Art of Resistance is an Epic Inner Way in Where Winds Meet that extends the life of your HP shields and turns a defensive playstyle into steady damage and healing gains. It is tied to a short Jianghu Legacy chain in Qinghe and finishes with the Encounter quest “Scammer Victims.”
What Art of Resistance does
Art of Resistance is classified as an Internal Art/Inner Way with a defensive buff focus. Its core effect is simple:
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Inner Way (Internal Art) |
| Rarity | Epic |
| Path | Stonesplit - Might |
| Tags | Defense, Buff |
| Weapon requirement | Thundercry Blade / Stormbreaker Spear (Stonesplit - Might) |
| Base Inner Way effect | Extends the duration of your own HP shield and the bonus effects of its source skill by 4 seconds. |
In practice, any skill that gives you an HP shield will last longer, and any extra effect baked into that shield (such as extra mitigation or a buff tied to the shield being active) is also extended by the same amount of time.
Art of Resistance strongly favors Stonesplit - Might builds based on Thundercry Blade or Stormbreaker Spear, where shield uptime and frontal soaking are already central to the kit. It still interacts with your own shields only, so it is about personal durability and throughput, not party-wide barriers.
Breakthrough tiers and bonuses
Upgrading Art of Resistance unlocks a sequence of passive bonuses that compound its shield-focused design and add some Stonesplit - Might specific perks.
| Tier | Bonus | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Increases the HP damage absorbed by all HP shields by 10%. | Makes every shield you generate thicker, regardless of source. |
| 2 | Increases Rock Splitting Attack; effect scales with Solo Mode level. | Boosts a Stonesplit-specific attack, growing with your roaming level. |
| 3 | While under an HP shield, increases all damage and healing you do by 2%. | Turns shield uptime into a constant offensive and sustain buff. |
| 4 | Further increases the duration of your own HP shield and its bonus effects by 2 seconds (total +6 seconds). | Pushes shield duration extension from +4s to +6s overall. |
| 5 | Increases Rock Splitting Penetration by 6 points. | Adds extra defensive penetration to a key Stonesplit skill. |
| 6 | If your HP shield expires without breaking, you immediately recover HP equal to 25% of the remaining shield amount (5% in Duels). Does not trigger from immune damage shields. | Converts leftover shield into a heal, heavily rewarding clean mitigation. |
For tank-style builds, tiers 1, 3, 4, and 6 are the standouts. Together, they make your shields both larger and longer, tie your damage and healing multipliers to shield uptime, and finally refund part of an unused shield as direct HP.
How to unlock Art of Resistance (Scammer Victims encounter)
Art of Resistance is obtained from a short Jianghu Legacy chain that culminates in the Encounter quest “Scammer Victims” around Harvestfall Village in Qinghe. The entire path is framed as tracking down a Well of Heaven hero accused of “redistributing wealth.”
| Step | What to do | Key NPC / Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Legacy clue 1 | Follow rumors of a Well of Heaven hero active in Qinghe. | Talk to the waiter San Qian’er in Harvestfall Village’s tavern. |
| Legacy clue 2 | Seek the Well of Heaven representative and fulfill his request. | Speak to the Well of Heaven Elder standing outside Harvestfall Village and accept his requirements. |
| Jewelry task | Obtain a bag of jewelry linked to the case. | Approach Zhang Yihao and either steal or otherwise acquire his Large Bag of Jewelry; there is also a bag in a nearby chest. |
| Sect choice | Choose how to respond to the Nine Mortal Ways impostors. | You can join Nine Mortal Ways or side with Zhang Yihao’s disciple to expose the scams. |
| Legacy clue 3 | Trigger the Encounter “Scammer Victims.” | Speak with Zhang Yihao again once his state has advanced; this starts the encounter. |
| Encounter progression | Visit each scam victim and resolve their scenes. | Follow the on-screen quest markers to meet all three victims. |
| Final fight | Confront the mastermind behind the scams. | Return to Chengshi and defeat him to complete “Scammer Victims.” |
| Reward | Receive the Art of Resistance tome set. | Use the full set of tomes to unlock the Inner Way. |
Unlocking any Internal Art works the same way structurally: you track a series of Legacy clues, each of which is a mini-quest. Completing the full clue chain grants enough tomes to register the Inner Way.
What to do if Scammer Victims does not appear
Many players reach Zhang Yihao, clear the early jewelry interactions, and then never see “Scammer Victims” appear in the Encounters tab. In most cases, this is a state or spawn timing problem rather than a permanent lockout.
Ensure Zhang Yihao’s quest state advances
For the encounter to show up, Zhang has to despawn and respawn once his internal state changes. In practice, that means:
- Complete the Well of Heaven Elder’s request and the initial interaction with Zhang (including the three ill-gotten goods and your sect choice).
- Walk away from Harvestfall Village and spend time on other activities: world bosses, other encounters, or main story beats.
- Return to Zhang later; his pose and dialogue options should change, and the “Scammer Victims” Encounter should appear when you speak with him.
On PC, another common workaround is to free up the encounter system so the game can slot “Scammer Victims” in:
Esc → Quests (J) → Encounters tab → remove/abandon all active encounters → move away from Zhang → return and talk again.Once the encounter is active, you simply follow each quest marker to the three victims and finish with the Chengshi fight to receive the Art of Resistance tome.
Recovering from awkward sect choices
The sect choices around Zhang, the impostor elders, and the jewelry can make the chain feel fragile, but they do not permanently block Art of Resistance in ordinary cases.
- If you joined Nine Mortal Ways during the jewelry step, leave that sect first. After leaving, talking to Zhang again can surface new dialogue that progresses his state toward “Scammer Victims.”
- If you already sided with Well of Heaven, delivered ill-gotten goods, and fought the impostors, but nothing triggered, rely on the despawn/respawn behavior: spend time elsewhere, then return.
- If your Legacy clue still says to “talk to Zhang Yihao after triggering Scammer Victims,” that usually indicates the encounter has not been allowed to spawn, rather than that you failed a condition.
How to upgrade Art of Resistance
Breakthrough tiers for any Internal Art use a shared set of rules tied to Solo Mode progression and Inner Way advancement items.
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Solo Mode level | Reach Solo Mode Level 4 (Level 4 Roaming) before tier upgrades become available. |
| Advance item | Use Art of Resistance: Notes to unlock each next Breakthrough tier. |
| Where to get Notes | Earn through multiple paths, with the Tips Exchange being the most direct repeatable source. |
Once you meet the level requirement, open the Inner Ways menu, select Art of Resistance, and spend Notes to push it from tier 1 through tier 6. Each tier is a permanent upgrade; there is no branching or respec tree within a single Inner Way.
How Art of Resistance fits into Stonesplit tank builds
Art of Resistance sits squarely in the “true tank” design space. It is built for players leaning into Thundercry Blade or Stormbreaker Spear with the Stonesplit - Might path, especially when they want to maximize both threat and self-sustain in extended fights.
At low tiers, the value is straightforward:
- More damage absorbed by every HP shield you put up.
- Extra seconds of coverage on your best shield skills.
As you push through the higher tiers, the Inner Way starts chaining several levers together:
- Shield uptime becomes throughput: while shielded, you deal and heal more.
- Rock Splitting skills hit harder and cut deeper into defenses, tying the passive to your core rotation.
- Unused shield is not wasted; at tier 6, it partially converts back into HP, further reducing your reliance on direct healing.
In group content, this combination lets you hold bosses more safely while maintaining pressure, and it smooths out your HP curve between healer cooldowns. In solo roaming, the auto-heal on unbroken shields rewards playing cleanly and avoiding chip damage that would otherwise erode your barrier.
Used alongside other shield-oriented Inner Ways like Rock Solid, Art of Resistance helps create a robust, armor-like layer around Stonesplit builds, extending both survivability and efficiency over long fights.
