Wuchang: Fallen Feathers – How To Beat Commander Honglan (Boss Guide)

The first major challenge players will face in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers comes when you reach the end of Worship’s Rise and face off against Commander Honglan. She’s a difficult boss with a tricky move set that requires a bit more skill than any boss you’ve previously faced so far. While you could get away with dodging and playing around with different strategies for earlier bosses, Honglan requires players to master the Deflect and/or Block mechanics if you want to stand any chance at defeating her.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers promises to be one of 2025’s breakout games, largely because of its Dark Souls and Sekiro-inspired gameplay that scratches a certain itch that other soulslikes simply do not. If you’re a Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice or Dark Souls veteran, this boss might come a bit easier than it will to others, but will still function as a primer for the many difficult bosses that lie ahead.

Where To Find Commander Honglan In Wuchang: Fallen Feathers

Honglan Is The Final Boss Of The First Region In Wuchang

While Commander Honglan might seem ridiculously tough to some, she’s nothing compared to some of the hardest bosses found in the later stages of the game. Commander Honglan is the final main boss of the starting region in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, Worship’s Rise, and she can be found once you reach the Lotus Pond.

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You’ll want to go in as prepared as possible for this fight, which means exploring Worship’s Rise as extensively as possible and leveling up your character sufficiently. Be sure to optimize your build as much as possible in the Impetus Repository, particularly investing in a Deflect or Block skill that can effectively counter Commander Honglan’s various sword attacks.

To get into the Lotus Pond, you’ll need to find the Buddha Statue and place it on the pedestal/stand at the overlook near the Plain Warrioress. The Buddha Statue is not far from the stand, and if you head down the stairs, you shouldn’t have trouble finding it. Once you do, you can place it on the stand, and the arena will open up for the fight against Commander Honglan.

How To Prepare For Commander Honglan

Use Poise Break & Sword Counter For Best Results

I recommend a Longsword build that incorporates Poise Break, or a Dual Blades build that incorporates Leech damage if you’re struggling with health, though there are many different build types that can work for this battle. Seeing as you should have the Lashing Whip, which synergizes with Poise Break Temperance, that will likely be your best option, with the Vermillion War Club as your secondary weapon (if you have it).

The key factor here is that you need to incorporate a Block or Deflect skill into your build to effectively counter Honglan’s attacks, as she works similarly to many challenging Sekiro bosses. My recommendation is to keep it simple with the Longsword and invest in the Sword Counter node, while also investing in Feathering nodes to enhance the Echo of Lu Bingzhang spell. What worked for me was to counter/deflect Commander Honglan’s various stab and slashing attacks and hitting her with the Echo of Lu when there was ample distance.

How To Defeat Commander Honglan

Learn Which Moves To Dodge & Which To Deflect

You can easily get an Obliterate opportunity for most humanoid bosses in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers if you hit them with a heavy attack from behind. Honglan will always start the fight by lunging at you with a stab attack that can be deflected/countered quite easily once you get the timing right. If you can, dodge behind her and hit her with a heavy attack right away. This is a solid strategy for the entire fight.

Honglan has a few different stabbing and slashing attacks that can be countered, and will throw daggers at you as well. These can be easily dodged for Skyborn Might stacks. She also has a leg kick and a stomping attack that must be dodged (cannot be parried/deflected), which typically come directly after a lunge. Further, she’ll throw a series of punches that cannot be deflected either, so it’s best to dodge out of the way and get some distance.

When you get her down to about half health, she’ll pick up the intensity a bit and pull out a second sword, and will start launching waves of energy from her blade that need to be dodged. Watch for the wide horizontal wave, as this can be quite devastating if you don’t manage to dodge it at the right time. If you’ve equipped the Poise Break Temperance, you should have ample Obliterate opportunities to take down Honglan’s health substantially.

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She’ll come at you with a spinning slash attack that can be deflected, but if you miss, it will likely kill you, so be careful. Additionally, she’ll jump in the air and lunge at you from above on occasion, which can be either dodged or deflected. The main challenge of her second stage is the quick successive attacks that are somewhat relentless, and you’ll really need to be on your toes with dodging vs. deflecting.

When you do finally take down Commander Honglan, you’ll enter a cutscene and be rewarded with some pretty decent loot, but I’ll leave these discoveries to you to avoid spoilers. Facing Commander Honglan is the first true test of skill in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, but once you’ve mastered your deflection and counter-attacks, the fight becomes significantly more manageable.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers

Systems

8/10

Released

July 24, 2025

ESRB

Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence

Developer(s)

Leenzee

Publisher(s)

505 Games

Engine

Unreal Engine 5