All difficulty modes in Where Winds Meet explained

Before you start exploring the open world in Where Winds Meet, you’ll get a prompt to select one of many difficulty options. At the moment, there are four modes in the game, and choosing the right one is very important, as it can affect the way you experience the game. Furthermore, some options become unavailable as the game doesn’t have alternative characters in the global version yet.

Since you won’t have much idea about how challenging the enemies across difficulties will be, it can be hard to pick one. That’s why this guide will explain the difference between all difficulty modes in Where Winds Meet.

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Where Winds Meet: All difficulty modes explained

To change difficulty, open settings and navigate to the 'Game' tab. You'll find all available options in the 'Combat Difficulty' option. That said, here's what you can expect from each of them.

1) Story mode

Story mode will have a lot of assistance in combat (Image via NetEase)

This mode is for those who don’t want to engage in combat and just want to experience the open world and the story quests in Where Winds Meet. Combat is highly assisted, with every enemy attack giving you a Deflection assist prompt.

In most fights, you have the option to run away, but since you need to complete certain encounters and boss fights to get the story beats, this mode will make your journey much easier. Note that you need one of your primary weapons in hand to receive the prompts.

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2) Recommended mode

Recommended mode strikes the perfect balance between story and combat (Image via NetEase)

The Recommended mode option is similar to the Story mode, but with slightly less Deflection assist during fights. It means that the game will not prompt smaller attacks, giving you a chance to learn enemy attack patterns. The damage enemies deal is still much lower, so don’t worry too much about getting hit.

Prompts will mostly appear for special attacks, but you get a bigger Dodge or Deflect window. You can still also enjoy the story quests and the open world without stressing about fighting enemies. It is the mode we recommend you choose as the starting difficulty option in Where Winds Meet.

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3) Expert mode

Expert mode will test your combat skills (Image via NetEase)

With the Expert difficulty, you’re starting to turn up the heat as enemies suddenly become a lot more challenging. That’s not only because they do more damage, but because the Deflection assist is also unavailable. Fighting against a group becomes even more difficult as you need to watch multiple enemy attacks at once.

The only assist available will be the ranged attack hints, as the mode intends to give you the real feel of the Wuxia genre and will force you to “git gud”. A good way to get accustomed to fighting without assistance is to practice in Recommended difficulty by turning off Deflection assist.

Also Read How to defeat Puppeteer - Curtain Call in Where Winds Meet

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4) Legend mode

Legend difficulty is only available to select at the start of the game (Image via NetEase)

The Legend mode in Where Winds Meet is the highest difficulty for casual players. This option is only available during character creation, and while you can bring it down to one of the previous three, it is not possible to select this option again. Furthermore, you’re also unable to co-op while playing on the Legend difficulty.

In this mode, the enemies have a larger health pool and deal a lot more damage. The game basically turns into a souls-lite where Dodges and Deflects will be your best friends. Playing the game in this difficulty grants a special emblem and badge to showcase on your profile.

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5) Hardcore mode

Hardcore mode does not give second chances (Image via NetEase)

Moving away from the traditional difficulties, the Hardcore mode provides the highest level of challenge in Where Winds Meet. Not only are the enemies powerful, but your character also gets a single life. In this mode, death is permanent, and you’ll lose the character if the health bar reaches zero.

This option is not available in the game yet, likely because there isn’t a dedicated option to make an alternate character. Similar to Legend, you won't be able to swap to this difficulty as it requires a new character.

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Check out other related guides and features:

• How to unlock Drunken Poet in Where Winds Meet
• How to unlock Yaksha Rush in Where Winds Meet