The Temper system in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers quietly becomes one of the most impactful parts of your build. It doesn’t shout for your attention, yet the moment you start experimenting with Acupoints, Needles, and weapon traits, damage spikes and status effects suddenly begin working in your favor. If you want to push your arsenal beyond raw stats, understanding how Tempering works is essential.
Below, we’ll break down how to unlock Acupoints, how Bone and Stone Needles function, and what you should prioritize early on.
How to Unlock the Temper System
You gain access to Tempering shortly after beating the game’s first major boss. Once that fight is behind you, Shrines gain a new menu option that introduces your initial Acupoint slot and the first Bone Needle. From that point on, Tempering becomes a core layer of weapon customization.
The game does a decent job hinting at the system, but it keeps the deeper mechanics tucked away. The moment you dive into the Impetus Repository (the skill tree), you’ll see how expansive Acupoint progression really is.
Unlocking More Acupoint Slots Through the Impetus Repository
Most of your Acupoint slots come from the Alteration section of the skill tree. The early ones cost only Red Mercury, making them easy pickups during the first stretch of the campaign. Further upgrades climb in rarity, and the final slot requires a unique item found much later.
Before you start spreading points everywhere, keep in mind how different Acupoints support different Needles. Slot count directly determines how many effects your weapon can carry at once, so prioritizing the first few slot upgrades pays off quickly.
To give you a sense of what to expect, here’s how the Acupoint-related branches generally break down:
- Alteration upgrades unlock additional Acupoint slots.
- Rapid Temperance nodes introduce new Bone Needles that apply status effects like lightning shock, frostbite, corruption, and poise breaks.
- Skyborn-aligned nodes improve magical bonuses, Lifesteal, and overall potency of Feather abilities.
Everything here ties into your weapon’s personality. The more you unlock, the more you can tailor a blade toward elemental pressure, burst windows, or attrition damage.
Bone Needles vs. Stone Needles — What They Do and How to Use Them
Now that you’ve unlocked a few slots, it’s time to fill them. Shrines are where you’ll socket Needles, and each weapon can only carry one Bone Needle at a time. Bone Needles are typically the backbone of your build — they supply a primary status or offensive flavor, while Stone Needles round out utility and secondary bonuses.
Before diving into examples, here’s a bit of context. Many Stone Needles come from defeating Inner Demons that appear in set locations. Others drop from tougher encounters or exploration points. Since Stone Needles vary widely in function, the game encourages testing combinations rather than relying on a single “best-in-slot.”
Bone Needles, on the other hand, are more straightforward. They plug into the Yangchi Acupoint and define your core effect — fire buildup, paralysis damage, frostbite accumulation, and similar enhancements.
Whenever you adjust your setup, double-check compatibility. Not every weapon responds the same way to every Needle. Elemental blades benefit most from matching a Needle type, while heavy physical arms favor effects that improve poise damage or stagger windows.
Best Practices for Building Your Loadout
Before slotting upgrades at random, take a moment to look at your weapon’s innate attributes. A sword with lightning affinity doesn’t benefit much from frost bonuses, and a slow, heavy hammer won’t reliably apply rapid-tick status effects. Spend time at Shrines experimenting until you find synergy — the game rewards that curiosity.
When you unlock new Acupoints, test stacking multiple effects that complement each other. For example, pairing a poise-breaking Bone Needle with a Stone Needle that enhances stagger damage creates a brutal loop for boss fights. Elemental setups, meanwhile, become far more efficient once your weapon traits and Needle bonuses reinforce the same damage source.
The Temper system isn’t about throwing power at a weapon — it’s about sharpening what it already wants to do.