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On the Order of Bosses 6 & 7
Congratulations on making it through Lady Ethereal.
The next section of Nine Sols is the only part of the game where you’re able to make a decision about the order that you tackle things. You have 2 choices: fight Ji in the Grotto of Scripture, or the Feng twins in the Empyrean District.
Personally, I’d recommend tackling Ji in the Grotto of Scriptures first. I think that’s the easier of the 2 fights. You don’t have to follow my recommendation though.
Either way, the Fengs will be featured here on page 8, and Ji will be featured on page 7 of this guide.
Preparation
Recommended Skills
- Qi Boost (x4)
- Swift Rise
- Enhanced Water Flow
- Breathing Exercise
- Enhanced Talisman (x2)
- Unbounded Drain
- Enhanced Blade (x2)
Okay – we’re coming up on the end of Nine Sols now, so there’s a very good chance that you’ve already got the majority of these skills unlocked entirely through happenstance.
Either way, the skills listed above are my recommendations for fighting the Fengs.
Qi Boost: Provides you with 5 total Qi charges. This isn’t as important for fighting the Fengs as we’ll be using Waterflow instead of Full Control, but having additional Qi Charges does synergize with 1 of the Jade recommendations I’ll make for this fight later in the guide.
Swift Rise: Allows Yi to recover faster from a knockdown by tapping the dash button, which can help to prevent situations where Yi would take damage from combo attacks. Probably the best defensive skill in the game. It’s a must have if you’re struggling with any of the bosses.
Enhanced Water Flow: The upgraded version of Water Flow. This reduces the cost of Water Flow from 2 Qi down to 1 Qi. This makes it a lot easier to consistently stick talismans onto Fuxi throughout the boss fight, which can help to make up for the rather low damage output of individual Qi Blasts when using Water Flow.
Breathing Exercise: Allows you to recover some internal damage after performing a successful perfect parry. It’s not strictly required, but it does make Ji, and the remainder of Nine Sols’ bosses, a lot less spooky by giving you an easy way to recover from internal damage without needing to use your Healing Pipe.
Enhanced Talisman: A (roughly) ~25% damage increases to Qi Blast for each skill. Very helpful as we’re now into the section of the game where bosses start to have a LOT of hit points, which you’ll notice if you’re not using these damage focused upgrades.
Unbounded Drain: Provides 2 Qi charges any time Yi successfully uses an Unbounded Counter on an attack. Fuxi has a crimson attack that he’s quite fond of using, so getting a bit more Qi for successfully parrying this attack is a nice bonus.
Enhanced Blade: A (roughly) ~25% damage increase to Yi’s melee attacks for each skill. As previously mentioned, we’re in the section of the game where bosses start to have a lot of hit points. As such, dealing extra damage helps to prevent boss fights from dragging on too long.
Recommended Jades
- Quick Dose Jade
- Hedgehog Jade
- Qi Blade Jade
- Breather Jade
I was able to acquire all 10 computing slots by the time I reached the Fengs, so I’m going to assume that most people reading this guide were also able to do so.
If you’ve challenged the Fengs before Ji, then you’ll be missing 1 of the remaining slots (unless you’ve already explored the Grotto of Scripture).
As such, if you need to cut any of these Jades because you don’t have the slots for them then go with Hedgehog, or Qi Blade. Both Jades increase your damage output, but I’m not entirely sure which of the 2 does more damage throughout the fight. If you’re struggling with your parry timing, then Hedgehog is definitely the easier of the 2 Jades to cut from your loadout.
Quick Dose: Still the MVP, and my goto Jade of choice. This speeds up the use of your Healing Pipe by roughly 40%, which allows you to use it more liberally throughout a fight. It’s an absolute must have Jade if you’re struggling with a boss fight, or Nine Sols in general.
Hedgehog: One of the best damage boosting Jades against bosses, provided you can reliably perfect parry. Hedgehog applies internal damage onto anything after you perfect parry a melee attack. This can really add up over the fight against the Fengs as Fuxi attacks exclusively with melee strikes.
Qi Blade: Uses 2 Qi charges to apply a 10 times multiplier to the third, and final attack in Yi’s standard 3 hit melee combo. This significantly increases your damage output against Fuxi. Normally, I wouldn’t recommend Qi Blade since we’re using Hedgehog, but Enhanced Water Flow only costs 1 Qi, so we should have plenty of Qi to spare on Qi Blade.
Breather Jade: Striking an enemy with a melee attack will recover some of your internal damage. The amount recovered is about ~2% of your max health. Personally, I find Fuxi’s attacks a little challenging to consistently perfect parry, especially during phase 2 when Nuwa starts attacking. As such, it’s nice to have Breather equipped since it allows you to recover your internal damage more quickly throughout the fight. Recovery Jade also works if you’d prefer to use a more defensively oriented Jade.
Addendum: if you’re really struggling to make a go of the Fengs with these Jades, then swap out Qi Blade for Iron Skin. Iron Skin naturally synergizes with both Breather, and Recovery while also making Yi a little tankier when he’s hit by an attack.
Recommended Equipment
- Cloud Piercer X
- Level 8 Healing Pipe
- 8 Max Health Upgrades
- 6 Computing Units
- 3 Azure Sand Upgrades
Please – just upgrade Cloud Piercer to max level already. The other 2 arrow heads are completely worthless outside of the achievement that you get from upgrading all arrows to max level. Cloud Piercer’s high burst damage, and armor breaking is simply too good to pass up on.
Plus, Fuxi will be temporarily stunned after taking a hit from Cloud Piercer, so you can use the Azure Bow to create additional opportunities to use Qi Blast, unleash big damage with Qi Blade, or take a shot from your Healing Pipe.
Speaking of Healing Pipe, I was able to get mine to the max level of 8 before fighting the Fengs. I also obtained all 8 Max Health upgrades. If you explored the entire game (including both the Empyrean District, and Grotto of Scriptures) then you should also have access to a fully upgraded Healing Pipe, and Yi’s Maximum Health.
It was already mentioned, but I also managed to pick-up the remainder of the Computing Unit upgrades (6 total) before fighting the Fengs. This isn’t strictly necessary, but having additional room to equip more Jades is always a net positive.
Finally, you’re going to want to purchase all of the Azure Sand upgrades. Some of the attacks during phase 2 of this boss fight are very difficult to properly deal with while both Fuxi, and Nuwa are attacking you simultaneously. As such, it’s best if you have 5 Cloud Piercer X shots to use throughout the fight to temporarily stun Fuxi at opportune times.
How to Fight the Fengs
Welcome to the second duo boss fight of Nine Sols. Unlike Goumang, the Fengs are actually a well designed fight. This is because both of them have boss AI, so their attacks actually synergize together. Huzzah!
Phase 1
In phase 1 of the fight, you’ll just be fighting Fuxi alone. During phase 2, his sister, Nuwa, joins the fight. As a result of this design, Fuxi’s attacks do not change between phases. Every single attack that he uses in phase 1 will remain unaltered in phase 2, and he doesn’t gain any additional attacks.
As such, it’s very important to use phase 1 to learn how to properly parry all of Fuxi’s attacks.
Overview of Phase 1 Attacks
| Attack Name | Short Description |
|---|---|
| Charging Sweep | Fuxi charges at Yi, and performs a sweeping attack with his massive clawed hand. This attack has heavy knockback, and will send Yi flying backwards even when a perfect parry is performed. |
| Crimson Strike | Fuxi transforms his claw hand into a blade before striking Yi with a crimson attack. Red flames are left on the ground for several seconds after the attack if you fail to Unbounded Counter it. |
And here is what those attacks look like:
Fuxi’s Combo Attacks
The remainder of Fuxi’s attacks can all be combo’d, which is why I’m calling attention to them separately.
Unlike every other boss in Nine Sols, Fuxi doesn’t follow a few predetermined combos. Instead, he is able to chain his attacks into 1 another much like how a fighting game character can combo attacks together.
| Attack Name | Combo Annotation | Combos Into | Short Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jumping Slam | A | (C) Downward Swing (F) Claw Rake | Fuxi jumps into the air, and slams his claw into the ground at Yi’s current position. |
| Upward Swing | B | (C) Downward Swing | Fuxi performs an uppercut with tremendous force using his guqin (the stringed instrument he’s holding in his non-infected hand). |
| Downward Swing | C | (D) Guqin Thrust (E) Claw Slam | Fuxi slams his guqin into the ground. |
| Guqin Thrust | D | (E) Claw Slam | Fuxi thrusts his guqin at Yi. |
| Claw Slam | E | (F) Claw Rake | Fuxi slams his claw into the ground. |
| Claw Rake | F | N/A | Fuxi drags his infected claw hand across the ground. This attack hits from behind. |
Here is what all of those different attacks look like:
And here is an infographic that I put together to outline the relationships between each attack using the annotation denoted from the table above.
Here’s another video which actually shows Fuxi’s combos in action using the above annotation:
Hopefully that all helps to illustrate how Fuxi’s combos work.
Why does any of this matter though? Well, there are a few takeaways we get from understanding exactly how Fuxi’s attacking structure works:
- Fuxi can indefinitely loop Claw Slam, and Downward Swing
- Whenever Fuxi performs Claw Rake, the combo has ended, and you’re safe to counterattack
It’s also worth noting that Fuxi can drop the combo at any point in the sequence, so there are going to be times where you can get counter attacks if your reaction speed is fast enough to capitalize on these openings. I don’t tend to bother with this however, and instead stick to simply going after Fuxi whenever he performs Claw Rake.
Tips for Phase 1
When you Unbounded Counter Fuxi’s Crimson Strike, you can absolutely unload into him. This is the single biggest opportunity you’re going to get to chip down his monstrous health bar, so give him everything you’ve got during this brief window of opportunity.
Unsurprisingly, you can counterattack Fuxi after he performs his Charging Sweep as he isn’t able to combo into, or out of it.
The safest place to attack Fuxi during his melee combo attacks is after he performs a Claw Rake. This ends the combo, and gives Yi a fairly clear window to attach a talisman, and use a 3 strike melee combo.
Claw Rake always hits Yi from behind. You’ll either need to turn around, or jump to parry it properly.
Fuxi’s quite large, which can cause some of his attacks to appear as if they’re hitting Yi from behind. This is not the case. Only his Claw Rake hits Yi from behind. You must parry all other attacks, regardless of how they appear, by facing toward Fuxi.
You can always expend a shot from your Azure Bow to provide an additional opportunity to heal, or damage Fuxi. The Cloud Piercer X shot will temporarily stun Fuxi, which will halt whatever attack he’s presently doing.
Fuxi’s hurtbox is huge, so you can attach a talisman to him from very far away.
Dashing to the otherside of Fuxi may seem like a viable way to avoid his combo attack, but I’d recommend against it. If he ever tries to perform a Guqin Thrust after you’ve gotten behind him, he’ll turn around and perform a Downward Swing instead. It’s better to keep yourself spaced out, and parry his melee onslaught until he performs a Claw Rake, or backs off entirely.
Fuxi’s attacks are generally slow enough that you can heal just about whenever you’d like throughout the fight provided you’re using Quick Dose. Just make sure you create a little distance by dashing away from him before you take a hit of your Healing Pipe.
Phase 2
As previously noted, Fuxi’s attacks do not change during phase 2, nor does he acquire any new attacks. Instead, Nuwa joins the fight, which adds several additional wrinkles to successfully navigating around Fuxi’s barrage of melee attacks.
Luckily, the Feng twins do not attack at random. Which attacks they’ll choose to use is dependent on what attack the other twin has initiated with. In this way, there are several different patterns to learn for phase 2, but none of them are impossible to defend against.
Overview of Phase 2 Attacks
Because Nuwa and Fuxi attack as a pair, I’ll be outlining their attacks as a pair. The accompanying video will show how to deal with each, as per usual.
| Attack Name | Short Description |
|---|---|
| Static Bombs + Slam | Nuwa: places a static bomb on Yi’s current location 3 times a second for the next 3 seconds. Fuxi: performs a Jumping Slam that will make contact shortly after the final bomb from Nuwa’s attack is placed. |
| Melee Combo + Pins | Fuxi: attacks Yi with a string of melee attacks. Nuwa: summons 2 projectile pins Yi, and fires them in rapid succession. |
| Sweep + Homing Ball | Fuxi: performs a Charging Sweep against Yi. Nuwa: summons a purple ball projectile that follows Yi until it makes contact, or he removes it with a Tai-Chi Kick. |
| Crimson Strike + Pins | Fuxi: performs a Crimson Strike attack. Nuwa: summons 2 projectile pins behind Yi, and fires them in rapid succession. |
| Vertical Snakes + Melee Combo | Nuwa: summons several crimson snakes that strike down from the arena’s ceiling. Fuxi: can perform any attack except for Crimson Strike. |
| Alternativing Snakes + Melee Combo | Nuwa: summons crimson snakes from the ceiling of the boss arena. They attack 3 times in an alternating pattern. Fuxi: can perform any attack except for Crimson Strike. |
| Horizontal Snakes + Melee Combo | Nuwa: summons a crimson snake behind Fuxi. It travels across the full length of the screen. 4 seconds later, another snake is summoned on the other side of the arena, which follows a similar trajectory. Fuxi: can perform any attack except for Crimson Strike. |
And here’s what that all looks like:
Tips for Phase 2
Simply running away works best for both Nuwa’s Static Bombs, and Vertical Snake attacks. Fuxi can still chase you down, but by running to the far side of the boss arena, you’ll completely avoid Nuwa’s attack which will free you up to parry whatever Fuxi tries to hit you with.
Air parries are a must whenever Fuxi starts to attack you with his melee combos. Nuwa’s pins can spawn in behind you, so you’ll need to perform several consecutive aerial parries in order to successfully defend against both of the Feng twin’s attacks.
You’ll have seen it in the example video, but you can parry the Crimson Strike + Pins combo. I thought it was impossible my first time doing this fight, but you have enough time to successfully perform 2 parries, followed immediately by an Unbounded Counter. It’s also not a frame perfect input either. You have a ton of wiggle room, despite how it may look at first glance.
If you’re having trouble dealing with the Horizontal Snake attack, try shooting Fuxi with a Cloud Piercer X arrow before you attempt to jump over the second snake. This was the most reliably method I found for dodging the attack without taking damage since Fuxi is stunned for a few seconds after being shot.
Your single biggest attack opportunities are still after Claw Rake, and Crimson Strike. Throw everything you’ve got at Fuxi whenever he does either of these attacks.
I’mma level with you – the Alternating Snakes attack is kind of bullshit. Fuxi does so much knockback with some of his attacks that it can be challenging to not get hit into the crimson snakes even if you perform a perfect parry. Generally, I find it best to try avoiding Fuxi for the duration of this attack. Don’t be afraid to spend your Azure Sand to stun him with a Cloud Piercer X arrow, so you can avoid taking damage.
There is usually pauses between attacks as the Fengs decide what to do next. You can heal during these pauses provided you’re running Quick Dose. You can also heal after Claw Rake, or Crimson Strike.
This is one of the hardest fights in the game, so remember to stay calm, and be patient. Rushing will likely get you killed. Take your opportunities for dealing damage as they come, and you should emerge successfully even if the fight takes you 10 minutes to clear.
Example Fight
Alrighty. That’s all of the tips that I’ve got, so here’s what it looks like in practice.Also, to reiterate, the Fengs are genuinely one of the hardest bosses in Nine Sols. This fight was a real struggle bus for me during my first playthrough too. If you haven’t fought Ji yet, you can always fight them, and come back to the terrible twins afterwards.
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Frostilyte Writes 