Wu Shang

Wanderer, philosopher, master of cryptic riddles! - Mallhalla purchase description

Wu Shang is a Chinese martial artist Legend featuring the Gauntlets and Spear as his weapons. He can be unlocked for 5400 gold. Enlightenment, bodily mastery, and situational awareness are Wu Shang's main weapons in the tournament - having spent his life holding back during combat due to his pacifist nature, the Valhallan arena gives him an excuse to let loose his full potential, to devastating effect.

As the story goes...

"Wu Shang is a wandering monk who has renounced his violent, mysterious past and walks the earth seeking enlightenment. He seeks to avoid attention, but each week, Wu Shang must use martial arts and ancient wisdom to solve problems in a new location." - Pitch for 'Karate Chop!' a TV series clumsily based on the life of legendary warrior monk Wu Shang

A brilliant and ruthless General led the Emperor's armies to victory after victory, but his heart was empty. One day he rose from his tent, stripped off his finery, and walked away from war and power. Penniless and in rags, he came to a monastery. The monks took him in and he took up the Way of peace, discipline, and martial arts.

As his mind grew clear, he realized he didn't need to kill and took the name Wu Shang. When the angry Emperor sent his agents to attack the temple, Wu Shang defeated a company of Imperial soldiers without hurting a hair on their heads.

To protect the monastery, Wu Shang took up a life of wandering, honing the soft powers of distraction and influence. He once concealed a hundred villagers in a single willow tree. He sneaked into the palace stable and turned the emperor's horse against him. He hid a bridge from an advancing army.

Having looked for Enlightenment in every corner of the world, Wu Shang let himself be captured. The Emperor's men shackled him deep inside a volcano. There in the dark, Wu Shang breathed in the silent energy of the mountain. His inner eye opened, and he found peace. Projecting himself outwards and away, he wandered the Astral plane until a Valkyrie led him to Valhalla.

Wu Shang follows the Way in Valhalla, and is delighted to find he can fight Without killing. Kor is teaching him to move platforms.

"This is not the Afterlife. I know because I breathe and I still seek Enlightenment. This is but another station on the Great Wheel." - Wu Shang, responding to Bödvar's welcome to Valhalla

Appearance

Wu Shang wears loose fitting orange robe with the sleeves removed and the waist tightly tied with a white belt and well-worn gray kung-fu pants also tightly tied at the calf with string. A string of large blue prayer beads adorns his chest, from shoulder to waist, and his otherwise bare feet are bound completely in tight white wrapping, showing his toes. The remnants of heavy iron manacles can be seen on each wrist - echoes of his long imprisonment on Earth. He maintains a bald head but grows a long, dark gray beard, and has strongly set nose and brow line that surrounds his pupil-less eyes.

Signatures

Gauntlets

Input

Description

Damage

Stun

Force

Neutral

A leaping spin-jump with both palms extended, turning Wu Shang into a whirl of energy in the air. Carries Wu Shang forward a good distance and launches targets horizontally away.

←

or

→

Wu Shang steps into a low forward palm-strike with the rear gauntlet, followed by stepping again into a high uppercut palm strike with the forward gauntlet. Hitting with any part of this attack knocks the target up and back into the air and results in an immediate followup in the form of Wu flash-stepping at the flying target a fixed distance and delivering a heavy third strike with the rear gauntlet at a downwards diagonal.

↓

Wu Shang sweeps a yin-yang shaped circle around him, gathering energy inwards to his core, then expels it with dual horizontal palm-strikes to either side of him. Targets struck by the initial sweep are gathered inwards towards the forward half of Wu Shang's center - if the attack is not charged, the dual palm strike automatically hits gathered targets, knocking them forwards. Wu Shang does not otherwise move during this attack.

Spear

Input

Description

Damage

Stun

Force

Neutral

Wu Shang performs a leaping side-flip forward, whirling his spear under his head as he does so. Carries Wu Shang forward a good distance. Striking with this attack results in an immediate followup swipe with the spear, knocking the target away horizontally and slightly up.

←

or

→

Wu Shang raises his spear behind him, then half-turns, grinding the spear's butt forward against the ground and striking it like a flint, throwing sparks forward. This carries Wu Shang forward very slightly. If the spear or sparks strike an opponent, Wu Shang follows by half-turning back into position, stabbing the spear viciously forward as he does so. This also carries Wu Shang forward very slightly.

↓

Wu Shang hops onto the shaft of his spear, balancing himself on the tip of the weapon before turning and bringing the spear around for a short, downwards swipe with the spear at where he was standing a moment ago.

Strategy

Wu Shang's statistics are all balanced, except for his dexterity. His sigs are very reliable and fast,which makes any legend slow enough to get hit by a living spearing fidget spinner. Wu Shang's Spear is best used passively like most medium ranged weapons, it is fairly powerful when it comes to force and his spear sigs are easy to combo with, making a rack damage farm. Gauntlets are much more played aggressively, and they deal more damage than his spear, but they are much more brutal to force, his gaunt sigs are much easier to crowd control because of how simple to use it.

Skins

Mallhalla

Chest Exclusives

Holiday Release

Colour variations

Trivia

Wu Shang's default weapons are The Iron Shackles (gauntlets) and the Qiang (spear).
Wu Shang's bot name is Wu Shandroid.
Wu Shang is the first Legend to have a proper name that is two words, not including an honorific or descriptor (ie Queen Nai). This fits, as the majority of Chinese proper names are two words.
Wu Shang's character and lore are heavily inspired by numerous Chinese folk and historical tales of Taoists, generals, and mythical figures.
Qiang is the Mandarin Chinese term for "spear", and in particular is associated with the style of spear that Wu Shang wields.