Being a pirate with amnesia in the Land of Shu, where several cursed monstrosities (and humans) are out to get you, hardly sounds like the ideal vacation. Still, for Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, it’s a Souls-like wonderland, teeming with gorgeous ruined locales and plenty of opportunities for fun combat. The goal is to retrieve your memories, but also to kill bosses. It’s a familiar formula, yet even with how safe Wuchang plays its cards, some mechanics are relatively new to the Souls-like genre that are worth mastering. Here are ten of the most important tips you need to know to fight – and thrive – in the Land of Shu.
Prioritize Weapon Masteries in the Skill Tree
Like any good Souls-like, Wuchang will make you want to experiment with all the different weapons, finding the right one that suits you (or helps in clearing the next battle). You can freely respec in the Skill Tree, but what about upgrading the weapons and the materials that go into them? How can you possibly be efficient? Thankfully, Wuchang has a little something called Weapon Mastery. Head to the skill tree for a weapon type’s mastery and invest points to upgrade it to the maximum possible damage. Best of all, since these skill nodes influence weapon type rather than a specific armament, they will apply to all weapons in that category. Don’t like the Lashing Whip longsword and go back to something else? Maybe equip two weapons of the same type without worrying about upgrading each of them? Then this is the way. It’s also ideal if you want to specialize in two different weapon types (which you’ll want to do to leverage Wuchang’s strongest mechanics).
Death, Its Consequences and How Madness Ties in
Dying in Wuchang isn’t the end – in fact, it’s the step to more damage via Madness, but for everything that’s gained, something must be lost. When you die at low Madness, only some Red Mercury – the default currency in the world – is lost upon death, though you can always return to the same spot and retrieve it. However, as your Madness increases, the amount of Red Mercury dropped increases significantly, to the point where you could lose it all. High Madness also causes your Inner Demon to emerge, and only by defeating it can you claim the Red Mercury. Oh, and dying causes your Madness to increase, so if you’re carrying a lot of Red Mercury at high Madness, maybe assess the next situation before going all Leroy Jenkins.
How to Reduce Your Madness (In-Game)
Madness lets you deal more damage, but also increases the damage received, which can be good or bad depending on your playstyle. Regardless, there are multiple ways to mitigate it and return to a baseline state to cause the Madness to retreat. Killing Feathered enemies and certain bosses also reduces it. Defeating your Inner Demon will also completely remove Madness, though beware – if you lose, all your dropped Red Mercury will be wiped out.
Best Skills When Embracing the Madness
Madness is a lot like gravity, and given the risk vs. reward nature of Madness, it only makes sense that it would have some powerful associated skills. Swift Resilience will greatly reduce the damage taken when performing Swift Draws and even makes them much more difficult to interrupt, while Steel Resolve grants a stack of Skyborn Might when you deflect. Both require being above 50 percent Madness, though obviously, you need weapons that can deflect to take advantage of the latter. Regardless, these are only two skills which allow leveraging Madness in incredibly strong ways, so it’s best to experiment and find out just how.
Look for Golden Chests to Upgrade the Manna Vase
Everything in Wuchang, whether it’s your skills, masteries or stat upgrades, goes back to the skill tree, and you’ll need multiple different currencies, materials and skill points to unlock certain nodes. This also goes for Manna Capacity, which increases the amount of charges in your Manna Vase, the de facto Estus Flask for Wuchang. Since you only start with three uses, it’s a good idea to upgrade that as soon as possible, but you’ll need a special material called Forgotten Remembrance. Keep an eye out for Golden Chests throughout the Land of Shu to find them. They may require venturing off the beaten path, but the payoff is worth it.
Collect Aurum Feathers for Random Temporary Buffs
Another thing to watch for is birds – like regular birds, not the bird-like foes attempting to kill you. These birds have gold-tinged feathers and can perch in some pretty obvious spots. Killing them grants an Aurum Feather, a consumable that briefly increases your max health, max stamina, or all damage dealt. The effect received is completely random, but given how easy they are to obtain, it’s well worth it. Just don’t count on farming them, since they seemingly don’t respawn alongside foes when resting.
Beware (and Seek) The Red Eyes
If you’ve played Dark Souls or Bloodborne, the foes with red eyes should always be a concern. They have more health, deal more damage, and can be genuinely more annoying to deal with. However, they also drop pretty hefty amounts of Red Mercury, so you could tackle them early for a quick boost or return later to pad your earnings. Either way, don’t completely ignore or forget about them, even if they trounce you the first couple of times.
Swift Draw: Advantages and Recommended Skills
There are many unique Souls-like mechanics out there, and for Wuchang, it’s Swift Draw. Triggered while switching weapons, Swift Draw utilizes Skyborn Might and is essentially an attack, which lets you keep the combo going. But on top of all this, it also unleashes the weapon’s skill, so weaving it into certain combos can be good depending on the effects. You need to unlock it first with the Swift Resilience skill, but if you’re into high Madness builds, it’s worth getting Conversion as well. While above 50 percent Madness, it makes Swift Draw attacks stronger and even more so when above 90 percent Madness. It also restores a small amount of health if the Swift Draw connects on an enemy, which should help with the increased damage received from Madness.
Quickly Locating Important NPCs
Not everyone in the Land of Shu is out to get you. Several NPCs can be interacted with, whether it’s traders with weapons, armor and items or characters that will dole out side quests (some even impacting the main narrative). If you’re having a hard time keeping track of them all, check the teleport option. The NPC’s face will show up next to a previously visited location, which helps narrow down where you need to go.
Blue Interactables, Emotes and Free Items
You may spot these strange glowing blue points while exploring, and interacting with them doesn’t seem to do anything. However, they provide a line of dialogue that seemingly hints at…something that needs to be done. As it turns out, if you select the appropriate emote, then they’ll grant you a free item like Candied Haws, a consumable that increases Stamina recovery speed and maximum health for a brief period. Pay attention to what the dialogue says, choose the corresponding emote, and profit.
