Best Early Weapon Combos in Where Winds Meet
There are plenty of weapons and martial arts styles in Where Winds Meet, but given the cost it takes to upgrade a single path, you likely won’t have the resources to upgrade everything without spending a ton of time on the game. Players are typically recommended to stick to two, maybe three martial arts styles at a time, and considering the many choices the game offers, it may be hard to pick which ones you should commit to. In this Where Winds Meet guide, we’ll be exploring some popular and effective early weapon combos as well as the gear sets and Inner Ways passives that round them out.
Where Winds Meet Review: A Massive Game That Struggles Under Its Own Weight
Where Winds Meet offers a little something for everyone, but the Wuxia RPG struggles under the weight of its own grandeur.
Nameless Sword & Spear
Well-Rounded DPS Build
The two starting weapon styles you get are more than enough to get you through the majority of content in Where Winds Meet. The Nameless Sword is a well-rounded weapon withexcellent gap-closing skills as well as great AoE damage potential with the Sword Qi waves it shoots out. Meanwhile, the Nameless Spear can immobilize targets and pin them in place while you twirl your weapon around them.
By using both of the Nameless weapons as your main tools, you’ll be sacrificing healing and utility provided by other weapon styles. We recommend using this combo for players who are experienced at playing Soulsike games who can time their dodges and parries well. Otherwise, pick one of the Nameless weapons and pair it with another weapon art of choice (such as the Panacea Fan).
Both of these martial arts styles rely a lot on their charged heavy attacks, so you’ll want to level up and get as many Talent Points as soon as you can if you want to use these weapon arts to their fullest.
Recommended Inner Ways and Gear Sets
|
Name |
Type |
Effect |
|
Sword Morph |
Inner Way (Nameless Sword) |
Nameless Sword charged heavy attacks launch additional sword waves. |
|
Mountain’s Might |
Inner Way (Nameless Spear) |
Using the Qiankun’s Lock ability grants Endless Gale, reducing your Endurance consumption for a short duration. |
|
Battle Anthem |
Inner Way (General) |
Increase the damage of your charged skills agains bosses. |
|
Wildfire Spark |
Inner Way (General) |
Reduces Endurance consumption. |
|
Jadeware Set |
Gear Set |
Increases your Max Physical Attack. When casting a Martial Art Skill, you gain increased Affinity DMG and deal more Affinity DMG to targets below 40% Qi for. This effect lasts 12 seconds, and has a 30 second cooldown. |
The Nameless Sword gets Sword Morph, a powerful Inner Way for free in one of the main story quests. Sword Morph launches additional Sword Qi blades with the Nameless Sword’s charged heavy attack.
Panacea Fan & Vernal Umbrella
Ranged DPS Starter Build
If you want to dabble with a ranged playstyle, then the Vernal/Ninefold Umbrella and Panacea Fan combo are the two weapon styles you should be using. Both are ranged weapons, but while the Vernal Umbrella is for DPS, the Panacea Fan is for healing. This combo is good for players who want to pelt enemies with blows from a distance, but since the Panacea Fan isn’t exactly designed to deal damage, you might end up finishing fights more slowly when using this combo compared to others.
Should you be interested in using this weapon combo, get the Vernal Umbrella from Qi Sheng after you help him out early in the game. This martial arts style won’t be available until much later in the game. You can get the Panacea Fan later in the Qinghe region.
Recommended Inner Ways and Gear Sets
|
Name |
Type |
Effect |
|
Blossom Barrage |
Inner Way (Vernal Umbrella) |
The Spring Sorrow skill can now hold up to 2 stacks. Hitting targets increases the damage they take from your Ballistic Skills. |
|
Royal Remedy |
Inner Way (Panacea Fan) |
Increase the healing done by Panacea Fan clones. |
|
Star Reacher |
Inner Way (General) |
Increase the damage you deal against airborne enemies. |
|
Thunderous Bloom |
Inner Way (General) |
Gain Spring Thunder after moving at least 15 meters within 3 seconds. Spring Thunder increases the damage of your next heavy attack or airborne attack within 12 seconds. |
|
Veil of the Willow Set |
Gear Set |
Increases your Precision Rate. After a light/airborne light attack, gain increased heavy/airborne heavy attack damage, and vice versa. |
Overall, the Panacea Fan is an excellent secondary weapon to bring in Where Winds Meet. The healing it provides makes combat a bit more forgiving, but don’t expect it to fully sustain you in boss fights, as the healing you receive during the first time you fight a story boss is severely reduced.
Thundercry Blade & Stormbreaker Spear
Ultimate Tank Combo
This weapon combo focuses on defense, crowd control, and survivability, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t deal good damage. The Thundercry Blade deals superb AoE and single-target damage with its charged attacks, and it can even group enemies up and give you a shield for dire situations. Meanwhile, the Stormbreaker Spear is for giving yourself buffs, debuffing enemies, and knocking targets down. It is basically made to be partnered with the Thundercry Blade.
Of course, such huge weapons come at a cost, and in this case, both Thundercry Blade and Stormbreaker Spear have fairly weak basic attacks, and they are much slower than the other weapons. Their damage comes in big bursts courtesy of their charged attacks, and if you’re the type who likes spamming basic attacks, this will not be the weapon combo for you.
Recommended Inner Ways and Gear Sets
|
Name |
Type |
Effect |
|
Exquisite Scenery |
Inner Way (Thundercry Blade) |
Defending with the Thundercry Blade activates a special counter-attack. |
|
Rock Solid |
Inner Way (Stormbreaker Spear) |
Increase the damage reduction from Stormbreaker Spear’s Storm Roar ability after taunting enemies. All damage you deal is reduced when the damage reduction is active. |
|
Trapped Beast |
Inner Way (General) |
Taking damage that sends you below 30% HP forms a shield around you worth 30% of your max HP. |
|
Art of Resistance |
Inner Way (General) |
Increases the duration of HP shields and the bonus effects of their sources on you. |
|
Rainwhisper Set |
Gear Set |
Increases your Max HP. All damage and healing are increased, and even more so when you have a shield. |
|
Moonflare Set |
Gear Set |
Increases your Max HP. When attacking while defending, you have a chance to create a shield that absorbs up to 10% Max HP’s worth of damage. If you already have a shield, restore HP instead. |
Infernal Twinblades & Panacea Fan
The Boss Killer Setup
Speaking of spamming basic attack spam, the Infernal Twinblades martial art is the very opposite of the Thundercry Blade and Stormbreaker Spear’s playstyle. Instead of using slow and methodical attacks, the Infernal Twinblades is all about going all-in with attack combos. Instead of having heavy attacks like the rest, this martial arts style instead puts you in an enhanced state where all of your light attacks are much stronger.
When using the Infernal Twinblades, you’ll want to always keep attacking, especially since your enhanced state increases your crit stats. By pairing it with the Panacea Fan, you’ll be able to afford to be more reckless than usual, significantly increasing your DPS in a fight as long as you’re relentless with your attacks.
Recommended Inner Ways and Gear Sets
|
Name |
Type |
Effect |
|
Echoes of Oblivion |
Inner Way (Infernal Twinblades) |
Light attacks inflict Sin, while Flamelash light attacks inflict Karma. Twinblade attacks against these targets ignore part of their Physical Resistance and Bamboocut Resistance respectively. |
|
Breaking Point |
Inner Way (General) |
Hitting Exhausted enemies with a critical hit applies a Disintegration stack on you for 3 seconds, up to 3 stacks. Gain bonus Physical Penetration and Critical DMG per stack. |
|
Calmwaters Set |
Gear Set |
Increases Physical Defense. Perfectly dodging an enemy attack has a chance to restore HP and Endurance. |
|
Swallocall Set |
Gear Set |
Light attacks deal more damage against Exhausted enemeis and targets with less than 40% Qi. |
Later, when you reach Kaifeng in Where Winds Meet, you can unlock the Mortal Rope Dart and replace the Panacea Fan with it. This weapon style synergizes with the Infernal Twinblades by belonging to the same Bamboocut arsenal. You’ll have more flexibility with your builds this way, as you’ll be able to use Inner Ways and item effects that benefit both your weapons.
Strategic Sword & Heavenquaker Spear
Bleeds for Days
If you want a methodical playstyle without the sluggishness of the Thundercry/Stormbreaker combo, then the Strategic Sword and Heavenquaker Spear combo is for you. The former can apply a stacking bleed effect on enemies, while the latter can amplify DoT effects, making the two weapons a match made in heaven. Furthermore, the Heavenquaker Spear has an ability that’s perfect for fighting groups, while the Strategic Sword is perfect for melting targets with big health bars like bosses and elites, especially once you get the Sword Horizon Inner Way.
Neither of these martial arts styles are available from Qi Sheng’s starting weapon selection, but both can be obtained in the Qinghe region. You can see where you can get any weapon in the game by going to the Abilities menu and selecting the weapon you want to unlock.
Recommended Inner Ways and Gear Sets
|
Name |
Type |
Effect |
|
Sword Horizon |
Inner Way (Strategic Sword) |
Your Strategic Sword charged heavy attacks and Martial Arts Skills gain follow-up attacks that deal detonate Bleed stacks. |
|
Wolfchaser’s Art |
Inner Way (Heavenquaker Spear) |
The combo number required to meet Heavenquaker Spear’s Sober Sorrow skill buffs is decreased from 5/10 to 4/8. When Sober Sorrow hits a bleeding boss, you have a chance to increase your combo counter by 1. |
|
Fivefold Bleed |
Inner Way (General) |
Each of your hits have a chance to inflict Weeping Blood, which deals damage over time. Upon reaching 5 stacks of Weeping Blood, the stacks are consumed to deal a burst of damage to your target. |
|
Hawkwing Set |
Gear Set |
Gain bonus Affinity Rate. When you deal Affinity Damage, gain a stack of Hawkwing, which increases Physical Attack. Stacks up to 5 times. |
|
Eaglerise Set |
Gear Set |
Gain bonus Physical Defense. Dealing damage over time or healing grants a stack of Eaglerise, up to 5 stacks. Each stack reduces the damage you take. At max stacks, gain Eagle Guard, which reduces the next incoming instance of damage by 90% (45% against bosses). |
Mystic Skills
Mystic Skills are abilities that don’t rely on any specific weapon in order to be used. They’re either maigcal or martial in nature, and sometimes, they’re both. There are plenty of good early game Mystic Skills in Where Winds Meet, but if we were to recommend just one, it’d be Drunken Poet. It’s great for piling damage on top of a stance-broken enemy, and it’s not that hard to get either. All you need to do to get Drunken Poet in Where Winds Meet is to get drunk to the point of getting alcohol poisoning.
As far as PvE is concerned, Drunken Poet is more than enough for most fights. If you want something for PvP, get Talon Strike by watching an eagle swoop for food near the Palace of Annals.