Black Myth Wukong has finally released after steadily building anticipation over a couple of years, and has you play as The Destined One. While the game is not fully souls-like; it does take several inspirations from it – one of them being the healing system – both in terms of the limited flasks (or gourds in this case) that replenish at every checkpoint; and how you can increase the number as well as the healing effectiveness of each gourd. If you are looking for ways to get that extra gourd through before your next big boss battle, we have put up the complete guide on how to upgrade Gourds & Drinks in Black Myth Wukong.
How To Upgrade Your Gourd
You can upgrade your gourd by gathering Luojia Fragrant Vine and speaking to Shen Monkey just after the Marsh of White Mist Keeper’s Shrine. In order to unlock Shen Monkey, do the following:
- Progress in the game till you reach the checkpoint Marsh of White Mist.
- Take the wooden platform till you come across a monkey fending off enemies.
- Kill the enemies and the monkey will come down and speak to you.
- He will then move to the cave, which will be his fixed place throughout the game. Later you can get him to the Zodiac Village along with other merchant NPCs as well.
The gourd in Black Myth Wukong is the equivalent of Estus Flask and you only start with a limited number – four. You can refer to our guide on how to get all 15 Luojia Fragrant Vines to fully upgrade the Gourd.
The first one can be found right across the Marsh of White Mist Keeper’s Shrine. Handing this over to Shen Monkey changes the Gourd from ‘Old Gourd’ to ‘Medicine Gourd’ and you can now get 5 uses out of it everytime you start from a checkpoint.
How To Upgrade Drinks In Black Myth Wukong
In Black Myth Wukong, you can not only increase the number of chugs that you have of your Gourd but also the healing effectiveness of each chug. The Drink, in this case, is the actual liquid that you drink from the Gourd – think of this as the Sacred Tear equivalent in Elden Ring. This is done by selecting ‘Upgrade Drinks’ when interacting with Shen Monkey and handing over an Awaken Wine Worm. The first upgrade, for example, increases the amount of health restored to 36% from 33%, and the drink changes from ‘Coconut Wine’ to ‘3 Year Old Coconut Wine’! You can check out our guide on how to get all Awaken Wine Worms in the game.
How To Change The Soaks In Black Myth Wukong
Soaks are the third aspect to the healing system in Black Myth Wukong – the game offers you upgrades for the no. of uses, the effectiveness of each use, and also the final effect of each use – which is the Soak in that case. You can change the Soak in Black Myth Wukong by selecting ‘Brew’ when interacting with Shen Monkey. One such Soak that you can unlock early in chapter 2 is the Lambbrew Drink – which heals 25% immediately and 25% over a period of time – as opposed to the default Soak which replenishes a lower amount (33% ) but does it immediately.
And that is the complete healing system explained. Hope this guide helped you collect and upgrade just the right amount of Gourds & Drinks in Black Myth Wukong to survive and slay that difficult boss fight!
