Where Winds Meet is an incredibly extensive and complex role-playing game that aims to appeal to fans of story campaigns, cooperative sessions, and MMORPG content. With our tips, you’ll find it noticeably easier to get started.
From our own experience, we know very well how overwhelming Where Winds Meet can be in the first hours. The open-world RPG is simply packed with an unbelievable number of features, systems, mechanics, and even genres.
To help you get started much more easily than we did, you’ll find a variety of useful tips below that we would have loved to have known a few weeks ago. If you have any more tricks up your sleeve, feel free to share them in the comments. You can jump to the points that are important to you through our table of contents.
Aspiration Talents – Drunken Precision or Rhetoric Edge?
During character creation, you’ll face your first decision where you might quickly feel like you’re making the wrong choice without prior knowledge. You have to choose between the following two talents:
- Drunken Precision: Makes aiming easier for you in the Pitch Pot minigame.
- Rhetoric Edge: You start with +2 Inspiration, which gives you a slight advantage in debates.
The simple truth is: It doesn’t matter what you choose. On the one hand, both talents only correspond to one minigame (a skill test called Pitch Pot and debate duels against NPCs). They do not affect the core gameplay experience. On the other hand, you can also learn both talents during your adventure.
The Most Important Options Before Starting
Before starting the game, but also during the tutorial, you’ll need to select a whole series of options, such as for the camera mode or display mode. While these are a matter of taste, you should consider an important detail regarding the so-called distraction support that helps you parry in combat.
Distraction Support – Yes or No?
In multiplayer content like raids or PvP, this parrying aid is always disabled. In other words: You have to read the movements of your opponents and press the parry button at the right moment. Only then can you block the blow without taking damage and initiate a counterattack. Anyone looking to experience multiplayer content like this should learn proper parrying as early as possible.
However, those who mainly want to play the story and quests in single-player mode and explore the world with all its secrets can make the fights noticeably easier by activating distraction support. Especially when several melee fighters close in on you while you’re under fire from archers. It can get pretty chaotic.
What Exactly Does Distraction Support Do? As long as you have the resource Insight (which you build up in battle), time slows down during avoidable attacks from opponents and your parry button is displayed, which you need to press to execute a parry. However, even with the activated aid, you can only counter if your timing is perfect.
Successful parries effectively reduce a kind of stance of the enemy. If this drops to zero, they are briefly stunned, and you can unleash a powerful strike on them. Tip: You also have a few moments for this. So throw a few normal attacks first before you go for the finisher … this way, you deal maximum damage.
Treasure Hunting Mode
A second option that you might want to deactivate is the treasure hunting mode. This allows you to destroy objects in the environment through attacks and movements, revealing special rewards with a bit of luck.
The downside: If these objects belong to an NPC, they can consider your action a crime, which can increase your criminal reputation, place a bounty on you, and eventually land you in jail. Anyone who definitely wants to avoid such a scenario should disable treasure hunting mode in the settings under the game tab.
Finding the Right Difficulty
What kinds of difficulty levels are there? Currently, Where Winds Meet offers 4 difficulty levels:
- Story
- Recommended
- Expert
- Legend
With Hardcore, a fifth mode is supposed to follow. Note: You can switch between Story, Recommended, and Expert at any time outside of battles in the game. However, you can only choose Legend at the start of the game. If you switch from Legend to a lower variant even once, there is no going back to Legend.
You can read about how to select and change your difficulty level on MeinMMO.
WARNING: In our current test version, we could only create one character and could not delete it again. In our current test version, we were only able to create one character and could not delete it. In the current live version (17.11.2025), deletion is also only possible to a limited extent. Read on to find out what options are available for deleting your character.
Players from the Chinese version report, however, that they have 6 character slots available. We assume that these will also be included in the release version for the West – and we will check this immediately at launch.
Where Winds Meet not only supports crossplay but also cross-progression. You can create an account and switch between PlayStation 5 and PC as you please. What you need to consider for this, you can find out here: If you want to play the new RPG hit from China on PC and PS5, you should urgently take care of one thing first
Uncover the Map and Look Out for Important NPCs
When you first enter the open world of Where Winds Meet and thus the Green Wilderness, you’ll meet two important NPCs in the valley: the Wanderer and Qi Sheng. The Wanderer introduces you to cooking for the first time and uncovers the local region on the map. Remember this! Merchant NPCs at campfire symbols reveal map areas – this also applies to all other zones.
So when you enter an undiscovered region, your first path should always lead to the campfire symbol, where you’ll illuminate things with the corresponding NPC. Only then will you know where to find fast travel points, fortresses, world bosses, quest givers, and more.
Tip: If you have a friend in the game who has already uncovered a map section, start a co-op round with them. Since you can teleport directly to your buddy’s location via a travel function, you will uncover the whole world in no time. You can also easily share the exploration work.
Collect Curiosities (and Everything Else)
You first need to free the NPC Qi Sheng from a pile of stones. He is stuck near the bear where you learn the mystical art of Tai Chi. Once you’ve rescued Qi Sheng, he will present you with the curiosities.
These are small collectible animals or plants (like insects, frogs, butterflies, nests, or beehives) that you can hand over to him (and other NPCs in the world) to unlock passive improvements (especially for your attributes).
For this reason, one of the most important rules in Where Winds Meet is: Collect everything! Therefore, and because you will need a lot of materials for upgrading gear.
Bonus Side Effect: Collecting curiosities rewards you with exploration points for the respective region. By the way, for some curiosities, you need to pay attention to specifics. You can obtain the branches of the white birds most easily when you switch to the bow, slow down time with the skill “Still Water”, and then shoot the bird.
When you interact with the purple plants, a purple cloud rises into the sky. You need to catch this before it touches the ground. Other plants, however, are toxic. Only when you shoot down the corresponding clouds in the air with the bow does the toxin disappear, and you can pick the flower.
Some insects hide in a pile of ceramic pots that you need to break. And for certain species of frogs, you need to be very quick. Each curiosity is marked on the mini-map (not on the large world map) by an insect symbol when you are close enough.
Which Weapon to Take from Qi Sheng?
Once you’ve completed the first curiosity task for Qi Sheng, he rewards you with one of four weapons. Note that while you can also obtain all these weapons later, it may take many hours of gameplay.
- All-Healing Fan (Healing)
- Thunderblade (Tank)
- Demonic Twin Blades (Melee DPS)
- Spring Umbrella (Ranged DPS)
In our guide to the best build for beginners, we recommend the All-Healing Fan. The main reason: Medicine, which allows you to heal yourself in combat, is severely limited.
If you want to make tough battles noticeably easier, you should combine a DPS weapon with a healing weapon, which you can then switch between at any time with the press of a button. Additionally, having a healing weapon in every co-op or multiplayer round makes you look good.
As you already have the unnamed sword and the nameless spear available from the start, you already have two DPS weapons. Qi Sheng’s All-Healing Fan fills the healing slot very early in the game and is therefore our recommendation.
How Can I Heal Myself?
In combat, you can use different types of powders and ointments from your medicine kit to treat yourself at the press of a button. However, it can only hold a limited amount at first. You can only refill your supplies through a rest period.
However, you can upgrade the medicine kit by bringing healing stories to Yao Yaoyao at the Evercare Clinic (northwest of the Green Wilderness). You can obtain these by completing side or campaign quests, successfully cleared outposts, or victories over world bosses.
Alternatively, you can use a healing weapon such as the All-Healing Fan or the Soulshade Umbrella – see the previous point “Which Weapon to Take from Qi Sheng?”.
Outside of battles, you regenerate health points automatically when you have healing dishes in your inventory. Cook these yourself (and regularly collect herbs and hunt animals like deer or rabbits) or buy them from merchants.
What if I get seriously injured? In Where Winds Meet, you can get injuries such as fractures or illnesses that cannot be cured simply by ointments. These will be displayed in the upper left corner next to the mini-map by a red symbol, and they often affect your stats.
If you are affected by such an injury, you have two options:
- Visit the Evercare Clinic and get healed by Yao Yaoyao – this will, however, cost increasingly more money.
- Search the chat for a player who has enough healing knowledge to treat your injury. Since there is a whole sect dedicated to healing other players, you should be able to find someone who can help easily.
For Now, Avoid Recycling Old Clothes
When you replace your old gear with new ones, you may be tempted by the recycle button in your inventory. After all, it sounds useful, as you can get items that you can use for upgrades or other things.
What the game doesn’t tell you at first: At some point, you’ll unlock the Arsenal, where you can store old gear to increase your minimum and maximum physical damage as well as your maximum health points.
So wait until the Arsenal is unlocked. Then put all items into the collection that fit in. Only after that should you dispose of the unnecessary items. For new loot, the game will automatically inform you if an exchange or a new addition to the collection would grant you an additional bonus.
Where Do I Get My First Mount?
There are quests in the game that reward you with a horse. However, you don’t have to wait until you run into such a mission. On the roads traversing the Green Wilderness, you’ll frequently encounter individual riders. You can simply throw them off their horse and steal the animal, GTA-style.
Note that your criminal reputation may increase if there are witnesses. You can avoid this by first stunning the rider with a Tai Chi attack. This way, they won’t know who stole the horse. Once you’re comfortably seated on the back of the mount, it belongs to you, and you can summon it almost anywhere in the open world.
How Do I Learn to Fly?
The fastest mode of travel in Where Winds Meet is not the mounts but flying (or teleporting to unlocked fast travel points – represented on the map by a stone pillar). Through lightness skills, you can launch yourself high into the air and cover large distances in no time, just like in Wuxia.
However, there is a catch: You must unlock flying in each of the major zones by achieving the respective exploration level 4.
- In Qinghe, you receive the Glimmer Pendant, which allows you to use lightness skills and walk along walls in the zone.
- In Kaifeng, at level 4, you receive the flight medal, which allows you to use lightness skills and walk along walls in the city zone and surroundings.
Be aware that there are restricted zones throughout the world where you cannot use your mystical arts. This includes lightness skills and wall-walking.
Make Level Breakthroughs Immediately
The leveling phase of Where Winds Meet is divided into several level areas. To switch from one level area to the next (which happens every 5 to 10 level ups), you need to perform a so-called breakthrough.
For such a breakthrough, you must meet various requirements. These include reaching a minimum character level, completing specific basic tests, and sometimes a certain daily requirement.
Once you’ve met all these requirements, you activate the breakthrough via the mode selection or the single-player mode window. Then the following things happen:
- Your maximum character level typically increases by 5 or 10 levels.
- Your maximum energy and attributes increase.
- Often, enemies level up with you, which also significantly improves the rewards you receive.
- You will also receive various rewards for the breakthrough itself.
- A surge of new gear lands in your inventory.
It is therefore worthwhile to perform each level breakthrough as early as possible.
What to Do If I’m Stuck on a Boss?
In single-player mode, you have several options to make fights easier:
- Combat difficulty in the settings under Game: Switch from Expert or Recommended to Story. Note: If you switch from Legend to a lower difficulty, this choice cannot be undone!
- Activate helpful options in the settings such as distraction support, ranged hints, or take cover (eases sneaking).
- Throughout the story, you’ll meet characters who can assist you in boss fights. These can be summoned through a marker on the ground found before many boss arenas.
- Leave the challenge aside for now and turn to other quests and content. After some level ups and equipment upgrades, the fight should become easier for you.
The Compendium Reveals Where to Find What
You will often find yourself asking in Where Winds Meet: Where do I get this resource again? Where can I find this NPC? What is this for? What does this boss do? The good news: The game answers these questions excellently by itself. Here are some examples:
- Do you want to cook a fire pot and wonder where to get meat scraps? Hover over the ingredient and a window will open with all sources. Click on one, and you will see on the map where you can farm or buy the item.
- Do you want to upgrade your weapon, but you lack the necessary envelopes? Click on the resource in the upgrade window, and you will see from which contents you can obtain them. Another click will take you directly to group search.
- Are you wondering what currencies like Echo Jade are for? Switch to the wallet in the inventory, click on Echo Jade, and a window will open revealing what the currency is for and where you can get it.
- Player Rexlent shows in a post on X that certain information can be pinned in an extra window to keep it in view while playing.
- In a second post on X, Rexlent shows that there are even detailed information about boss mechanics.
Alternatively, you can mark certain materials or animals on the map to see all the places where you can encounter, for example, Great Elk or certain ores.
How Do I Adjust the Time of Day?
In Where Winds Meet, there is a day-night cycle and NPCs that follow a daily routine. It is fitting that you are supposed to be at a specific time at a specific place for various quests. The good news: In single-player mode, you can advance the time at any time.
To do this, open the menu and select the clock icon in the right column for time. Now select the hour mentioned in the quest, such as the hour of the Rat the next day. Confirm the change, and the time will advance. If you now close the window and are at the right spot, you can continue the quest.
What to Do If I Run Out of Stamina While Swimming?
If you just keep swimming in this case to reach the shore as quickly as possible, you might quickly kill your character … because after a certain point, every meter costs health.
So stay calm and in place, don’t move. Then your character will regenerate stamina even while in the water.
Save the Powder under the Pillow for the Endgame
In Where Winds Meet, you need the resource Energy to earn rewards in certain modes like dungeons. Energy builds up over time, and with level breakthroughs, you increase your maximum energy each time. Additionally, you can restore 60 energy instantly with the powder under the pillow.
So save this item for the endgame, when you’ve completed the main missions as well as the most important side quests and reached a high level. If you now want to focus on alternative activities like dungeons, restoring energy will be most beneficial.
Where Winds Meet is so complex that we could easily add another 15 tips. However, these were the most important ones to help you get started in the open-world RPG. If you’re looking for more general information about the game, check out our comprehensive overview: Where Winds Meet – All Information on Release, Preload, Price, and Gameplay
