One of the more unusual features of WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers is its unique Madness mechanic. This feature will enhance your damage while increasing the damage you take based on how high it is, and in general, it’s increased by dying or killing humans. However, there is a lot more to the mechanic than that, some of it quite complex, so read on to truly understand the Madness mechanic in WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers.

Table of Contents¶

If you want to jump to a specific section, click on the links below.

What is Madness?¶

Wuchang has been inflicted by the Feathering, which causes one to eventually lose their mind. However, she is different and can use it to her advantage. Located in the center of the Character menu is a silhouette of Wuchang, and it fills up when you die or when you attack innocent humans.

When you reach 50% Madness, Wuchang’s eyes will have a red hue to them, and at 90%, she’ll bear a demonic scar or mark on her neck. You can also see your Madness silhouette at a glance in the bottom left corner, although it won’t tell you the exact number.

If you die at 90% Madness or more, your echo that you leave behind after death will manifest into an Inner Demon, where you’ll have to fight your doppelgänger. Defeating the Inner Demon will reward you with your lost Red Mercury; however, dying to it will cause you to lose it all for good.

Madness Effects¶

At specific Madness Thresholds, which are 50% and 90%, you’ll gain various positive and negative effects. Alongside these effects, you’ll deal and take more damage. When you reach 50% Madness, you can make use of some useful skills by unlocking them in the skill tree. These are:

• Swift Resilience: While at above 50% Madness, you take greatly reduced damage while performing Swift Draws, and Swift Draws also become much more difficult to interrupt.

• Conversion: Swift Draws are more potent at or above 50% Madness. While above 90%, Swift Draws become even more potent. Using a weapon, Swift Draw in melee range also recovers a small amount of health on hit.

• Steel Resolve: While at above 50% Madness, you gain 1 stack of Skyborn Might upon Deflecting.

• Alacrity: While at above 50% Madness, you gain 1 stack of Skyborn Might upon using Alacrity.

• Rapid Temperance: While at above 50% Madness, Temperance accelerates its effects on your weapon, enhancing them faster than usual.

• Fury of the Skyborn: While at above 50% Madness, the Skyborn Might cost of casting Echo-type spells is reduced by 1 stack.

• Impact: While at above 50% Madness, you gain increased Feathering Attack Power (provided your weapon has Feathering Attack Power).

When you reach 90% Madness, you’ll gain some other benefits, such as Disciple Skill variants getting increased effects. There are also a couple of skill nodes you can unlock, which take effect at 90% Madness. These are:

• Unbroken Focus: While at above 90% Madness, the buff provided by Biding Time will not decay below 3 stacks.

• Health Siphon: While at above 90% Madness, the final strike of weapon light attack combos restores some health on hit.

It’s worth noting that the more Madness that you have, the more Red Mercury you’ll lose upon death, and dying to the Inner Demon will make you lose all of it. Finally, you will gain 20% more Red Mercury when your Madness is at 90% or more.

How to Gain Madness¶

When building Wuchang, you might want to focus on a Madness build. To do this, you’ll need to gain Madness and stay at the highest levels of it for a prolonged period.

The problem is that killing Feathered enemies (of which there are a lot) will reduce it, as will defeating your Inner Demon, which will reset it completely. So, how do you keep your Madness high, you ask? Well, there are a few ways to do this:

• Die a lot. Not something you want to do, but it is a way to increase your Madness. We don’t recommend this.

• Run past Feathered enemies. Not feasible due to the amount of them, but if you limit how many you kill, the higher your Madness will be.

• Kill humans, especially non-hostile ones. During your exploration, you’ll find numerous humans who appear to be slaves to the Rebel army. For the most part, these won’t attack you, and if they do, it’ll be for negligible damage. However, killing these innocents will increase your Madness.

• Madness Incense: You’ll start with just two of these, but more can be unlocked in the skill tree. These handy items allow you to gain Madness while preventing the loss of it for some time. This makes them the best way to stay at high Madness, so make sure you unlock the extra charges in the skill tree. These items are found in your inventory and can be added to your quick-use shortcut.

• Plumed Branch: The main use of this item is for the staggering 5 stacks of Skyborn Might. However, these will also increase your Madness a little upon use. Unlike the Madness Incense, you’ll have to find these.

• Invoke: At each shrine, you can select Invoke, which allows you to purchase consumables at the cost of Madness. Naturally, purchasing these will increase your Madness. Note that you can’t purchase them if your Madness is capped.

How to Remove Madness¶

Alternatively, you may not like the risks involved with Madness, and you want to keep it low. Unfortunately, there aren’t as many ways to do this outside of the following:

• Don’t Die: Obvious, and easier said than done, but not dying will keep your Madness low. We recommend this.

• Killing Feathered enemies: Fortunately, there are tons of these enemies throughout the game, outside of a few places. Feathered enemies are anything that looks like a monster. You’ll see their feathers leave their corpse upon their death.

• Defeating or dying to your Inner Demon: When you die at 90% Madness or more, your Inner Demon will appear where your echo dropped. Defeating or dying to them will reset your Madness to zero.

• Defeating main bosses: Every time you defeat a boss, your Madness will be reset.

• Divine Gifts: Near Shu Sanctum is a statue that you can use your Divine Gifts on, which will reset your Madness. Divine Gifts are either found or rewarded from a quest step. The statue is located by taking the fallen tree shortcut from Shu Sanctum and taking the path right to the top.

That’s pretty much it for you to remove your Madness. Staying alive longer and defeating the Feathered enemies is the main way, and then using one of the other methods, if things get too difficult.

Inner Demon Explained¶

Did you die a few too many times, and then one time you went back to your Echo, a demon materialized, and most likely killed you? Well, this is your Inner Demon. When your Madness reaches 90% or above, you’ll have a demonic mark on the side of your neck.

When you die, an Inner Demon will spawn in place of your Echo, and you’ll have to defeat it to get your Red Mercury back, or die, and lose it. Both ways will rid the demon, but only one lets you keep the Red Mercury. If you do manage to defeat them, you’ll also get rewarded with a Plumed Branch.

Fighting your Inner Demon is like fighting a mirror version of yourself. They are very aggressive, churning out long combos, and have access to skills that you also have. Also, they can heal multiple times if you let them.

The best way to deal with them is to use a charged heavy attack to knock them down, leaving them open for a few attacks, or a charged heavy attack on their back to set yourself up for an obliterate. If you’re using Dual Swords, you can use the Blademaster Buff and clashes to take them out more easily. They’re also susceptible to magic and parry.

That’s it for the Madness guide. Madness is an imperative part of the game, and you should make the most of it to get the most out of the game. We recommend staying at higher levels of Madness, even if it’s just for the 20% extra Red Mercury you get when you’re at 90% or higher.