Best Upgrades To Unlock ASAP In Windblown

One of the best things about modern roguelikes is that they allow players to progress with permanent rewards. For example, in Dead Cells, players could collect orb-like “Cells” to buy permanent upgrades from increasing potion charges to unlocking new gear to find on runs.

The developer of Dead Cells, Motion Twin, has a new game called Windblown. While there are a lot of differences, Windblown has a currency for upgrades too via gears. With every upgrade unlocked in the HUB world, new upgrades will appear. They’ll also pop up depending on how far players get in the Early Access build. So, here are some good ones so far.

8 Abundant Jars

Find Fruit In Jars To Heal

Players are going to find jars and other destructible objects all over the place in the game. Typically, they will give players Shells which is one of the game’s many currencies to hoard. Abundant Jars is an upgrade that will give players a chance to find fruit like in an old-school brawler wherein discarded food would regenerate health. Things like apples can do that in Windblown. It’s always nice to have more ways to heal in a roguelike even if the chances of finding an apple are rare.

7 Backstabber

Deal Bonus Damage From The Back

One of the central ideas of Windblown is to seemingly make players feel like they are a ninja. That’s why players can dodge and zip through levels like they are one with the wind. Between dodging attacks, players are going to get into the habit of getting behind enemies. Normally, this will just keep them out of the direct line of attack. However, Backstabber is an upgrade that will add a boost to damage if players strike from behind, giving them another reason to go back there. This can be very advantageous when trying to take down larger enemies or bosses in the game.

6 Health Flask

More Ways To Heal On A Run

Getting the first Health Flask upgrade is mandatory. From there, players can dump more Cogs into this slot to unlock charges. The second tier, for example, will allow players to drink two potions while on a run. It’s a similar upgrade path to Dead Cells which also used potions.

Players had the advantage of recharging their potions for free in that game in-between biomes and players can’t do that freely in Windblown. That’s why increasing the initial charges is the best bet for players who struggle to keep their health above water in a roguelike.

5 Recycling

Sell Unwanted Gear And Upgrades

Finding rare equipment or temporary upgrades in a roguelike can be exhilarating. It can also feel like a waste to leave an item behind but that’s where Recycling comes in handy for Windblown at least. Players can sell unwanted upgrades and gear for Shells, the game’s temporary currency that they can find on runs. Shells can be used in-between new biomes and boss battles to buy rare gear or other currencies. Sometimes players can even get lucky and find a potion recharge. Other uses for Shells include using them to unlock gates while exploring biomes to get to items like fruit which will restore HP on the spot.

4 Start Source

Choose 1 Of 3 Gifts At The Start Of Your Journey

To have a good run in a roguelike, players need to start off with a few perks. For example in Windblown, Start Source is an upgrade that will give players a choice of one of three Gifts to begin with. Gifts are temporary upgrades that will disappear once players die and they can range from imbuing the weapons of players with fire or giving them more ways to get Cogs, another currency in the game. In a run, players can equip up to three Gifts and there is an adjacent upgrade to Start Source worth mentioning too called Gift Slot. This will give players a fourth slot for Gifts, giving them more ways to make their character stronger.

3 Starting Trinket

Add A Random Trinket To The Start Of Your Journey

Trinkets are abilities players can use in battle which operate like sub-weapons in other roguelikes. They can deal a great amount of damage to enemies, typically in large areas, which is great for dealing with hordes. However, players cannot spam them repeatedly like a normal weapon as they run on an RPG-like cooldown system akin to Diablo.

Also, players will not initially begin with a Trinket when they start a run but they can if they get the Starting Trinket upgrade. Like Starting Weapon, players will be presented with a random Trinket when they jump into a run from the black hole-like Detonado to the protective aura of Blade Storm.

2 Starting Weapon

Add Some Weapon Variety To The Start Of Your Journey

Players will begin the game with a weapon called the Fish Knife, which looks more like a sword than a knife. It kind of looks like either Cloud’s Buster Sword from Final Fantasy 7 or Pyramid Head’s weapon from Silent Hill 2. Regardless of the look, it is effective albeit boring at dispatching foes. Players can find weapons on their runs to replace it but every time they start anew, players will have the Fish Knife again. That is until players unlock the Starting Weapon upgrade which will present players with a random weapon at the start from the fire-infused Sirocco rod to a slow but deadly Ravenblade.

1 Updrafts

Unlock Hidden Areas

The Updrafts upgrade is one of three key upgrades players can get to unlock more ways to boost their characters in a run. The whole game is based around wind and when players transition from one biome to another, they will ride a big torrent of wind. There are smaller torrents in biomes that can take players to secret areas to get more temporary upgrades and other goodies. Challenges is another upgrade example too, which will quite literally challenge players to a duel to typically get a Gift if victorious. Finally, there is Variant Bait which will randomly cause a rare foe to appear who will reward players once defeated. All three upgrades are great, but Updrafts is the key one here.