If you’ve spent the last few hours wandering the misty bamboo forests of Where Winds Meet stuck on a broken bridge puzzle or getting one-shot by that wandering bandit boss, you’re not alone. I spent three playthroughs testing every path, dialogue choice, and hidden nook to put together this where winds meet walkthrough that cuts out all the filler and gets you straight to the solutions you need. You won’t find random lore dumps or unnecessary detours here, just step-by-step guidance to get you through every main story chapter, plus tips to grab all the rare collectibles along the way. It works for both casual players who just want to finish the story and completionists who want 100% progress.
Where Winds Meet Walkthrough: Opening Chapter Prologue & First Village Guide
This part of the where winds meet walkthrough focuses only on the content you can access in the first two hours of gameplay, so you won’t run into any spoilers for later chapters. When you first wake up on the riverbank after the opening cutscene, your first instinct might be to rush toward the village marker on your map, but don’t do that right away. Grab the rusted half-broken sword lying next to the dead imperial soldier a few feet to your left first. It looks useless now, but you can repair it at the first village blacksmith for 100 copper, and it turns into one of the highest-damage swords in the game for the first 10 hours of play. Don’t skip the opening tutorial combat drills either, even if you’re used to wuxia combat games. Completing all three drill challenges with a perfect parry rating unlocks a rare counter skill that lets you reflect projectile attacks, and you can’t get that skill anywhere else later in the game.
When you get to the first village, take 10 minutes to do the small side quests before you trigger the main story cutscene that sets the bandit attack in motion. The old woman near the well will ask you to find her missing cat, which is hiding in the bamboo grove just west of the village. Bringing the cat back gives you a permanent 5% stamina boost that makes climbing mountains and sprinting away from tough fights way easier. If you choose to help the villagers fix their broken fences before the attack, the blacksmith will give you a 30% discount on all repairs and upgrades for the rest of your playthrough. That discount saves you thousands of copper later on when you’re upgrading high-tier gear.
How to Beat Every Major Boss in the Main Story
Boss fights in Where Winds Meet don’t just rely on spamming attack buttons; you have to learn their attack patterns and use their weaknesses against them if you don’t want to spend an hour replaying the same fight over and over. The first major roadblock most players hit is the Bandit King, who shows up halfway through the first chapter. He’s got heavy armor that blocks 70% of regular physical damage, so light attacks are basically useless against him. His weak point is the unarmored spot on his left hip that appears right after he swings his heavy axe. Wait for him to finish the three-swing combo, dodge to his left side, and land two heavy attacks on that spot to deal massive damage. If you have the stray dog companion you get from feeding it meat in the first village, it will distract the Bandit King for 10 seconds at the start of the fight, giving you time to land a few free hits before he even starts attacking.
The Ice Taoist boss in the mountain chapter is another common pain point, especially for players who haven’t invested in fire chi skills. His ice spike attack can one-shot most players under level 15, and his ice shield blocks all elemental damage for 10 seconds at a time. Don’t roll backwards to avoid his ice spikes, because they spread out wider the further they travel. Roll sideways directly toward him instead, and you’ll avoid all damage every time. Use fire talismans to break his ice shield faster, and if you have the warm fur coat you get from the hunter side quest in the mountain village, you’ll take 40% less ice damage overall. For the final Emperor’s Guard boss fight, you can use the environmental pillars in the arena to block his charged spear attacks, which stuns him for 3 seconds every time. If you saved the doctor from the bandit attack in the first village, he’ll give you a healing charm that lets you revive once for free during this fight, which is a total lifesaver if you’re playing on hard mode.
All Hidden Collectible Locations & Puzzle Solutions
One of the most common questions I get about this where winds meet walkthrough is whether you need to collect all these items to finish the story, and the answer is no, but they make the rest of the game much easier, and a lot of them unlock exclusive side content you can’t access any other way. The bamboo forest bell puzzle is one of the most frequently missed early-game secrets. You’ll see four large bells hanging from bamboo stalks near the abandoned shrine, and you have to ring them in the correct order to unlock the hidden cellar. The order is carved into the stone tablet next to the shrine: bird, frog, wind, mountain. Ring them in that order, and you’ll unlock the rare Bamboo Strike sword skill, which deals AOE damage to all enemies within a 10-foot radius. Never break any of the small stone shrines you find across the map, even if they look like they have loot inside. Breaking them triggers a curse that makes all random enemy encounters 20% harder for the next 3 hours of gameplay, which is a mistake I made on my first playthrough that made the next boss fight almost impossible.
The three most missed collectibles in the game are:
- The lost jade pendant in the underground cave behind the western waterfall: it unlocks a secret romance side quest with the wandering swordsman NPC that gives you a unique companion for the final chapter
- The 4 ancient scrolls scattered across the highest mountain peaks: collecting all 4 gives you a permanent 10% boost to all chi damage, which makes every boss fight after that 2x faster
- The hidden teahouse in the southern mist valley: you can only find it if you follow the old tea merchant NPC after you finish his side quest, and visiting it gives you unlimited free healing items for the rest of your playthrough
The water wheel puzzle in the second village is another common stuck point. You have three levers next to the water wheel, and you need to adjust them to get the water flowing to the village farm again. The correct position is middle lever up, left lever down, right lever halfway. If you get it right, the cellar under the farmer’s house unlocks, and you’ll find a rare heavy armor set that gives you 25% more resistance to physical damage. You can’t get that armor set anywhere else later in the game, so it’s worth taking 5 minutes to solve the puzzle even if you’re in a rush to get to the next story point.
Important Choices That Change the Game’s Ending
Where Winds Meet has four different endings, and the choices you make as early as the first chapter affect which one you get. You don’t have to stress about every single small dialogue choice, but there are three big ones that directly impact the ending, so you should plan ahead if you want to get a specific outcome. The first big choice comes halfway through the game, when you’re asked to give the ancient relic you found in the cave to either the rebel army or the imperial guards. Giving it to the rebels unlocks the freedom ending, where you join the rebels to fight against the corrupt imperial government. Giving it to the imperial guards unlocks the loyalist ending, where you become a high-ranking imperial soldier and help put down the rebellion.
The second big choice comes during the mid-game village attack, when you have to choose between saving your martial arts master or the 20 villagers trapped in the burning town hall. Saving your master unlocks the mentor ending, where you take over his school and train the next generation of martial artists. Saving the villagers unlocks the hero ending, where you become the village leader and protect the area from bandit attacks for the rest of your life. You can only unlock the secret true ending if you complete all 12 side quests before you start the final chapter, regardless of the other choices you make. I missed this on my first playthrough, and I had to replay 8 hours of content to go back and finish all the side quests to get the true ending, so don’t make the same mistake I did. Even if you don’t care about side content, it’s worth doing them if you want to see the full, canon story.
At the end of the day, Where Winds Meet is all about exploration and choice, so don’t feel like you have to follow every step of this guide to the letter. Take detours, talk to random NPCs, and test out different combat styles to find what works for you. This where winds meet walkthrough is just here to help you avoid the frustrating stuck points that take away from the fun of the game. If you run into a spot I didn’t cover, feel free to drop a comment below and I’ll add it to the guide as soon as I can.
