Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is out now. The new unabashedly soulslike action-RPG by Leenzee may feel like familiar stomping grounds for fans of the genre, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have anything new to offer and screw you up with its punishing yet fair combat and its devious level design.
Here are some tips to get you started on your first playthrough of Wuchang: Fallen Feathers
Dodge Everything
The most important skill to master in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is dodging. You don’t dodge-roll like most soulslikes, only side and back step ala Bloodborne. Still, the most important thing to know that if you nail a perfect dodge, you not only don’t take any damage from avoiding the attack, but you get one stack of Skyward Might.
You’ll have to trigger the dodge a little bit earlier than when the enemy attack will connect. Time the button press slightly early. This way, even if you missed the perfect dodge, Shimmer as the game calls it, you would still dodge away from harm.
This takes practice to master, but it becomes essential when you have to take on boss fights. It’s a parry-or-die game where you’re expected to not simply run away from hits, but match their attacks beat-for-beat with a parry, or rather a dodge in this case.
Be Extra Careful
Even if you’re a soulslike veteran, Wuchang can still trip you up with surprise attacks and ambushes. Always expect an ambush. Even if there’s nothing in the room that can’t be locked on to doesn’t mean it’s safe. And no, smashing destrictuble objects is not safe here in Wuchang. Only smash those pots if you anticipate danger.
Follow The Skill Tree, and Be On The Lookout For +5 Stat Nodes
The Impetus Repository, the skill tree, has laid out stat points that will work perfectly for each weapon type the branch is associated with. So pick two of the five weapon types you most comfortable with and just spend points in those trees, at least for the early game.
But do be in the lookout for the bigger nodes that awards 5 stat points instead of 1. Prioritise in getting those. If you’re one level short and have multiple branches in your skill points, it’s worth refunding one stat point elsewhere to immedieately put points on the +5 node.
Some nodes can be activated multiple times. So you don’t need to branch further out. This is particularly of note for Manna Potions’ capacity and and potency upgrades. You’re not required to advance that far to unlock more nodes, each of those can be activated three times.
Keep Up With Fashion
Gear in Wuchang have specific defence and resistence stats. So you will likely mix various gear stats together to min-max the right numbers. And you should. But don’t worry, you can make Wuchang not look like a fashion disaster as all gear can be altered in appearance. There’s a button press in the Equipment menu to do this, so you can make Wuchang look modest, badass, sexy or anything in between.
Obliterate Them
One of the tutorial tips in Wuchang teaches you how to do the Obliterate attack. A Visceral Attack, if you will. As you continue to apply pressure on enemies you can eventually stun them and do this Obliterate attack which deals tons of damage.
This is an effective strategy in most boss fights, and works well with weapons like the Dual Blades that can easily put pressure with its many strikes. The game encourages aggression, so have at it.
A Different Approach
Not all boss fights are to be approached the same way. Some bosses are very effective in punishing a specific move. If one boss always manage to poke you to death with their long thrust attack when you hang back to heal, try staying really close to them. If you’re one-shotted by an attack when you’re too close to the boss, try hanging back.
It sounds like a rather obvious tip, but Wuchang’s bosses are designed to have you adapt to them and change your approach with every encounter. It can be frustrating the first 20 attempts of not getting it, but it’s doable as long as you figure out the right way to approach each boss fight. Remember, every attack can be dodged with the right timing.
Hang Back
Sometimes, it might be better to just let the enemies kill each other. Just sit back and watch. Should you trigger your Inner Demon, they’ll won’t just beeline to kill you, they might attack other enemies as well.
Use this to your advantage. Rather than having yourself be ambushed and potentially lost all your red mercury when an Inner Demon spawns, just have them fight each other first, and once the dust settles, hit them when they least expect it.
Tempering Is Free
Do make use of the Tempering system. Unlike most soulslikes, temporary weapon buffs aren’t consumables, so have it in your hotbar regularly, especially for boss fights.
In addition, you don’t need to unlock all the acupuncture needles for all the different elemental buffs. Just dedicate one skill point that you can switch between each acupuncture.
The buffs from Tempering could be the edge you need to beat a boss, or clear an area, or even beat your Inner Demon. It’s free. Use it. You can even unlock multiple uses of Tempering for longer fights where you need to reapply the buff.
Preservere
Lastly, like any soulslike game, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is punishing, not hard. The game’s surmountable, but every time you take the wrong turn, you’ll suffer from a major setback. That’s just the nature of this subgenre of action-RPGs.
So don’t sweat it. Mistakes happen. It is painful. But that’s part of the process. Preservere, keep at it, and you’ll get Wuchang through the nightmarish horrors of a falen and plagued Ming Dynasty.
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is out now on PS5, PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, Microsoft Store) and Xbox Series X|S. The game is also available on Game Pass. Check out our review of the game here.