Where Winds Meet hands you two martial arts at once and lets you swap between them mid-fight, which sounds generous until you realize how much grind sits behind each one. Inner Ways talent trees, Breakthroughs tied to World Level, and Refine Arts upgrades all eat Martial Points, and none of that investment carries over when you switch weapons. Pick wrong and you are looking at weeks of farming to rebuild a tree from scratch. The ranking below sorts every weapon by how much combat power it returns once it is fully invested.
Quick answer: Commit early to Nameless Sword for damage and Panacea Fan for healing. Both are starting-tier weapons that stay S-tier into the endgame, so they never get replaced, and your points never go to waste.
Where Winds Meet weapon rankings (patch 1.0.18, June 2026)
This reflects the current state of the game as of version 1.0.18. Placements weigh practical combat output after meaningful Inner Ways investment, how forgiving a weapon is to play, and how cleanly it fills a role in solo and co-op content. PvP shifts a few weapons, and that is broken out separately below.
| Tier | Weapons |
|---|---|
| S | Nameless Sword, Panacea Fan, Heavenquaker Spear, Soulshade Umbrella |
| A | Strategic Sword, Nameless Spear, Infernal Twinblades, Thundercry Blade, Everspring Umbrella, Unfettered Rope Dart, Stormbreaker Spear |
| B | Vernal Umbrella, Mortal Rope Dart |
| C | Inkwell Fan, Ninefold Umbrella |
Why the S-tier weapons earn their spot
The Nameless Sword is the weapon you already start with, and it stays one of the best damage options in the game. It is mobile, weaves in and out of fights at speed, and its heavy attack fires a charged ranged strike along a line that clears packs and finishes runners. The moveset is simple, the floor is low, and it pairs cleanly with almost anything. For most players it outperforms the Strategic Sword in general content once both are deep into their talent trees.
The Panacea Fan is the only true dedicated healer. Its own damage is modest, but it lays down healing fields and can revive teammates, which makes it close to mandatory for serious co-op. You will always run a second weapon alongside it for damage, but its sustain keeps a whole group standing through fights that would otherwise wipe.
The Heavenquaker Spear is the AoE anchor. It spins through groups stacking heavy Bleed, and its momentum system rewards longer combos with more damage and reach. It holds up in single-target fights too, but its real value is sustained crowd clearing, which is exactly what extended boss and add fights demand.
The Soulshade Umbrella is the swap-in support piece. Activate its passive healing, then swap back to your damage weapon while the sustain keeps ticking, so you support the team without giving up your rotation. That swap-and-go flexibility is what separates it from a pure healer.
Note: In PvP, support weapons run into a hard heal cap that cuts the Fan and Umbrella’s effectiveness roughly in half. They remain S-tier for PvE, but plan around that limit before taking one into ranked.
A-tier weapons that reward investment
These hit S-tier numbers in capable hands but ask for more precision, defense, or specific pairings to get there.
| Weapon | Role and notes |
|---|---|
| Strategic Sword | Bleed buildup that detonates into burst once you unlock its martial upgrades. Higher execution ceiling than Nameless Sword. Climbs to top-tier specifically in PvP. |
| Nameless Spear | Tanky single-target DPS with projectile deflection and a defensive Unrivaled state. Paralysis and endurance drain make it dangerous, but it wants to be in an enemy’s face. |
| Infernal Twinblades | Fast, combo-heavy glass cannon. Sustaining the Flamelash buff means attacking constantly, which is tough against mobile bosses. Rises a tier in PvP, where its strikes are hard to parry. |
| Thundercry Blade | Frontline tank with HP-scaling shields and uninterruptible charged attacks. Held back by fights that force dodging, which cancels those charges. |
| Everspring Umbrella | Ranged DPS built on bleed and AoE bursts, strong against bosses and packs but fragile and demanding. Pairs with Unfettered Rope Dart. |
| Unfettered Rope Dart | Ranged AoE control with bonus boss damage and a time-slow effect. High output, low survivability, steep difficulty. |
| Stormbreaker Spear | Pure defensive support. Damage reduction, shielding, and a Vulnerable debuff, but almost no offense of its own. Best glued to a Thundercry Blade tank. |
B and C tier weapons to skip as a primary
The Vernal Umbrella has the longest range in the game and a flying turret mode, but going airborne leaves you wide open to high-reaching and ranged attacks, and the flight drains stamina, so you can land with no dodge available. It works as a ranged secondary more than a carry.
The Mortal Rope Dart is genuinely fun thanks to Rodent Rampage, a skill that summons a rat companion for 10 seconds that stays out even after you swap weapons. Its DPS simply does not keep pace with the top damage weapons, so treat it as a support pick, especially alongside the Twinblades in PvP.
At the bottom, the Inkwell Fan and Ninefold Umbrella look elegant and animate beautifully, but their damage and output fall apart in group fights. They need significant buffs before they can compete, and right now, they are flair picks rather than practical ones.
Image credit: NetEase (via YouTube/@StingKnight)
PvP differences and the current meta
Ranked play reshuffles the order. The Strategic Sword, paired with the Heavenquake Spear forms the Bellstrike-Umbra Path, where the sword loads bleed and the spear cashes it in for huge damage and burst against both bosses and players. The Infernal Twinblades climb because their relentless strings are nearly impossible to parry, rewarding fast, clean execution. Support weapons drop in value due to the heal cap noted above.
| PvP pairing | Identity |
|---|---|
| Strategic Sword + Heavenquake Spear | Top meta DoT and burst that demolishes bosses and players alike. |
| Infernal Twinblades + Mortal Rope Dart | High-skill glass cannon with overwhelming attack pressure. |
| Nameless Sword + Heavenquaker Spear | Forgiving all-rounder without the execution ceiling of Twinblades. |
| Everspring Umbrella + Unfettered Rope Dart | Mid-range spacing control plus explosive execution damage. |
Best pairings to commit your Martial Points to
Because Inner Ways breakpoints unlock new weapon behaviors rather than small stat bumps, a single fully-built weapon beats two half-built ones in every mode. Spreading resources just delays those breakpoints on everything at once. Pick a lane and pour points into it.
- PvE damage main: Nameless Sword + Soulshade Umbrella, for strong single-target output with built-in self-sustain.
- PvE clear and group support: Heavenquaker Spear + Panacea Fan, for AoE pressure backed by reliable healing.
- PvP burst: Strategic Sword + Heavenquake Spear, the current bleed-and-detonate meta.
- Best all-round starting investment: Nameless Sword + Panacea Fan, two starting weapons that stay S-tier through endgame, so you never rebuild a tree.
You can change weapons whenever you like, but the talent points behind them do not move with you, so the smart play is to lock in early and invest deeply. If you are unsure, the Nameless Sword and Panacea Fan path is the lowest-risk way to spend your first few weeks of Martial Points, since both remain competitive no matter how far you push into the endgame.
