Zuo Shang, the True Lóng Boss #74 of 74 · Mount Soulrend

How to beat Zuo Shang, the True Lóng

Our strategy, built from the fight's numbers, followed by the game's own codex entry.

• Parry the blue flashes: 2 of Zuo Shang, the True Lóng's 16 attacks flash blue before they land, and a timed parry stops them.
• Dodge the red flashes: 2 attacks flash red. They can't be parried, so dodge through them instead of blocking.
• The tightest tell is Four-Hit Cloak Combo: only 0.46s from the flash to the hit, so react to the flash, not the swing.
• Lunging Command Grab is a grab: dodge it, because blocking and parrying don't stop a grab.
• Zuo Shang, the True Lóng adds new attacks below 85%, 12% HP, so expect the moveset to change at 85%.
• Zuo Shang, the True Lóng's Sha-Chi bar is 3,000: perfect parries and Guard Break attacks drain it, and an empty bar opens the boss to a finisher.

Every attack Zuo Shang, the True Lóng can use, read from its ability data. The cards show the in-game animation with its timing: wind-up, the red or blue flash, the hit window and recovery.

Attacks

16

Red flash (dodge)

2

Blue flash (parry)

2

Grabs

2

Tightest tell

0.46s

New moves below

85% · 12%

From the start

Below 85% HP

Below 12% HP

All 16 attacks

Attack names are ours: the game doesn't name boss attacks. Times are seconds from the start of the attack; the reaction time runs from the flash to the first hit after it.

Parry Trainer

Test your timing on Zuo Shang, the True Lóng's real attacks: parry the blue flashes, dodge the red ones.

Extra damage (+) or reduced damage (−) per element, and how fast each status effect builds up.

Base attributes from the boss's config, and the same values at the level the fight runs at.

Calculated Base values come from the enemy's own config. The game raises them with the area level; enemies in this region are level 25 (difficulty multipliers are not included).

Each kill gives 180,000 Remnant Dust at this level.

Other forms of this fight

The same character appears as these boss entries (phases, rematches or story versions).

Boss	Base HP	Sha-Chi
Zuo Shang	2,900	1,400
Zuo Shang, the Order's Shadow Sovereign	8,000	2,400

Zuo Shang, the True Lóng lore

The codex entry the game unlocks for Zuo Shang, the True Lóng.

The “True Lóng” Zuo Shang commands is cast in pure gold, with a majestic Loong head and tightly packed golden scales. Through the mysteries of the Radiant Heart, it seems not only able to withstand the Blight’s erosion, but also to protect the consciousness within from its backlash.

Zuo Shang intends to use this body to control the all-devouring Blight.

Everything can serve as a piece: the rampaging Blight, the Herald’s masterful puppetcraft, and the Radiant Heart forged from Discordant Shards... Together, they form a flawless game.

Catastrophe is coming. Someone must tame the disaster and turn it into a power the world can wield. And since he alone dares to conceive of it, dares to act on it, and has the ability to achieve it, he will not squander that gift.

That is why Zuo Shang chose the Hollow Heart. His plan cannot afford to be swayed by emotion. In the struggle between the Lóng and the Blight, hesitation, pity, and personal ties would only compromise the precision of each move.

That is also why he cannot understand Soul’s choice. Soul possesses the same martial talent, yet simply takes things as they come, with no desire to uncover the source of his power or master it. To preserve his human emotions and desires, he would rather choose the Tainted Heart and live for only sixty-six days...

And if he truly lost the only opponent worthy of standing against him, Zuo Shang might find it somewhat empty... Or perhaps, from the moment he began laying his plans, he had already lost the possibility of having a “kindred spirit.”

In-game codex

Boss order

Boss #74 of 74: the last fight in story order, after Meng Hua, The Merciful Lady of the Blossom Veil.

Data: Phantom Blade Zero 26367565 (CL-302256, UE 5.7.4). How we source this