The first Level 96 sword trial in Where Winds Meet splits into two phases, with the Horse Tamer opening the fight and Feng Ruzhi taking over for phase 2. The Horse Tamer itself is not a complicated boss, but its talent requirements hinge on tight timing and party coordination rather than raw damage. Clearing every talent means controlling one specific cast and reacting cleanly to two recurring attacks.
Quick answer: Redirect a Ground Slam into the Horse Tamer to interrupt Poison Wave at least once (Talent 1-1), deflect every slam during one full jumping sequence (Talent 1-2), and prevent Poison Wave from ever casting while making sure no player is hit by a Ground Slam meant for someone else (Talent 1-3).
Horse Tamer talent requirements
All three phase 1 talents revolve around two mechanics, Ground Slam and Poison Wave, plus one clean deflect sequence during the jumps. The table below lists exactly what each talent asks for.
| Talent | Condition to unlock |
|---|---|
| Talent 1-1 | Redirect a Ground Slam into the Horse Tamer to interrupt Poison Wave at least once. |
| Talent 1-2 | Successfully deflect every slam during a single jumping sequence. |
| Talent 1-3 | Never let the boss cast Poison Wave, and never let a player get hit by a Ground Slam intended for someone else. |
Ground Slam and Poison Wave: the interrupt loop
Ground Slam is a linear attack that locks onto a player and drops a red area indicator on the ground. It comes in two forms. Sometimes the Horse Tamer fires a single strike, and other times it rapidly chains the attack across multiple players one after another.
Poison Wave is the dangerous follow-up. The boss channels a heavy poison attack that can wipe the whole party if your team is already low on health. The counter is built into Ground Slam. The targeted player deflects the red strike and aims the redirected attack straight back into the Horse Tamer, which interrupts the Poison Wave cast before it lands.
Talent 1-3 raises the bar on the same mechanic. Poison Wave must never go off for the entire fight, so every attempted cast has to be interrupted through the Ground Slam redirect. On top of that, no player can be caught by a Ground Slam that was aimed at another party member. Both AI teammates and manually coordinated players can handle this, but it demands consistent positioning so redirected attacks always feed back into the boss and never clip a teammate.
Note: A poison warning appears on screen to signal the danger phase, so treat any Poison Wave prompt as a cue to line up the interrupt immediately.
Consecutive Jumps: deflect the full sequence
During Consecutive Jumps, the horse leaps into the air and slams the ground repeatedly. The reliable way to survive is to spam deflect through the entire sequence rather than trying to dodge each slam individually.
Talent 1-2 requires you to deflect every single slam within one jumping sequence. Miss one and the talent will not register, so hold your deflects steady from the first jump until the horse returns to the center. A prompt announces that the horse has come back to the middle field and the area is about to lock, which marks the end of the sequence.
Chase Phase: block the escape
In the Chase Phase, the horse jumps to the edge of the arena and tries to escape through a wooden maze. While it stays outside the center area it becomes immune to damage and periodically unleashes thrashes that deal unavoidable arena-wide damage. Cut off its path and force it back to the middle field to end the phase and stop the free damage it deals while loose.
Phase 2: Feng Ruzhi
Feng Ruzhi takes over as the phase 2 boss once the Horse Tamer is cleared. Carry over the same fundamentals from phase 1, since disciplined deflect timing and controlled positioning are what keep the talent runs clean across the whole trial.
Where Winds Meet is a free-to-play wuxia action RPG from Everstone Studio and NetEase Games, available on PC, PS5, Xbox, and mobile with full cross-play. If you want to attempt the trial yourself, you can grab it from the Steam store page. Lock down the three Horse Tamer talents first, and the interrupt-and-deflect rhythm you build in phase 1 carries straight into the fight against Feng Ruzhi.
