In this article, we will be talking about the latest Wuxia game that was released for the global audience on 14th November, Where Winds Meet.
With 11 different martial arts and multiple Mystic Skills and Inner Ways, there are many ways you can put together a character, and in this build, we will be looking at how to put together the Strategic Saint build, which can quickly take down enemies and deal copious amounts of damage using the sword weapon.
Martial Arts
In Where Winds Meet, you will be able to equip two weapons and their corresponding martial arts techniques at any given time.
Strategic Sword
The first martial art we will be using with this build, the Strategic Sword technique, is a damage-focused style using the sword as its weapon.
The light attack of the sword offers a four-hit combo of swift attacks, and the heavy attack has a three-hit combo that is a little slower but offers higher damage. While the basic moveset of the sword is simple, it provides a balanced approach between speed and power.
The Strategic Sword has a charged heavy attack skill named Second Track Slash.
As the name implies, this move will lunge forward, cutting everything in its path, dealing massive damage while also inflicting Bleed. The move has a relatively slow wind-up, but during the lunge, you gain invulnerability, making it a great option for pushing through incoming attacks.
Skills
Regarding the skills of the Strategic Sword, the first is called Inner Track Slash.
Upon using this skill, you will spin forward and slash your target, inflicting damage and Bleed.
The skill can also perform four follow-up slashes if you cast it again within 2 seconds. Having this skill split into two parts is useful for maintaining mobility, as it allows you to decide whether to continue pressing the attack or disengage depending on the situation, preventing moments where you are locked in an animation and forced to take an incoming hit.
The second skill, Inner Balance Strike, lets you jump backward while unleashing a flurry of sword strikes that can inflict Bleed on the enemy in front of you.
In addition to inflicting bleed, this skill deals massive bonus damage by consuming 5 bleed stacks and clearing them. The mobility and burst damage potential make this skill a great combo ender, supporting both offense and repositioning.
Talents
With the talents, the first one helps with endurance management, as it allows you to restore 10 Endurance whenever you trigger high bleed burst damage using Inner Balance Strike on enemies with 5 stacks of bleed.
Regarding scaling, the Strategic Sword allows your Affinity Rate to scale with the Power stat. Additionally, bleed damage from your attacks benefits from increased Affinity Rate scaling with Max Physical Attack, granting a higher chance to deal increased damage through affinity strikes and improving overall damage over time.
The Strategic Sword martial art belongs to the Bellstrike attribute family, and as such, its Penetration and overall damage output scale with your Max Bellstrike Attack stat.
Soulshade Umbrella
The second martial art used in this build, the Soulshade Umbrella, is a healing-focused technique that uses the umbrella weapon.
The Soulshade Umbrella has a three-hit light attack combo that fires projectiles at medium range. While it does not provide a large burst of damage, it is an effective way to deal consistent damage.
For the heavy attack, you send the umbrella forward, performing a spinning attack before it returns to you. This attack has no combo follow-ups and is useful for dealing moderate damage to stationary foes.
In addition to light and heavy attacks, the Soulshade Umbrella features a powerful charged skill called Pale Petal, which is extremely useful for support gameplay.
When charging the heavy attack, the umbrella spins similarly to the standard heavy attack, but if it hits an Exhausted target, Pale Petal extends the duration of Exhaust, lengthening the damage window against bosses. This provides significant value during Heroic Trials and challenge encounters.
Skills
The first skill of the Soulshade Umbrella is called Floating Grace.
This skill spins the umbrella in an area around you, buffing all nearby allies and yourself with a 15% damage bonus while also applying a single heal.
The second skill, Echoes of a Thousand Plants, kicks the umbrella into the air, where it floats and heals the team member with the lowest HP, including yourself.
This skill also increases healing by 15% while generating the special resource Dew. While the skill is active, you can use a hidden sword with basic light and heavy attacks or switch to the Panacea Fan for additional healing.
Talents
Regarding the talents for the Soulshade Umbrella, the buff enhancement talent improves Floating Grace, allowing the entire team to deal an additional 5% bonus damage against Exhausted enemies. It also grants a 20% damage boost to your Mystic Skills, synergizing well with the Panacea Fan.
The Soulshade Umbrella allows Min Physical Attack to scale with your Agility attribute. The Critical Heal Enhancement talent enables Echoes of a Thousand Plants to scale with Min Physical Attack up to a maximum of 10%.
Using the Soulshade Umbrella also increases Silkbind Attack and scales Silkbind Penetration based on the Min Silkbind Attack attribute.
Both martial arts work together to maximize the build’s efficiency. For optimal performance, your rotation should begin with Floating Grace, followed by Echoes of a Thousand Plants, then switching to the Strategic Sword to apply bleed and burst damage.
This rotation can be repeated once the umbrella’s healing effect ends, ensuring maximum efficiency during boss encounters.
How to Obtain the Martial Arts
The Strategic Sword can be obtained through skill theft from the master of the technique. The Sanctum is located in the southern part of the Qinghe area, near the Back Mountain landmark teleporter.
You will need to sneak past the guarding militiamen to reach the observation point and complete the skill theft mini-game to learn the martial art.
The Soulshade Umbrella can be obtained by stealing it from the Soulshade Umbrella Post Station in the Mistveil Forest, located in the eastern part of the Kaifeng region. You must sneak past the guards and Hollow Vale sect members to reach the master teaching the technique, where you can complete the skill theft mini-game to obtain the martial art.
Mystic Skills
In addition to Martial Arts, you can also use Mystic Skills, which are abilities that function independently of your equipped weapons.
The first mystic skill used in this build is Meridian Touch.
While it has utility in exploration and NPC interactions, in combat it has a chance to immobilize enemies, leaving them wide open to attacks.
Even when immobilization does not trigger, the skill deals physical damage and is excellent to weave into weapon combos.
The second mystic skill is Leaping Toad.
This skill flips you backward, knocking back enemies and dealing damage. It can be recast twice, applying Poison, with the third cast unleashing a large knockdown AoE slam. While its direct damage is modest, the added crowd control and poison damage significantly contribute to overall damage.
The next mystic skill relied on heavily is Lion’s Roar.
This skill slams a giant bell, dealing initial damage followed by a deafening roar that staggers regular enemies and deals additional damage. It can also detonate the Venom Toad from Leaping Toad, spreading poison and further increasing damage, making it highly effective against large groups of enemies.
The fourth mystic skill used in this build is Yaksha Rush, which costs 15 Vitality and has a 2-second cooldown.
This skill lets you lunge forward, striking the enemy, breaking their defense, and following up with an upward kick that deals two damaging hits.
How to Obtain the Mystic Skills
The first mystic skill we are using with this build, Meridian Touch, can be obtained early in the game by interacting with Yan Qiren. He can be found in a quarry near the Stonewash Strand teleporter, surrounded by dozens of statues. The skill can be obtained by interacting with him for the first time.
The second mystic skill we will be using with this build, Leaping Toad, can be learned in General’s Shrine from Liang Xiaolong quite early on in the game.
For the third skill, Lion’s Roar, we will need to do some legwork, as we must strike four copper bells across Qinghe.
Two bells are located in General’s Shrine, with the third located in the Witherwilds area of Qinghe.
The fourth and final bell is located near Buddha Fort in the northeastern area of Qinghe. We will learn the skill once all four bells have been struck, and this can be done as soon as you are able to explore the open world area.
The Yaksha Rush Mystic Skill is obtained once we have completed the Halo Peak campaign by defeating Tian Ying for the first time.
Inner Ways
In addition to the Martial Arts and Mystic Skills, we can also gain passive buffs by learning and equipping Inner Ways.
Sword Horizon
The Sword Horizon is the best Inner Way when using the Strategic Sword, as it gives all the skills of the martial art an additional follow-up, Crisscrossing Swords, which unleashes a flurry of attacks with the ability to inflict Bleed and deal burst damage whenever a target has 5 stacks of Bleed by consuming them.
The way this works is that after casting any skill, either Inner Track Slash or Inner Balance Strike, you can cast the corresponding skill again while the sword is flashing to unleash Crisscrossing Swords, dealing massive amounts of damage.
With upgrades, Crisscrossing Swords gains the ability to accumulate the Crosswind Blade Spirit buff with each trigger of the high-bleed burst. At Tier 4 of the Inner Way, the burst damage is further enhanced by 15%, increasing our damage even more.
Fivefold Bleeding
The next Inner Way we will be using is Fivefold Bleeding. This gives all of your attacks a chance to inflict Bleed on enemies, and when combined with fast attacks and an increased chance to apply bleed, this Inner Way is excellent for maximizing damage over time. Once you stack 5 stacks, it will deal a burst of piercing damage, adding an additional source of damage.
Upon upgrading this Inner Way through breakthroughs, the piercing damage dealt at 5 stacks will increase, and at the maximum Tier 6, the Inner Way allows you to retain 1–2 stacks of Weeping Bleed after triggering the piercing burst.
Bitter Seasons
The next Inner Way used in this build is Bitter Seasons. This gives all of your attacks a 10% chance to apply Poison. In addition to dealing damage, Poison can stack up to 5 times and reduces the target’s Physical Defense by 1.2% per stack, up to a total of 6% for 10 seconds.
With breakthroughs, this Inner Way can increase the chance to apply Poison up to 15% at Tier 4, while also providing further reductions to physical resistance at higher tiers.
Adaptive Steel
The final Inner Way we will be using is Adaptive Steel. While it provides different bonuses depending on the weapon, for this build it gives our sword attacks a 10% chance to apply a stack of Bleed when dealing Affinity Damage, further increasing our bleed potential.
With upgrades, this Inner Way increases overall weapon damage, and at Tier 5, it boosts the damage of our Strategic Sword by increasing Bellstrike Damage by 3%.
How to Obtain the Inner Ways
Sword Horizon can be obtained from an old bookstore in the Ghostlight Market.
The tome does not appear directly, and instead you must purchase stacks of Unknown Old Books. While only 10 pages are required to learn the Inner Way, you must purchase the full 30-book stack to obtain all pages, costing 375,000 coins, which is relatively easy to acquire.
Fivefold Bleeding is obtained as a reward for completing the Faltering Flame quest. The lamp-lighting monk you need to speak with can be found in the northeastern corner of the Imperial Temple in Kaifeng City.
Bitter Seasons is obtained by completing the Gleaming Abyss Lost Chapter campaign and defeating the Void King. After defeating the boss, pass through the mist-filled doorway to find the Inner Way in a chest near a house.
Adaptive Steel can be obtained in a straightforward manner by transferring Oddities at Qi Sheng in the Qinghe area. The Inner Way is unlocked once you reach The Music of Zhaode I node in the trade path.
Gear
Regarding Gear, there are two different gear sets you can put together, one for weapons and accessories and another for armor pieces.
For the weapon gear set, the Hawkwing Set is the best option for the Strategic Sword martial art. This set increases Affinity Rate by 1.2% at 2 pieces, and at 4 pieces, it increases damage by 2% for 5 seconds whenever you trigger Affinity Damage, stacking up to 5 times.Once you reach Tier 4 gear, you can attune your equipment to provide additional stats.
For this build, the most valuable stats are Max Bellstrike Attack and Affinity Rate, as they maximize damage output. Stats such as Min and Max Physical Attack and Silkbind Attack also work well, though obtaining all ideal stats on a single piece requires significant farming and luck.
For the armor set, the Eaglerise Set is the best option. At 2 pieces, it grants +27 Physical Defense, scaling with gear tier. The 4-piece bonus provides exceptional synergy with the Strategic Sword, as dealing damage over time through bleed grants stacks of Eaglerise, reducing damage taken by 1.2% for 10 seconds, stacking up to 5 times for a total of 6% damage reduction.
At maximum stacks, the set also grants Eagle Guard, which reduces the next incoming hit by 90% from regular enemies and 45% from bosses. Eagle Guard has a 30-second cooldown, but the 6% damage reduction remains consistently active.
In terms of stats, prioritize Affinity and Power. Since the Strategic Sword scales Affinity Rate with Power, focusing on these stats significantly boosts overall damage.
Additionally, Where Winds Meet features an Arsenal System that allows you to convert old gear into passive bonuses once you reach World Tier 6. For this build, switching the bonus to the General Route boosts Min and Max Physical Attack, benefiting both Martial Arts. You can also switch to Bellstrike for higher damage or Silkbind if additional healing is needed.
Final Tips
This build is a DPS-focused setup that relies on skill combos to trigger burst damage and damage over time through Bleed to quickly take down foes.
The Strategic Sword offers excellent damage and strong mobility through the Inner Balance Strike skill. Even if a target does not have a full five stacks of Bleed, this skill remains a great way to dodge attacks while still dealing damage.
Combined with the Sword Horizon Inner Way, the mobility and damage potential of the Strategic Sword are further enhanced through the follow-up Crisscrossing Swords attacks, which also increase burst damage potential by dealing piercing burst damage when an opponent has five stacks of Bleed.
The combination of Inner Ways allows you to inflict Bleed with all of your attacks, making it easier to trigger burst damage consistently. This build has multiple sources of damage over time, including Bleed from the Martial Arts and Poison from Inner Ways and Mystic Skills. You can further enhance your damage over time by using Divinecraft Fire consumables, allowing your attacks to burn enemies in addition to Bleed and Poison from various sources.
Related
Where Winds Meet: Nameless Sword Build
We’ll be talking about how to put together this build, a powerful early-game setup with Nameless Sword and Panacea Fan, offering strong sustain.
The Strategic Sword delivers strong damage output and performs well against both regular enemies and bosses. Keeping the Echoes of a Thousand Plants skill active is an excellent way to maintain sustain, as the Strategic Sword itself does not provide inherent sustain or defensive options beyond mobility.
Boss fights are slightly different, as healing skills are less effective early on due to the Inner Demon debuff during initial encounters. You can still use them to sustain yourself while learning attack patterns and practicing dodges and deflects, but for large heals, you will need to rely on healing potions, which have limited uses per fight.
Once you have learned enemy attack patterns and are comfortable with deflecting incoming attacks, you can fully shift to offense, relying on the Strategic Sword and its skills to take down bosses efficiently.
Exploring and collecting Oddities will greatly help with upgrades, while hunting wildlife and collecting ores will ensure you can keep up with upgrading your gear slots. While upgrade materials can be purchased with coins, costs can add up quickly, so gathering materials while exploring is strongly recommended.
So, this wraps up my Strategic Saint guide for Where Winds Meet. I hope you find it helpful on your journey through the perilous world of Chinese Wuxia. If you want to learn more about quests, encounters, and Martial Arts, don’t forget to check out the WIKI. If you have any suggestions or tips to add, feel free to leave them in the comments below, and may the winds favour your journey, wanderer.
