Unless you’re a god-tier player from the get-go, you’re bound to experience ‘Madness’ at some point in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers. It’s not necessarily a deadly affliction, but it has big upsides and equally destructive negatives. This guide has information on all aspects of Madness.
If you’ve played Souls games before, you’ll recognize many of Wuchang‘s systems. How to heal, how to defend yourself, the nature of bosses, and much more. Madness is a unique mechanic that can greatly influence your attacking capabilities, as well as how much danger you’re in—more so than normal!
If you’ve had the prompt pop up and it’s put the creepers into you, and you need more clarity, then consider me your shining ray of hope (ish).
What Causes Madness in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers?
Your Madness meter builds up when you either die, kill human characters, or use Maddening Incense.
The first way is straightforward—you die, and your Madness increases. If you kill innocent humans scattered around the game, like hiding villagers or feeble village maidens, this is considered ‘bad’ and makes your Madness meter go up. Finally, Maddening Incense is a refillable consumable item that “Increases madness when used, also prevents the loss of Madness for a time.”
‘Why would I want to keep my Madness?” I hear you cry. Allow me to explain why this is something you should do, but why you must be wary.
What Does Madness do in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers?
Madness has various side effects: Your Inner Demon attacks you if it’s full, your attack grows stronger, but your defense weakens, a higher Madness number unlocks new abilities and buffs to make you stronger, and you can also use Madness to buy new items.
Attack and Defense
Wuchang warns you that when your Madness level gets too high: “Your Power has increased…But so has the Damage taken…”
In short, you hit harder, but get hit just as hard back. If you can make your attacks count, you can end fights much faster. Purposefully raising your Madness for this buff is also a viable battle tactic.
Inner Demon
If you die at maximum madness, your Inner Demon will materialize if you try to claim your Red Mercury Essence. They are basically a copy of Bai, and won’t stop coming after you until one of you is dead.
If you prevail, your Madness resets, you get your Red Mercury back, and you usually get a bonus like Bo Blood. If you lose, your Madness resets, and you lose all your Red Mercury.
I can tell you that in many hours of gameplay, I’ve never been defeated by the Inner Demon. It’s a fairly standard fight over in no time, and they never change things up throughout Wuchang.
New Abilities
Go to your nearest Shrine, click on the Impetus Repository, and scroll left to Swift Resilience. Press up and down, and you should see various abilities you can buy with Red Mercury Essence.
Steel Resolve gives you Skyborn Might for Deflecting, but you need to be on at least 50% Madness, whereas Unbroken Focus requires a whopping 90% Madness, but the Biding Time buff remains for longer.
Purchase Goods For Free
Finally, if you check the Shrine once more, you can see the Invoke option in the bottom-right corner. This menu shows you a bunch of consumables, including Raven Pills to restore health, and a personal favorite of mine—Golden Feather Pearl (Prevents the loss of Red Mercury the next time you die).
You can buy select supplies, but it raises your Madness meter. If it gets too high, you won’t be able to produce anything else until you reduce your Madness.
How to Get Rid of Madness in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers?
You can get rid of Madness by maxing it out, dying, and defeating your Inner Demon, or by using Divine Gift and Fragment of the Divine Gift to dispel your Madness.
I’ve already explained the Inner Demon scenario. On the other hand, if you have Divine Gift items, you can take them to certain spots in Wuchang to rid yourself of Madness.
Here’s an easy way to do so:
- Go to the Shu Sanctum Shrine.
- Immediately turn left and go up the stairs.
- At the top, walk forward toward the statue holding a spear/stick.
- Press the action button to Interact.
- Here, you can use Divine Gift or Fragment of the Divine Gift to clear your madness.
There are other locations in Wuchang where you can also find these madness-cleansing statues. This is the first one I encountered, but it’s very safe and easy to access.
Are there any Madness traits I’ve missed? Have you found more pros and cons of the mechanic? Please let me know through the Insider Gaming forum.
Check out the Wuchang trophy list, the boss list, and how to claim pre-order items for more guides.
Andy is Insider Gaming's Senior Evergreen Editor and has been in the games journalism sphere in one way or another for over 7 years. His video game taste is as…
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