After you made it through the early parts of Wuchang: Fallen Feathers with some confidence in yourself, that’s when Commander Honglan makes her entrance to completely wreck you and break that confidence. Welcome to the real Soulslike game challenge.
Honglan is the encounter where FromSoftware-level difficulty is shown. She’s fast, aggressive, and punishing, and if you’re stuck bashing your head against this boss for hours (like most of us did), don’t worry. This guide tells everything that worked for me after multiple respecs, builds, strategies, and many deaths. Here’s how to defeat Commander Honglan in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers get through this brick wall of a fight.
Where to Find Commander Honglan in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers
You’ll find Commander Honglan near the end of Chapter 1, inside the Tang Palace, right after you drain the Lotus Pond using the Buddha Statue at the Palace Hill shrine. Once the arena is revealed, you’ll drop down to retrieve a sword, and that’s when she ambushes you. It’s cinematic, brutal, and sets the tone for what Wuchang expects from you moving forward. There’s no summoning here, no NPC allies, so it’s just you and her.
Honglan is not like an average boss. What makes her mainly hard is her shifts between martial arts combos, sword slashes, and ranged blade waves with almost no recovery time. She forces you to react quickly and switch gears between parry, dodge, and punishing. When you start to feel little confident, she changes phases and gets even faster. How can you survive this battle and beat her? There are a few ways to carry on through this boss fight including magic, parry-based melee, or clash builds. Let’s explore them all.
Strategy 1: The Spellcaster Way
After a few deaths when trying to face-tank her, I switched to a magic build, and it made all the difference.
Build Highlights:
- Weapon: One-Handed Sword (Astral Blade or Darkfrost’s Edge)
- Spell: Burning Flames or Infernal Flames (high damage, helps with spacing)
- Armor: Centipede Armor Set (resists Slash and Stab what she uses)
- Pendant: Twin Infant (Stamina Regen), Jade Pendant (general defense)
The strategy is to dodge and build up Skyborn Might, then unleash powerful spells from mid-range. Shimmer dodging (perfect dodge) gives you resources, and a few one-handed swords let you passively generate Might over time with Biding Time. Burning Flames is a great spell because it deals heavy damage and launches Wuchang backwards, giving you breathing room to reset. You can’t obliterate her health bar instantly, but you’ll stay alive and chip away, and at the same time, learning her patterns.
Strategy 2: The Parry Master (Longsword or Dual Blades)
If you have solid reaction timing and prefer being in the thick of the action, a parry-focused build is another option to kill Honglan.
Build Highlights:
- Weapon: Longsword (Lashing Whip) or Dual Blades with Clash abilities
- Skills: Deflect or Clash, depending on your weapon
- Stats: Prioritize Agility and Might
- Benedictions: Wei – Combo Force (to stack damage with consecutive hits)
In phase one, most of her sword swings are parryable. You can bait her lunge attack, deflect, and land a quick counter, but don’t be greedy and play smart; one heavy hit or two light strikes, then back off. With Dual Blades in hand, the Clash mechanic can let you power through her strikes for stagger opportunities.
Strategy 3: The Spear & Steam Method
A surprising MVP weapon against Honglan is the Steampowered Spear with its Steam Chain ability. Steam Chain flips her around mid-attack, creating openings for backstabs. With that, Skyborn Might can be used to empower your counters, and Spear builds benefits from fast reach and poise break. You can combine this with Aerial Bulwark for defensive uptime and Might generation. It’s very helpful for the second phase, when dodging is more important than parrying.
How to Beat Wuchang Fallen Feathers Commander Honglan
Phase One
Right when you enter the arena, Honglan attacks with a lunging sword thrust, and you can be caught off guard here at the start, but after seeing it a few times, it becomes predictable. The first task is to learn her patterns. Her first phase moves are a mix of:
- Fast sword combos
- Aggressive hand-to-hand martial arts
- Blade throws after backflips
Whenever she is away from Wuchang at long distance, she always rushes towards you with blazing speed and sword strike. The sword slashes are parry-friendly if you have a Longsword or Dual Blades. Her hand-to-hand combos, though, can’t be parried; you’ll need to dodge to the side and watch out for her elbow follow-ups. She often mixes in a stomp or a sudden jab after you think the combo’s over, so don’t lower your guard.
There’s also the backflip blade toss, which she uses to create space. It’s not deadly, but a good time for you to heal or cast a quick spell if you’re playing ranged. You’ll get your chances to punish, usually after she finishes a full combo and pauses for a moment. Get in a heavy hit or two light attacks, then back off. This whole phase is about building up your Skyborn Might (or setting up an Obliterate) and getting into phase two with at least three flasks left.
Phase Two
At 50% health, the gloves come off. Honglan switches to dual blades, and the fight’s intensity ramps up. Her attacks become fast and more unpredictable, with added ranged slashes that cover large parts of the arena.
Now, she’ll use:
- Crossed blade projectiles (dodge sideways, not back)
- Wide sweeping air slashes
- Spinning rush attacks
- Combo chains that look like they never end
Most of these attacks come out too quickly to parry, so focus on dodge. Use Shimmer or time your rolls carefully, especially when she spins or leaps into the air. When she does a big aerial spin, run or dodge away, and let her finish whiffing before you counter.
With the magic build, I used Burning Flames and Echo of Lu Bingzhang because they gave me good space and dealt continuous damage. But don’t cast when she is performing a combo or standing right in your face, she’ll punish you instantly, and you won’t have time to dodge/parry. Another important thing, heal smart and only do it when she’s far or after she finishes a big combo.
- Related: Should You Choose The Winged Ascension or Feathered Transcendence in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers?
Tips for Boss Fight
- Parrying only works on sword attacks, not fists or kicks so don’t try to Clash a spinning heel.
- Backstab windows come after parries or with abilities like Steam Chain.
- Evasive Maneuver (One-Handed Sword skill) acts as a mini-invincibility buff, a good dodge alternative.
- Don’t hoard flasks. If you’ve got 3-4 heals left in Phase Two, use them wisely but don’t get stingy.
After defeating Honglan, you’ll also receive Wei – Combo Force (Wisdom benediction that increases damage with consecutive hits) and Reverent Temple Key (required to progress the storyline into the next area).
