WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers is developer Leenzee’s debut, and it’s an impressive adventure to say the least. Playing as Wuchang in the disease-stricken land of Shu, where a mysterious illness known as the Feathering is inflicting inhabitants – including Wuchang herself – with the growth of feathers and violent tendencies, it becomes your plight to find some sort of resolution.
What ensues is a perilous and challenging journey in which Wuchang must take down multiple grotesque creatures afflicted with the disease, while trying not to succumb to it herself. To help you with the areas you’ll be exploring and the bosses you’ll be coming up against, here are our WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers tips and tricks.
WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers tips and tricks
The below tips and tricks are to aid with not missing out on anything that WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers has to offer, and to ensure that your character remains strong throughout your playthrough!
Check the Teleport function at Shrines often
At the very beginning of WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers, you are advised that Entering the Dream – also known as resting at a Shrine – will advance the story. Well, every time you do make some significant progress and Enter the Dream in WUCHANG, be sure to check the ‘Teleport’ option at the Shrine too.
When choosing a Shrine to teleport to, characters who you need to speak to or whose quests you’ve yet to complete will have a portrait beside the location they are currently at (shown above). This portrait disappears once their current quest steps have been completed; which is usually speaking to them, or giving them an item.
Check this often to make sure you aren’t missing out on any quest steps. More often than not, that strange Key Item you randomly picked up earlier serves a purpose for someone somewhere!
You can reset the Impetus Repository as much as you’d like
Rather than needing specific items or an NPC to respec, you can actually reset the skill tree – the Impetus Repository – as much as you’d like without losing any of your resources in WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers.
This means you can respec as often as you’d like, whenever you like, so you can experiment with a wide range of different builds and find what works for you or for each boss fight. WUCHANG’s combat system is good fun, and each weapon has its time to shine during various boss fights, so be sure to take the time to experiment.
Keep an eye out for Bamboozlings
Bamboozlings are little creatures that look like Bamboo Shoots, and you’ll see them randomly pop up around WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers. You’ll also see them appear as WUCHANG’s autosave icon, if you aren’t too sure what to expect.
When one of these little guys appears in the land of Shu, kill it quickly! If you manage to do so, you’ll receive a Bamboo Shoot that can be spent on the Panda Shop found in the Narrow Stretch area at the beginning of the game.If you don’t manage to kill the Bamboozling, don’t fret. They’ll reappear in the same spot once you have rested.
Sell your Red Mercury items
If you need a little more Red Mercury for your next level or that armor set you’ve been eyeing up in WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers, be sure to check your inventory for any Red Mercury items – such as Red Mercury Shoots – that you may have picked up.
You can use these to consume them, granting yourself more Red Mercury. Alternatively, you can sell them to a Merchant to consume them much more quickly; you’ll still receive the same amount of Red Mercury either way.
Check the Donation Box at the Reverent Temple
Key items you do not pick up end up in the Donation Box at Reverent Temple in WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers, so make sure to check back there often in case there’s any items you may have missed!
Pay attention to possible enemy weaknesses
The enemies you encounter in WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers all have weaknesses that aren’t explicitly shared, but you can usually judge what these weaknesses may be depending on the enemies appearance.
For example, an enemy made of wood is weak to fire damage, while an enemy made of metal is weak to lightning, so you’ll want to select relevant Tempering Needles to give your weapon the required status ailment or use items and Spells.
Keep an eye on Obliterate values
Whenever you’re fighting a boss or enemy in WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers, every opponent will have a small circle in their center that slowly fills up as you attack them successively. This small circle is their Obliterate value, and when it fills up, the enemy will become vulnerable to an Obliterate strike.
This is a lot like stance-breaking an enemy and then inflicting a critical hit, and essentially allows you to do a lot of damage quickly. Keep an eye on it when fighting bigger enemies and bosses especially!
Make sure to explore
This might seem obvious, but be sure to explore every single path you come across in WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers. These paths open up shortcuts, lead to side quests, and are an opportunity to stock up on consumable items and Red Mercury so you’re well-positioned for your next big boss fight.
For example, when you arrive at Shu Sanctum at the beginning of the game, make sure to explore all of the villages surrounding it. You’ll find plenty of paths to wander down leading to useful items, shortcuts to other key areas, and maybe even some hidden bosses…
Shield of Causality versus Sankhara Wuchang
Following a fight with a large enemy in WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers – by large, I mean one that has a named HP bar – you’ll be presented with one of two messages: Shield of Causality or Sankhara Wuchang.
Shield of Causality will appear following a non-key enemy, while Sankhara Wuchang will appear following a key enemy. This isn’t perhaps the most useful bit of information for your journey, but if you’re wondering who exactly the major bosses in the game are, this is how to recognise them!
Make use of the Madness mechanic
The Madness mechanic in WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers is a confusing one, but you can use it to your advantage if you fancy getting to grips with it. Madness essentially builds up the more you die, or the more non-Feathered enemies you slay, and as your Madness meter increases, so does your damage dealt… and your damage taken.
Your Madness meter also determines how much – or how little – Red Mercury you lose when you die, and when the meter reaches full, your Inner Demon is likely to spawn. Defeating the Inner Demon cleanses your Madness, grants you Divine Gifts or Fragments of the Divine Gift (used for cleansing madness at a God of Shu statue), and sometimes provides you with rare items.
For more on WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers, take a look at our walkthrough of the game which features more handy guides, as well as a our explainer on what Feathering is.