Flame, The Lion Grandmaster: how to douse the lion dance

At a glance

He is the chapter boss of Pengzhen’s first half, so there is no route to miss him.

The trick that defines the fight: soak him first

Flame splits his damage across three attack types — head-blade swings, ground stomps, and sprayed fire. Two of the three are physical. The third is the one that kills people, and it has a hard counter:

Equip a water-spray Phantom Edge — the source uses the You Loong Head (游龙头) — and spray him before engaging. Once he enters the wet state, every fire attack in his kit stops working.

The detail that matters: do not hold the spray. You are not trying to damage him with water. You only need the wet flag set, and holding it wastes the window you should be attacking in.

Phase 1: read the three types

The fight is a recognition test more than a reflex test. Head-blade swings and stomps are punishable on block; fire is the one you cannot stand in.

Phase 2: the single operator

The lion becomes a single operator driving it from inside, and the pace jumps:

• Foot-blade multi-hit combos — the lion’s feet carry blades, and the combos chain longer than anything in phase 1.
• Black-flash into thrust — this is the run-ender. He flashes black, and the follow-up thrust comes immediately. Blocking the flash drains your Sha-Chi; getting caught with an empty bar means eating a full combo.

This phase can take you out in one sequence if your bar is empty when the flash lands.

The pole-top sequence

At certain points he summons wooden poles and leaps up. What happens next depends on the glint colour:

If he summons poles plus adds, kill the adds first. That triggers the story beat: your character puts on a lion head, jumps to the opposite pole, and the fight becomes a fireball duel across the poles.

In the duel you move four-directionally between poles with the stick and spit fireballs back. Each hit strips his Sha-Chi and health. You can either move out of the way of an incoming fireball before it lands, or spit your own into it to cancel — both work; cancelling is the safer habit while you learn the rhythm.

The duel ends when either side’s Sha-Chi empties, then the fight returns to normal ground combat.

Related

• You Loong — the Pengzhen boss whose name matches the item, but whose drop is a different Phantom Edge
• Pengzhen chapter hub — where the English coverage ends
• All bosses