Wuchang Fallen Feathers Madness explained

How does the Madness system work in Wuchang Fallen Feathers? As is the case with many soulslikes, you're going to die often in Wuchang Fallen Feathers, but death isn't the end for the pirate warrior. Madness stems as a result of Wuchang's Feathering affliction, causing her to suffer from physical mutations that act as both a blessing and a curse.

There are some downsides to Wuchang Fallen Feathers Madness; however, there are several advantages to dying once you learn how to make it work in your favor. Thanks to the expansive skill tree in the soulslike game, there are plenty of skills you can use in your Wuchang Fallen Feathers builds that'll change the way you approach combat.

Due to the number of skills tied to your Madness gauge, it's more beneficial to stay in a high state of Madness to access these powerful abilities. Gaining Madness is unavoidable, but it can be managed depending on the actions you take. Your Madness gauge builds by dying in combat and killing non-Feathered humanoids; this can be reduced by killing Feathered enemies and by slaying certain Wuchang Fallen Feathers bosses.

When your Madness gauge sits below 50%, you will only lose a quarter of your built-up Red Mercury upon death. The effects of the curse really kick in when you reach the 50% mark, signified by Wuchang's eyes turning red. In this state, you lose half of your Red Mercury when you die, but now you can utilize powerful skills in the Impetus Repository that require you to reach this threshold.

Once your Madness gauge reaches 90%, Wuchang's neck starts to show demonic marks. In addition to this physical change, your attacks now deal more damage and gain more Red Mercury whenever you defeat enemies, but you take more damage from enemies as a tradeoff. This state makes the game more punishing when you die, causing you to lose all your Red Mercury. More importantly, there are skills available to you that activate when you reach the 90% mark to make you even stronger.

Reaching 100% Madness doesn't trigger any new effects, though you will have a powerful enemy to battle against if you die. Your inner demon spawns in the location you last perished, forcing you to take on a deadly version of yourself, most likely in an area you probably need to be in.

As this demon is a manifested version of Wuchang, any surrounding enemies will go out of their way to attack her. You can take advantage of this by having her defeat any nearby threats, subsequently reducing her health while also clearing the path. Defeating your inner demon reduces your Madness gauge back down to 0%, cleansing you of any evil you previously absorbed.

You can instantly increase your Madness by heading to a Shrine and selecting the Invoke option. This opens up a menu featuring items that can be purchased using Madness, trading your sanity in exchange for helpful in-game items to give you an edge in combat. Any items you purchase in the Invoke menu will be added to your inventory, and if you're carrying too many of that specific item, they will be sent to the storage box instead.

Here are all the items available to purchase in the Wuchang Fallen Feathers Invoke store:

That's everything you need to understand how the Madness system works in Wuchang Fallen Feathers. Don't forget to take a look at our Wuchang Fallen Features transmog guide to discover how you can benefit from armor set buffs without ruining your style. If you're looking for more ways to help you in this challenging RPG game, definitely give our Wuchang Fallen Feathers bosses guide a read to learn how to take down these powerful enemies.