WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers is a Soulslike with plenty of Build potential, be it the six different weapon classes available to use, the plethora of Benedictions, Spells, and, Pendants you can find and equip, or the Impetus Repository which has a massive skill tree for you to play around with. This page will tell you what we believe is the best build for using Magic, which works hand-in-hand with the One-Handed Sword.

• Looking for other builds? Check out or Tier List for more insight into the best weapons.

Table of Contents¶

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The Magic One-Handed Sword Build Explained¶

Before we get down to the nitty-gritty of the build, you may first want to know what you’re aiming for in how this will all work. It’s important to note that Spells have three classifications, Magic, Feathering, and Others, this build is making use of spells that fall under Magic. On top of that, with the way you find the stat nodes for Magic in the Impetus Repository (skill tree), you’ll naturally want to use the One-Handed Sword for your go-to weapon of choice for Magic builds, making them a deadly combo.

When it comes to pairing the One-Handed Sword with another weapon, we like to take the Longsword with the Sword Counter Discipline so that we can focus to a more defensive, parry-based playstyle for some enemies where Magic isn’t as ideal. Additionally, both the Duals and Spears weapons will use Agility as a main stat for them, which the One-Handed Sword benefits from too when attacking.

Regardless, the main crux of the build comes down to the Biding Time skill on the Impetus Repository that will allow you to accrue Skyborn Might outside of battle, allowing you to cast Magic often. When it comes to bosses, be sure to use Awakening Seal from the Astral Blade and then focus on inflicting Burn as much as possible.

Impetus Repository Skills¶

When it comes down to builds, the first, and most important part of the process is where to spend your Red Mercury. The Impetus Repository is a large skill tree that has many routes you can take, but fortunately, it’s rather simple on what key skills we recommend you learn, as shown in the tables below:

One-Handed Sword Tree¶

To start with, as mentioned above, Biding Time is the key to this whole build, and fortunately, you get it as your first skill in this tree. This will cause you to generate one Skyborn Might every 30 seconds when wielding a One-Handed Sword. This is huge, as it allows you to use Magic without getting into combat and treat it more as a ranged tool, taking enemies out from distance without endangering yourself. Now, naturally, Skyborn Might can decay over time, but when at 90% Madness and with the Unbroken Focus skill, you can prevent this from dropping below three charges. Better yet, our weapon for this build will speed the process up too!

Ascending Wrath is by no means a priority, but as you often find yourself at max Madness during boss battles, generating a Skyborn Might from the end of a Light attack combo is always useful. Windforce will use a Skyborn Might to instantly use your charged attack, it has its uses, but you’re getting this skill to open up the rest of the One-Handed tree. The Swift Blade nodes are required to increase your weapon’s power (all the way to the max of +10), you’ll need the required Feather weapon materials to purchase them, and remember each node has three levels. To reach the max level, you will need to reach the far right side of the tree.

Beyond this, you’ll want to unlock all of the Magic+ nodes here, especially the ones that give you +5 for a single Red Mercury. You’ll momentarily have to dip into the Feathering nodes to get to one of the Swift Blade nodes, but aside from that, you can focus on Magic only, making sure to grab the large Agility nodes in the process.

Illusive Tree¶

The Illusive Tree is found on the left side of the Impetus Repository and features all of the general nodes that apply to all weapons and builds. As such, we shouldn’t need to tell you to make sure you get all of the nodes that increase the efficacy of your Manna Vase, add charges to your Tempering, and increases your total max Skyborn Might allocation.

Alacrity is the first skill of interest for this Magic build, this will allow you to evade an enemy’s attack at the last moment and cast your spell, while also granting a Skyborn Might if you’re above 50% Madness. Handy for those times when an enemy gets too close to you, although you’ll ideally want to stay at range from the enemy. Just below this, Unbroken Focus, improves the already excellent Biding Time by making it so you can’t drop below three stacks of Skyborn Might when above 50% Madness.

Fiery Embers will see that you increase the rate of your Burn buildup, and seeing as that’s the status type we use most in this build, it’s an important component. Fury of the Skyborn makes it so that when you’re above 50% Madness, Echo spells will cost one less Skyborn Might, these are the boss spells and are some of the most expensive in the game.

There are two Bone Needles you’ll want for this build, both Arcane (which buffs Magic potency) and Magic (which buffs Spell Potency), these should both be your go-to in boss battles. Finally, Skyborn Resilience makes it easier to cast spells that cost four or more Skyborn Might (which usually have a bit of a wind-up time to it) by increasing your Tenacity, making it harder to be interrupted.

The final note about this tree is that at the far left side of it, you’ll find a whole bunch of Magic nodes, each of which can be increased five time and some +5 nodes themselves. These should be prioritized as and when you can.

Weapons¶

Now that you know about the Impetus Repository skills you want to unlock, it’s time to look at the weapon choices available, and as mentioned at the top, the One-Handed Sword is the one for Magic builds. The table below will list all of the One-Handed Swords in WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers and where you can find them:

For the most part, this will be the easiest decision you’ll have to make for a WUCHANG build, as there’s one weapon that stands out above the rest, the Astral Blade. This weapon is tailor made for a Magic Build, as not only will it increase your Magic stat while equipped due to it’s Magic control scaling (up to Level V from +2 onwards), but it also comes with the fantastic Awakening Seal skill. This is the highest in the game aside from the DLC weapon, Watcher’s Gaze, but that features a skill that isn’t as great.

Awakening Seal, when used for two Skyborn Might, will cut Biding Time’s 30 seconds in half, meaning it’ll take 15 seconds for a Skyborn Might to naturally regenerate, this is a fantastic boon to have when in boss battles, allowing you to cast spells at will!

Jade Pendants¶

While the early stages of the WUCHANG may make you not think much of the Jade Pendants you’ll find, soon, you’ll have too many useful ones to select only three from. With that in mind, you’ll find a selection of Jade Pendants that work perfectly when going for a Magic Build:

There are quite a few Pendants that will boost either Magic or Spell Potency, and these are always a good set of Pendants to equip. Crane Pendant is here for its effect, but odds are you won’t find yourself that low on HP to make use of it. The final Pendant here, Fiend-Felling Pendant, is a great all-around boss killer Pendant (provided it’s not a human enemy) for the massive +30% it gives.

Benedictions¶

The final piece of the puzzle when it comes to builds in WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers are what Benedictions you should equip. There are three slots for you to fill, Oath, Wisdom, and Memory, and these can have a large impact on your build. Once again, the table below lists what Benedictions are useful in this Build:

There is a lot more to choose from when it comes to your Benedictions, and, after you finish Chapter 3, you’ll gain the ability to switch them out away from Shrines, allowing you to be more flexible. For the most part, our Build relies on a particular spell causes Fire and Burn damage, and building to make this more effective will see your damage skyrocket. The Wisdom Benedictions become a bit tougher to make a decision on, however, as Wei - Skyborn Magic is a very strong Benediction that comes early, and it’s hard to argue against it.

Spells¶

Unique to this Build are the Spells you’ll want to equip to make the most of this. Interestingly, we don’t go for the a high-costing spell as the cornerstone, instead focusing on an early to obtain Spell that has uses throughout the entire game. The table below features the spells you should look into slotting:

When it comes to this build, you’ll mostly be using the Infernal Flames spell for the majority of the game. This spell only costs two Skyborn Might, has homing priorities and hits hard while also dealing heavy Burn build-up. This, combined with the rest of the build, allows this spell to deal heavy damage at a low cost.

Vorpal Blade remains useful throughout the game as a cheap ranged spell that scales well with your Magic stat. The Echo of Dhutanga is a more riskier fire-based spell, but will hit hard if you can pull it off while Polygonal Container is the highest Magic-scaling spell in the game, so it’s hard to ignore it. Echo of Zhang Xianzhong seems odd, with the theme of this build being Fire-based, but works as a fantastic gap-closer, should you need it.

Finally, both Divine Ward and Divine Blessing are good utility spells that increase your defense or provide another way of healing, Diving Blessing even works on NPC summons too!. More importantly, Ethereal Form is an excellent defensive tool, allowing you to avoid damage altogether to get out of harms way while gaining Skyborn Might in the process, keep this equipped once you get it!

Video Guide¶

If you’d like to see how this all plays out in visual form, check out our Video Guide below:

So, there you have it; you now have a fire-heavy One-Handed Sword Magic build to assault any enemy that dare face you in WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers. While this is in no way an ultimate build, it’s an effective one we used that got us through all of the game’s challenges.