To determine the best spirits in Black Myth: Wukong, we need to consider the unique abilities and strategic advantages each spirit offers. Here’s a detailed analysis:

1. **Guangmou Spirit**
– **Ability**: Summons vipers to spit poison on the enemy, inflicting poison damage and moderately increasing poison damage and resistance.
– **Strategic Use**: Ideal for boss fights where you can’t afford to take a hit, as it provides a passive healing effect through poison damage.

2. **Rat Governor Spirit**
– **Ability**: Offers a rare ranged attack option, making it easier to deal with annoying ranged enemies.
– **Strategic Use**: Useful for players who encounter frequent ranged attacks, providing a unique solution to these encounters.

3. **Mountain Patroller Spirit**
– **Ability**: Transforms the Destined One into a Mountain Patroller, raining down staples that deal significant damage and can stagger bosses.
– **Strategic Use**: Provides a high damage output and can stagger bosses, giving the player an opening to attack more effectively.

4. **Wandering Wight Spirit**
– **Ability**: Deals a powerful attack that can stun the boss, allowing for more attacks and moderately increases defense.
– **Strategic Use**: A strong spirit for early to mid-game, offering both damage and defensive benefits.

5. **Centipede Guai Spirit**
– **Ability**: Takes the form of a giant spiky ball, crushing everything in its path, and increases movement speed.
– **Strategic Use**: Useful for navigating through tight spaces quickly and dealing area damage.

6. **Mad Tiger Spirit**
– **Ability**: Performs an AOE attack that shocks all enemies in the area, also increasing damage for less health cost.
– **Strategic Use**: Effective for clearing groups of enemies and dealing significant damage while maintaining a balance of health.

7. **Verdant Glow Spirit**
– **Ability**: Recovers a little bit of health after a few seconds, enhancing the player’s survivability during long fights.
– **Strategic Use**: Crucial for maintaining health in prolonged battles, especially those that take place on water.

8. **Falcon Hermit Spirit**
– **Ability**: Generates a gust of wind targeting enemies, dealing Frost damage and moderately increasing Frost damage.
– **Strategic Use**: Useful for freezing enemies, providing ample time to land hits and vanquish them.

9. **Baw-Baw-Lang-Lang Spirit**
– **Ability**: Reduces the Stamina cost for jumps and jump attacks, allowing for more frequent use of these abilities.
– **Strategic Use**: While its equipped effect is average, it can be useful in situations where Stamina management is crucial.

10. **Gore-Eyed Daoist Spirit**
– **Ability**: Increases attack power for an entire minute when the staff with a crimson glow is used, also increasing max Mana.
– **Strategic Use**: Extremely powerful, especially in endgame scenarios, as it enhances both attack power and mana regeneration.

11. **Rat Governor (Thunder-based Build)**
– **Ability**: Boosts Thunder damage and applies the Thunderbane status effect, making enemies lower their damage mitigation.
– **Strategic Use**: Ideal for thunder-themed builds, providing a reliable and consistent damage boost.

12. **Scorpion Prince Spirit**
– **Ability**: Deals AOE damage and a single-target range attack finisher, making it a powerhouse in combat.
– **Strategic Use**: Effective for both area-of-effect damage and single-target attacks, making it versatile in various combat situations.

**Honorable Mention: Top Takes Bottom Spirit**
– **Ability**: Provides a massive +45 defense boost while reducing attack by 10, increasing survivability.
– **Strategic Use**: Valuable for its defensive capabilities, especially in later new game cycles where defense becomes more crucial.

**Conclusion**
The best spirits in Black Myth: Wukong vary depending on the player’s strategy and playstyle. However, some of the top-tier spirits include:
– **Guangmou**: For its poison damage and resistance.
– **Mountain Patroller**: For its high damage output and ability to stagger bosses.
– **Wandering Wight**: For its powerful attack and defensive benefits.
– **Centipede Guai**: For its area damage and increased movement speed.
– **Mad Tiger**: For its AOE attack and damage increase for less health cost.
– **Verdant Glow**: For its health regeneration.
– **Gore-Eyed Daoist**: For its attack power and mana regeneration.

Each spirit offers unique advantages that can significantly enhance the player’s combat performance, making them essential for progressing through the game effectively.