There are 10 Bone Needles that you get access tothrough the Tempering menuofWuchang: Fallen Feathers, with each of them providing some type of benefit to your character or the weapon she is holding. Each of these needles has its uses, but how good are they when compared to each other?
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Is it better to burn your opponent or let them suffer from reduced stamina? Is a buff to your magic better than buffing your weapon with magic? After testing each of these needles, I can definitively say which ones have helped me out the most throughout the game, and which ones you should take with you in most circumstances.
For this ranking, I tested the base versions of each of these Bone Needles with and without the same additional Stone Needles. These additional needles increased attack power and status buildup.
You’re Toxic
Blight is very similar to Black Flame magic in Elden Ring. It lowers the max health of your opponent while the effect is active. Now is when I destroy this effect, because it just doesn’t work well against opponents.
Because of the way Blight works, you will see a green bar start to overtake the enemy’s health bar, showing their max health bar decreasing. The issue here is that Blight procs so slowly that you will most likely kill your enemy before it takes effect, or you will deplete their health so much that the Blight won’t do anything.
I tested this against bosses and regular enemies alike, and each time, I couldn’t get it to proc effectively. It was far better to just use the Blight spell.
9Frostbite
Frostbite is supposed to be a detrimental force that hurts your foes and slows them down. Unfortunately, this status effect feels more detrimental to your character than it does to the enemies.
Each time I inflicted an opponent with Frostbite, they barely lost health, and it didn’t seem like it had any effect on their stamina besides slowing them down a bit. In this fast-paced game, speed does matter, but there are much better effects that you can take advantage of.
In addition to this, there is a large portion of the game where it seems as though every enemy has higher Frostbite resistance, making it more difficult to use this effect throughout the entire game. For instance, you won’t be able to affect bosses like theMistress of the Nightwith this effect.
8Corruption
It’s Like Poison
Corruption is this game’s version of poison from Dark Souls. It slowly whittles down an enemy’s health while you continue to strike them with whatever your weapon of choice is.
At times, this effect can prove to be useful, but it doesn’t have the potency I’d like. It’s more like waiting for an enemy to slowly die, but they will keep attacking you, and the damage you do will far outpace the damage from Corruption.
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This is good in groups where you’re able to ignore one enemy, let them take the effect, and focus on another.
Magic can be overpowered in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers. I spent the entire game with the first spell, and it never let me down. I often used it to snipe enemies off rooftops or from a distance.
The Magic Bone Needle increases the potency of your spells, not the magic scaling on your weapon, making your follow-up spells more powerful. This is very useful, but I also found it to be lacking when you have to be up close to enemies so often.
I used this one to help deal with distant enemies, but the main spell I use, Ethereal Form, doesn’t benefit from increased potency. However, it does increase the rate of healing from the Divine Blessing spell.
6Poise Break
Basically Bleed
Poise Break is a fairly useful effect when you can get it to proc. This status effect acts like Bleed from other Soulslike titles, in that, when the bar fills up, the enemy receives a percentage of their health bar in damage.
Poise can be very useful during boss fights, but I found that most normal enemies would die before it would proc. This is best saved for those larger foes who can tank a lot of hits, as they will receive the most effect from Poise Break.
The main reason I don’t rank it higher is that I don’t get it to proc often against larger foes either, but it is very useful when it does proc.
5Feathering
Fallen Feathers
The stat that stands out among the others is Feathering. This is a stat that is unique to Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, and one that enhances the damage you do with your attacks.
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When you apply Feathering through your Temperance ability, it increases the damage you deal in general, but more so against enemies who are weak to it. I tested it against a fair number of enemies, and the damage increase is consistent, despite my character not having the highest Feathering stat.
There is no doubt that the pure increase in damage from Feathering is better than at least half of the other needles. Unfortunately, it doesn’t apply an effect.
Magic, But Not
While you might think that the Magic needle would apply Magic damage to your weapon, it is the Arcane needle that does it. Similar to the Feathering needle, this one applies a direct damage buff to your weapon.
I don’t believe the Feathering or Arcane needle is better than the other. I mostly stuck with using the Magic stat throughout my playthrough, and when testing, the Arcane needle seemed to apply a higher damage buff to me.
When it comes down to it, the Arcane and Feathering needles are basically the same. Both are great when combined with some ofthe best starting skills.
3Lightning
Shocking, Isn’t It?
The Lightning needle is where we start getting needles that add a direct damage increase while also applying a significant status effect. The Lightning needle enhances your lightning damage andapplies the Paralysis effect.
When an enemy is paralyzed, it means that they deal less damage, which is great in boss fights when you have an enemy that won’t stop assaulting you. I typically switch between three different needles, and this is one of my favorites, and one that I see the most effect from.
With how fast-paced this game can feel at times despite your character herself moving a bit slower, being able to paralyze bosses and regular enemies can help even the playing field exponentially.
Siphoning Health
While it doesn’t add a damage buff to your weapon, Leech is still one of the best needles to use. This is because it applies a health leech effect to your weapon, allowing you to leech health from your opponent with each strike.
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is a very fast-paced game when it comes to the boss fights. This often led to me getting hit multiple times over. Instead of relying on my Manna Vase to heal, I wanted something else.
Whether it is against smaller enemies or big bosses, the Leech effect from this Bone Needle will prevent you from needing to use your Manna Vase, allowing you to conserve it for those tougher moments.
Burn, Baby, Burn
The Fire needle is the only Bone Needle that you don’t need to unlock via the Impetus Repository. Instead, it is the first needle you are given as part of the story, at the same time youreceive the Lightzen Key,and it is probably the best of them all.
One of the big things is that enemies with flesh take more fire damage, just like enemies with armor take more lightning damage. Far more enemies are susceptible to fire damage, it seems, because this Needle does amazing things against bosses and normal enemies alike.
Not only do you get the damage buff of having fire on your weapon, but you may also burn opponents, which damages them over time. It is the needle I use the most, and it doesn’t require an investment.
