Beating Qianye, the witch boss in Where Winds Meet, can feel like a daunting challenge. However, with careful preparation, clear strategy, and smart execution, you can defeat her and progress smoothly. This guide breaks down everything you need to know to take her down confidently.
Qianye appears in the Chapter One quest called “For Whom Does He Return.” The fight takes place in a location known as Blissful Retreat on Moonveil Mountain. Defeating her is essential to continue the main story and unlock further content. She has multiple phases and different forms, and each phase demands a different approach.
Preparing for the Fight
Before engaging Qianye, make sure you are properly prepared:
- Level: Aim to be around level 26 to 35 or higher. Being under-leveled makes the fight much harder.
- Gear: Upgrade your primary weapon and armor. Your damage output and survivability depend heavily on how well your gear is upgraded.
- Healing Items: Bring a generous supply of healing consumables. You will need them, especially in later phases.
- Companions: If the fight lets you bring a companion, use that advantage. A partner like Yi Dao can help absorb damage and relieve pressure in the early stage.
Recognizing Qianye’s Phases
Qianye’s fight is split into distinct phases, each with its own attack style and behavior. Understanding these phases is essential for victory.
- Phase One (Initial Form)
- She attacks with wide scythe slashes and overhead swings.
- She can toss her scythe like a boomerang by hovering briefly.
- Many of her attacks in this stage can be parried, so learning parry timing will reward you greatly.
- Phase Two (Red Form)
- In this aggressive form, she unleashes faster combos, heavy hits, and dashing slashes.
- Perfect parries become very useful here; interrupting her chains gives you an opening to strike back.
- Skills that can momentarily stun or stagger her are particularly helpful.
- Phase Two (White Form / Mirror Dimension)
- In her white form, Qianye teleports, disappears, and becomes much less predictable.
- She drains your health while in this form, making caution your friend.
- Dodging perfectly is more reliable than parrying now, especially for her teleport attacks.
- Use ranged or mobility-based abilities when she tries to do a ground slam or an aggressive aerial strike.
Choosing the Best Weapons and Abilities
Your choice of weapon and abilities will influence how smoothly you can handle her transitions.
- A sustaining weapon works very well here. For example, a healing fan that restores health while you land attacks helps you survive long phases.
- If you prefer damage, a fast weapon that lets you hit quickly and recover health by being aggressive is a solid pick.
- Recommended abilities:
- A vertical-movement skill helps you evade sweeping slash attacks.
- A leap or dash ability allows quick repositioning when she teleports.
- A counter-attack or interrupt skill is valuable to stop her long combos.
Combat Strategy: Parry, Dodge, and Attack
A smart balance of defense and offense will carry you through the fight.
- Parrying: Use parries when her attacks are clearly parryable — especially in phase one and the red form.
- Dodging: When she switches to her white form, rely more on dodge than parry. Perfect dodges reduce damage significantly and often give you a slow-motion moment to strike.
- Attack Windows:
- After a parry, follow up with a light combo or use a special ability to deal safe yet meaningful damage.
- During her more unpredictable white-form attack patterns, hit only when the moment is clearly safe or when she mispositions.
- Health Management: Maintain your health using your weapon that heals or through healing items. You do not want to waste opportunities to regain health, especially when she becomes more aggressive.
Handling the Mirror-Dimension Mechanic
Part of the fight brings you into a mirrored realm, where you may face a duplicate version of Qianye.
- In this dimension, one version of Qianye is more dangerous and drains your life.
- Limit your time on the side that drains health — focus on quick, decisive attacks to exit the mirror dimension faster.
- Reducing the number of mirror swaps makes the fight more manageable.
