Wo Long Aoye boss fight guide: How to beat the four-horned bull
That's total bull!
In Chinese mythology, the fearsome Aoye is a four-horned ox covered in gross, swampy hair which preys on unsuspecting travellers and warriors alike. But in Wo Long, the Aoye is even more formidable, taking the form of a gigantic, eldritch beast with prehensile tendrils capable of launching it across the ground with surprising speed.
Defeating the Aoye in Wo Long can be a frustrating task for a few reasons. Chief among them is the strange deflect timing of its attacks, which form the key to finishing the demon off once and for all.
When you get your eye in with deflecting the Aoye’s most punishable techniques however, you’re well on the way to victory. Here’s what you need to know!
The Aoye is all about timing
Taking down the Aoye requires patience, because it’s more about holding your nerve and avoiding being faked out than punishing openings.
First, when the Aoye raises both tentacles and slams them down on either side of you, don’t be tempted to dodge or deflect. This is your cue to wait a second and score a big deflect once the beast flings itself across the floor at you. I found this easiest to deflect by almost moving into the line of the attack, so I could better judge when I was about to be hit.
When the demon just raises one tentacle, you know that you only have to focus on deflecting that one side. If you manage to deflect one tentacle strike, the Aoye usually tries to hit you with the other side immediately after, letting you stagger it quickly with good rhythm.
Two moves that can be deflected which you might not expect are when the Aoye launches itself in the air - deflect as it lands on you - and each stroke of its tentacles as it pulls itself along the floor to close distance.
When it’s at about two-thirds health it will shoot out an ice attack, but the strategy remains the same: don’t get faked out, deflect its red attacks, hit spirit attacks when you can and score critical hits.
Remember you can guard agaist many of the Aoye's attacks
It’s also worth saying that despite the size of the Aoye, you can still guard against attacks which aren’t highlighted with a red ball.
If you’re struggling to keep up deflecting the flurry of potential hits, throw up a guard with L1/LB instead. It will stop you from getting hit thanks to a mistimed deflect. This is particularly useful against the move where the Aoye sweeps a tentacle across the floor.
Fire and Poison Spells are effective chip damage against the Aoye
If you’re invested in the Fire or Metal elements and have access to some poison or fireball spells, the Aoye seems relatively susceptible to these ailments.
While you need to be careful not to leave yourself stranded with a fully negative Spirit Gauge after spamming too much Wizardry, either burning or poisoning the Aoye can be an effective form of chip damage if you’re struggling to land deflects and critical hits regularly.
Survive with a little help from your friends
The Aoye is a huge opponent, so if you’re finding it difficult to bear the brunt of its far-reaching attacks, consider summoning two allies at a Battle Flag under the “Reinforcements” tab by using some Tiger Seals.
While they don’t deal a huge amount of damage, friends can draw the aggro of even unblockable attacks, leaving you free to exploit the opportunity to inflict a status ailment or score a few free hits to refill your Spirit Gauge.
Focus on breaking Spirit and avoid greed
Finally, the last thing to remember when facing the Aoye is that Wo Long punishes greed.
If you get too trigger happy and fire off too many attacks while you think you have a good opening, you will get stuck in the animation of a combo once the Aoye recovers and miss your opportunity to deflect a big hit.
This will lead not only to your untimely death, but also to missing out on the critical hits that are key to taking out large parts of the demon’s health bar.
It’s much more important to focus on breaking Spirit than scoring an extra hit or two. Don’t overextend your combos, and be ready to retaliate against unblockable attacks with a deflect at all times.
For more demon-slaying advice, check out our Wo Long Walkthrough in-progress!