Where Winds Meet's combat is built around reading the enemy's attacks: you block, deflect or dodge, break the enemy's Qi, and finish with an Execute. This page covers the basics that at least two guides agree on and the official settings and practice tools, with the sources under each section.
Last checked: October 10, 2026 (Version 2.2).
At a glance
| Where Winds Meet combat | What it does |
|---|---|
| Block (hold) | Cuts the damage you take, but does not punish the enemy |
| Deflect (timed press) | Cancels the hit and drains the enemy's Qi |
| Dodge | Brief invincibility; a Perfect Dodge slows time in PvE |
| Red glint | Deflect it |
| Gold glint | You can't block or deflect it: dodge |
| Empty Qi | The enemy is Exhausted and can be executed |
Block, deflect, dodge
- Block by holding the button. You still take some damage, and the enemy is not punished. It is your safety net when your timing fails.
- Deflect by pressing just before the hit lands. A clean deflect cancels the damage and drains the enemy's Qi, the bar under its health. One well-timed deflect can stop a whole chain of hits.
- Dodge to get a moment of invincibility. Blocking and dodging both cost a resource (the guides call it stamina or Qi), so don't spam them. A Perfect Dodge at the last moment briefly slows time and gives you a free punish. This slow motion is off in PvP and on the Extreme difficulty.
Sources: EOG.GG, MetaForge, All Things How, Nerdschalk, Icy Veins.
Read the glint: red or gold
Strong enemy attacks flash before they land, and the colour tells you what to do:
- Red: deflect it. A successful deflect of a red attack opens a counter.
- Gold (or yellow): you can't block or deflect it. Dodge or get out of range; trying to deflect it means taking the hit.
Learning this one habit, deflect red and dodge gold, is what the guides call the most important.
Sources: EOG.GG, MetaForge, All Things How, Nerdschalk.
Break Qi, then Execute
Deflects and attacks wear down an enemy's Qi. When it runs out, the enemy becomes Exhausted and an Execute prompt appears. Executes deal heavy damage, and this loop of deflect, break Qi, execute is how you beat tough enemies and bosses.
Wait before you execute. Two guides recommend landing a few more hits first and executing when about one second of the prompt is left; that way you get the most damage out of the window.
Sources: EOG.GG, MetaForge, Icy Veins; "Exhausted" and "Execution" are the official terms in the patch notes.
Your weapons and skills
- Two weapons at once. The official description promises melee, ranged or stealth fighting with classic weapons such as the sword, spear, dual blades, rope dart, bow, fan and umbrella. You switch between your two weapons in a fight, for example a damage weapon and a healing one.
- Swap with an attack. Switching weapons also performs an attack, which the guides use to chain combos across both weapons.
- Cancel into a deflect. You can cut an attack short with the deflect button, which matters most in PvP.
- Weapon pairs and builds. Each pair of weapons from the same martial path has its own builds; start with our builds overview and the build tier list.
Sources: official Steam store page; EOG.GG, MetaForge, Mein-MMO.
Settings that help
- Assist Deflection. Turn it on in the settings while you learn. Its Recommended level applies to boss attacks and the strong attacks of normal enemies, not to their regular attacks (official notes of January 12, 2026). Two guides note that it does not work in multiplayer and PvP, so practise real deflects too.
- Hero's Realm and Sword Trial. In these two group modes, your HP is restored to full at the start of every boss fight (January 12, 2026). With Smart Combat Assist on, you take much less damage, keep your gear durability when defeated, and can't be defeated again for 30 seconds after a revive (May 27, 2026).
More on staying alive in our healing guide.
Where to practise
- Boss Dummy. Since Version 1.2 (January 9, 2026), the Training Ground in Sword Trial lets you summon dummies modeled on major bosses: a Timed, a Fixed-HP and a Free Boss Dummy. You can apply buffs to simulate a real fight. Our bosses guide lists the bosses and where to find them.
- Multiplayer Wooden Stake. An official developer log of October 10, 2026 says the next update adds a multiplayer mode for Wooden Stake training, with a real-time team damage meter; see our Qingzhou page.
Sources
- EOG.GG, "Combat Guide. Parry, Dodge, and the Punish Loop", updated October 10, 2026
- MetaForge, "Beginners Combat Guide" (no date shown)
- All Things How, how deflection works, updated December 3, 2025
- Nerdschalk, how to deflect, updated January 2, 2026
- Icy Veins, tips for every boss, November 20, 2025
- Mein-MMO, 15 beginner tips and space4games, beginner's guide: weapon switching and Assist Deflection
- Official: Steam store page, notes of January 12, 2026, Version 1.2 overview, May 27 patch notes
The guides disagree on some details, such as which resource blocking and dodging use and how Assist Deflection behaves, so we left those out along with key bindings.
Version history
- October 10, 2026: rewritten as a combat guide with sources: block, deflect and dodge, red and gold attacks, Qi and Execute, official settings and practice tools. The old Mental Methods and Strange Arts sections and the three starter builds without sources are gone.
- November 18, 2025: first published.
