If you’ve spent any amount of time exploring the high wind peaks of the open world, you’ve probably seen vague mentions of a secret challenge no one seems to be able to finish. I spent three full afternoons last week trying to trigger and beat where winds meet celestial seize, and I died more times than I care to admit before I finally cracked the code. This guide pulls together all the mistakes I made, the hacks I picked up, and the exact steps you need to follow to beat it on your first try, no endless retries required.
What Makes Where Winds Meet Celestial Seize One of the Hardest Hidden Challenges
Most hidden challenges in the game trigger as soon as you walk into a specific area, but this one has a bunch of hidden requirements most players never figure out on their own. First, you must have unlocked the max level gliding ability for your wind wing — you’ll cross multiple floating islands hundreds of feet above the ground mid-fight, and lower level glide stamina won’t get you where you need to go. Second, the challenge only triggers during stormy weather at golden hour, which is roughly 10 minutes of in-game time right before the sun sets. I waited two full in-game days camping at the trigger point before I realized I was showing up at the wrong time, so don’t make that same mistake.
The fight itself is also uniquely hard because the boss is 100% wind elemental, can fly faster than you can glide for most of the fight, and has AOE attacks that can knock you off the islands entirely if you’re not paying attention. You don’t get any checkpoints mid-fight either, so if you fall off or die at the final phase, you have to start all over from the trigger point. It’s frustrating to lose 20 minutes of progress because you slipped up once, so the prep work you do beforehand makes a huge difference.
Step-by-Step Prep Before Starting the Challenge
Before you even head up to the wind peaks, you need to get your loadout and setup right to avoid wasting time on failed runs. I’ve pulled together the exact list of items and settings I use now to beat the fight every single time I run it:
- Two level 80+ wind elemental DPS characters, ideally with passive damage over time abilities that can hit flying targets
- At least 3 wind resistance potions and 2 glide stamina recovery potions for the mid-fight gliding phases
- All nearby wind peak teleport waypoints unlocked so you can fast travel back to adjust your loadout if you mess up
- Dynamic blur turned off in your game settings — the boss moves extremely fast, and blur makes it almost impossible to hit its weak points
I can’t stress this enough: don’t bring earth elemental characters into this fight. Wind and earth elemental reactions create a shield around the boss that boosts its defense by 70%, and I learned that the hard way when my main earth DPS took 25 minutes to get the boss down to half health before I died. Glide stamina potions are non-negotiable too — there’s a phase where you have to chase the boss across three floating islands in 90 seconds, and you won’t have enough stamina to make the trip without a potion boost. You should also cook a few attack boost meals before you head up, since every little bit of extra damage cuts down the fight time and lowers your chance of making a mistake.
How to Beat Each Phase of the Fight Without Wasting Retries
The fight has three distinct phases, and each one has a specific trick to beat it fast without dying. The first phase starts as soon as you trigger the challenge, and the boss will summon four wind clones that attack you from all angles. Prioritize taking out the closest clone first, and don’t waste damage on the main boss — the clones will spam AOE attacks the longer they’re alive, and they only take a few hits each to take down. Once all four clones are gone, the boss will fly up into the air to start phase two.
In phase two, the boss will launch wind blades at you while it circles above the islands, and you’ll need to glide around to avoid the attacks while waiting for an opening. If you see the boss’s wings start to glow bright blue, it’s about to launch a one-hit KO AOE attack — you need to hide behind the large rock formation on the central island immediately, or you’ll get blown off the edge instantly. When it pauses to recharge after the big attack, use a charged bow shot to hit the glowing weak point on its chest, and it will fall to the ground to start phase three.
Phase three is the shortest, but the most dangerous. The boss moves twice as fast on the ground, and its melee attacks can knock you back 20 feet with one hit. You don’t need to stand in front of it to deal damage, though — its weak point is on the back of its head, so circle around it constantly and hit it from behind. I usually beat this phase in under two minutes with my wind DPS, and I never take more than a couple hits as long as I don’t get greedy with long attack combos.
Exclusive Rewards You Unlock for Completing the Challenge
All the effort of beating this challenge is 100% worth it for the rewards you can’t get anywhere else in the game. First, you’ll get a limited edition celestial wind wing skin that’s transparent with tiny star flecks — it’s one of the most unique cosmetic items in the game, and I get comments on it every time I play co-op with friends. You’ll also get the only exclusive celestial wind artifact set in the game, which gives a 30% boost to all wind elemental damage, plus a 15% glide stamina reduction. That artifact set alone makes my wind DPS 2x stronger than it was with the previous best set, so it’s a game changer if you main wind characters.
You’ll also get 500 free primogems, a hidden achievement that counts towards the 100% exploration completion for the wind peak region, and a secret teleport waypoint right at the boss spawn point that lets you come back to farm materials whenever you want. There’s one little quirk you need to know about if you fail the fight, though. If you die or fall off the island, don’t immediately restart the challenge. Wait 10 minutes of in-game time for the storm to stabilize, or the boss will spawn with double attack and defense stats.
Most players don’t know this, and they end up retrying 5 or 6 times before they give up. Just fast travel back to the nearest camp, cook a quick meal, and wait for the storm clouds to stop swirling before you head back — the boss will spawn with normal stats, and you won’t have to deal with the extra difficulty. You can run the challenge once a week to farm upgrade materials for wind characters, so the rewards keep giving long after you first beat it.
At the end of the day, where winds meet celestial seize is one of the most rewarding hidden challenges in the game, and it’s well worth the couple hours you’ll spend prepping and beating it. I still run it once a week to farm upgrade materials for my wind characters, and I haven’t failed a run in months now that I know all the little tricks. You don’t need perfect characters or a ton of high level items to beat it either — just follow the steps in this guide, avoid the mistakes I made, and you’ll walk away with all the exclusive rewards on your first try. If you find any little hacks I didn’t mention here, feel free to drop them in the comments to help other players out.
