You’ll come across many different weapon types in WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers, all of which favor different playstyles and require you to invest in different stats, Benedictions, and Jade Pendants, while you’ll also need to make specific choices in the Impetus Repository. This page will tell you what we believe is the best Parry build for the Longsword, allowing you to adopt a defensive, but powerful, playstyle.

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

Table of Contents¶

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The Longsword Parry Build Explained¶

As mentioned at the top, WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers has many playstyles available, and one of the more interesting ones is the Parry (or Deflect, using Sword Counter) build for the Longsword. By default, you’ll have to rely on dodging your foes to accrue Skyborn Might for the most part (there are a few exceptions, like Clash or Block), but once you find and unlock the Sword Counter Discipline on the Longsword tree, you’ll gain the ability to Deflect your enemy’s attacks.

You’ll need the two variant nodes related to Sword Counter to get the most out of the build, but when used effectively, you can parry any weapon attack and counter with your own follow-up, this is incredibly useful against enemies that use only weapons to attack, such as the boss at the end of Chapter 1.

There is, however, a small caveat to this build and what you can Deflect. As you may expect, magic is out of the question, so you’ll need to focus on avoiding that. More importantly, however, are martial attacks, such as kicks and punches, these cannot be deflected and can catch you off-guard if you’re not careful. Fortunately, even without focusing on Deflecting, this build will get the most out of the Longsword, so you can still deal heavy damage in those situations where parrying isn’t an option.

Impetus Repository Skills¶

As with all builds, the first, and most important part of the process is how and 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:

Longsword Tree¶

As the main goal for this build is the Sword Counter (Deflect/Parry) Discipline, you can, then, for the most part, ignore the other Disciplines, as you’ll never make use of them. With that in mind, your early-game goal is to get to Sword Counter as soon as possible, at which point you’ll pass through both Sword Saint and Windforce along the way.

Sword Saint will see you accrue a Skyborn Might for the second hit of your Light Attack combo, this is an incredibly easy way to generate it. Windforce will extend the skill tree so you can unlock more nodes, but it’s effect is also very strong. At the cost of one Skyborn Might, you can instantly use the Charged strong attack, this is a very powerful attack and, when used on the back of most enemies (including bosses), can often break them and allow you to use Obliterate, this is not to be underestimated!

The Strong Blade nodes are where you spend your Feathers to upgrade the strength of all Longswords, just bear in mind that all nodes outside of the final one has three levels for you to upgrade on (handy, as you’ll need to reach the bottom of the tree for the final node). Once you reach Sword Counter, be sure to unlock both Variants as well, this is extremely important for this build, and using Deflect in general. Variant I will cause an enemy to knock back after you deflect them, opening them up for Variant II, which is a counterattack, don’t use Sword Counter without both of these.

Sword Savant allows the third hit of your light attack combo to gain the Clash property, this will allow you to deflect most of an enemy’s attack if you hit them at the same time as you do. While there are better weapons for Clash (the Axe and Duals are focused around this), this is an added bow to both the Longsword and this build. Sword Master is an even better version of Sword Saint, seeing your fifth hit of your light attack combo generate a further two Skyborn Might, meaning a full combo will generate three Skyborn Might.

Beyond this, you’ll want to unlock all of the Strength+ and Agility+ nodes here, especially the ones that give you +5 for a single Red Mercury. On top of this, you can dip into the Spear tree and grab the +5 Strength and Agility nodes early in the trees there for little investment.

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.

The first skill in this tree that is of interest of this build is the Steel Resolve skill, this requires you to grab Conversion on the way (which improves your Swift Draw attack), but once learned, will accrue one Skyborn Might when Deflecting when you are above 50% Madness, a very useful tool. The next skill, Health Siphon, is a useful skill for any melee weapon, as it will allow the last hit of your light attack combo to restore some health, provided you’re above 90% Madness.

There are a few useful Bone Needles to consider, the Fire one you get when you unlock the system remains useful throughout the game, as Burn is one of the better status effects, while Leech is useful for any weapon that finds you attacking often. Outside of this, Poise Break is worth a consideration, the burst of damage you get once it activates can be useful. Finally, Rapid Temperance will make it quicker to use Temperance when above 50% Madness, another tool that is useful during boss encounters.

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:

The choices for Longswords aren’t as simple as the weapons found in other classes, where more often or not, there’s a clear winner. All Longswords share scaling with both Strength and Agility, while Serpent Fang is one of the few Feathered scaling weapons and Moonlight Dragon, the Deluxe Edition DLC, has some Magic scaling.

So, with that in mind, what weapon do you go for when using this build? Interestingly, the game’s default weapon, Cloudfrost’s Edge, is perfect for this build, as it’s Weapon Affix will see you take reduced damage for a short time after a Parry, the main goal of this build. Its weapon skill, Dash Strike, however, leaves a lot to be desired, and there are better ones to use.

Lashing Whip has the longest reach of any of the Longswords along with the highest Agility scaling. Its weapon skill, Whip Dance, will even allow you to elongate the blade into a whip, helping the reach further. Our personal choice, however, is the Flamebringer, which features the highest Strength scaling of all of the Longswords. Its weapon skill, Infernal Firebrand, deals a heavy fire-based Cleave, and its Weapon Affix will see your Fire Temperance buff the effect further.

Jade Pendants¶

It takes a while until you get your hands on some strong Jade Pendants in WUCHANG but 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 Longsword Parry Build:

As you can see, there are a fair few choices when it comes to your Jade Pendants, but at the very least, you should consider the Twin Infant Pendant or Dragon-Fish Pendant for their boost to Stamina Recovery or maximum Stamina. The Fiend-Felling Pendant is fantastic against any large bosses, while the Tigraliz Pendant is very powerful for those who are adept at avoiding damage altogether (which the Parry build aims to do against compatible enemies).

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’s a lot to consider when it comes to Benedictions, and there are many useful ones for this build. When it comes to Oath, your best bet is with Wei - Backstab Force, Obliterate is very powerful with Longswords, so making better use of that certainly helps. Shen - Skyborn Rejuvenation is one of the best Benedictions in the game, unfortunately it doesn’t come until the closing stages. With that in mind, Sheng - Obliteration Might is a fine alternative, further boosting your potential from Obliteration.

Wisdom is where you will have to make a choice though, there are many fantastic options here, although Wei - Counter Force is perfect for any battle where you will be making full use of the Parry build, increasing the damage of the counterattacks you pump out.

Tempering¶

Here you’ll find what we use for our Temperance. This allows you to leech more health, keeping you topped up until you reach the latter stages of your combos for generating Skyborn Might at the end of your light attack combos, as well as increase your damage.

So, there you have it; you now have a parry-based Longsword build that can also deal heavy Obliterate damage and leech health from your enemies. While there may be better alternatives, it’s an effective one we used that got us through all of the game’s challenges.