Black Myth: Wukong | All Skandha Locations and How to Use Them

You’ll pick up plenty of items in Black Myth: Wukong. While some are simply sources of high amounts of Will, others are tied to intricate NPC questlines or special pieces of equipment. The Skandhas are one key example. There are five Skandhas scattered throughout the game and all of them are tied to broken Buddha statues. Until you have all five of them on hand, these items are essentially useless but manage to collect them all and you’ll be able to create a very special item which drastically increases multiple of your stats, which is essential for Black Myth’s tricky endgame. 

Here’s where to find all five Skandhas in Black Myth: Wukong and how to use them. 

If you’re interested in other Black Myth: Wukong content and articles, then you can find more here on KeenGamer:

1. Black Myth: Wukong | All Buddha Eye Locations and How to Use Them
2. Black Myth: Wukong | How to Unlock the Ruyi Scroll Secret Area (Chen Loong Quest)
3. Black Myth: Wukong | How to Unlock the Chu-Bai Spear

The Five Skandhas

All Skandha Locations in Black Myth: Wukong

Skandha of Form Location (Chapter 1)

The first Skandha most players will come across in Black Myth: Wukong is the Skandha of Form, the uncommon rarity Skandha. You’ll find this key item in the Black Wind Forest, the main area of Chapter 1. 

All of the Skandhas are found within abandoned Buddha heads and the Black Wind Forest Buddha head can be found very early on in the area. Beginning at the Front Hills Keeper’s Shrine, make your way through the area until you reach the bridge. From there, hop over the rails into the water below and follow the stream to its endpoint. 

Eventually, you’ll reach the end of the stream where a strange red monkey will be examining the mossy head of a broken statue. The monkey will quickly scamper off as soon as it sees you, allowing you to interact with the head to claim the Skandha of Form. 

Skandha of Feeling Location (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2’s Skandha, the Skandha of Feeling, is one of the more involved Skandhas to find in Black Myth. Instead of finding a random broken Buddha head out in the wild, you need to summon and beat, a secret boss to claim the Skandha of Feeling. That boss is Shigandang, a massive rocky monster who lurks in the Yellow Wind Ridge.

To summon Shigandang, you need to collect six special collectables called the Buddha’s Eyeballs which are hidden within various broken statue heads around the Fright Cliff sub-area. If you’d like to learn where to find all six of the Buddha’s Eyeballs, you can check out our guide on them here. With all six eyeballs in your inventory, you can return to where you fought the Rock Vanguard boss and summon Shigandang. 

Defeating Shigandang will award you a variety of useful resources and rewards, with the most important being the Skandha of Feeling. 

Skandha of Thought Location (Chapter 3)

The third Skandha, the epic rarity Skandha of Thought, is in the New West, the major region of Chapter 3. This Skandha is hiding off the beaten path and requires a bit of an adventurous spirit to find it. 

To begin your search, continue through the New West as normal until you reach the Mindfulness Cliff Keeper’s Shrine in the Valley of Ecstasy. This is where you’ll have your first encounter with the mini-boss Non-White, who retreats up a steep set of stairs after you beat him. Instead of going up these stairs, though, have a look around the right side of the arena. There you’ll find a small hidden path which leads down deeper into the valley. 

Hidden Mountain Path

From here, follow this linear hidden path and defeat any enemies who stand in your way. After a small hike, you’ll end up circling back around to the Non-White arena, only you’ll be above it on a previously inaccessible ledge.

Once again, the red monkey from the Black Wind Forest will be examining a nearby Buddha head which you can then loot for the Skandha of Thought. 

Skandha of Choice Location (Chapter 4)

The Skandha of Choice, the Legendary-tier Skandha, is the fourth Skandha you’ll come across and it’s hiding in the Webbed Hollow, home to the spider sisters. This time, the broken Buddha head can be found between The Purifying Spring Shrine and The Gathering Cave Shrine, with the former being the Shrine closest to where you fight Bajie and the latter being where you battle the Violet Spider.

From The Purifying Spring Shrine, make your way through the level as usual. Soon enough, a cluster of webbed cocoons will block a secondary path which leads to a small stretch of shore by the muddy waterfront. Just like with the first and last Skandha, the monkey will appear once more to meddle with a very well-preserved Buddha head. Interact with it and the Skandha of Choice is yours.

Go Down to the Shore

Skandha of Consciousness Location (Chapter 6)

The final Skandha in Black Myth: Wukong is the Skandha of Consciousness, the only Mythic rarity Skandha and also the trickiest to find in the entire game. The Skandha of Consciousness is in the main area of Chapter 6, Mount Huaguo, and its acquisition method is most similar to the Skandha of Feeling from the Yellow Wind Ridge. 

Starting at the Mantis-Catching Swamp Keeper’s Shrine, hop onto the Somersault Cloud and make your south towards the black torched woods in the lower half of Mount Huaguo. This is near the area housing the Son of Stones boss fight. Keep making your way in that direction and, eventually, you’ll enter a narrow ravine which leads to a gigantic clearing. At the heart of this clearing is a familiar chunk of rock which will soon awaken to reveal the Giant Shigandang boss.

While imposing, Giant Shigandang is honestly a pretty easy boss battle. Your main objective in this fight is to dodge out of the way of the boss’ hefty swings – which will deal upwards of half your health in a single hit – before rushing in to punish Shigandang’s mighty hands whenever it exhausts itself. Focus your damage on the clusters of large blue crystals on Shigandang’s left hand: these crystals are the boss’ weak point and will break after taking successive hits, causing massive damage to the boss.

Eventually, you’ll wear the Giant Shigandang down and, after a last-ditch effort to squish you, it will plummet to the ground, its gigantic arm becoming a slope which you can traverse up. At the top of the boss’ body, you’ll find the familiar form of the Mandrill Chief, the monkey that’s been hanging around the Buddha heads containing the Skandhas. After the Mandrill Chief rips the final Skandha – the Skandha of Consciousness – from the last Buddha head, he’ll give it to you as a gift before vanishing into the wind. Now, you should have all five Skandhas in Black Myth: Wukong. 

Skandha of Consciousness

How to Use the Skandhas in Black Myth: Wukong

With the Skandha of Form, Feeling, Thought, Choice, and Consciousness in your inventory, you can finally use them. Return to Xu Dog, the furry medicine merchant from the Yellow Wind Ridge, with the Skandhas in hand and he’ll remark on their rarity before offering to turn them into a special kind of medicine. Xu Dog is one of the zodiacs who resides within the Ruyi Scroll and, if you want to learn how to unlock the Ruyi Scroll secret area and complete Chen Loong’s questline, check out our guide for more information. 

The Five Skandhas Pill from Xu Dog is a lesser celestial medicine that increases multiple attributes. To be more specific, it will significantly increase your max Health, max Magic, and max Stamina.

Ordinarily, Celestial Medicines cost Mind Cores to create, with Health, Magic and Stamina being the highest-cost medicines. As such, the Five Skandhas Pill is a massive boon, especially in the endgame where you want your core stats to be as high as possible, especially when facing down the many threats of the Destined One.

Five Skandha Pill

That was where you can find all five Skandhas in Black Myth: Wukong and how to use them to create the Five Skandhas Pill.