Summary
Wuchang: Fallen Feathersoffers its own twist on many familiar systemsfrom soulslike action games, often introducing unique terminology for established concepts. In this case,weapon Benedictionsfunction similarly to weapon runes or enchantments, allowing players to place up to three Benedictions into a weapon’s sockets. Players can onlychange their active Benedictions at shrinesvia a dedicated menu and can’t tweak them freely during exploration.
There are three types of Benedictions — Oath, Memory, and Wisdom — each compatible only with their respective slots, so players can’t equip three Oath Benedictions on a single weapon, for example. On top of that, Benedictions can act as set items, granting powerful bonuses to players who apply a full set to their weapon. While players won’t be able to complete full Benediction sets early inWuchang: Fallen Feathersto access these bonuses, they can still find some potent weapon upgrades early on, offering a much-needed edge against challenging bosses.
Given thatWuchang: Fallen Feathersdoesn’t have exact chapters, let’sconsider “early game” to be its first region, Worship’s Rise, which can take players over ten hours to fully explore, so all the Benedictions below can be obtained before reaching the Cloudspire region.
6Shi - Vitality Ward
Reduces Damage Taken While At Full Health
While not entirely underwhelming,Shi - Vitality Wardis not for everyone, as its defensive capabilities only work when players are at full HP, which is quite hard to maintain. Therefore, this Benediction essentially protects players from a single enemy strike. The benefit is more apparent when facing slow opponents who hit hard. However, thiscan’t be said about the majority of bossesin the game, who are typically fast and aggressive.
On the other hand, somecharacter builds inWuchangmay favor spells, throwables, or other ranged attacks as their primary damage source. These builds can more easily maintain full HP by staying out of enemy range, making Shi - Vitality Ward a useful safety net to soften the blow if hit.
5Wei - Tri-Disciplinary Force
Increases Damage Dealt If 3 Discipline Skills Are Known
Wei - Tri-Disciplinary Forceis a potentially great and rare offensive Benediction for weapons that directly boosts damage, obtainable fairly early. However, how this upgrade works can be a bit confusing. This Benediction doesn’t function at all if players have no extra unlocked Disciplinesvia the Impetus Repository skill tree, as the default moves available from various weapons don’t count. The easiest way to know whether players will benefit from equipping this item is to check the Disciplines menu section at any shrine.
This severely limits the usefulness of this appealing Benediction early on, as unlocking additional Discipline moves for different weapons takes quite some time and dedication in character progression. Therefore, this upgrade might only benefit players whocommit to one specific weapon type from the start. Otherwise, this Benediction may only become useful later in the game.
4Bu - Skyborn Ward
Skyborn Might Reduces Damage Taken For A Time
Another defensive Benediction (those are more common early than straight-up offensive upgrades),Bu - Skyborn Wardis obtained very early inWuchang: Fallen Feathers, allowing players to gain an extra layer of defense during tough encounters that can save their life more than once.
Like many other weapon upgrades, this Benediction only works when players have stacks of Skyborn Might active, which can be triggered by perfect evades or other combat moves. While nothing groundbreaking, with this Benediction equipped, players can adopt a more aggressive approach, using riskier combo attacks and moves while ignoring some incoming damage from enemies.
3Ren - Skyborn Vigor
Increases Stamina Recovery Speed During Skyborn Might
Ren - Skyborn Vigoris an exceptional early-game Benediction, especially considering how easy it is to constantly run out of Stamina inWuchang. The way the game is designed, players willcertainly appreciate every Stamina-centereditem they come across, as there’s never too much Stamina or recovery speed during intense combat encounters where constant evasion and attacks are required.
One of the best things about this Benediction is how easy and cheap it is to get very early inWuchang: Fallen Feathers, after which it can be used to notably reduce the Stamina issue during boss fights. It’s a shame, though, that this Benediction’s effect is entirely dependent on Skyborn Might, like Bu - Skyborn Ward, and not fully passivelike, say, the Twin Infant Pendant.
2Shi - Rising Defense
While Below A Certain HP Threshold, You Gain Increased Defense Against Slashing, Blunt, And Stab Attacks
Shi - Rising Defenseis among the best defensive Benedictions for weapons, capable of helping players last notably longer againstWuchang’s toughest bosses, including Commander – Honglan. With increased defense against all the most common damage types from human-like enemies, players can withstand extra punishment when facing bosses wielding traditional weapons of any kind, and there will be many.
While it would be much better if Shi - Rising Defense worked passively at all times, rather than only when HP drops below 30%, it’s still one of the more useful early-game Benedictions. It offers protection when players need it most, buying enough time to take a sip from a Manna Vase and get back into the fight.
1Wei - Combo Force
Consecutive Attacks Increase Your Damage
Unsurprisingly, the best possible Benediction that players can get in Worship’s Rise is a reward for defeating the area’s final boss, Commander – Honglan, andthat’s not an easy fight at all. However, this Benediction more than makes up for it, serving as one of the strongest weapon upgrades for an offensive playstyle moving forward.
Wei - Combo Forcecan be equipped in the Wisdom socket and increases damage with consecutive attacks, meaning its full potential shines with fastweapon types such as Dual Blades or One-Handed Swords. Given how rare Benedictions are that directly boost the player’s damage output, Wei - Combo Force may well be among the best weapon upgrades inWuchang: Fallen Feathers.
