The new patch 2.0 added the Gauntlet Martial Arts skill along with many more to the game. The mechanics are extensive, and each plays a crucial role in enhancing and building up the combat power for others. When done right, it can make bosses like the Ironheart Centipede a cakewalk. If you want to know the deeper inner workings of Gauntlet Martial Arts and how it plays out in a combat encounter, here we break down everything about the New Gauntlet Martial Arts skill, weapons, stats, gear, and more in Where Winds Meet.
Ultimate Gauntlets Build – What Makes It Work?
The Gauntlets work best in combination with the Skygrasp Rope Dart, and that is because both these weapons share the Heaven’s Will. You will see the icon for Heaven’s Will at the bottom-right of the screen. There are four nodes to Heaven’s Will. The role of Heaven’s Will is to amplify the damage of the attacks with the Heavenwill Gauntlets (attacks like Vile Condemned End and Falcon’s Pursuit – but more on that later).
We will then use the rest of the skills from Gauntlets and the Rope Dart to keep the Heaven’s Will always charged, so that we can continue dishing out the max possible damage. For example, we will use the Skygrasp Rope Dart to recover Heaven’s Will by performing Sky-Snare Stance, triggering Heaven’s Unity (Restores Heaven’s Will).
We will then amplify the damage by using the right Inner Ways and gear to refine and sharpen the build, but the core mechanics involved are this: keeping the Heaven’s Will charged and using it to dish out max damage. It is this combination that makes the build so OP.
Let’s now get into the full details, starting with locations for the 2 main weapons.
How to Get the Heavenwill Gauntlets in Where Winds Meet
We can buy the Heavenwill Gauntlets at the shop located inside the Sect options in the game. Then we have to pick a specific sect even to view the Heavenwill Gauntlets.
- Press Esc on your keyboard, then click on Sects, found at the bottom of the menu screen. Here you will get four options: Jianghu Errang, Join Sect, Shop, and Mode. Just select Shop,
- Selecting Shop. takes you to a different screen, and you will see some items displayed on the page. Ignore them, but that’s not what we are looking for. Here, press T to open the screen to View Other Sects. When you click on the option, you will see a list coming from the right side of the HUD, listing all the Sects.
Choose Mohist Hill, and you will see the Heavenwill Gauntlets for 100 Reputation. And then get Empirical Edge: Tome and Celestial Vigor: Tome (these Innerways will help you with PVE). There is another Innerway, but it’s locked behind a Changeless Heart journal campaign found in Mohist City in Hidden Mountain: Suixiang.
Note: What if you are Sectless? If you are, then don’t worry about it; you can still get the Gauntlets by following the steps above.
How to Get the Skygrasp Rope Dart In Where Winds Meet
Compared to the first weapon, the Skygrasp Rope Dart is a bit easier to unlock. Follow the main storyline quest until you get Chapter Four: Bringer of Embers. When you are taking part in this quest, it will take you to Shenze, the bottom region found in the Hidden Mountain. Once you are in the spot, just follow the storyline, and you will get the Skygrasp Rope Dart.
Note: Don’t worry, the weapon is not a missable item; it’s an automatic unlock that happens during the main questline.
The purpose of the Rope Dart is to inflict support buffs on enemies. Here are some of the details of its perk and how it works in combat:
- Special Skill – Sky-Snare Stance: Basically drags the enemies in range. You can use it to group large mobs into one specific place to deal heavy damage. When you perform Sky-Snare Stance, you will get a new buff called Heaven’s Unity.
Heaven’s Unity: Raises the gathering speed of Heaven’s Will, and you can see how it fits perfectly into our core build and gameplay style here.
How to pull off Combos & Skill Rotations with Heavenwill Gauntlets
Now that we are done with adding support buffs with the Rope Dart, let’s look at one more skill, this time under the Gauntlets, that further gives us the option to restore Heaven’s Will AND deal damage together.
- Righteous Reign: It’s a six-light combo attack; once you land on the sixth light attack, you will trigger Falcon’s Pursuit, which will help you restore Heaven’s Will. This is going to be your go-to move to replenish Heaven’s Will.
Note: Falcon’s Pursuit has six hit combos – C1 – C2 – C3 – C4 – C5 – C6. Once you get to C6, you will land the Falcon’s Pursuit. The move is at C6, which means you will need to pull off 5 light attacks one after another to trigger the Falcon’s Pursuit. Thus, you keep dealing damage and restoring Heaven’s Will at the same time.
Next, other skills with the Gauntlets that do either a combination of damage + restoring Heaven’s Will, or some that use the Heaven’s Will buildup to increase the damage dished out. These are small variations to the attack pattern that you can and should keep in mind to use, depending upon the situation.
- Special Skill: All Under Justice: The skill will consume endurance to deal four rapid fist blasts. It does good damage, but the interesting part about this attack is that you can continue the attack by following it with a light attack to trigger Falcon’s Pursuit. Just hold the Light attack button after performing the special skill, and you will trigger the Falcon’s Pursuit move.
- Martial Arts Skill: Heavenwill Declared – This one has two stages: one stage where you jump up and hit the ground, dealing damage to a small area but only when you are near the enemy. The second stage is if the enemy is far away; you will summon a falcon to grab it and fly forward to the enemy and launch a powerful fist on the ground. Here you can attack again to release Celestial Mandate, where you will summon a falcon to deal damage to the enemy and restore a 0.1% segment of Heaven’s Will.
- Charged Skill: Vile Condemned: Here are two versions: Vile Condemned and Vile Condemned End.
- Vile Condemned: (Consumes 2 stacks of Heaven’s Will)
- Vile Condemned End: (Consumes 3 to 4 stacks of Heaven’s Will with an 18-second cooldown)
- Out of the two, Vile Condemned End is a better choice, as it offers base damage and comes with the 18-second cooldown.
The Best Skill Rotations for Gauntlets Build
Here is the rotation information on combining different martial and special arts to pull off damaging combos.
- Martial Art Skill > Special Skill > Falcon’s Pursuit> Martial Art Skill > Falcon’s Pursuit
- Martial Art Skill > Mystic Skill > Martial Art Skill > Falcon’s Pursuit
- Martial Art Skill > (Rope Dart switch) >Special Skill, then Q to cancel and switch to Gauntlets > Martial Art Skill > Falcon’s Pursuit
Best Armor For Gauntlets Build
- Armor Choice: Etherwrath Set – Great for PVE/ Honorbound Set – Great for PVP
- Etherwrath Set is for PVE content, as it offers physical damage increase and armor penetration. When you hit a boss, you will gain Etherwrath, which raises the attack types by 1% for 8 seconds, stacking up to times. Once the stack reaches 5, the Martial Arts effect gains 4 attribute attack penetration. Performing a perfect dodge grants all 5 stacks instantly.
- Honorbound Set offers the Honorbound effect lasting for 5 seconds. Here, in the timer, you will take 10% less HP damage and 12% less damage from Crit damage and affinity damage, making it a defensive option. It has a cooldown of 10 seconds.
Alternative – Defence
If you are looking for a defensive option for PVE, I recommend the Flawless Guardian set. This set offers 5% damage reduction after equipping 4 pieces of the set. Once your HP falls below 60%, the set further lowers the damage taken by 1% for every 10% HP lost. (This stacks up to 5 times.)
Alternative – Offense
For an offensive alternative, the Rainwhisper set is the best. Wearing all four pieces of the set raises the critical damage and healing by 10%. Having an HP shield will further raise the bonus from 10% to 15%.
Inner Ways Information
Soaring High Inner Way and Sky Gripped Inner Ways are perfect for Heavenwill Gauntlets and Skygrasp Rope Dart.
- Soaring High – Martial Arts Attack DMG Boost
Two notable core skills make Soaring High one of the best choices for this build. The first core skill adds a cooldown to Vile Condemned End after landing Falcon’s Pursuit on an exhausted boss. The second core replenishes one bar of Heaven’s Will with a cooldown of 18 seconds after dealing Vile Condemned End.
Note: The cooldown is at 18 seconds, but it also resets when the boss is exhausted.
- Sky Gripped – Martial Arts Attack DMG Boost
It’s the Inner Way that will help us with Heaven’s Might on the enemy. Taking the Inner Way to Tier 6 will help the charged skills deal a 10% bonus critical DMG to the target with the Heaven’s Might debuff (additional 10% HP damage to enemies). If the target is a boss, then 40% of the damage from the charged skill will be dealt again as damage over time for the next three seconds.
Note: The effect can be triggered between 18 seconds, but exhausting the boss will reset the timer.
