Nine Sols Boss Guide: How to Beat General Yingzhao

General Yingzhao is the first major boss in Nine Sols who tests your mastery of the basic combat, and movement tools. He’s a massive cybernetic centaur who can prove quite challenging for new players, especially if they haven’t mastered the parry and talisman system yet. This guide will go over the best strategy required to beat General Yingzhao.

General Yingzhao Phase One

In his first phase, General Yingzhao will gallop around the map, and perform three different types of possible attacks.

The first one is a slow downward smash followed by an upward slash. The best course is to simply parry both successive attacks, and apply the talisman for greater damage. It has a fairly long windup animation, making it one of the easier moves to parry.

Yingzhao will also perform a running sweep, which can be a bit tricky to parry perfectly. We recommend parrying it as soon as the spear begins its upward arc. He usually does this twice in a row from both ends of the screen, giving you room to attack him while he adjusts his position.

Finally, Yingzhao can do a thrusting attack which appears to have a red aura, but it isn’t a crimson attack, meaning you can successfully parry it as well.

All three attacks can be parried, and to maximize damage, you should follow up with a talisman attack. However, even if you dodge a few instances, you can attack Yingzhao with your regular attack both on the ground and in the air, preferably from his behind.

Keep in mind, that you don’t need to be on the ground to parry or apply the talisman. In a lot of cases, you’ll jump around, and do the same, which we recommend too.

General Yingzhao Phase Two

After depleting his health in Phase One, General Yingzhao will jump back to his platform and will regenerate his entire health for Phase Two. In this phase, General Yingzhao will use all the attacks from the first phase, with two additional crimson attacks, which can’t be parried.

The first crimson attack is a downward thrust, which you need to dodge. Don’t try to parry it or use your Tai-Chi kick, it’s not going to do anything. You need to hit dodge as soon as he throws the spear upwards and leaps in the air. If you’re caught in the attack, you’ll take damage.

The second crimson attack begins with a charge up animation, which is the cue to get ready. As soon as you see the green highlight around his body, jump towards him, and perform a Tai-Chi kick. This immobilizes him for a bit, and you can apply the talisman, or simply start attacking him.

If you can’t get the timing right for the crimson attack, dodging is a valid option. You can also dodge, and perform the Tai-Chi kick as well. Yingzhao will use attacks from both phases, so learning how to parry well is still very important. You can’t keep chipping away at his health with your regular attack, as that will make the fight incredibly long.

Beating General Yingzhao will reward you with the Herb Catalyst, which can be used to improve the potency of your Pipe.

For more on Nine Sols, make sure to check out our dedication section.