Elder Gongsun looks like a frail old man taking an afternoon walk around the General’s Shrine, but he is one of the toughest early Challenge Bosses in Where Winds Meet. He can fold you on any game difficulty, and on Legendary, he feels outright over-tuned. But once you understand why he behaves the way he does, the fight becomes more predictable than it first appears. This guide tells Elder Gongsun’s location, his attack patterns, and the best strategy to defeat this difficult boss in Where Winds Meet.
Where to Find Elder Gongsun in Where Winds Meet
Elder Gongsun can be found inside the General’s Shrine in the northwest of Verdant Wilds. The arena is small, enclosed, and designed to force you to learn his melee chains instead of dancing around at long range. He also has no listed weaknesses; the game’s way of telling you his patterns is the main mechanic. This old man won’t combo unless you attack first, and that idle slow walk is his bait. If you take the opening, he snaps instantly into one of his major strings.
How to Defeat Elder Gongsun in Where Winds Meet
Elder Gongsun has one big flaw: he doesn’t punish Shadow Step spam, and his Qi regeneration is vulnerable to Daunting Strike. Shadow Step lets you tag him and move around the arena, avoiding his counter-string. Follow this plan: tag him → wait for your Endurance → watch for his Qi recovery → slam him with Daunting Strike to stop it. Running out of Endurance during a dash attack can get you caught off-guard, but it’s the closest thing to a low-stress solution than facing his full melee chains.
Elder Gongsun Melee Patterns
To fight him face-to-face, you need to learn his two major combo sets because once you know which one he’s going to perform, the rest of the moves become readable.
Set 1: Force Palm → Arena Dash → Short Kicks → Final Charged Dash:
It’s his main combo attack, which deals heavy damage if you get hit. Parry the first long charge dash, and back out right after the parry. His following kicks are awkward, fast, and can ruin your Qi bar even if you mistime a single input. The last of this 5-hit combo is red charge dash, counter it, and show your martial arts to the annoying old man. Countering every hit in the chain is a trap, so save your parries for his finishers.
Set 2: Three Combos Leading to the Kick Barrage:
The attack-combo begins when Gongsun throws a long, more elaborate melee pattern. To respond, stay mobile for the first two sub-chains—jump or dodge as needed—until he ends it with a high overhead kick. Right after the kick, he performs three quick side kicks, which are easy to parry. You can mash parry through them, and they will completely eat his Qi if you successfully land the full sequence, but if your strike is missed, you might lose so this one is high-risk, high-reward.
Once a full combo ends, Elder Gongsun cycles through one of the following moves:
Triple Toad Jump
These are small leaps with awkward hit ranges when he charges from the air like a frog. Don’t bother countering, as they are safe to evade. He mutters “I’m coming” as he lands at you, dodge sideways to avoid damage. After the last jump, he pauses for a while, long enough to let you land some hits.
Gas Cloud (Smoke Bomb) → Charge Dash
He releases a smoke puff to blind you, then uses a red leap strike. Stay inside the smoke cloud so the camera doesn’t betray you, and parry on time when he comes at you; this is one of the easiest red telegraphs he has.
Stop Gongsun’s Qi Recovery
One of the main reasons this battle drags on is ignoring his Qi recovery. After any combo-hit or often casually, Gongsun recovers Qi stamina. You can interrupt it with a light touch like a basic melee tap. Once you do that, he goes to his main combo loop, which is your other chance to bait the red dash attacks.
If you let him restore Qi, the fight becomes difficult to manage. His kick barrage is the hardest thing to parry, and on Legendary difficulty, his attack deals more damage, but the moves are the same. The best way to win this boss fight is to use space, parry his red attacks, and choose his specific combo parts to challenge rather than attempting hero counters from every hit.
Rewards for Defeating Elder Gongsun
Once Elder Gogsun is finally defeated, it unlocks the “The Older Timer Got It” achievement, and you can claim 5 Echo Jades. Not a massive payout for this tough encounter, but the real reward is being able to say that the infamous old man at last stopped handing you free Ls.
