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Plague Echoes - Version 7 vs Version 8
May 23, 2026, 08:31 PM
Corrected wikilink existence flags
Jun 4, 2026, 07:21 PM
Removed duplicate in-body wikilinks
11Plague Echoes is a stacking self-buff applied to the wielder (not to the enemy) by the plague weapon family. It is the sustain engine for every Plague archetype build: stack Echoes during a fight, spend them for a large heal when HP runs low.22How it Works44PropertyValueApplicationDealing damage with a plague-family weapon grants a stack to the wielder.Stack cap5 stacks.Threshold abilityAt 5 stacks, a special [F] attack becomes available.Special attack effectInstantly restores 35% of maximum Health.66The stack is self-applied (to the wielder), not applied to the target. Because it is a self-buff, the enemy being struck does not resist or cleanse Plague Echoes the way they might resist debuffs.77Source Weapons99Arboris Saber - Strength-scaling saber dealing Crude damagePlague Halberd - Strength-scaling halberd; also runs the Plague Marks system on the target in parallelPlague Pistol - Precision-scaling pistol1111These three weapons share the Plague Echoes mechanic. The Plague Halberd is notable because it also applies Plague Marks to the enemy, giving it two distinct plague mechanics running simultaneously (self-buff and enemy debuff).1313Talent Interactions1515The Plague Echoes loop is the centerpiece of the canonical Plague sustain build, paired with:1717Retribution - converts Temporal Health to permanent HP more effectively (up to 100% more at rank 3).You Will Answer for This - increases Temporal Health gained on damage taken by up to 75% at rank 3.1919The Retribution plus You Will Answer for This plus plague weapon triangle is the canonical self-sustain Plague loop. Without that combination, Plague Echoes is still useful as a clutch 35% heal on a long cooldown, but the build does not reach its full sustain ceiling.2121Plague Marks vs Plague Echoes2323Plague Echoes and Plague Marks are distinct mechanics that run in parallel on some plague weapons. Plague Echoes is a wielder-side 5-stack buff with a 35% heal threshold at 5 stacks. Plague Marks is an enemy-side 8-stack debuff consumed by Heavy Attacks for bonus damage (and a 35-40% heal if more than 5 marks are consumed at once).2525The Plague Halberd runs both systems simultaneously. The Plague Pistol and Arboris Saber run Plague Echoes only. The Rapier of Devastation runs Plague Marks only.2727See Also2929Plague Marks - the parallel enemy debuffRetribution - talent for the sustain loopYou Will Answer for This - talent for Temporal HealthStatus Effects - full effect rosterPlague HalberdArboris SaberPlague Pistol3131Stack Building Rules3333Plague Echoes stacks build on the wielder one at a time. Each landed swing of an equipped plague weapon grants exactly one stack, regardless of how many enemies the swing connects with. A wide cleave that strikes three enemies in a single arc still produces a single stack, not three. This makes the buff feel slower in mob fights than a per-hit counter would, but it also makes the curve predictable: five committed swings is always five stacks, no matter the target count.3535Whiffed attacks do not contribute. The swing must connect for the wielder to gain the stack. Parried, blocked, or fully evaded attacks count as missed strikes and grant nothing. Animation cancels that interrupt the swing before the hit frame land also count as misses, so committing to the full attack animation is part of the stack discipline.3737At five stacks, the next special attack consumes them all and triggers the weapon's unique threshold effect. The five stacks are spent together as a single charge; there is no partial consumption or rollover. Once the special goes off, the counter resets to zero and the wielder must rebuild from scratch.3939Crucially, the special attack itself cannot critically strike. Both the Plague Halberd boom and the Arboris Saber round-house slam ignore critical hit chance entirely, so stacking crit chance or crit damage on a Plague Echoes weapon is wasted budget for the threshold ability itself. Crit only matters for the basic swings that build the stacks, not the payoff.4141Stack Persistence by Weapon4343Stack persistence behaves differently between the two melee plague weapons, and this difference is the single biggest quality-of-life factor when picking between them. Swapping to a secondary weapon mid-combat is common in Windrose, especially when pulling out a pistol to apply a vulnerability debuff before a finishing blow.4545WeaponBehavior on Weapon SwapPractical EffectPlague HalberdSwapping to any other weapon deletes all current stacks.Once a halberd combo starts, the wielder is locked into halberd swings until the boom triggers. Pulling a pistol or shield mid-combo wipes progress and forces a rebuild from zero.Arboris SaberStacks are preserved across weapon swaps.The wielder can pull a pistol, fire a shot, and swap back to the saber without losing any stacks. This makes the saber the natural pairing partner for ranged debuff weapons in mixed-weapon combos.4747The persistence difference shapes which support pieces fit each weapon. The halberd wants a full-commit playstyle that ignores ranged tools until the boom resolves; the saber happily slots into a pistol-and-saber rotation where the gun fires off a +15% damage taken debuff before the threshold slam connects. This is also why the saber is the more forgiving Plague Echoes weapon for new players: a panicked swap to a healing tonic or off-hand does not reset the meter.4848Scaling Modifiers5050The threshold special inherits modifiers from a specific subset of stat sources. The matrix below summarizes which damage and utility modifiers actually feed into the Plague Echoes payoff, and which do not. The basic light swings that build stacks scale separately and follow standard weapon damage rules.5252ModifierAffects Plague Halberd Boom?Affects Arboris Saber Slam?NotesStrength statYesYesPrimary scaling stat for both weapons; every point feeds the threshold damage.Melee weapon damageYesYesBoth threshold abilities are classified as melee, even when the halberd boom looks like a ranged AoE.Two-handed weapon damageYesNoOnly relevant to the halberd.One-handed weapon damageNoYesOnly relevant to the saber.Pikeman SetYesNo+15% two-handed damage set bonus stacks the halberd boom.Flibustier SetNoYesIncreases one-handed damage and reduces stamina drain; the natural saber set.Stitches and RumYes (heal portion)IndirectBoosts healing received, which raises the halberd's 35% heal output. The saber slam uses temporal-to-permanent conversion rather than direct healing.Crude damage ringsNoNoThe threshold abilities deal plague-typed damage, not crude, so crude-damage rings only buff the basic swings that build stacks.Major Cutthroat RingNoNo+30% critical strike damage is wasted on a non-crittable special.Privateer SetNoNoSet is built around critical strike chance and crit damage scaling, neither of which the boom or slam can use.Minor Warrior RingNo (bugged)No (bugged)Tooltip claims +15% special weapon attack, but the ring does not function on Plague Echoes specials in the current build. Slot a different ring until it is patched.5454The takeaway: build the threshold ability around Strength, melee damage, and the matching weight-class set bonus. Skip every crit source, skip crude-damage rings, and watch the patch notes for the warrior ring fix before slotting it.
