All Upgrades and How to Unlock Them

November 2, 2024

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All Upgrades in Windblown

From the creators of Dead Cells, Windblown is an action roguelike where you fight against unusual robotic creatures made of stone, known as Sentinels. The player takes on the role of a Leaper, exploring various biomes hidden within the mysterious Vortex.

While venturing through the Vortex, you will encounter a range of enemies, ranging from smaller foes like Rushers and Bombers to elite enemies like Sword Golems and Worker Saws. Defeating these enemies is essential for progressing in Windblown, as they drop valuable resources called Cogs. Cogs can be used to unlock various upgrades by speaking to an NPC named Eperin at the Ark. Follow this guide to discover all the upgrades available in Windblown and how to obtain them.

Windblown: Which Upgrades to Get First

Here are some upgrades players should prioritize in Windblown.

All Upgrades in Windblown

Like other roguelikes such as Hades and Dead Cells, you start as a relatively weak character without any upgrades. This makes early exploration challenging as you venture into the unknown Vortex. However, with a few runs, you can collect Cogs and Memonites, which allow you to unlock upgrades and weapons. By collecting Cogs, you can unlock the following upgrades by talking Eperin. There are five different categories, each of which features several distinct upgrades.

Healing Upgrades

Healing upgrades should be among your first priorities in Windblown. Starting the game with no healing flasks makes it challenging to survive in the long run. Additional healing flasks give you more freedom through dodging, and allow you to save healing for major battles, such as final bosses.

Upgrade	Cost	What it Does
Health Flask	Free	Unlocks first health flask
Health Flask II	180 Cogs	Unlocks second health flask
Health Flask III	400 Cogs	Unlocks third health flask
Health Flask IV	600 Cogs	Unlocks fourth health flask

Ark Upgrades

After each defeat in the Vortex, you return to the Ark, a village of floating islands located just outside the deadly Vortex winds. Here, you’ll meet various NPCs who assist you in upgrading your abilities for future attempts. Tou can unlock two specific upgrades to add new features to the Ark village:

Upgrade	Cost	What it Does
Macaba’s Bark	50 Cogs	Allows you to speak to Macaba to change your appearance to other playable characters.
Weapon Training	2500 Cogs	Lets you try out all unlocked weapons on the training dummy.

General Upgrades

In Windblown, various general upgrades enhance the experience of your runs. Some upgrades provide early-game boosts, while others allow you to keep resources between runs. Below are all the general upgrades you can unlock:

Upgrade	Cost	What it does
Starting Weapon I	20 Cogs	Equips a weapon at the beginning of each run.
Backstabber	120 Cogs	Increases backstab damage by 25%.
Starting Trinket I	100 Cogs	Provides a trinket at the start of each run.
Recycling I	140 Cogs	Allows you to recycle gear on the ground, converting it into Shells.
Shell Reserves I	250 Cogs	Preserves up to 100 Shells upon death.
Boosted Boosts I	280 Cogs	Grants a 5% chance to receive enhanced boosts.
Starting Weapon II	300 Cogs	Equips two weapons at the start of the run.
Starting Trinket II	300 Cogs	Provides two trinkets at the start of the run.
Recycling II	300 Cogs	Recycling gear yields more Shells.
Shell Reserves II	500 Cogs	Preserves up to 200 Shells upon death.
Reroll	750 Cogs	Allows you to reroll gifts in exchange for Shells.
Gift Slot I	600 Cogs	Unlocks a fourth Gift Slot.
Gift Slot II	1000 Cogs	Allows you to purchase gifts mid-run.
Shell Reserves III	1000 Cogs	Preserves up to 300 Shells upon death.
Boosted Boosts II	1500 Cogs	Increases the chance for enhanced boosts to 10%.
Start Source	50 Cogs	Adds a Gift Source at the beginning of each run.
Hexed Source	500 Cogs	Spawns a Hexed Gift Source in your run. Hexed Gift Sources offer strong effects, but come with downsides.

Vortex Upgrades

Vortex upgrades add new elements to the Vortex environment, enhancing gameplay after you’ve put a few hours into Windblown. For example, obtaining the Wind Map unlocks the Fungal Swamp biome, featuring new enemies and bosses. Below are the Vortex upgrades you can unlock:

Upgrades	Cost or Requirement	What it Does
Wind Map	Find in Rat Village (the third biome) and bring it back to the Ark.	Unlocks Fungal Swamp biome.
Abundant Jars	140 Cogs	Breaking jars may occasionally drop food items.
Variant Bait	140 Cogs	Attracts Variants, who can drop additional loot.
Updrafts	180 Cogs	Allows the use of upward wind currents to reach previously inaccessible areas.
Challengers	300 Cogs	Adds optional challenges to each run.
Lifeline	300 Cogs	Enables the use of rope to access a hidden area beneath the well in the Ark.
Cog Gates	1000 Cogs	You may encounter random gates that can be unlocked with Cogs for additional loot.

Action Upgrades

The final type of upgrades you can purchase from Eperin are action upgrades. These upgrades add new types of attacks and enhance movement abilities, increasing your combat potential. Unlike other upgrades, most action upgrades do not require Cogs, but are instead earned as rewards for defeating tough bosses.

Upgrade	Cost or Requirement	What it does
Banger Pulsor	Defeat Headbanger, the final boss in the Factory biome.	Grants chain-dash ability.
Alterattack	Reward for defeating a boss in the Golem Gardens biome.	Unlocks chained attacks.
Chained Alterattack	Reward for defeating a boss in the Rat Village biome.	Unlocks a second chained attack.
Extra Chained Alterattack	Reward for defeating a boss in the Incubator biome.	Unlocks a third chained attack.
Crystallize	Reward for defeating an enemy in the Golem Gardens biome.	Lets you turn elite enemies and bosses into Memonites when defeating them.
Enhanced Crystallize	300 Cogs	Crystallizing enemies reduces trinket refill time.

These are all the upgrades available in Windblown. Note that not all upgrades are accessible from the start; some have a lock icon with a number next to them, indicating the number of upgrades you need to purchase before they become available. Additionally, level II or III upgrades will only appear after unlocking the previous level.