Old gear in Where Winds Meet is not just junk. Once you start leveling quickly and your inventory fills up, outdated pieces become part wallet, part account-wide stat boost. The game expects you to clear them out regularly, but only after you squeeze out every advantage they can still give.
Core options for old gear
| Use | What it does | When to prioritize |
|---|---|---|
| Recycle | Turns gear into Gold Coins for upgrading your current weapons and armor. | Constantly, for low-level or bad rolls you will never equip. |
| Arsenal | Stores old gear in a secondary sheet to raise Mastery and give passive Attributes. | From level 51 onward, with spare set pieces at key tiers. |
| Repair for set effects | Restores durability so you can keep using a set piece for its 2‑ or 4‑piece bonus. | Whenever a slightly weaker piece completes or maintains a strong set bonus. |
On top of that, specific items can be consumed in tuning, and a small group of “traceable” antiques should be kept for their story value. The safest way to think about old gear is:
- Keep or move into Arsenal anything that still has future value (sets, good substats, tuning fodder at the right level).
- Recycle everything else for Gold Coins as soon as your bag starts to choke.
How recycling old gear works
Recycling is the game’s built-in dismantling system. It converts weapons, armor, and accessories into Gold Coins, which you then spend to strengthen your current kit.
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Open your Bag from the menu, or press B on keyboard. |
| 2 | Switch to the Gear tab and choose Recycling, or press X to open the recycling interface. |
| 3 | Select the items you want to dismantle and confirm if prompted. |
The system hides currently equipped weapons, armor, and accessories from the recycle list, so you cannot accidentally scrap what you are wearing. Everything else in the list is fair game.
There are two ways to recycle:
- Batch recycling: Select many items and dismantle them at once. This is fast, but the game does not ask for a final confirmation for the whole batch.
- Single-item recycling: Pick items one by one. This is slower but gives you a chance to review each dismantle.
What gear is safe to recycle
Not every piece needs to be saved “just in case.” Where Winds Meet constantly drops new equipment, and many old pieces are only useful as currency.
| Gear type | Recycle? | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Low-rarity gray/green pieces below your current level band | Yes | They offer poor stats, poor substats, and no long-term use once you outlevel them. |
| Set pieces below about level 41 | Usually yes | Arsenal and later systems focus on higher-tier gear; early sets are quickly replaced. |
| Duplicate pieces of the same set and level with bad substats | Yes | Keep one candidate per slot; recycle the rest for Gold Coins. |
| Gear with no tuning icon or special use | Yes | If it is neither a good roll nor needed for Arsenal, turn it into currency. |
By midgame, the main reasons to keep gear are:
- It is part of a strong set you actively use.
- It has good rolls for your build and might swap into your main sheet.
- It will go into Arsenal at the correct tier.
- It shows a special tuning or traceable icon (see below) and supports a system you care about.
How Arsenal uses your old gear
Arsenal is unlocked at level 51 and sits inside the gear development menu, just under the standard enhance option. It functions like a second character sheet where you socket old weapons, armor, and accessories to raise your overall Mastery.
Each Arsenal sheet is tied to a specific gear tier, starting with level 41 items. Within that tier:
- Each slot holds one piece of unused gear of the matching level.
- The mastery level of that gear contributes to a Mastery score.
- The Mastery score is then converted into passive Attributes.
The Arsenal is also path-based. You pick the Path that matches your build style:
| Arsenal Path | Typical role | Attribute focus |
|---|---|---|
| Bellstrike | DPS melee builds, such as Strategic Sword and Heavenquaker Spear setups | Increased path-specific attack, favoring damage output. |
| Stonesplit | Tanking and front-line roles | Path-specific defense and survivability. |
| Silkbind | Healer or ranged-oriented builds | Support and ranged-oriented modifiers. |
| General | Flexible or experimental builds | Broad Physical Attack and generic bonuses. |
You can switch Paths at any time, which lets you repurpose the same stored gear for a different build later. As you level further, new Arsenal tiers unlock for higher-level gear; you then repeat the process with level 51, 61, and beyond, filling out more sheets and stacking passive stats.
Because Mastery depends on the item’s own upgrade state, tuning and improving old gear before you park it in the Arsenal can marginally increase its contribution. Whether that is worth the materials depends on how tight your tuning resources are.
How gear slot enhancement and tuning change your decisions
Where Winds Meet separates the long-term power of a slot from the short-term stats on a single piece. Two mechanics matter for old gear: slot enhancement and tuning.
Gear slot enhancement
- Applies to the slot (for example, “Chest”) instead of the current item.
- Requires specific materials, listed in each enhancement tooltip.
- Is capped by the level of the item in that slot—stronger gear raises the cap.
Because slot enhancement stays when you swap armor, there is no reason to cling to weak pieces for fear of “losing” invested power. As soon as you equip a higher-level piece, the slot can be pushed further.
Tuning
- Is applied per item, not per slot.
- Adds or rerolls extra Attributes on gear (attack, defense, Momentum, crit-related stats, and more).
- High-rarity gear can unlock more tuning stats than low-rarity pieces.
- Certain pieces, marked by blue, purple, or gold tuning icons in the top-right of the item, can be consumed to boost tuning outcomes.
That last point changes what you should recycle. Gear that carries a tuning-boost icon is more valuable as tuning fodder than as a handful of Gold Coins. Many players keep a small stockpile of these items, sorted by level, and only recycle them after they have tuned their main set.
Keeping gear for set effects
Nearly every armor piece and many accessories belong to sets that unlock extra bonuses when you wear 2 or 4 pieces together. These bonuses often matter more than an extra point or two of raw stats, especially once your build comes online.
Old set pieces can still be useful in three ways:
- Bridging gaps: A slightly weaker item that keeps a 4‑piece set active will usually beat a stronger stray piece that breaks the bonus.
- Alternate loadouts: Some players keep full sets for different roles (tank, DPS, support). Outdated pieces for your primary build may still be current for your off‑spec.
- Arsenal filling: Duplicate or retired set pieces at key tiers can be slotted into Arsenal while you wear newer versions in the main sheet.
Repairing a worn-down item is cheaper than rebuilding the same set from scratch, so it is often worth restoring durability if that piece is part of a set you still use or plan to park in Arsenal.
Antique and story-linked gear
A subset of items appears as “traceable” or “antique” gear, often with a distinct icon and lore text. These pieces are tied to memories and world exploration rather than raw combat power.
- They can be used to unlock Compendium entries and narrative rewards.
- They feed into incense and memory rituals at specific locations, such as Halo Peak.
- Some may unlock cosmetic appearances once their stories are resolved.
By default, the mass recycling interface tends to hide these antiques, but they can still be dismantled manually if you filter and select them directly. Avoid doing that unless you are certain you have finished their related content.
Practical decision rules for old gear
When your inventory starts blinking red, it helps to apply simple rules instead of checking every single tooltip from scratch.
| If the item is… | Then you should… |
|---|---|
| Below your current main gear tier (for example, below 41 once you run level 41 content) | Recycle it, unless it is antique or uniquely important to a quest. |
| A duplicate of a set piece at your current tier with worse substats | Recycle it for Gold Coins. |
| A high-rarity item with a tuning-boost icon at the correct tier | Keep it in a “tuning fodder” row and use it to reroll your main gear later. |
| An old set piece that will finish or maintain a strong 4‑piece bonus | Keep and repair it until you have a better set replacement. |
| A retired but well-upgraded item that matches an open Arsenal slot | Move it into the Arsenal for permanent Mastery stats. |
| A traceable/antique item with story flavor text | Do not recycle it; use it for its associated memories and Compendium entry. |
Handled this way, your bag becomes a staging area rather than a graveyard. New drops either go straight into your current build, into the Arsenal, into a small tuning-fodder stash, or into the recycler for Gold Coins. Nothing sits around “just in case” without a clear purpose.
Once you reach level 51 and unlock Arsenal, your relationship with loot changes: even your castoff weapons and armor help build a stronger character. The earlier you start sorting gear with that in mind, the easier it is to keep playing without ever wrestling a full inventory.
