The best staff stances in Black Myth: Wukong

By Jason Rodriguez Published August 20, 2024

Ferocious and fast-paced action await you in Black Myth: Wukong, an action role-playing game from developer Game Science. As the Destined One, the staff is your weapon of choice, though there are various combos that you can utilize. Certain options are great for offense or defense, while others offer more acrobatic maneuvers. This guide discusses the best staff stances in Black Myth: Wukong.

There are three staff stances in Black Myth: Wukong. These are the Smash Stance, Pillar Stance, and Thrust Stance. If unlocked, you can freely swap from one playstyle to another during combat, allowing for added flexibility when dealing with different kinds of foes. Moreover, each stance has its own unique skill tree with perks/talents that further improve their functionality. Note that you may refund and reallocate your talent points at any shrine via the Self Advance: Reignite the Sparks panel.

In any case, our Black Myth: Wukong best staff stances guide is organized based on when you unlock these options as you level up. We’ve also included information regarding their perks, the ideal situations on when you should switch to them, and whether they’re worth it in the long run.

The Smash Stance is available at the start of the campaign. It suits an offensive-oriented playstyle since it allows you to chain together multiple hits in an uninterrupted sequence. Likewise, its Resolute Strike mechanic is almost akin to a weapon parry of sorts. If you perform a varied combo (i.e. light attacks followed by a heavy attack that consumes a Focus Point), your character “sees through” an enemy’s next move, nullifying the damage and countering with a slam. We recommend choosing the Smash Stance for the first few hours of the game, at least until you obtain the Thrust Stance.

Here are the Smash Stance’s perks/talents:

Pillar Stance is unlocked at level 3. Switching to this mode changes your charged heavy attack; your character hops on their weapon that slowly becomes more elongated, thereby increasing their height. After that, they can crash down on an opponent below.

To be honest, although there are only three options to choose from when discussing the best staff stances in Black Myth: Wukong, we still feel that the Pillar Stance should be in fourth place. We tried very hard to make it work properly in game, but there were few situations when it became a lifesaver. In the same vein, the varied combo where your character spins around might look flashy, but it’s hardly practical. We’ve gotten smacked and tossed around by foes while in the middle of this animation that it just wasn’t worth attempting during tougher battles.

If you’re interested, here are the perks/talents for the Pillar Stance:

Thrust Stance is unlocked at level 20, but it’s certainly worth the wait. That’s because it’s the best staff stance in Black Myth: Wukong. This is primarily due to offering both offense and defense. It has longer range to keep enemies away, and it has a backstep move as its varied combo, creating a cost-effective means of avoiding damage as opposed to consuming mana to cast Rock Solid (i.e. the parry spell). The backstep can be followed up with multiple forward strikes, while the charged heavy attack is a devastating thrust with high stagger capabilities. Make no mistake: This suits all types of playstyles and, once unlocked, you’ll barely try the others.

Below are the Thrust Stance’s perks/talents. We recommend allocating points into all of them as long as you have enough to spare:

That does it for our Black Myth: Wukong best staff stances guide. If you want to maximize the Destined One’s capabilities, we encourage you to check our guides on the best weapons and best armor sets.