Mounts in Where Winds Meet are much more than reskinned horses. Each one combines a base breed or model with a set of passive stats and active skills that can change how you explore, farm, and even play co-op. Some of the strongest options sit behind the Appearance shop and gacha-style draws, but several free horses hold up surprisingly well once you know what to look for.
Mount types and where they come from
Every mount you own lives in the Appearance → Mount tab, split into two broad categories:
| Category | How you get them | Typical examples | Who they suit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exploration Rewards | Snatch Horse from NPCs, Horse Capture in the wild, exploration/event rewards | Chizhui - Red-Gray Charger, Chibo - Red Piebald Runner, Jinzhui - Gold-Gray Charger | Free-to-play players, early-game speed or farming setups |
| Ingenious | Appearance shop purchases, draw-based systems using premium currencies | Ghoststride, Qin Horse, Spirited Courser, Snow Oath, White-browed Goose, Mirage Boat | Players who want strong quality-of-life skills or standout cosmetics |
Story progress also hands you a baseline horse (Clip-Clop!), and the game quietly allows you to steal a horse very early, before any ranches or merchants are unlocked.
Best overall premium mounts
Premium mounts cluster at the top of any tier list because they combine multiple epic skills that Exploration Rewards mounts usually only have one of. Among them, a few clearly stand out for raw utility.
| Mount | How to obtain | Key strengths | Ideal use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ghoststride | Draw-only Ingenious mount | Can carry two riders, Treasure Seeking, Swallow Steps double-jump, strong all-around kit | Co-op roaming, treasure hunting, vertical traversal |
| Spirited Courser | Appearance shop (1280 Echo Bead) | Two riders, Collection-style gathering of nearby resources, flashy unicorn-like look | Resource farming, duo play, long-term “main” mount |
| Qin Horse | Appearance shop (1280 Echo Bead) | Treasure Seeking, two-rider support, strong stat rolls | Exploration-focused players who want on-mount chest tracking |
| Snow Oath | Appearance shop (60 Echo Bead) | Automatic loot pickup from enemies, two-rider support, Wayfinder pathing | Daily combat farming, players who dislike manual looting |
| White-browed Goose | Appearance shop (680 Echo Bead) | Novel goose mount; more of a visual gag, minimal gameplay perks | Style and screenshots rather than efficiency |
| Mirage Boat (Painted Boat) | Constructed with 170 Diagrams from the Draw Shop | Large peacock-themed ship, can host many players, fixed-path sailing | Social gatherings, roleplay on waterways |
For pure quality of life, Snow Oath is the outlier. It is the cheapest premium mount yet still offers automatic loot collection, two-rider support, and Wayfinder auto-pathing. If you plan to spend any cash at all, this single purchase removes most of the friction of picking up drops on foot.
Best free horses you can capture or steal
Free horses lean on their base breed (which sets a “race” passive) and the random skills they roll. Some breeds have stronger passives and can appear as higher rarities, but your individual horse’s rating still depends heavily on its skill set.
| Free horse | How to obtain | Notable traits | Why it’s strong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jinzhui - Gold-Gray Charger | Horse Capture or Snatch Horse | High base rating potential, can carry multiple rare/epic skills | Often rolls into high-quality builds for speed and stamina, making it a top A-tier free choice. |
| Chibo - Red Piebald Runner | Horse Capture or Snatch Horse | Special terrain movement passive, good fear resistance | Performs well on rough routes and narrow paths, excellent everyday travel option. |
| Chizhui - Red-Gray Charger | Horse Capture or Snatch Horse | Can roll the “High Speed” skill, decent stat spread | One of the best early-game speed mounts once you find a variant with strong High Speed. |
| Clip-Clop! | Story progression in Chapter 1 | Guaranteed story reward, reliable baseline stats | Solid starter mount; gets outclassed but removes early RNG from your first horse. |
| Hua - Flame Red Stallion | Horse Capture or Snatch Horse | Can exist at purple quality with a stronger racial passive | Mid-tier day-to-day mount, but strong purple variants are worth keeping early on. |
| Li - Jet Black Steed | Horse Capture or Snatch Horse | Can also reach purple quality; stylish dark appearance | Good foundation for a high-rating horse if it rolls multiple epic skills. |
Players have reported purple-quality wild or stolen horses with ratings in the high 60s and multiple purple stats such as High Speed and Surging Vitality. Rare breeds like Hua - Flame Red Stallion, Cong - Azure-White Steed, Xing - Golden Amber Steed, and Li - Jet Black Steed are the ones that can appear as purple.
Fastest horses and how speed stats work
Two factors decide how fast your horse feels:
- The race passive, which might slightly increase speed in certain conditions.
- The High Speed skill which directly boosts speed in a straight-line run.
| Skill / race | Rarity | Effect on speed | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| High Speed | Common | +3% speed when running straight continuously | Baseline boost; good in the early hours if nothing else rolls. |
| High Speed | Rare | +5% speed when running straight continuously | Noticeable upgrade over common; worth prioritizing when comparing captures. |
| High Speed | Epic | +7% speed when running straight continuously | Best-in-slot for pure speed; often seen on premium mounts and lucky captures. |
| Southwest race passive | Race trait | Small speed boost on special terrain, slightly higher Fear limit | Useful on rugged routes and in tense areas where horses might panic. |
| Tuyu race passive | Race trait | Slightly faster normal running; extra speed per 100 energy | Scales with stamina-focused builds and Surging Vitality. |
A widely recommended early setup is a Chizhui - Red-Gray Charger with at least rare High Speed, and ideally an epic roll. At Wild Main Ranch, north of the General’s Shrine and near Bloom Veil Monastery, you can repeatedly capture horses until you land a Jinzhui or Chizhui with the High Speed skill in blue or purple. That combination easily outpaces the story horse.
Best horses for farming loot and materials
Mounts can quietly automate a lot of repetitive cleanup across Jianghu: picking up drops, gathering nodes, and even pointing you toward unopened chests.
| Function | Recommended mount or skill | What it does | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enemy loot pickup | Snow Oath (Collection-style loot skill) | Automatically collects loot dropped by enemies near the mount | Removes the need to run over every corpse; huge time saver for combat grinds. |
| Resource gathering | Spirited Courser (Collection) | Pulls in nearby gatherable resources when used | Speeds up wood, ore, and plant runs without micromanaging each node. |
| Treasure hunting | Ghoststride / Qin Horse / select Ingenious horses (Treasure Seeking) | Targets and guides you to the nearest chest in range | Reduces dependence on external maps for chests, especially in dense regions. |
| Pathfinding | Many premium mounts (Wayfinder) | Automatically rides toward your marked destination | Lets you check your map, chat, or plan builds while the horse rides. |
No single mount currently combines auto-looting, resource collection, and treasure seeking on one kit. If you care about efficiency, it makes sense to rotate between:
- A Snow Oath for combat-heavy loops.
- A Spirited Courser for dedicated gathering sessions.
- A treasure-focused Ingenious horse, such as Qin Horse or Ghoststrid,e when chest hunting.
Best horses for co-op and travel safety
Multiplayer and tricky terrain introduce another layer of value. A slightly slower mount with strong group and safety tools often beats a pure speedster.
| Role | Mount / skill | Effect | Use cases |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two-player riding | Ride Together (epic skill), Ghoststride, Snow Oath, Spirited Courser, Qin Horse, Veilstride | Allows a second player to ride on the same horse | Helping lower-level friends, escorting NPCs, staying together in PvP zones. |
| Fall mitigation | Lightness (rare/epic) | Greatly increases safe falling height when mounted | Descending cliffs or shortcutting mountain routes without dismounting. |
| Double-jump | Swallow Steps (legendary) | Press jump twice for a mounted double-jump | Crossing broken bridges, hopping ledges, reaching hard-to-access paths. |
| Water handling | Water Affinity (uncommon/rare) | Reduces Fear in water; rare version also increases swim speed | River-heavy regions and routes where horses often panic in deep water. |
For duo play, Veilstride is a simple but effective choice: it lacks some of the flashy skills of other mounts but reliably carries another player. At the higher end, Ghoststride and Spirited Courser combine Ride Together with broader kits so you don’t have to sacrifice mobility or farming power to bring a friend along.
Horse stats, skill rarities, and why rating matters
Every horse has up to six skills and an overall rating number. The rating reflects the combined value of its skills and stats, not just its color, and can climb toward 80 with six strong, high-rarity skills.
| Rarity tier | Sample skills | Effect | Impact on play |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uncommon / Common | Vitality, Surging Vitality, High Speed (3%), Water Affinity | Minor improvements to stamina delay, regen, and handling | Useful early on; often replaced as you capture or roll better horses. |
| Rare | Energy, High Speed (5%), Water Affinity (with swim speed) | Larger boosts to vigor, speed, and water comfort | Good middle ground; a horse with several rare skills can last a long time. |
| Epic | Lightness, Ride Together, Collection, Wayfinder, Surging Vitality (15), Snuggle, Shapeshift, Treasure Seeking, High Speed (7%) | Strong utility and mobility effects | Define a mount’s role: farming, co-op, or exploration specialist. |
| Legendary | Swallow Steps | Enables mounted double-jump | Rare, but transformative in vertical areas and tricky routes. |
Players have reported purple (epic) horses with three to five purple stats and ratings in the 60–70 range. A fully optimized mount with six purple skills is expected to cap around an 80 rating.
When comparing two similar horses:
- Prioritize High Speed and Surging Vitality for travel.
- Look for Lightness if your routes involve a lot of climbing and drops.
- Value race passives like Tuyu more when they synergize with your stamina skills.
How to quickly get and upgrade your early horse
In the first few hours, the goal is simple: get onto any horse, then replace it with a faster or more capable one as soon as possible.
| Step | Action | Result | Why it’s efficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Grab any mount | Snatch a horse from a passing NPC using the on-screen prompt | Instant free horse; added to your Mount tab | Fastest way to stop running everywhere on foot. |
| 2. Unlock mount system | Progress story to the General’s Shrine and complete the horse thieves encounter | Guarantees a basic mount and teaches summoning with key 6 | Ensures you can always call your horse instead of hoping one walks by. |
| 3. Farm Wild Main Ranch | Travel north of General’s Shrine to Wild Main Ranch and repeatedly capture horses | Access to Jinzhui, Chizhui, and other high-potential breeds | Efficient way to fish for a horse with High Speed and solid stats. |
| 4. Sell extras | Visit the horse merchant north of Wild Main Ranch to sell unwanted horses | Generates a special horse currency (limited to five sales a week) | Starts a passive income stream toward future mount-related costs. |
Capturing itself uses a rhythm mini-game: crouch to avoid spooking the horse, approach from behind, trigger the Capture Horse prompt, then hit the directional keys as icons cross the center of the screen. If the attempt fails, stepping back to the login screen and reloading can reset horse positions at the ranch so you can try again with a cleaner approach.
Once you land a Chizhui or Jinzhui with at least rare High Speed and decent stamina skills, set it as your active mount in the Appearance menu and start ignoring most wild horses unless they clearly roll better stats.
The mount roster in Where Winds Meet rewards both experimentation and commitment. Stealing a random horse on the roadside, taming a rare Jinzhui at Wild Main Ranch, or saving up for a Snow Oath all lead to very different day-to-day experiences. With one speed-focused free horse and one or two premium quality-of-life mounts, almost every long ride, farm route, or co-op journey across Jianghu becomes significantly smoother.
