Understanding Weapon Stats and How to Upgrade Them

In Where Winds Meet, weapon upgrades depend on three factors:
The weapon’s color, its level, and its primary stat (this isn’t important at first, but it becomes crucial as you reach the higher levels).

The primary stat isn’t universal: it depends on the weapon type and has its own color.

Weapons come in three qualities:

What really matters for progressing is obtaining a weapon of the right color.

A gold weapon will always be a better long-term investment because of the arsenal, but I’ll discuss that later.

Up to level 96, what determines a weapon’s actual power is:

Mastery is mainly used to unlock special moves and make combos flow more smoothly, but it isn’t the primary factor in power.

Up to level 96, I focused on the weapon’s level, not on mastery.

For every campaign or fort, you receive a new weapon pack, so you end up swapping out a lot of gear.

Never throw away a weapon—recycling is much more cost-effective.

Recycling lets you recover materials and bonuses to upgrade your main weapon faster.

At first, since I didn’t have any gold weapons, I only recycled the blue ones and duplicates (you can select them in the menu on the left).

Once you start leveling up, you’ll focus more on the weapon’s primary stat, which varies by weapon (Physical Attack, Critical Damage, etc.).

Here again, the stats are color-coded (blue, purple, gold).

Mastery is very easy to build up by reusing recovered materials or using various stones.

To level up your weapons faster, it’s recommended to choose the same Path Guide for both of your main weapons.

The Path’s bonuses apply to both weapons, making them complementary and speeding up progression.

Up to level 40, it’s not necessary to build a complete arsenal.
One primary and one secondary weapon from the same Path are more than enough.

The game automatically suggests what it thinks is the best build, but this is only a suggestion.
It’s up to you to define your style based on your preferences and playstyle.

I'm not going to give you any advice on this, since there are plenty of videos on the subject, and you'll probably want to use your own custom build.

The Arsenal is an equipment storage feature that unlocks around levels 51–55.

It’s used to store your old weapons and armor that you no longer use, while still reaping their benefits.

When you place gear in the Arsenal, it grants you passive stat bonuses (such as attack or maximum health) without you having to equip it.

It’s therefore a way to boost your overall stats by using your old items rather than letting them sit unused.

In summary:

The Arsenal transforms your obsolete gear into permanent upgrades, allowing you to strengthen your character without changing your active build.

All that's left is to activate the set effects (the little icons on the gear). For example, on my set, the weapons, amulet, and pendant have water droplets, while the armor has an eagle—but that's another story.

As I leveled up, I realized that upgrading your weapons isn’t just a matter of luck or skill, but of logic: choosing the right color, leveling up, recycling wisely, and sticking to the same path to maintain smooth progression. The Arsenal ultimately ties it all together by transforming old gear into permanent bonuses. With these basics, anyone can create their own style without blindly following the builds suggested by the game or in videos.