What is The Great Pagoda in Black Myth: Wukong and how do you reach it?
Game ScienceThe Great Pagoda is a location in Black Myth: Wukong that takes a substantial amount of work to reach, but players are unsure what purpose it serves.
Black Myth: Wukong has some amazing but mysterious locations. You’ll often come across doors and rooms that will feel completely unnecessary until you finish a hidden side quest that ends up unlocking brand new items or entire locations.
One such area that’s currently under baffling players is the Great Pagoda in the third chapter of the game, The New West. This area takes a lot of work to reach, yet seems empty when you discover it for the first time, leading to questions surrounding its true purpose.
Does The Great Pagoda have a purpose?
Currently, we are unsure about the real purpose of The Great Pagoda, but it is way too detailed to be completely unnecessary.
However, you must remember that it has its own personal Shrine, and the room has walls that act like murals when you finish a chapter. Additionally, you will hear a certain NPC talk about it, who mentions a friend of Sun Wukong who wanted peace and was sent to The Great Pagoda.
After you reach a certain point in the game, the circular section in the middle of the temple glows with fire around it. While the community is still searching for answers, it is believed this area will serve a purpose in the end-game after completing all the chapters, where it will unlock an ending once all the walls are filled with paintings.
In order to fill the walls, you need to complete the various chapters and collect relics.
How to reach The Great Pagoda
While its purpose is unclear, reaching The Great Pagoda is a tough journey. So, here’s how you can check this area out for yourselves.
Step 1: Reach Mirrormare Shrine
This area can be found after you have explored the initial section of the snow-covered region, The New West. After exploring a bit, you will soon meet an NPC, who will turn you into a bird and fly you through the mountains until you reach the Mirrormare Shrine.
Once you reach here, prepare your gear, upgrade your flasks, and prepare to fight.
Step 2: Defeat Kang-Jin Loong
In front of the Mirrormare Shrine, you will see a huge frozen lake. Walk in the middle of the lake in front of the Shaolin gates, and a cutscene will start. A monk will appear, followed by the boss, Kang-Jin Loong. This is the white dragon you all might have noticed in the trailers.
While the dragon looks intimidating, the fight is simple. The only problem is that the boss keeps flying up, which will disrupt your combos. Whenever the boss comes down, you can immobilize it and deal as much damage as possible.
If you’re able to land a Resolute Counterflow or Light Attack combo, Kang-Jin Loong will topple, opening up a massive window to deal lots of damage. The only thing you need to care about are the Lightning attacks. The boss will occasionally slam the ground with either its hands or tail and deal Lightning damage. It can also grab you with its mouth and blast you with a devastating Lightning charge.
Finally, after it has lost 50% of its HP, it flies up in the air and showers a barrage of Lightning strikes. You can dodge them and wait for the boss to get down once again to deal damage.
However, after the boss is defeated, you fall into the lake and get teleported to a new area, the Pagoda Realm.
Step 3: Explore Lower Pagoda
After teleporting to the Pagoda Realm, the first Shrine you reach is the Lower Pagoda. Now, the Pagoda Realm is more than just a new region; it’s a menace. You will notice a massive, rotating structure in the middle and narrow pathways surrounding it.
You initially find yourself locked inside a prison that you can break, but there are multiple prison cells here. However, neither the prison cells nor the enemies are the real issues.
Inside the Pagoda Realm, you will occasionally notice that the screen starts glowing white and your character starts screaming. Once the screaming stops, both your character and the enemies will have red eyes. Additionally, you will also notice a new kind of enemy that was not visible until the glowing mechanic started.
At this point, the music grows intense, and the structure in the middle starts rotating rapidly. Lastly, the new enemy is quite annoying, as they are like searchlights with three bulbs hanging from their heads. These searchlights can track you even if you are in Cloud Step.
As a final magic trick, your health is reduced to half when this mechanic starts, so be very careful. However, this mechanic isn’t permanent, it goes away after some time before returning. This means you have a period between when you can quickly deal with everything without having to face the searchlight enemies.
In any case, once you explore a bit, you should notice a set of stairs. Go up the stairs to reach the upper floor.
Step 4: Upper Pagoda
Upper Pagoda isn’t too different from Lower Pagoda in terms of the difficulty and the mechanics. Just be careful, as some bat-like creatures jump at you while you are unaware and push you off the narrow pathways.
Additionally, there are narrow wooden bridges on the upper floor with an archer standing on the opposite side that will shoot arrows at you. Fortunately, you can run through the wooden bridges or use Cloud Step to run. The mechanic from Lower Pagoda continues, but you will be accustomed to it by this point.
Eventually, you will notice stairs moving upwards, which you need to take to reach the Mani Wheel Shrine.
Step 5: Defeat Captain Wise-Voice
Once you reach the Mani Wheel Shrine, you will be at the top of the Pagoda Realm. Walk forward and enter the rotating structure to be introduced to a new boss, Captain Wise-Voice. This boss is also easy, but way more annoying than Kang-Jin Loong.
This boss has the body of a horse with a circular metallic head. When you lock on to this boss, you will notice that it always points at its feet. This is the mechanic of Captain Wise-Voice, where you need to hit its toe until it topples. The hits at the toe do not deal much damage.
However, once the boss topples, its weak spot is exposed, which is its metallic head. Hit its head for massive amounts of damage until it gets back up again. Repeat the process until it dies.
Although it sounds simple, the task isn’t as easy. This is because the boss deals Lightning damage that hits hard. Its primary attacks include a foot stomp, an occasional barrage of Lightning strikes, or a Lightning beam.
Additionally, the Pagoda Realm mechanic activates here as well, where Captain Wise-Voice will occasionally scream and its head will start glowing white. You will notice that your HP gets reduced to half here.
Finally, after the boss has lost 60% of its health, it will become immune and start a laser show. You will soon notice circular and criss-cross patterns popping up on the floor. This is a nuke attack that glows yellow before turning red and exploding.
There is no place where you can hide, but you can avoid it. In between the various patterns on the floor, you will notice small pockets of neutral areas. Stand in the neutral zones and wait for the nuke to pass. Once the nuke has passed, you can continue damaging the boss.
Step 6: Reach the Snow-Veiled Trail
After Captain Wise-Voice is dead, it is time to head out again. Fortunately, the Pagoda shenanigans are over, and you are back in the outside world. There isn’t much on the upcoming path, as there are only a few enemies that are all easy to deal with.
Continue exploring until you come across a massive flight of stairs. Go up the stairs and you will reach the Snow-Veiled Trail Shrine.
Step 7: The Great Pagoda
From the Snow-Veiled Trail, walk straight and cross the snow-covered wooden bridge. Once you are across the bridge, take a left, and keep moving straight until you encounter a massive snow-covered field.
As soon as you step onto the field, you will notice an interact point over a massive door that is covered with clouds and snow on the other side. Interact with this door and you will enter The Grand Pagoda.
You can hit the Shrine inside the temple so that you can teleport to the location in the future. As mentioned, we are unsure what purpose it serves, but you will notice the left wall glowing as if denoting a chapter completion.
In the meantime, if you’re interested in the game but unsure whether to play it, check out our review for guidance. If you want to learn more about the game, check out our guides on the beginner tips and achievement list for Black Myth: Wukong.