, so a smart sidestep can save you from getting caught.
Since the second version of Tang Palace Maid fights more aggressively, you won’t get as many clear openings to attack. That’s why it’s a good idea to bring along abilities that help you block or deflect her blows. Using something like the Clash ability can be especially useful it lets you trade hits while reducing the damage you take during your own attacks.
There are still safe chances to deal damage, though. For example, if she misses a grab or a thrust attack, you can go in and hit her without worrying about taking damage. And because she’s a humanoid enemy, it’s possible to knock her down completely, giving you a few precious seconds to land extra hits.
The good news is she doesn’t have a huge health bar, just like in your first fight with her. So as long as you stay sharp and time your counters well, you should be able to bring her down without too much trouble.
