Madness Guide: Gameplay 2

What is Madness? Madness is a state inflicted by the Feathering, represented by a silhouette in the Character menu that fills as you die or attack innocent humans. At 50% Madness, Wuchang's eyes gain a red hue; at 90%, she develops a demonic scar on her neck. A rough estimate of your Madness can be seen on the HUD (heads-up display — the on-screen icons showing health, ammo and the minimap (the small circular map in the bottom-left corner of your screen)) in the bottom left corner. Dying at 90% Madness or more causes your echo to manifest as an Inner Demon, a doppelgänger you must fight. Defeating the Inner Demon rewards lost Red Mercury, but dying to it means losing it all permanently.

Madness Effects: Reaching specific Madness thresholds grants positive and negative effects, alongside increased damage dealt and taken.

• At 50% Madness: Unlock useful skills in the skill tree:
  • Swift Resilience: Take reduced damage during Swift Draws, which become harder to interrupt.

Conversion: Swift Draws become more potent and recover health on hit in melee range.

Steel Resolve: Gain 1 stack of Skyborn Might upon Deflecting.

Alacrity: Gain 1 stack of Skyborn Might upon using Alacrity.

Rapid Temperance: Temperance effects accelerate on your weapon.

Fury of the Skyborn: Reduce Skyborn Might cost for Echo-type spells.

Impact: Gain increased Feathering Attack Power.

At 90% Madness: Gain additional benefits, including enhanced Disciple Skill variants and new skill nodes:

• Unbroken Focus: The buff from Biding Time will not decay below 3 stacks.

Health Siphon: The final strike of light attack combos restores health on hit.

How to Gain Madness: To build a Madness-focused Wuchang, you need to increase and maintain high Madness levels. Killing Feathered enemies or defeating your Inner Demon reduces Madness. Ways to increase Madness include:

• Dying frequently (not recommended).

Avoiding killing Feathered enemies.

Killing innocent humans, who are often slaves to the Rebel army and may not attack you.

Using Madness Incense: These consumables grant Madness and prevent its loss for a time. Unlock extra charges in the skill tree for the best way to maintain high Madness.

Using Plumed Branch: These items increase Madness slightly upon use and provide 5 stacks of Skyborn Might.

Using Invoke at shrines: Purchasing consumables costs Madness, which in turn increases your Madness. This is not possible if your Madness is capped.

How to Remove Madness: To keep Madness low, outside of not dying, there are limited options. The source text does not provide specific methods for reducing Madness, only for increasing it or avoiding its increase by not dying.

Inner Demon Explained: The Inner Demon is a manifestation of your echo that appears when you die with 90% Madness or more. Defeating it rewards you with your lost Red Mercury. However, dying to the Inner Demon causes you to lose all your Red Mercury permanently.