Where Winds Meet Severance Trials: How They Work

Severance Trials in Where Winds Meet are endgame challenge battles that test your combat build, reaction timing, and understanding of enemy mechanics. You unlock them after progressing through the main story, and each trial pits you against a series of increasingly difficult waves of enemies, with special modifiers that change how you must fight. Completing a trial rewards you with upgrade materials, exclusive gear, and currency used for endgame progression, but failing means you restart the entire sequence.

What Are Severance Trials?

Severance Trials are a recurring endgame activity in Where Winds Meet, a martial-arts open-world RPG. They are not part of the main storyline but appear after you reach a certain level and complete the prologue. Each trial is a self-contained arena challenge with a fixed set of enemy waves, and the game adds a random modifier each week (e.g., “enemies explode on death” or “your healing is halved”).

Unlike regular dungeons, Severance Trials do not require a party – you can enter solo or with up to three other players. The difficulty scales with your character’s level, but the mechanics remain the same: survive, kill, and earn points based on speed and damage taken.

How Severance Trials Are Triggered

Trials are triggered through the in-game menu, not by finding a physical location. Here is the exact process:

1. Open the main menu (Esc on PC, or the pause button on console).
2. Select the “Challenges” tab.
3. Choose “Severance Trials” from the list.
4. Select a trial difficulty (Normal, Hard, or Nightmare).
5. Click “Start” – the game teleports you to the arena.

You can also trigger a trial by talking to the Trial Master NPC in any major city. This NPC is marked with a sword icon on the map. Once you start, you cannot leave until you finish or die.

How Trials End

A Severance Trial ends in one of three ways:

• Completion – you defeat all waves and the final boss. You get your score, rewards, and the option to replay for a better score.
• Defeat – your HP reaches zero. You are teleported out and must restart from wave 1.
• Abandon – you manually quit via the menu. You get no rewards and the trial counts as a failure for weekly resets.

There is no timer that ends the trial – you can take as long as you want, but your score will be lower. The trial ends immediately after the last enemy dies.

Rewards and Weekly Reset

Rewards are granted based on your score bracket, not just completion. The brackets are:

• Bronze (0–9,999 points): basic upgrade materials
• Silver (10,000–14,999): better materials and a chance at gear
• Gold (15,000+): exclusive gear set pieces and trial currency

Trials reset every Monday at 04:00 server time. You can run each trial as many times as you want, but only the first completion per week gives the full reward. Subsequent runs give reduced rewards (about 30% of the base).

Common Mistakes and Misconceptions

A frequent mistake is treating Severance Trials like normal mob grinding – players rush in without checking the weekly modifier. The modifier can completely change your build. For example, if the modifier is “enemies reflect damage,” a high-damage glass cannon build will kill you faster than the enemies will.

Another misconception is that score does not matter. It does – higher score brackets unlock exclusive cosmetics and better gear drop rates. Even if you complete the trial, a low score means you miss the best rewards.

Also, many players think damage taken only counts HP lost to enemy attacks. It actually counts any HP loss, including self-damage from skills or environmental hazards. So avoid using skills that cost HP unless necessary.

Tips for Maximizing Your Score

To get a Gold bracket score, follow these practical tips:

• Memorize wave compositions – the first two waves are always trash mobs, the third is a mini-boss, and the final wave is the main boss.
• Use crowd-control skills on trash waves to save time – grouping enemies and AoE-ing them down is faster than single-target.
• Save your ultimate ability for the boss wave, not for trash.
• Bring healing items – they do not count as damage taken, so you can heal through mistakes.
• If you are in a party, assign one player to aggro the boss while others DPS – this reduces overall damage taken.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I do Severance Trials with friends?

Yes, you can form a party of up to four players before starting. The trial scales enemy HP with party size, but the score formula stays the same. A coordinated party usually scores higher because you can split roles.

Do I lose anything if I fail a trial?

No, you do not lose items or currency. You only lose the time and the chance at that week’s rewards. You can retry as many times as you want before the weekly reset.

What is the best build for Severance Trials?

There is no single best build – it depends on the weekly modifier. Generally, a balanced build with one healing skill, one crowd-control skill, and one high-damage ultimate works well. Check the modifier before choosing your loadout.

Why is my score lower than my friend’s even though we finished together?

Score is per-player, not shared. Your damage taken and time are tracked individually. If your friend took less damage or dealt more damage (which reduces time), their score will be higher.

Can I get exclusive gear from trials?

Yes, Gold bracket rewards include exclusive gear set pieces that cannot be obtained elsewhere. These sets have unique bonuses, like increased crit damage or reduced skill cooldowns, that are useful for endgame content.

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