Inner Ways in Where Winds Meet are not just minor bonuses; they are build-defining passives that change how your Martial Arts feel, how quickly you burn through Endurance, and how much punishment you can take. With only four slots and dozens of options, the real question is not “what’s good?” but “what’s good for the weapons you’re actually using.”
How Inner Ways work in Where Winds Meet
Inner Ways are passive skills that trigger automatically during combat. Some are tied to a specific Martial Art weapon, others are “Universal” and work no matter what you have equipped.
| Type | Requirement | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Weapon-specific Inner Ways | Only function fully with listed Martial Arts (for example, Strategic Sword or Heavenquaker Spear). | Modify that weapon’s Martial Arts, Charged Skills, or add new follow-ups and effects. |
| Universal / General Inner Ways | No weapon requirement. | Apply to any build, usually granting damage, healing, Endurance, or survivability bonuses. |
You can equip up to four Inner Ways at once. The game will happily let you slot an Inner Way that doesn’t match your current weapons, but you won’t get the full effect, which effectively wastes a slot.
Inner Ways that are strong on almost every build
Some Inner Ways are so broadly useful that they sit comfortably in “default pick” territory for many characters.
| Inner Way | Type | Key effect | Why it’s strong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Envigorated Warrior | General (Universal) | +5% damage and +5% healing; disabled for 5 seconds after you’re hit, and you take 5% more damage while penalized. | Flat damage and healing on everything you do, with a simple drawback you can manage by staying out of danger. |
| Fivefold Bleed | General (Universal) | Each hit has a chance to apply Weeping Blood up to 5 stacks; at 5 stacks it detonates for piercing damage. | Automatic extra damage on any multi-hit weapon; scales especially well on fast or AoE kits. |
| Bitter Seasons | General (Universal) | 10% chance on hit to apply Poison, dealing damage over time and reducing Physical Defense up to 5 stacks. | Damage over time plus stacking Physical Defense reduction amplifies your whole team’s physical output. |
| Morale Chant | General (Universal) | 80% chance every 2 seconds of gaining Yi River on attack or heal, up to 5 stacks of +1% Physical Damage and healing each. | Gradual ramp that boosts both healing and physical damage, ideal for long fights or support builds that still attack. |
| Seasonal Edge | General (Universal) | After a Dual-Weapon Skill, gain one of several offensive buffs (Crit Rate, Insight Rate, External Damage, Elemental Damage) on a 30-second timer. | Free rotating damage buff for any dual-weapon setup without extra input from you. |
These universal options are especially useful while you are still experimenting with weapons. They patch core needs—damage, penetration, healing—without requiring a specific combo window or niche scenario.
Best Inner Ways for bleed-focused swords and spears
Bleed builds in Where Winds Meet lean heavily on the Strategic Sword and Heavenquaker Spear, then layer multiple Inner Ways that stack or cash out Bleed.
| Weapon | Inner Way | What it adds | How it fits the playstyle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strategic Sword | Sword Horizon | After a Martial Arts, Special, or Charged Skill, press again at the end of the animation to fire Crisscrossing Swords. If the target has 5 Bleed stacks, the follow-up consumes them for a large Bleed burst. | Turns your entire kit into a Bleed detonator and adds extra follow-up hits, making single-target pressure much higher. |
| Strategic Sword | Adaptive Steel | Weapon-specific Martial Skill effect; for Strategic Sword, gives a chance to inflict Bleed when you deal Affinity damage. | Helps stack Bleed faster so Sword Horizon has something to cash out. |
| Strategic Sword | Insightful Strike | Focus builds when you deal Affinity damage. At full Focus you enter Concentration: +10% Affinity damage and a small chance to reduce incoming damage by 40% on hit. | Pairs with Strategic Sword’s single-target style, giving both more damage and a bit of reactive damage reduction. |
| Strategic Sword | Fivefold Bleed / Bitter Seasons | Fivefold Bleed adds Weeping Blood stacks; Bitter Seasons adds Poisons that cut Physical Defense. | Stack Bleed and Poison together for multiple overlapping damage-over-time effects plus defense shred. |
| Heavenquaker Spear | Wolfchaser's Art | Reduces the combo hits needed to gain Sorrow Without Wine buffs from 5/10 to 4/8. Hitting a boss with your Martial Art while they’re bleeding has a chance to grant extra combo count based on Bleed stacks. | Lets Heavenquaker reach its self-buffs faster and rewards you for keeping Bleed up, often via Strategic Sword. |
| Heavenquaker Spear | Adaptive Steel | For spears, your attacks ignore 12.5% of the target’s Physical Defense. | Reliable damage boost, especially noticeable on bosses with high armor. |
| Heavenquaker Spear | Fivefold Bleed / Bitter Seasons | Extra Bleed and Poison stacking on top of Heavenquaker’s own Bleed tools. | Fills downtime between Martial Arts bursts with passive damage and more defensive debuffs. |
A typical bleed setup pairs Strategic Sword with Heavenquaker Spear and runs Sword Horizon, Wolfchaser’s Art, Fivefold Bleed, and one flex slot (often Bitter Seasons or Insightful Strike) depending on how defensive you want to be.
Best Inner Ways for the Nameless Sword and Nameless Spear
The Nameless weapons lean on Endurance management and charged hits. They feel best when Inner Ways keep your stamina bar from collapsing mid-combo.
| Weapon | Inner Way | Role | Effect in play |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nameless Sword | Sword Morph | Charged-skill morph | With Qi Shield active, Vagrant Sword’s second charge stage fires multiple extra sword energy attacks. You can spend additional Endurance for up to +20% damage on that energy. |
| Nameless Sword | Wildfire Spark | Stamina sustain | Refunds a percentage of the Endurance you spend. At higher tiers that refund grows and can also trigger extra recovery after large stamina spends. |
| Nameless Sword | Battle Anthem | Boss killer | Gives +10% Charged Skill damage against all bosses, improving Sword Morph’s payoff in any serious encounter. |
| Nameless Spear | Mountain's Might | Endurance discount | Boosts Qiankun’s Lock’s Endless Gale effect so your Endurance cost reduction goes up to 20% for a short window. |
| Nameless Spear | Wildfire Spark | Endurance refund | Layered with Mountain’s Might, this lets you cycle Martial Arts and movement-heavy spear strings without starving your Endurance bar. |
| Nameless Spear | Adaptive Steel | Armor piercing | As with other spears, you ignore part of the target’s Physical Defense, making both AoE sweeps and single hits hit harder. |
On Nameless Sword, a clean offensive package is Sword Morph, Wildfire Spark, Battle Anthem, and one universal slot (Envigorated Warrior or Fivefold Bleed). On Nameless Spear, Mountain’s Might plus Wildfire Spark covers the Endurance problem, with Adaptive Steel and a universal bleed or poison pick rounding out the set.
Best Inner Ways for tanking with Thundercry Blade and Stormbreaker Spear
The Thundercry Blade and Stormbreaker Spear together are built for tanking and group play: shields, taunts, and heavy damage reduction. Inner Ways here focus on shields lasting longer and making taunts safer rather than raw DPS.
| Weapon | Inner Way | Primary benefit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thundercry Blade | Exquisite Scenery | After a successful defend with Stoic Cleaver, lets you immediately trigger a first-stage Charged Heavy Attack by pressing Perception or Heavy; restores Battle Will on Varied Combos. | Shortens Avalanche’s ramp-up and keeps your counter pattern tighter, particularly in boss fights. |
| Thundercry Blade | Art of Resistance | Extends your HP shields’ duration and the extra effects from the skills that created them by 4 seconds. | Directly strengthens both Predator’s Shield and emergency shields like Trapped Beast. |
| Thundercry Blade / Stormbreaker Spear | Trapped Beast | When taking damage under 30% HP, automatically creates a shield up to 30% of max HP for 4 seconds (300-second cooldown). | Huge but infrequent safety net; better when combined with Art of Resistance to stretch that shield’s lifespan. |
| Stormbreaker Spear | Rock Solid | After Storm Roar taunts a boss, you gain an additional 20% damage reduction. Taunting normal enemies adds 5% each up to 20%. While this reduction is active, you deal 10% less damage. | Pushes you firmly into tank territory: you take much less damage but sacrifice output, which is acceptable in co-op. |
| Thundercry Blade | Evening Snow | Within 12 seconds of entering combat, if HP falls below 60%, you regenerate HP for 4 seconds (300-second cooldown). | One extra layer of passive safety for long dungeons or tough open-world fights. |
| Thundercry Blade | Steadfast Stance | Greatly reduces chance of being staggered by non-boss, non-player hits. | Useful for trash clearing and crowded encounters where chip staggers would otherwise interrupt your charging. |
For a full tank kit, a typical combination is Rock Solid, Art of Resistance, Trapped Beast, and a universal pick like Envigorated Warrior if you want some damage back, or Morale Chant for longer fights.
Best Inner Ways for airborne fan and umbrella builds
Inkwell Fan and Vernal Umbrella lean on juggling enemies in the air and playing at range, with Inner Ways that reward constant movement and airborne hits.
| Weapon | Inner Way | Effect | Synergy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inkwell Fan | Flying Gourds | Adds a second charge to Peak’s Springless Silence at the cost of +3 seconds cooldown. | More repositioning and air time, which is essential to stay safe and trigger movement-based passives. |
| Inkwell Fan | Thunderous Bloom | If you move 15m in 3 seconds, you gain Spring Thunder: the next three Heavy or Airborne Heavy Attacks within 12 seconds deal +15% damage (15-second internal cooldown). | Rewards constant motion; pairs naturally with dashes and Flying Gourds. |
| Inkwell Fan | Wind Beneath Wings | Reduces Endurance cost of Skywalk Dash dashes while jumping by 10%, grants +30% Movement Speed for 3 seconds after landing, and restores HP when you defeat enemies. | The movement speed spike makes it trivial to meet Thunderous Bloom’s movement requirement, and the sustain helps fragile ranged play. |
| Inkwell Fan / Vernal Umbrella | Star Reacher | Grants +10% Physical Attack for 8 seconds after knocking an enemy airborne. | Inkwell Fan can send targets airborne by itself; Vernal Umbrella needs Fan support but then benefits greatly from the buff during its airborne-focused Special Skill windows. |
| Vernal Umbrella | Blossom Barrage | Spring Sorrow gains a second charge and marks targets with a Combo effect that increases damage taken from your ballistic skills by 10% for 8 seconds. | Improves both control (two immobilizes) and burst when followed with skills like Unfading Flower or Let Spring Go. |
A clean ranged setup is Inkwell Fan + Vernal Umbrella with Flying Gourds, Thunderous Bloom, Wind Beneath Wings, and Star Reacher. This creates a loop of dashing, launching enemies, and slamming them while your damage buffs stay active.
Best Inner Ways for Infernal Twinblades and Mortal Rope Dart
Infernal Twinblades and Mortal Rope Dart share an aggressive Bamboocut – Wind path built around fast hits, crits, and punishing Exhausted enemies.
| Weapon | Inner Way | Focus | Gameplay change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infernal Twinblades | Echoes of Oblivion | Armor and resistance shredding | Light Attacks apply Sin or Karma, and hitting those targets with Infernal Twinblades’ Light Attacks lets you ignore 10% Physical Defense and 10% Bamboocut Resistance. |
| Infernal Twinblades / Mortal Rope Dart | Breaking Point | Exhausted-target burst | Critical hits on Exhausted enemies apply Disintegration, up to three stacks of +10 Physical Penetration and +5% Critical Damage each. |
| Mortal Rope Dart | Vendetta | Token engine | Vendetta Tokens from Guided Blade (Bladebound Thread) last longer and restore more Tokens of Gratitude, powering up your summoned rats and damage over time. |
| Mortal Rope Dart | Riptide Reflex | Cooldown smoothing | Hitting an enemy with a listed Control Skill (such as Bladebound Thread) reduces your current Martial Arts Skill cooldown by 1 second, with a 10-second cooldown on the effect. |
| Infernal Twinblades / Mortal Rope Dart | Morale Chant / Envigorated Warrior | General DPS | Add a scaling buff (Morale Chant) or flat buff (Envigorated Warrior) on top of already high hit counts for more consistent damage. |
For Twinblades, Echoes of Oblivion, Breaking Point, Envigorated Warrior, and Fivefold Bleed turn every light chain into a blur of penetration and bleed. For Rope Dart, Vendetta, and Riptide Reflex are core, with Breaking Point and a universal damage passive filling out the set.
Best Inner Ways for dedicated healers (Panacea Fan and Soulshade Umbrella)
Healing builds rely on Dewdrops and clone healing to keep everyone alive. The strongest Inner Ways here either improve the Dewdrop economy or multiply the impact of each heal.
| Weapon | Inner Way | Effect | Why healers want it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Panacea Fan | Royal Remedy | Cloudburst Healing’s water clone heals 10% more, and each heal-over-time tick on you inside the area grants 1 Dewdrop. | Boosts your bread-and-butter heal and accelerates Dewdrop gain so you can use the stronger Sense Skill version more often. |
| Panacea Fan | Restoring Blossom | Critical heals add Nurturing, up to 3 stacks of +2% healing received for 3 seconds. | Self-reinforcing loop: as you crit-heal, subsequent heals on that target get stronger without additional cost. |
| Panacea Fan | Esoteric Revival | Resurrection restores 50% more HP to revived allies. | Makes revives much safer during punishing boss patterns. |
| Panacea Fan / Soulshade Umbrella | Envigorated Warrior | +5% damage and healing, disabled briefly when hit; taking a hit also increases damage taken by 5% for that window. | Higher throughput for both heals and the modest damage you still deal, with a penalty that’s manageable if you play from range. |
| Panacea Fan / Soulshade Umbrella | Morale Chant | Yi River stacks increase Physical Damage and healing on a timer while you attack or heal. | Slow but reliable scaling buff during longer encounters, especially co-op bosses. |
| Soulshade Umbrella | Mending Loom | Echoing Grow restores 5 Dewdrops on cast and heals you for 10% max HP every time you consume 100 Dewdrops. | Solves Dewdrop hunger and quietly sustains your own health while you focus on the group. |
| Soulshade Umbrella | Restoring Blossom | Same Nurturing mechanic as with Panacea Fan. | Allows bigger heals for fewer Dewdrops, which matters over long raids or world bosses. |
A pure support loadout often looks like Royal Remedy, Restoring Blossom, Envigorated Warrior, and Morale Chant on Panacea Fan, while Soulshade Umbrella favors Mending Loom, Restoring Blossom, Envigorated Warrior, and Morale Chant if you’re leaning entirely into healing.
How to unlock and upgrade Inner Ways
Inner Ways start at Tier 1 and can be upgraded multiple times, often transforming modest bonuses into massive ones.
| System | Requirement | What you do | What you gain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inner Way unlocks | Story progress, specific locations, or torn pages and tomes | Buy Torn Pages from merchants, follow Inner Way legacy clues via the Develop → Inner Way → Comprehend Inner Way menu, or clear Martial Arts Sanctums and chests. | New Inner Ways such as Bitter Seasons from a legacy quest or weapon-specific passives from sanctum treasure chests. |
| Breakthrough tiers | Solo Mode Level 4 | Once Breakthrough is unlocked, open Develop → Inner Way, select an Inner Way, and use its specific Notes or Tips to raise its tier. | Stronger effects: higher percentage values, new secondary perks, or altered triggers. |
| Tips Exchange | Surplus Tips you don’t plan to use | Recycle unwanted Tips into Vintage Bookmarks, then spend those on Recommendation Tomes for the weapon Path or Universal pool you care about. | More chances at the exact Tip you need for high-value Inner Ways like Sword Horizon, Fivefold Bleed, or Wildfire Spark. |
| Inner Way Conversion | Purple or Gold Inner Ways only; limited uses per season | In the Inner Way Conversion menu, place two Inner Ways into the slots and swap their Tip counts. Both then go on a 7-day cooldown for further conversions. | Effectively moves upgrade progress from an Inner Way you don’t use to one you do, without wasting previous farming. |
Campaign dungeons, Energy Challenges, seasonal shops, and the battle pass all feed you Inner Way Note chests. Those chests open into random Tips, so the Upgrade loop is equal parts planning and rerolling until your key passives reach the tier where they reshape your build.
With only four Inner Way slots to work with, every choice carries weight. Treat them less like minor stat sticks and more like additional skills: Sword Horizon turning a bleed sword into a detonator, Rock Solid redefining a spear as a tank anchor, or Royal Remedy quietly carrying an entire group through an arena. Once those synergies click with your chosen Martial Arts, the game’s combat opens up in a way that feels less like chasing numbers and more like committing to a style.
