Our characters got between 7x and 15x times stronger.
I can now one-hit every 2560 Peak of Jianghu enemy with basic/normal Attacks.

No! As such I will also not bother updating a lot of sections. What worked on 1690 will also work on 2560.
For reference Shifa had 24150 Defense on 1690, now he has 18585 Defense. This makes it way easier to break his defense which increases your damage due to the way damage is calculated.

Omnipotent Demon Sealing Move got way worse. Also Passive Tree Bug got fixed.

No. The best thing we got is 5% final damage from a Salamander Skewer & some additional Weapon Value, such as +20 Short.


It grants +500 attack for simply having it learned. As such every build wants to have it learned. It's not good as an active manual.


Despite saying it "needs a legendary Sword, " Flame Blade" actually requires a legendary Blade. This is bad for us as we would like to use Xuanyuan on Blade. Additionally, there are barely any worthwhile Yang manuals. So while theoretically having 384% Damage it falls short practically.


Luminary Meteor Strike is quite good. At maximum scaling 375% Damage. If you go for Burning Spirit + Path of Loyalty you always start with 150 Spirit = 225% Damage. Additionally, it causes Blind on the enemy and other Short manuals such as Brush scale their damage with Blind. So a minor synergy.


It only has 530/180 attack instead of the typical 660/300. Taking into account the workshop buff you'll lose a good chunk of damage. As such I wouldn't recommend it. Furthermore with the new achievements you can easily take Perfect Adaptation on any build as there are barely any worthwhile starting traits left.

Yeah... how about no.

This guide assumes you possess general knowledge about how the game works.
If you don't know what

• Caidie Poison Testing
  
• Homestead Transfer
  
• Freemode 1690 or 2560
  
• Transferring Skills
  
• How to level up (past 50)
  
• How to gamble

means, this guide is not for you. You should rather check out willys guide
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3039529031

The obvious answer is to push the boundaries of this game and simplify the challenges.

Is this guide only applicable to 1690?
No. Any strategy that works on 1690 will also work on lower difficulties.

Who am I and why am I making this guide?
A random guy with more than 10+ runs on 1690. I'd call myself a Veteran 1690 player.

Strongest Enemy?
Snek, the Tutorial Snake

Currently, what is the best build/your recommended build?
Strength Scaling Sword.

• AP = Achievement Points
  
• AS = Action Speed
  
• CIB = Crime Investigation Bureau
  
• DR = Damage Reduction
  
• EQ = Equipment
  
• GoG = God of Gambling Trait (its 50% accuracy and a free turn after using throwables)
  
• HoB = Heart of Benevolence
  
• IM = Immovable Mountain
  
• JK = Jianghu Knowledge
  
• Master = Jianghu Master. One of the endgame fights and my benchmark.
  
• PA = Perfect Adaptation
  
• Peak = Peak of Jianghu. One of the endgame fights and my benchmark.
  
• PP = People's Palm
  
• Snek = The ultimate benchmark. Strongest enemy in the early game. It's a cutscene-based fight in Lost Forest. You often skip Snek at first as you cannot handle its prowess.
  
• WoS = Wall of Steel

Preferably via Discord. I'm on the official Hero's Adventure server. Same name

March 13th

• Added a section regarding the new Update. Spoilers: nothing changed.

February 8th

• Updated to reflect 2560 Freemode

January 26h

• Added a new section called Recommended Build. It's more in-depth than the previous small showcase
  

January 12th

• Added new discussion
  
• 53 Con build videos
  
• Sword Build Diary

January 4th

• Updated Passive Skill Tree
  
• Updated Graphs
  
• Added Yan Yun Route
  
• Uploaded Video Walkthrough for the early portion of 1690 runs
  
• new Starting Trait setup for PA & Glasscannon
  
• External Manual Tierlist

TLDR: All 3 builds (glasscannon 54Str, THE WALL 53Con, mixed approach) are viable. As a 1690 veteran 😜 I can vouch for them

Current 1690 gamestate discussion
All jokes aside 53 Con Sword is also extremely viable on 1690.
You heard it from me first.
Just take a look at the Peak & Master video.

You take virtually no damage with it and still deal respectable damage.
All those residentsleeper memes purely stem from people not optimizing their build. I remember a Chinese YT video of a 20minute peak fight… yeah it’s not nearly as bad. Peak fight took me 2.5 minutes. And let’s be honest 2.5 minutes for an auto battle against the strongest endgame fight is a joke. Simply go to the toilet and come back.

53 Con can clear the game with any skill/weapon it’s just gonna take a bit longer than with Sword. Even dagger!

Chaim and myself also did extensive testing with the Fire and Thunder node.
Neither are capped in the slightest. In fact Last Thunder node is the biggest damage multiplier you can get on any build.
It does what it says. 8% damage per Str above enemy.

Obviously full Str glasscannon will always be the fastest build.
My recommended setup however would be either
32 Str, 35 Con OR 42 Str, 25 Con
These can easily both be played as they use the exact same Caidie and Pill setup (5 Str Pills, Cross Hill Str; 6x Con & 4x Str from Caidie).
Just their level up points are allocated differently so a single Forgotten Pill swaps your setup around.
Depending on preference you can either forego defense for damage or not.
My build diary for anyone interested.

If you wanna chase high damage numbers like 124k Hit on Shifa you gotta go glasscannon. From all my clears/videos it’s evident those builds are also more than viable. Your general player is better off with higher Con tho.

If you want to alter the Caidie setup these are the possibilities

1. 34 Str, 37 Con with 0x Str, 10x Con
   
2. 36 Str, 34 Con with 1x Str, 9x Con
   
3. 38 Str, 31 Con with 2x Str, 8x Con
   
4. 40 Str, 28 Con with 3x Str, 7x Con
   
5. 42 Str, 25 Con with 4x Str, 6x Con
   
6. 44 Str, 22 Con with 5x Str, 5x Con
   
7. 46 Str, 19 Con with 6x Str, 4x Con
   
8. 48 Str, 16 Con with 7x Str, 3x Con
   
9. 50 Str, 13 Con with 8x Str, 2x Con
   
10. 52 Str, 10 Con with 9x Str, 1x Con
    
11. 54 Str, 7 Con with 10x Str, 0x Con

I do not believe the Meta for the current game after Caidie changes is a 54 Strength Build but rather 52 Strength.
Let me explain:
54 Strength Builds now come with massive penalties due to -10 Con.
This results in 7 Con max. Besides the loss of DR from Hardy & Resilient as well as the drop in defense & HP, there is one absolute massive downside, Immovable Mountain.
Immovable Mountain, the best armor in the game without a doubt, has an attribute requirement of 10 Constitution. If you only have 7, you take a 30% AS debuff. You truly cannot afford to lose more than 60 AS.
Now first, why is Immovable Mountain so damn good? It provides absolutely massive amounts of defense (especially when boosted by Workshop) and a flat 45% DR against all damage.

What's the best next armor not requiring more than 7 Con? Beast King Armor. It provides a lot less Defense, only a conditional 40% DR against Fist & Long but compared to the Immovable it provides HP. The HP alone however cannot compare to the defense of IM simply due to how the damage formula functions. Furthermore, you get no DR against the Sword Taoist Sect Leader or Jian Chi.

So by dropping Immovable Mountain, you are taking ~2.5x damage from 2 of the Major Sect Leaders. This is generally not manageable unless you are fully min-maxed or have farmed Herbs for multiple years.
TLDR: 54 Str Build cannot take Immovable Mountain. Very bad! --> 52 Str

The newest Update brought forth a massive Caidie nerf. You now lose some stats while poison testing. The options are as follows:

• +2 Str -1 Con
  
• +2 Int -1 Dex
  
• +2 Dex -1 Str
  
• +2 Con -1 Luck
  
• +2 Luck -1 Int

One now gains 10 Toxicology per Testing instead of the previous 5.
This results in losing 10 Con should you go for +20 Strength. This is quite big. -6k HP & 2.1k Def on a min-maxed 54 Str Blade Build, alongside the DR Con provides via Hardy & Resilient.
Choosing a balanced approach such as 5x Str, and 5x Con Tests results in a significant damage loss.
A 44-strength build deals 32% less damage than 54-strength against Shifa. My musical build had a 29% damage loss.
The most balanced approach seems to be 7x Strength Testing & 3x Con Testing resulting in +14Strength, -1Con, -3 Luck, and a 23% damage loss in comparison to pre-nerf.
Should your build not be min-maxed you'll lose even more damage.
The best option seems to be to use an old save file and respec your build :D

Additionally going full-glass cannon with 54 Str, 7 Con prevents one from using IM. As such 9x Str, 1x Con is the ideal setup unless you'd like to play without armor like I do.
Alternatively, you could go for +20 Str from Caidie and farm A LOT of herbs to remedy the lost defenses. I'm estimating 25k to 30k HP to have similar survivability. Assuming roughly 50 Max HP per rotation of legendary herb patches (buffed to 70HP with Hot Springs & Cai) it takes approximately 2 to 2.5 years in-game of herb farming.

What happens if I have 1 Base Con, use 10 level-up points on Con, use Caidie Poison Testing to lower Con to 1, and then use a Forgotten Pill?
The game puts your Con at 1 however remembers the negative value. As such if you were to obtain Con from any source like absorbing Cai, your Con will still be at 1.

Here is a list of the most optimal starting traits:
Note: any traits obtainable in-game will not be listed as they are a point waste

• Clouds part and the sun shines (50)
  
• Martial Supremacy (40)
  
• Reincarnated Monk (30) [Big Damage]
  
• Loner (25) [AS]
  
• Lone Wanderer (25) [Big Damage]
  
• Learn from Everyone (25) [Good Damage & Def]
  
• Mighty as Thunder (20) [AS]
  
• Effective Learner (20)
  
• Seal Immunity (15) [Don't play 2560 without it]
  
• Rapid Response (15) [AS]
  
• Like a Rabbit (15) [AS]
  
• 6 Blue Attribute granting Traits (10 each)
  
• Quick Reflexes (5) [AS]
  
• 100 Points to spare.
  
  • Options for the 100 Points include Replenishing Qi and Blood (30) [A lot of HP], PA (25), Power of Money (20), Regenerative Body (15) [if using Archdemon, 9 Province Internal, etc.], Happy Fatty (15), Hardy (15), Internal Injury Immunity (15), Blind Immunity (15), or +15/30 Weapon Stat traits.

• Clouds part and the sun shines (50)
  
• Martial Supremacy (40)
  
• Reincarnated Monk (30) [Big Damage]
  
• Loner (25) [AS]
  
• Lone Wanderer (25) [Big Damage]
  
• Learn from Everyone (25) [Good Damage & Def]
  
• Mighty as Thunder (20) [AS]
  
• Effective Learner (20)
  
• Seal Immunity (15) [Don't play 2560 without it]
  
• Rapid Response (15) [AS]
  
• Like a Rabbit (15) [AS]
  
• Hardy (15) [DR]
  
• Top Achiever (15)
  
• Buddha Heart (10)
  
• 6 Blue Attribute granting Traits (10 each)
  
• Quick Reflexes (5) [AS]
  
• 75 Points to spare.
  
  • Options for the 75 Points include Replenishing Qi and Blood (30) [A lot of HP], PA (25), Power of Money (20), Regenerative Body (15) [if using Archdemon, 9 Province Internal, etc.], Happy Fatty (15), Hardy (15), Internal Injury Immunity (15), Blind Immunity (15), or +15/30 Weapon Stat traits (5/10).

Here is a list of the most optimal starting traits:
Note: any traits obtainable in-game will not be listed as they are a point waste

• Reincarnated Monk (30) [Big Damage]
  
• Replenishing Qi and Blood (30) [A lot of HP]
  
• Loner (25) [AS]
  
• Lone Wanderer (25) [Big Damage]
  
• Learn from Everyone (25) [Good Damage & Def]
  
• Mighty as Thunder (20) [AS]
  
• Effective Learner (20)
  
• Regenerative Body (15) [only if using Archdemon, 9 Province Internal, etc.]
  
• Seal Immunity (15) [Don't play 1690 without it]
  
• Internal Injury Immunity (15)
  
• Rapid Response (15) [AS]
  
• Like a Rabbit (15) [AS]
  
• Hardy (15) [DR]
  
• Buddha Heart (10) [Needed after Beast Manor Update]
  
• 6 Blue Attribute granting Traits (10 each)
  
• Quick Reflexes (5) [AS]
  
• 55 Points to spare.
  
  • Options include PA, Every Man has his Duty, Power of Money, Happy Fatty, Blind Immunity, or +15/30 Weapon Stat traits.

• Reincarnated Monk (30) [Big Damage]
  
• Replenishing Qi and Blood (30) [A lot of HP]
  
• Loner (25) [AS]
  
• Lone Wanderer (25) [Big Damage]
  
• Learn from Everyone (25) [Good Damage & Def]
  
• Mighty as Thunder (20) [AS]
  
• Effective Learner (20)
  
• Regenerative Body (15) [only if using Archdemon, 9 Province Internal, etc.]
  
• Seal Immunity (15) [Don't play 1690 without it]
  
• Internal Injury Immunity (15)
  
• Rapid Response (15) [AS]
  
• Like a Rabbit (15) [AS]
  
• Hardy (15) [DR]
  
• Top Achiever (15)
  
• Buddha Heart (10)
  
• 6 Blue Attribute granting Traits (10 each)
  
• Quick Reflexes (5) [AS]
  
• 40 Points to spare.
  
  • Options include PA, Every Man has his Duty, Power of Money, Happy Fatty, Blind Immunity, or +15/30 Weapon Stat traits

• Perfect Adaptation (25) [for Long, Short & Musical]
  
• Fake Newcomer (25) [to skip grinding]
  
• Jianghu Conqueror (30) [to skip grinding]
  
• Special Guest (40) [to obtain Dragon Sword early on]
  
• Power of Money (20) [deal extra true damage per 1 guan]
  
• Ravenous Reader (25) [for Infinity Manual]
  
• Happy Fatty (15) [marginal health increase]

• Perfect Adaptation (25): Insanely good due to Xuanyuan being the way it is. Just take a look at the video which explains it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjdtGMX5ub4
  
• Every man has his duty (25): Most end-game fights either start as 1v1 or evolve into 1v1. As such 3% crit damage is not worth using 25 points for.
  
• Happy Fatty (15): Happy Fatty scales additively with both Hot Springs & Cai absorption. This results in Happy Fatty providing 7.14% or 6.66% more HP. Not even 0.5% HP per Point spend
  
• Hardy (15): This only applies to glass cannon builds. With the recent Caidie changes obtaining 54 Str means having a Constitution Stat of 7. As such Hardy will only provide 7% DR. I do not deem 7% DR worthy of 15 Points.
  
• Power of Money (20): It offers roughly 3-5% damage on a 54 Strength Build. Slightly more on lower Strength builds but not by much. Not the best
  
• Fist Master/Talent and others: Extensive testing has been done for these which can be viewed in the table below. The first graph
  TLDR: You get 2.3 Damage per individual stat as such 103.5 damage from Blade Master + Blade Talent. Only worth taking if there is nothing else
  
  • The 2nd graph details damage received depending on your fist value. Getting Fist Master & Talent would reduce damage taken by a flat 9.5. The Base damage of that attack is 258. That's 3% DR at base level. For my Sword character with a base Fist value of already 149 these 45 Fist would provide a DR of exactly 4%.
    
    • Now determine for yourself if those two traits are worth 15 Points. The only exception is a PP build as PP scales quite well with Fist Value.
  • Was bored so did another Weapon Stat test.
    On my minmax Supreme Short build +45 Short is equivalent to 2.5% more damage.
    Well, in theory… my Spring and Autumn Fan is Damage Cap against Shifa so only the Brush and Flirting Butterfly actually benefit from the 2.5% damage.
• The skillbooks however are certainly worth obtaining as they come with no opportunity cost.

This list only goes over important Traits in 2560. As such traits like Sleight of Hand & Benefit Equally are not listed.

• God of Gambling GoG (50% Accuracy, Another Action after using Throwable): Clean out Gambling tables 20 times total. Extremely good on 2560!!
  
  • Also allows 9 Provinces Manual to trigger twice as you get an additional action per turn.
• Acting for Heavens (AS & Damage): Join the Old Man and pick the 2nd option "Uniting the World"
  
• Way of Nature (AS & Guaranteed Combo): Do the Stargazing Event line at the Taoist Sect
  
• Enlightened Monk (50% Damage): Join the Shifa Temple as a Monk & read Books until you reach 500 Buddhist Comprehension
  
• Arhat Golden Body (+1Con/Luk & 35% DR): Join Shifa Temple and do the Heaven Level Bronze Formation
  
• Buddha Heart (+2Int/Luk & 25% Damage): Join Buddha Temple as a Monk
  
• No-shave Monk (15% Damage): Join Buddha Temple as a Layman
  
• Disciple of Confucius (25% Damage): Join Confucius Temple
  
• Unity of Knowledge & Action (10% Accuracy & Evasion): Read all 10 Books at the Confucius Temple
  
• Heart of Benevolence (+3 Luck & AS): Join Swallow Nest, invite Hua Qingqing to Team, and head to Mountain Cave
  
• Upstream Walk (+20AS): Join Water Camp
  
• Discerning Eyes (30% Accuracy): Join CIB [Can be skipped not that needed]
  
• Burning Spirit (+50% Spirit gain): Join Blue Wind camp [can be skipped]
  
  • This trait synergizes with Path of Loyalty. You will start the battle with 150 Spirit. Very good for Nine Yang
• Weapon Expert (reduce Weapon equip conditions by 25%): Join Langya Sword Pavilion [can be skipped]
  
• Good fortune (20% Damage): Obtaining 1000 Guan
  
• Path of Loyalty (100 starting Spirit): (Join Ye Army and) annihilate the Yan Army + 3 Camps. It also provides other benefits however with Way of Nature & Imperial Seal they do nothing [Can be skipped; currently not necessary to join Ye Army]
  
  • Synergizes with Burning Spirit
• Top Achiever (+3Str/Int): Rescue the Emperor as a Country Top Examiner & kill all Black Chiliarchs
  
• Bleed Immunity: Buy it from a Taoist in Lin'an City
  
• Poison Immunity: Kill the Poisonous Dragon for Caidie & obtain the Dragon Egg.
  
  
• Female Hater (25% damage vs Females): Kill Luo Qianxue at the start of the game. However, this is unnecessary because most endgame fights do not include female characters. -1 Person working tirelessly in the Homestead as well.
  
• Evil Slayer (+10% Crit Chance): Kill Hua Qingqing at the start of the game. Unnecessary trait with Imperial Seal.
  
  • As Heart of Benevolence can only be obtained through Hua Qingqing I'd not recommend this trait. The AS HoB provides is more substantial than crit in the early game will ever be.

You may ask "How do you obtain multiple Sect-specific traits in the same run & keep them?".
The answer is by
a) completing the Quest storyline and leaving the sect (such as Water Camp, Blue Wind Camp, ...)
b) unofficially leaving the Sect. Such as getting kicked out, destroying the sect, ... (3 religious sects as you can only complete the whole Questline for 1 of them).
For example, by reducing your Benevolence (stealing, poisoning) you can trigger the Punishment Event at the Confucius Sect. By refusing the punishment and winning the fight you'll be kicked out yet still keep the trait. Alternatively and exclusive to Confucius, you can ask to leave the Sect at night when no one besides the Sect Leader is in the main hall. This will trigger a fight after which Cai will die and you'll leave the Sect.
An example of this is shown in the video

Update: The Beast Manor Update fixed being able to keep the Buddha Heart trait. However, there is a workaround. By also picking Buddha Heart at the start of the game, you'll keep it when getting kicked out of the sect. So now you have to spend either 10 points or join Shifa as your last sect and stay in it (remember to make it surrender before joining).
Other traits are unaffected afaict.

When creating your character you generally want to max Dex, Con, Str, Int, and then put remaining points into Luck. Luck will then be trained at the Statue in Chuxiang.
Luck is the least impactful stat.

Besides Starting Stats and trait Stats you can also obtain Stats in the game:

Obtainable generic stats:

• +10 from Levels
  
• +20 from Caidie Poison Testing
  
• + 5 from Pills
  
• + 1 from Cross Hill Event
  
• + 2 ALL from absorbing Cais cultivation

Specific Stats:

• +1 Luck from obtaining the Imperial Seal for the first time
  
• +1 Luck by escaping the Desert quickly (at most 3 maps)
  
• +1 Luck by donating 100 Guan to Lai Toudian while having 100 Benevolence
  
• +1 Int from Enlightenment (need less than 10 Int)
  
• +2 Int from 100 Wisdom
  
• +2 Luck from -100 Wisdom
  
• +1 Luck from Donating 100k to Shifa Temple with high Benevolence
  
• +1 Int from doing the Northeast Questline

Pure Attack/Strength Build
54 Str, 16 Dex, 24 Luck, 29 Int, 17 Con


59 Str = 10 Base + 6 Traits + 2 Absorb Cai + 20 Poison Testing + 10 Levels + 5 Pills + 1 Cross Hill + 5 Clouds part
22 Con = 10 Base + 5 Traits + 2 Absorb Cai [-10 with new Poison Testing] + 5 Clouds part
35 Int = 10 Base + 14 Traits + 2 Absorb Cai + 2 Wisdom + 1 Enlightenment + 1 Northeast + 5 Clouds part
30 Luck = 10 Base + 10 Traits + 2 Absorb Cai + 1 IS + 1 (Escaping the Desert Quickly) + 1 Donation + 5 Clouds part
21 Dex = 10 Base + 4 Traits + 2 Absorb Cai + 5 Clouds part

Str: 3 Top Achiever; 3 Blue Traits; 5 Clouds part
Con: 1 Arhat Golden Body; 4 Blue Traits; 5 Clouds part
Int: 5 Reincarnated Monk; 3 Top Achiever; 2 Buddha Heart; 4 Blue Traits; 5 Clouds part
Luck: 3 Heart of Benevolence; 2 Buddha Heart; 1 Arhat Golden Body; 4 Blue Traits; 5 Clouds part
Dex: 4 Blue Traits; 5 Clouds part


54 Str | 52 Dex | 62 Luck | 64 Int | 53 Con

54 Str = 10 Base + 6 Traits + 2 Absorb Cai + 20 Poison Testing + 10 Levels + 5 Pills + 1 Cross Hill
52 Dex = 10 Base + 4 Traits + 2 Absorb Cai + 20 Poison Testing + 10 Levels + 5 Pills + 1 Cross Hill
62 Luck = 10 Base + 10 Traits + 2 Absorb Cai + 20 Poison Testing + 10 Levels + 5 Pills + 1 Cross Hill + 2 (-100 Wisdom) + 1 IS + 1 (Escaping the Desert Quickly)
64 Int = 10 Base + 14 Traits + 2 Absorb Cai + 20 Poison Testing + 10 Levels + 5 Pills + 1 Cross Hill + 2 (100 Wisdom)
53 Con = 10 Base + 5 Traits + 2 Absorb Cai + 20 Poison Testing + 10 Levels + 5 Pills + 1 Cross Hill

Note: These could be further increased by wearing a True Animal Ring or having Tang Wan'er in your party

Written Form
Passive Tree bug got fixed in V 1.1

• Grab the first two nodes in Wind, alongside the 5AS nodes.
  
• The middle route of Mountain for defense.
  
• The bottom route of Fire for Splash and Action after Killing. Could be respecced for boss fights.
  
• The last Forest Node using the bug shown in the video. Helps with Defense
  
• The bottom Thunder nodes for Damage.
  
• The last 2 points can be specced into any node. I took 2% accuracy as Seal makes you Crit & Parry capped.

Both of these modifiers are capped. Furthermore, they are linear.
MP Scaling is capped at having 1000 more MP than the opponent.
Attribute Scaling is capped at having 10 more i.e. Dex than the opponent.


The Taoist Sect Leader has 3500 MP on 1690, as such I'd recommend stopping at 4500 MP.

This knowledge results in the Scaling Stat on Externals being secondary. High Strength Builds will reach 16 Dex & 29 Int, granting full effect for Manuals of those attributes.
More hybrid builds can make use of all Attribute Scaling Manuals.

For newcomers to 2560, I'd highly recommend using one of the following weapons

• Fist
  
• Sword
  
• Blade

All three can easily achieve very high damage, have good AoE, have a lot of Manuals, and have a high-damage Manual. Additionally, blue & purple manuals of their respective type are easy to obtain smoothening out the early game.
All three can comfortably clear the endgame (Peak, Master, Conq, Succession).

• Qi Reduction Dex Sword [after the Caidie nerf no longer viable]
  
• Perfect Adaptation Musical

Musical sadly has to use PA as there are not enough legendary Manuals of a singular weapon type.
It will still face a harder early game.
Qi Reduction Dex Sword can feel lacking in damage as it mostly relies on reducing Qi and preventing enemy turns while whittling them down. After the Beast Manor Update this build lost too much damage.
The following weapons I would not recommend even with Perfect Adaptation unless you'd like a challenge.

• Short
  
• Long

Without PA, these weapons become way worse due to the lack of legendary manuals. Short while being the highest damage option is not all too beginner-friendly.

42 Strength, 25 Con Sword Build. Viable against all Content.

42 Strength = 10 Base + 6 Traits + 2 Absorb Cai + 1 Cross Hill + 5 Tiger Pills + 10 Level-Up + 8 Poison Testing
25 Constitution = 10 Base + 5 Traits + 2 Absorb Cai + [12 - 4 Poison Testing]
29 Intelligence = 10 Base + 14 Traits + 2 Absorb Cai + 2 Wisdom + 1 Enlightenment
17 Luck = 10 Base + 10 Traits + 2 Absorb Cai + 1 IS - 6 Poison Testing
16 Dex = 10 Base + 4 Traits + 2 Absorb Cai
We will use the Yan Yun Route setup for this build.

• Reincarnated Monk (30)
  
• Replenishing Qi and Blood (30)
  
• Loner (25) [AS]
  
• Lone Wanderer (25)
  
• Learn from Everyone (25)
  
• Every man has his duty (25) [for Tower of Heaven; if not doing high Tower: skip]
  
• Mighty as Thunder (20)
  
• Effective Learner (20)
  
• Regenerative Body (15)
  
• Seal Immunity (15)
  
• Internal Injury Immunity (15)
  
• Rapid Response (15) [AS]
  
• Like a Rabbit (15) [AS]
  
• Top Achiever (15)
  
• Hardy (15)
  
• Buddha Heart (10)
  
• 6 Blue Attribute granting Traits (10 each)
  
• Quick Reflexes (5) [AS]
  
• Blind Immunity or whatever else you want (15)

• GoG
  
• Acting for Heavens
  
• Way of Nature
  
• Enlightened Monk
  
• Arhat Golden Body
  
• No-shave Monk
  
• Heart of Benevolence
  
• Upstream Walk
  
• Good fortune
  
• Bleed Immunity
  
• Poison Immunity

Check out the section on this as to how to obtain them.
We reach 484 Sword by using all currently obtainable Skillbooks. Take a look at the Skillbook section on this guide. You can obtain 104 Sword.

• Infinity Sword (275% Damage)
  
• Nameless Sword (260% Damage)
  
• Illusion Sword (200% Damage & -QI)
  
• Dragon Sword (180% Damage)
  
• People's Palm (Used for the defenses it provides)

You can choose to run either 13 Sutras, Archdemon or 9 Provinces as your main Internal

• 13 Confucius Sutras
  
• Archdemon Soul Eating Skill (mandatory to absorb Cai)
  
• 9 Provinces
  
• Infinity Origin Move (mandatory; provides large damage for Infinity Sword)

• Dragon Sword (too annoying to obtain otherwise)
  
• Illusion Sword (otherwise it costs 15% max HP)
  
• People's Palm
  
• Archdemon Soul Eating Skill
  
• A Manual of your choosing

• Xuanyuan
  
• Immovable Mountain (could also be obtained in the playthrough)
  
• Imperial Seal

• Infinity Sword is obtained in the Taoist Sect
  
• Nameless Sword is obtained in the Langya Sword Pavillon
  
• Infinity Origin Move is obtained in the Taoist Sect
  
• 13 Sutras is obtained by doing the Ice Prison Quest while in Confucius Sect
  
• 9 Provinces is obtained by following Old Man Route and then poisoning him

Build diary:

I would personally recommend a Str Sword Build. Perhaps check out my Sword build diary

These are the builds I managed to clear 1690 with. This typically means Peak of Jianghu, Jianghu Master, and the Three Dukes storyline. Any build capable of beating the previous 1690 can also beat 2560.

Strongest build? PA Short. Hits damage cap on 1690 Shifa & 2560 Shifa.
Recommended build? 42 Str, 25 Con Str Sword. Can auto-battle endgame battles

After Caidie Changes I'd recommend going for 52 Strength at most. See my discussion for more info


Sadly I played it before optimizing my build & recording footage. One day I'll remake it to showcase its glory
You use all 4 Legendary Fist Manuals & then 5 Internals of your choice. You could also substitute 1 Internal with an Epic Fist Manual simply for the increased damage.
What to transfer:

• People's Palm
  
• Dragon King Palm
  
• Archdemon Soul Eating
  
• Holy Brahma
  
• Choose your own adventure

As Nine Yang scales with Spirit I'd recommend picking up both Burning Spirit & Path of Loyalty.
This way you start with 150 Spirit. That's 15% damage with Nine Yang
Old and suboptimal setup:

Due to the Caidie nerf we lose 10 Con. This is A LOT of defense and HP. Furthermore, Immovable Mountain has an equipment requirement of 10 Con if not fulfilled you'll lose AS.
This build is also a good showcase as to why 13 Confu is Top 5 Internals.

With the new Caidie changes (Beast Manor Update) this build got gutted. You would now lose 10 Str when going for +20 Dex from Caidie.
Unless you have massive amounts of Violent Storm Pear Needles this build in terms of damage output is nigh unplayable.
Would no longer recommend
Old and suboptimal setup:

• Dragon Sword (too annoying to obtain otherwise)
  
• Illusion Sword (otherwise it costs 15% max HP)
  
• People's Palm
  
• Archdemon Soul Eating Skill

5 Str Pills, 1 Str from Cross Hill, 6x Con Poison Testing, 4x Str Poison Testing.
Spec 10 level-up points into Str. If more defenses is needed spec them into Con.
Build diary:

What to transfer

• Dragon Sword (too annoying to obtain otherwise)
  
• Illusion Sword (otherwise it costs 15% max HP)
  
• People's Palm
  
• Archdemon Soul Eating Skill

What to transfer

• Archdemon Soul Eating Skill
  
• Savage Primal Blade
  
• PP
  
• 2 Manuals of your choosing

Xuanyuan is simply too strong. +64.3% Damage is a game changer.


Currently the strongest damage dealing build. That’s right. And you heard it here first.
Spring and Autumn Fan is the strongest Manual currently available with a 412% damage increase.
This build hits damage cap against 1690 & 2560 Shifa.

Using 9 Provinces as your main Internal. Sadly I forgot to take Internal Injury Immunity as such a lot of end-game fights deal 50% more damage. Look at Version 2 instead.


Peak and Master was a struggle compared to the other builds. Still better than a lot of the random videos I see on YouTube though. Can clear the whole game just PA Long should be strictly superior.
I did it simply for a Purist Approach

Now much to say besides I genuinely dislike them. The Infinity Manual is simply too strong.
I will never acknowledge any wins with it

Remember to first get any Weapon stat to 200 to unlock the Weapon Master Trait
Due to a developer oversight this Weapon only provides a 1.643 damage multiplier instead of 1.728.
Extremely strong regardless






This build is dead tho due to Caidie changes


OR go PA for 64.3% more damage and take


Better play Perfect Adap with


Better play Perfect Adap with Xuanyuan. For Purists Zhuyin is also pretty good.


Better play Perfect Adap with Xuanyuan

Proud Wanderer can also work on Perfect Adap

42 Str Sword Build - Infinity Sword against Shifa

• Imperial Seal: 37030 Damage
  
• CIB Token: 38795 Damage

So yeah CIB Token does more damage. With a Xuanyuan Build, you can reach 67% Crit Chance. 2 out of 3 hits crit is not too bad. And guaranteed Crit provided you'll go 13 Sutras.
However, you'll lose guaranteed Parry alongside 1250 HP & 2270 Defense.

The last time I tested it, Seal dealt more damage. So I'm uncertain what exactly changed.

TLDR: 27% of all legendary Manuals are considered Absolute Trash. 40% of all Manuals are considered Trash or worse.
Bolded Manuals are always good and not impacted by other modifiers & part of the Top 10.

1. Spring & Autumn Fan: 412% Damage
   
2. Flame Blade: 384% Damage
   
   • (You are forced into Blade Weapon => no Xuanyuan & forced Yang Internal)
3. Luminary Meteor Strike: (Dagger): 375% Damage
   
   • (at max Spirit 375%. Typically less damage. With the correct setup at least 225% Damage)
4. Archdemon Blade: 309.6% Damage
   
   • (You lose out on other damage sources, most importantly Xuanyuan. Losing Xuanyuan is a BIG damage loss on all your skills)
5. Score of Laughing at the World: 296% Damage
   
6. Slipstream Spear: 287.5% Damage
   
   • (Not compatible with Yan Yun Route. Disregarding YY Route would mean it has 235% Damage; if going through with YY Route it has 150%)
7. Infinity Sword: 275% Damage
   
8. Nameless Sword: 260% Damage
   
9. Peerless Blade: 250% Damage
   
10. People's Palm: Roughly 240% Damage. (Theoretically highest % damage as no capped scaling)
    
11. Illusion Sword: 200% Damage & -Qi
    
12. Orchid Pavillion Preface: 200% Damage (+100% Accuracy & -100% Parry Chance for Opponent)
    
13. Nothingness Staff: 200% Damage
    
14. Sky Dragon Wind Staff: 200% Damage
    
15. Dragon Sword: 180% Damage (Causes Disable Internal Technique)
    
16. Dharma Staff: 180% Damage
    
17. Heaven Shaking Finger: 180% Damage & -Qi. However, requires at least 7,200MP
    
18. Polaris Staff: 160% Damage & 30% Crit damage (However II scaling)
    
19. Vairocana: 156% Damage and 25% Crit Damage
    
20. Sky Destroyer Palm: 150% Damage at full health, 249% Damage at 1% Health
    
21. Dragon King Palm: Up to 650% Damage; Minimum 150%. Less on bosses
    
22. Country Full of Beauties: 150% Damage
    
23. Full Directional Ambush: 0% Damage but nice buffs/debuffs
    
24. Guangling Melody Score: 0% Damage but -Qi

• Solar Fist: 60% Damage IF the enemy uses a Yin Internal
  
• Savage Primal Blade: 50% Damage
  
• Killer's Secret: 35% Damage
  
• Proud Wanderer Score: 30% Damage
  
• Demonic Circle Blade: 25% Damage

1. Baji Quick Palm
   
2. Heaven Engulfed Hand
   
3. Cloud Piercing Finger
   
4. Sky Breaker Sword
   
5. One Blade
   
6. Devouring Blade
   
7. Heaven Cutting Blade Technique
   
8. Scouting Snake Spear
   
9. Jiuli Trident
   
10. Polaris Wyvern Staff
    
11. Flirting Butterfly
    
12. Meteor from Outer Space
    
13. Ancient Song Score

My tierlist video regarding Active Internal Manuals.

• Rank 0: Infinity Manual (F this manual. It's just stupid and ruins the game. I will never acknowledge any 1690/2560 wins using it)
  
• Rank 2: 13 Confucius Sutras [just look at my 54 Str One Fist Man Build]
  
• Rank 3-4: Archdemon Soul Eating Skill [Both my 54 Str Sword & Blade Build showcase it; Life Leech is always strong]
  
• Rank 3-4: 9 Provinces [Very generic, suitable for both Offensive & Defensive Builds. With GoG you heal 64% of Lost HP]
  
• Rank 5: Omnipotent Demon Sealing Move[Big damage multipliers on Crits, however, only if you crit] Not viable on 2560. You either need reflect immunity, healing or something completely overpowered like Infinity.

• The best stat stick internal (not active): Tyrant Blade Technique. It grants +500 Attack

Bleeding is only HP loss. Not the biggest of deals. Furthermore Immunity can be obtained for just 5 Guan.
Blinded is not that big of a deal as builds tend to run GoG & last Thunder node. This means you have roughly 165% accuracy (150% with enemy evasion & thunder node factored in).
So 40 stacks of Blinded would reduce your base accuracy to ~99%, enemy has 15% evasion --> 84% chance to hit. Furthermore, you can also obtain Discerning Eyes from CiB for another 30% accuracy. No Immunity is needed.
Reducing AS and Defense is a big deal. I'd highly advise Immunity.
Reducing AS and Attack is an even bigger deal on 52-54 Strength Builds. Imagine losing 50% of your Damage. Thankfully you can easily obtain Immunity in-game by following Caidies questline.
Absolute must-have Immunity. This status can single-handedly destroy you by preventing your turn.
Just take a look at Sunbro's clip, he does not get a single turn.
https://imgur.com/a/JQWk958

As of the new Beast Manor Update, I'd highly recommend obtaining Level 5 (Master) Persuade and Exploring. These will make any Level 1 run more seamless. Level 5 Persuade grants your Allies (including the Old Man) more Attack, Defense, and 30 AS (this AS is then scaled by the 1690 mods on the Old Man). Exploring grants you 1000 Jianghu Knowledge whenever you enter a new scene.
This Jianghu Knowledge can then be used to level up your character at the start of the game.

When starting as Level 1 it's advisable to help one of the two and obtain the Revitalization Technique.
The first video describes how to advance at Level 1. There are however further strategies applicable.
The second strategy involves using a game oversight to instantly reach Fame Level 7 thus allowing access to the Homestead (shown in the 2nd video).
The exact sequence is to follow the first video right until it encounters the very first snake, Snek (4:50) which was skipped at first. You then save your game; and open a different save file. In this 2nd game file, you will then challenge a Sect leader to a duel. In the middle of the duel, you quit to the main menu & open the first (new) save file again. Encounter Snek and beat him. Congrats you are now at Fame Level 7 (and killed poor Snek)

Afterward, you head to the Nameless Village and become a disciple of the old man. You pick the 2nd option to obtain the trait Acting for the Heavens.

Now you'll want to simply level up until you are strong enough to help out the Shopkeeper of the Glittering Artifact Auction. Doing so will grant access to the Homestead & your powerful items from the previous saves like Imperial Seal, Armors, Manuals

How to level up until you are strong enough to beat the auction:
Now also in Video form:
Day 4 Access to Homestead is relatively easy with this.
JK obtained via the Explore Skill is affected by %more JK. This includes a Homestead building & most notably the Goat Rings. It may be worth transferring them once you obtain the Homestead and farm the last remaining locations with it. Should be able to get to Level 60 to 65.

By following my Early Game Route through the Lost Forest & using the Jianghu Knowledge provided by the recent Explore Skill buff you should be Level 25 once you leave the Forest.

You then join Nameless Village. In my testing, I've been able to beat the Old Man at Level 25 (provided you don't miss too much; it doesn't matter if you beat him or not).
Next talk to Bao Dating until you get the rumor about Linlang Temple.
Head into every building to obtain the 1k JK.

You should be challenged by a Vagabond once you leave the Village. Beat him. Once you arrive at Linlang Temple you should have received a Pigeon stating you can access the Glittering Artifact Auction.

Head to the right of the Temple and open the chest. It contains a "Combat Arts" granting 3000 Exp. Level 28+ using your Jianghu Knowledge.
Theoretically, if you can get your Opinion high enough with Fu Yaozi you can also trade for an item with him granting 10000Exp.

Explore every location in the nameless region. Head to the Dilapidated Temple and spar with Hua Qingqing/Luo Qianxue 3 times. You should be Level 29+ while she is Level 20. If necessary rely on the Old Man. Furthermore, Luo Qianxue has the Stomachache & Punishment debuff. This is a massive help for you.
Once you have completed all 3 Spars you should be Level 30+
You should not have issues dealing with the Cross Hill Event. I usually demand ransom.
Dig up the treasure in Lost Forest & deal with the red Boar by a) abusing the Old Man; long fight b) using 10 berries. Level 32+
Village Elder should now ask you to deal with the Bandit Camp. Dealing with the Camp after triggering this Quest is quite hard as you cannot deal with the enemies 1 by 1.

This is a decent baseline for you. You can continue the story as usual: obtain money by gambling, purchase a lot of gifts et cetera. This way you obtain a lot of JK. Remember to head into every building in all cities. This grants massive amounts of JK and as such levels. ~23k simply from Lin'an City. That's like Level 40 to 44-45.
You can join Ye Army to obtain the daily 500Exp books. The General also has a Way of combat in his inventory.


You can also do the Teastall Event and get the 3 Treasure Maps. By digging them up (at night) you'll obtain:
30k
15 Scrap Silver =11.25k
3 Bullions =22.5k
63.75k total if exchanged

Legendary Wine, Cup, Study
3 Jade Keys

Once you are Level 40+ you can easily beat the Glittering Artifact Auction. Transfer all your OP Items and manuals. Now you should be strong enough to also do World Map fights for Exp if you so choose.

If you find any more, tell me. Preferably on Discord

Lost Forest Stele with 10+ Int
Fu Yaozi Inventory (Linlang Temple)
Taoist Sect Leader Inventory


Hua Yan Inventory (Scripture Guard at Shifa Temple)
Old Demon Inventory
Ye General Inventory
Fang Xiaotian Inventory (Divine Fire Sect Leader)


Linlang Temple. To the right of main building.
4x Starchaser Pavilion 4th Floor
2x Jiujiang Questline
Dugu Jianyi Inventory (Langya Sword Pavilion)
Cockfight Beggar Inventory (Chuxiang City)


Lin'an City Inn. Choose 3rd option when providing intel about Underground Arena.
3x Dojos in the three Cities (1 each)
3x Nameless Tea Stall - Spar 3 times
Daily reward from Ye Army/Yan Army
Confucius Temple. Near Mengdie building
Kong Yidao Inventory (Blue Wind Camp)
5x CIB Sect Store - 500 Sect Contribution each. Refreshed daily


4x Starchaser Pavilion 2nd Floor
After being imprisoned for breaking into the Starchaser Pavilion (as a disciple) you’ll obtain 2 scrolls if your relation with Zhang Lata is.

1. Join the Old Man and obtain a trait (Acting for Heavens with my setup). Obtain Immovable Mountain by completing the Heaven Level Tournament in Daliang, 1 of each Pill, 5 Snow Lotuses & buy the Way of Fist/Sword/Blade/Long from the Sect Store. Leave after the 9 Faction Quest in each City. (First go to Confucius Temple to talk, then back to Nameless Village and leave the Sect)
   Alternatively, complete the Fountain of Youth Quest (9 Provinces Manual) and then kill the Old Man in your party with the help of a toxic Herb or Red Arsenic. This will ask you whether you want to leave the Sect.
   
   • My section skill-books shows you the location of all known ones. If you have seen the previous Data graph you may remember that +External Stats such as Fist & Sword do not provide much damage, however, these skill books are free. You can obtain +80 Blade or +79 Sword for example.
     
     • These stats can be extremely good on certain Manuals. People's Palm is such an example. It gets an additional 1% damage per 2 Fist.
       
     • As you normally transfer your legendary gear from an old save file, the legendary gear at the legendary auction is not that important anymore. As such I'd advocate for saving & reloading the auction until a "Way of the XYZ" suitable for your build shows up. Not much damage but we'll take any free damage
   • Remember to clear out gambling places whilst at Daliang & Lin'an to get GoG. Incredible Trait regardless of early or late-game
     
   • By killing everyone at the legendary auction you can amass a lot of money 1000+ Guan. This allows you to easily get the Good Fortune trait
     
   • Also try to buy Bleed Immunity early on when you visit Lin'an City. Not having to worry about passive damage makes the game easier. 5k should not be hard to obtain when gambling.
2. Join Taoist Sect. Obtain Way of Nature. If you want to keep the Sect Trait get kicked out, otherwise just leave the Sect. The trait is purely a 25% MP consumption reduction and as such not needed.
   
   • You can also harvest the legendary Herb to gain some more max HP/MP
3. Join Ye Family Army (Optional): By annihilating the whole Yan army you will obtain the Path of Loyalty trait [currently you don't even need to join the Ye Army; simply wiping out Yan completely grants the Trait]. Not needed but specific builds such as -Qi reduction sword benefit from it quite a bit. Certain other builds can simply ignore it.
   
   • They also provide daily Exp Scrolls. Can be used if you need Exp but enemies are too strong
4. CIB (Optional): Discerning Eyes trait (30% accuracy). Not needed with GoG but can be obtained. Complete Questline and leave.
   
5. Join Swallow Nest. Recruit Hua Qingqing to obtain Heart of Benevolent trait. Furthermore, buy a lot of throwables from the Merchant. He restocks every day. Throwables are very good on 1690 with GoG. Use your Sect Contribution to buy Throwables Manuals. Use 13 Normal & 11 Rare ones. This should put your Throwing Level at 104. Leave the sect (no need to keep the Sect Trait)
   
6. Join Jiujiang Fortress (Water Camp). Complete the whole Questline and then leave the Sect. This way you keep the Upstream Walk trait.
   
7. Blue Wind Camp (Optional): Burning Spirit trait (50% Spirit gain). Not needed but can be obtained. Complete Questline and leave.
   
8. Langya Sword Pavilion (Optional): Weapon Expert trait (25% reduced Weapon equipment condition). Very niche. Generally, just skip it.
   
   • However, you can complete their main storyline to obtain a legendary sword & an Ultimate. Xuanyuan blueprint can also be obtained in this sect.
9. Join Shifa Temple as a Monk. Banish the guard at the bronze formation. Complete all 4 Levels of the Bronze Man formation to obtain the Arhat Golden Body trait.
   Now you also have access to all 3 Scripture Tower Floors. Collect all the books and read them. This will grant +90 Medical, a lot of Exp, some Manuals, a good Ultimate & the Enlightened Monk Trait.
   Complete the 2nd Shifa Temple Quest to obtain another Ultimate (1 instance of Take no Damage per use). Get kicked out of the Sect or destroy it to keep Buddha Heart.
   
   • You should have become a Scholar at this point. So save the emperor if you haven't already and grab the Top Achiever trait. The additional damage & def it provides will be very helpful against demonized Cai.
10. Join Confucius. Do the Longevity Questline (Hard Boss fight as such typically last Sect) and absorb Cais Cultivation by having the Archdemon Soul Eating Skill learned. This will grant +2 ALL stats as well as 10% max HP & MP. Now you can also go for Unity of Action & Knowledge by reading all 10 Books.
    This will also enable another surrender/subjugation method for Confucius allowing the use of the Imperial Token on CIB. Get kicked out, destroy the Sect, or ask to leave the sect at nighttime to keep Disciples of Confucius. Or just stay in the Sect.
    
    • One possible option is to also make the Sect surrender first and then join it. This will allow for both Peak of Jianghu & Jianghu Master without leaving the sect.

A more advanced route. It will offer an additional 15% damage at the cost of 1 wife (Ye Yinping) and a more annoying homestead setup due to losing Liu Shiba.

Early game progression is similar to the General Route. The difference lies in helping Wanyan Liang and thus joining the Yan Yun army. As you cannot do so while part of the Old Man Sect you will have to postpone the last Wanyan Liang Event until after you abandon the Old Man.

Now the key strategy of this route is using the fact that before the Lin'an Siege, you will face the 3 Religious Sect Leaders in a battle. You'll be kicked out if you are part of one of the three Sects. However, due to most likely an oversight, you can join the Sect again.

As such we proceed with the other Sects like normal, then join the Shifa Temple as a Monk. Complete both Enlightened Monk and Arhat Golden Body. Afterward, you do the Fight described above. You'll be kicked out of Shifa. You now join the Confucius Temple, obtain all the rewards you can (Longevity!), leave the Sect & enter Shifa Temple again, however, this time as a Layman.
Doing so will grant the No-shave Monk trait.


Thanks to Chaim for helping me figure out this route!

• get to the Tomb.
  
• remove all your equipment & manuals.
  
• enter the Tower of Heaven and lose a round. This will set your HP to 1
  
• start the Combat against the Inner Demon. He will also have 1 HP
  
• Pray he doesn't use an Ultimate Move (or you have Golden Buddha Body equipped)
  
• Due to not having any learned Manuals he simply walks up to you and punches you
  
• Shared Damage kills him as well. If both parties lose at the same time it is counted as a win for the player

Certain Opponents can be poisoned before fighting against them. Examples include the different Sect leaders
Additionally, before big fights (such as Peak, Master, etc.) buy some Epic (purple) Incense and pray at a Temple (any of the 3 cities; or your Main House in Homestead) until you obtain the % damage increase buff. There are 7 buffs in total. You want Damage Increase. Yes, it feels like a 3% chance.
You can stack these from different shrines and obtain 170% damage increase in total. My throwables-only video used this.

You can also consume a Spirit Fuser Pill.

The recipe for the Pill can be obtained in a locked Chest in Lin'an City's Hall of Benevolence.
The needed materials can be obtained from legendary Herb patches (Saffron) and Night Auctions (Tianshan Snow Lotus).
Other modifiers also scale the 200 Stat increases. My Blade build gets 290 Attack and defense from consuming a singular pill.

It is obtained by eating the corresponding Item. The recipe is obtainable from Flame City in the Desert.


Also stacks with the Spirit Fuser Pill. It gives ~14 AS. However, note it only lasts for 1 Battle so it's pointless in Peak & Master.

Peak of Jianghu.
Why? You face the four major Sect Leaders back to back. You don't get healed in-between fights and your enemies get the following buff.

On 2560 enemies have roughly 80% of their 1690 Stats.

Taoist: 34k HP, 3.5k MP, 18750 Atk, 22800 Def, 312 AS
13 Str, 19 Con, 5 Int, 4 Luck, 9 Dex

Important Traits: Resilient (28.5% DR), Armor build-up, WoS


Shifa: 30.7k HP, 1.4k MP, 21750 Atk, 24150 Def, 296 AS
5 Str, 12 Con, 17 Int, 13 Luck, 3 Dex

Important Traits: Vajra Protection (50% DR), Resilient (18% DR), Armor build-up, WoS


Langya: 18.7k HP, 3.1k MP, 25250 Atk, 16300 Def, 404 AS
13 Str, 7 Con, 10 Int, 3 Luck, 17 Dex

Important Traits: Life or death (first hit will always Hit & Crit)

Enlightenment is an interaction with the Shifa Temple Sect Leader Hui Yuan.
When sect-less and attempting to join the sect one of the options is "Please enlighten me, Master".

If this option is picked while having 10+ Int you will only get 5000 Exp.
Picking it with 9 or below Int will instead grant +1 permanent Int

Now with starting Traits alone, you have +9 Int (Reincarnated Monk & Blue Traits). Alongside the minimum base stat of 1, you'll be at 10 Int.
There are 2 ways to achieve a lower Int.

• Start with Buddha Heart (10 Points). For every female team member, you'll get -2 Int allowing you to easily hit 9 or below Int. However, taking Buddha heart at the start is a point waste as it can be obtained in-game.
  
• The second option is to minimize your Base Int at 1 or 2. This means you are at 10. Now progress the Old Man's story until you can leave the sect (remember to snatch all valuable goodies from him & sect store).
  Then simply take the Antidote which will lower Int by 2 for 7 days. Head to the Shifa Temple and ask for Enlightenment.
  
  • The Antidote can be obtained by trading/stealing from Miao Caidie

• Parry
  
• 35% Arhat Golden Body
  
• 45% Immovable Mountain
  
• 53% Hardy with 53 Con
  
• 79.5% Resilient with 53 Con
  
• up to 50% with Armor Build-Up
  
• 50% with 5x Dragon Ring on Allies
  
• Increased Parry Effect from Every Man has his duty.

Now Shared Damage is not Damage Reduction, so not included.
What a tank build can look like on 1690. Now keep in mind Zhong Yangzi has the Infinity Origin Move learned so the Infinity Sword will ignore your armor and deal 200% more damage.

And once you have reached this point Shared Damage such as the Forest Tree node is no longer valuable. It would barely deal 6 damage to the opponent. I do not have an increased parry effect nor any allies with Dragon Ring in this image. Just 53 Con, Immovable Mountain & Arhat Golden Body

My preferred setup is to recruit all 5 Nameless Village People (not the Beggar) and add Ou Ye Heng & Dugu Jianyi from the Langya Sword Pavilion to the mix. This brings you up to 260 Score.
Now to recruit Ou Ye Heng you need a high Weapon Smithing Level so this strategy is best when its inherited across save files due to being level 5.
All characters can be recruited very early on which is a big plus.

While the Workshop says "Main attributes of equipment are increased" it increases some of the substats as well.
Most notably the Attack Substat is also affected by it. After doing extensive testing we noticed that a 250 roll gives 110 less Attack (110% Workshop Effect; 10% Power of a Thousand) than a perfect 300 roll.
Similarly, a perfectly rolled Qiuniu (+200 Attack) gives 220 less Attack than a perfect Proud Wanderer (+300 Attack).
-Qi reduction is unaffected by this. Most likely it only affects the Attack & Defense modifiers.

https://imgur.com/a/ZOMPpdt

This section heavily borrows the contents of this guide however tries to update them as said guide is no longer being updated.

Finishing Dugu Jianyi's questline allows you to obtain +30 in a Stat of your Choice.
=30

Normal
Taoist Sect Disciple's Room
Taoist Sect Star Chaser Pavilion 3rd floor (x2)

Rare
Daliang Dojokeeper

Epic
Chuxiang Forgotten House: Event in front with monks, choose wine pot option. (But miss out on Strength pill)
Linlang Temple (NE of Nameless Village) - Locked chest (5)
Western Region Divine Ox Treasury

Legendary
Linlang Temple bookshelf - Max relationship with sect leader required
Old Man Sect Store
Legendary Auction
Old Demon Trade
=104 (+30 Generic)

Normal
Taoist Sect Disciple's Room
Taoist Sect Star Chaser Pavilion 3rd floor (x2)

Epic
Linlang Temple (NE of Nameless Village) - Locked chest (5)
Trade with young Master of Beast Manor
Western Region Divine Ox Treasury
Lunar New Year Event

Legendary
Langya Sword Pavilion leader inventory
Linlang Temple bookshelf - Max relationship with sect leader required
Old Man Sect Store
Legendary Auction
Old Demon Trade
=124 (+30 Generic)

Rare
Blue Wind Camp - Locked chest (3)
Chuxiang Dojokeeper inventory
Daliang Butcher inventory

Epic
Linlang Temple (NE of Nameless Village) - Locked chest (5)
Qiu Zhimo of Crime Investigation Bureau joins party
Western Region Divine Ox Treasury
Not really a Skillbook but +10 Blade by choosing the Blade Guy Table at Duke Chai's Banquet

Legendary
Linlang Temple bookshelf - Max relationship with sect leader required
Old Man Sect Store
Legendary Auction
Old Demon Trade
=115 (+30 Generic)

Normal
Nest of Swallows Treasure Room - Locked chest

Epic
Linlang Temple (NE of Nameless Village) - Locked chest (5)
Western Region Divine Ox Treasury
Ding Haiting Quest

Legendary
Old Man Sect Store
Legendary Auction
Old Demon Trade
=78 (+30 Generic)

Rare
Lin'an Dojokeeper
Cloud Bandit - Locked Chest (Southwest Area)

Epic
General Ye inventory
Linlang Temple (NE of Nameless Village) - Locked chest (5)
Western Region Divine Ox Treasury

Legendary
Linlang Temple bookshelf - Max relationship with sect leader required
Old Man Sect Store
Legendary Auction
Old Hunter (Beast Manor) Inventory (Southwest Area)
3x Complete Beast Manor Storyline (Southwest Area)
Old Demon Trade
=160 (+30 Generic)

Epic
Gu Qingcheng inventory - Melody House
Linlang Temple (NE of Nameless Village) - Locked chest (5)
Tower of Prosperity (Daliang City): Steward Inventory
Western Region Divine Ox Treasury
Steal from Ya Qin (Mute Zither Girl) - Doesn't show up when trading.

Legendary
Fu Yaoqin inventory - Leader of Melody House
Legendary Auction
=90 (+30 Generic)

Normal
Nest of Swallows faction shop - Infinite Amounts

Rare
Chuxiang City Prison - locked chest (1)
Mayor's Basement (Destroy jar next to shelf) - Top right Jade Key chest
Nest of Swallows faction shop - Infinite Amounts

Epic
Can Qi inventory - Confucious Temple (after joining)
Steal from Can Qi - He has two skillbooks total. But only 1 shows up when trading.

Legendary
Old Demon Inventory
= Throwing Stat of 139 is possible without any Manuals

Staff got a new good manual with 200% Damage.
And that's about it regarding the Update.
See you guys next update again.

Thanks to Chaim, willy & all the people on the discord server for helping me out with this guide.