Maximizing Wukong's Damage Combo

Ancient secret techniques should be secret!

So this post is about maximizing Wukong's damage combo, which sounds like it should come down to hitting every button you own. It doesn't. The order matters, and the order that used to be right isn't right anymore. This post has been rewritten for Wukong's current kit.

The Combo

Nimbus Strike [E] -> Crushing Blow [Q] during the dash -> basic attack -> Cyclone [R] -> recast [R]

Crushing Blow [Q] can be cast while Nimbus Strike [E] is still carrying you, so you can buffer it mid-dash and land the empowered attack the instant you arrive. That attack resets your attack timer, so you get an ordinary basic attack out of it as well before you start spinning.

Why The Old Order Is Wrong Now

The advice everyone used to give was to lead with Crushing Blow [Q], because Q strips a chunk of the target's armor and everything that came after it was physical damage. That reasoning is dead. Nimbus Strike [E] deals magic damage now, so armor reduction does nothing at all for it, and leading with Q to "set up" your dash costs you the gap close while gaining you nothing.

It gets worse. Nimbus Strike [E] scales at 100% ability power, and Wukong builds attack damage, so on any normal build the base 80 to 200 is effectively the whole spell. Treat it as a dash and a five second attack speed buff that happens to do a little damage, not as something you're trying to amplify.

What The Armor Shred Is Actually For

Three seconds is the number this whole combo is built around. That's how long Crushing Blow [Q] keeps the target's armor down, and it takes 10% of it at rank 1 rising to 30% at rank 5. Everything that wants to be inside that window is physical: your basic attacks and Cyclone [R]. So Q goes down immediately before the spin, not two seconds ahead of it.

The good news is that Q comes back quickly. Its cooldown drops by half a second every time Wukong or his clone damages an enemy, so in a fight that runs long you'll usually have it again before the shred expires.

The Ultimate Punishes Health, Not Squishies

Cyclone [R] isn't the flat damage spell the old tooltip described. It deals 8% to 16% of the target's maximum health plus 275% of your attack damage over up to two seconds, ticking four times a second, and you can recast it once within eight seconds of the first cast for a second spin. It also ghosts you and hands you 20% bonus movement speed while it's up, which is most of how you stay attached to someone.

Two things follow from that. It's your answer to the enemy frontline rather than a tool for deleting a carry, and the second spin almost always lands outside the shred from your first Crushing Blow [Q], so get Q down again before you recast if the fight lasts that long. Against jungle monsters the damage is capped per second, so don't build your clear around it.

Getting Close Enough To Land It

None of this matters if you can't get on top of someone in the first place. Warrior Trickster [W] turns you invisible for a second and dashes you where you aim, leaving a clone behind that fights on for a little over three seconds. The clone deals reduced damage, 35% at rank 1 up to 55% at rank 5, but it can carry Crushing Blow [Q] and it keeps attacking whoever you damaged last, so it's doing more than baiting a flash.

In lane the cheaper option is still the bush. Nimbus Strike [E] reaches 625 units, which is further than it feels from a bush edge, and the attack speed it gives you lasts five seconds, so there's no rush to fit the empowered attack in.

Hope this helped!