Another unique feature for WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers is Tempering. Although you can do this in many games, it differs in WUCHANG, and can be quite complex if you don’t understand it properly. Read on to find out what Tempering is and how you can effectively use it.

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Tempering Explained¶

When you progress the game a bit, you’ll unlock Tempering. This allows you to place a Bone Needle into your Yangchi acupoint at the shrine, which allows you to use Temperance on your weapons, giving them various special effects.

Stone Needles can be found, but Bone Needles are unlocked in the skill tree. Once you’ve placed a Needle into your arm, you’ll gain access to the Temperance item in your inventory. Equip this to your shortcuts, and when used, it’ll apply the effect of the needle onto your weapon for a short duration. You will start with two of these items, but more can be unlocked in the skill tree, and they will replenish upon Entering the Dream at the shrine.

How to Unlock Tempering¶

Tempering becomes available automatically after progressing through the story and defeating the boss at Lightzen Temple. After defeating the boss, you can go to the nearest shrine to find the Temper option in the top right. Selecting this will take you to the Tempering menu.

Acupoints¶

In the Tempering menu, you’ll find an arm with five different acupoints. These are Yangchi, Huizhong, Tianjing, Xiaoluo, and Jialiao. Each one gives you a slot that you can place other needles; however, you won’t be able to place a Bone Needle in any slot other than the Yangchi acupoint.

The other acupoints are reserved for Stone Needles. At the start, you’ll only have access to the Yangchi and Huizhong acupoints; the rest of the acupoints are unlocked in the skill tree under the Alteration nodes. However, these require a chisel, obtained by defeating story bosses.

Bone and Stone Needles¶

Bone Needles are used only in the Yangchi acupoint, while the Stone Needles are used for the other four acupoints. The Bone Needles can all be unlocked in the skill tree by unlocking their nodes, which are Poise Break, Lightning, Frostbite, Corruption, Blight, Arcane, Magic, Leech, and Feathering. Each of these will apply that effect to your weapons after using the Temperance item.

However, Stone Needles are harder to come by, and you’ll generally find these in chests, hidden corners of the environments, or by completing quest objectives. These mostly increase your stats, such as magic, strength, agility, and so on. Note that some weapons can only equip specific Bone Needles due to their innate ability. For example, the Longsword, Flamebringer can only be equipped with the Bone Needle - Flame.

Buff Effects - Weapons¶

The last thing to know about Tempering is whether the buff you’re trying to create is compatible with your weapons, due to some having restrictions. In the top right corner, you’ll notice the Buff Effects and your two weapons. You can select between the weapons by pressing / / . If you see blue writing, you’re okay, however, if you see red writing, the weapon isn’t compatible, and you’ll want to either change the weapon or Needle.

That’s it for Tempering. If used correctly, it can become a powerful tool to help you get past a tricky enemy, area, or even boss. We recommend the Leech Needle for melee users, as it’s a nice way to get health back when you run out of potions. For bosses, we recommend using a Needle that is their weakness, so one of the elements.