You need to bow on many occasions in Where Winds Meet—in shrine puzzles, ritual sequences, and many exploration quests. It’s one of the mechanics the game expects you to understand, yet it’s not clearly mentioned in the menus, and you can’t even find the bow option in the emote wheel. If you’re standing still in front of a statue, wondering how you should bow here. Actually, it’s very easy but only vague that you don’t come to know at first, so here’s how the bow system works in Where Winds Meet.
Where Winds Meet Bow System Explained
Bowing isn’t an emote, and a hotkey does not perform it. The game only allows you to bow in particular spots during puzzles or story quests. When an area requires a bow, you will always find a grass mat in front of the object you’re meant to interact with. The mat is a thin, rectangular woven pad placed on the ground. These are known as Liangxi ritual mats, used for kneeling or kowtowing in traditional China.
To use a bow, walk onto the mat until your interaction prompt appears. The word on the screen may differ depending on your language settings, but it will always display the same prompt type as other contextual actions in Where Winds Meet. When ‘Bow‘ prompts appear in white, press F on PC, R2 on controllers, and your character will drop into the ritual bow animation. A short progress bar fills as the action completes.
Some puzzles only need one bow, but others can require multiple bows. During the Echoes in the Shrine puzzle, you need to bow three times in front of the statue to cause it to shift aside and reveal the hidden path. Almost every shrine or spiritual puzzle uses this bow system. You’ll see it around ancient tablets, temple offerings, statues with hidden switches, and many story-driven ritual sites scattered across the regions.
The important thing to remember is that nothing will happen if you are not standing on the mat. So walk onto the mat until the prompts shows up and then hit the key to get it done.
Bowing vs. Using the Bow (Different Mechanics!)
Bowing is not the same as using the bow weapon. The bow weapon is different in work, and it depends on whether you’re using a mouse/keyboard or a controller:
- On controllers: the game uses a stance system. Press L2 + R2 together to enter bow stance, and when the gesture is active, hold L2 and tap R2 to fire.
- On mouse/keyboard: draw and fire work more traditionally and react much faster.
Because it’s easy to confuse the two systems, players sometimes think the ritual bow is locked behind the bow weapon. It isn’t—the two mechanics in Where Winds Meet are unrelated. If you’re standing on a ritual mat, you only need the interact button.
