Reaching Tier 3 and 4 in Everwind is the point where the game quietly stops forgiving your mistakes. Floating islands hit harder, mobs start chaining attacks, and suddenly “fun-but-inefficient” skills get you killed. The turning point for me was realizing that cool effects don’t matter if I’m dead and can’t swing, shoot, or cast.
This guide focuses on what to unlock first in Tier 3 and Tier 4 for the Warrior and Arcanist trees, with an emphasis on:
Everything here is based on what actually worked for me once Tier 2 content stopped being a cakewalk and I started climbing the tougher floating islands.
Before picking skills, you need to understand how progression is gated:
My early mistake was dropping “just a couple of points” into everything. That kept me stuck with mid-tier gear and no real power spike. Once I started committing hard to a single tree first (usually Warrior for survivability), I hit Tier 3/4 much faster and the difficulty curve suddenly felt manageable again.
Rule of thumb for most players:
Tier 3 Warrior is where your character stops feeling squishy and starts feeling like an actual survivor. If you’re pushing higher islands, these are the picks that made the biggest difference for me.
Role: Core survivability boost
Great Body is the Tier 3 skill that straight up increases your maximum health. It has three levels:
The breakthrough for me was realizing just how much this extra cushion changes real fights. On the higher islands, enemies don’t just chip you; they can delete half your bar if you misread a swing. Great Body gives you room to eat a mistake and still recover.
Priority: Take at least two ranks as soon as Tier 3 unlocks, and aim to max it by the time you’re consistently exploring floating islands.
Role: Lets you equip advanced melee and ranged weapons
This is the other “no-brainer” Tier 3 pick. Advanced Weapons (and the bow-specific unlock if you’re an archer) don’t look flashy because they don’t show numbers on your character sheet, but they’re your ticket to the next tier of damage output.
When I first hit the floating islands, I made the mistake of hoarding advanced drops in my storage because I “didn’t want to waste a point” yet. The second I finally unlocked Advanced Weapons, the game felt dramatically easier – longer combos, better base damage, and stronger scaling on every hit.
Priority: If you’re primarily melee, grab Advanced Weapons early in Tier 3. If you’re bow-focused, Advanced Bows is also worth the point. Don’t unlock bow support if you barely use ranged – that’s how you starve yourself of Warrior points.
Role: Extra damage at the end of combos
These two skills add a combo finisher depending on your weapon type:
They feel great when they land – extra burst, and in some cases better stagger. But there’s a catch: they only matter when you can safely run full combos. On higher islands where mobs hit like trucks, I found myself dodging out early rather than greedily fishing for finishers.
Priority: Pick these up after Great Body and your Advanced Weapons/Bows. They’re quality-of-life and DPS boosters, not your foundation.
If you’re running any kind of spell-heavy or hybrid build, Tier 3 Arcanist is where your damage profile really diversifies. The temptation is to grab everything; the smart play is to lean into one or two elements plus your advanced gear unlocks.
Role: Burst AOE damage and crowd control potential
Lightning Mastery boosts your lightning damage and adds a useful area-of-effect component: hitting one target can shock nearby enemies. It has three levels, and fully upgrading it gives you a 30% damage increase for lightning attacks.
On floating islands where mobs often spawn in packs, this is huge. Being able to crack multiple enemies with a single cast or enchanted hit makes fights much more controlled. I leaned on Lightning Mastery when I needed quick clears rather than long damage-over-time setups.
Priority: Excellent first elemental mastery if you like aggressive play – charge in, zap, clean up.
Role: Access to powerful spells and stronger runes
These are the Arcanist equivalents of Advanced Weapons:
If you’ve ever looted a juicy-looking book only to see it greyed out, this is why. Once I unlocked Advanced Books, my spell options opened up massively – better base damage, more interesting effects, and stronger scaling with masteries.
Priority: If spells are a big part of your kit, slot at least one point in Advanced Books early in Tier 3. Rune Specialist is great once you actually have good runes to support it.
Tier 4 Warrior is where your build goes from “tough” to “stupidly hard to kill” if you choose correctly. This is also where I stopped relying on constant food spam and started sustaining through combat itself.
Role: Lets you equip advanced armor sets
This is a must-unlock skill. Just like weapons, you’ll eventually start finding or crafting advanced armor that’s flat-out better than anything earlier. Without Advanced Armor, it all just sits in storage.
This is a must-unlock skill. Just like weapons, you’ll eventually start finding or crafting advanced armor that’s flat-out better than anything earlier. Without Advanced Armor, it all just sits in storage.
Compare prices instantly and save up to 80% on Steam keys with Kinguin — trusted by 15+ million gamers worldwide.
Check Prices on Kinguin →*Affiliate link — supports our independent coverage at no extra cost to you
Once I slapped on my first full advanced set, incoming chip damage dropped to something I could actually manage without panic-healing. Combined with Great Body, it dramatically increased the number of hits I could survive.
Priority: Take this as soon as you hit Tier 4 Warrior, especially if you already have advanced pieces waiting.
Role: Passive lifesteal to keep you topped up between fights
Blood Thirsty lets you recover health when you defeat enemies. It has three levels, and it effectively gives you life steal equal to a percentage of your damage (2% per hit in my experience, scaling with each rank and synergizing beautifully with high DPS builds and buffs like Battle Feast).
The practical impact is huge:
Priority: If you’re running Warrior at all, Blood Thirsty is a top-tier pick right after Advanced Armor. It turns aggression into survivability.
Role: Amplifies the payoff of every crit you land
Devastation increases your critical damage and has three levels, with a massive +75% critical damage at max rank. If your build has any crit chance from gear, food, or other skills, this turns your crits into real nukes.
I noticed the difference most in boss-style fights and tougher elites. Normal hits keep your lifesteal and pressure up, while Devastation-boosted crits chunk off huge portions of their health bar.
Priority: High priority once your defenses are online (Great Body + Advanced Armor + at least 1–2 ranks in Blood Thirsty). Damage is no good if you die first, but once you’re stable, this is your go-to DPS multiplier.
Role: Conditional damage buff for flawless play
Focus gives you +25% damage as long as you haven’t taken damage for a set duration. At base rank, it activates after 45 seconds without being hit; at max rank it drops to 15 seconds.
On paper it’s incredible. In practice, it’s brutal to maintain on crowded floating islands. One stray arrow or splash hit, and the timer resets. I found it most useful for:
Priority: Skip this if you’re still getting tagged a lot or playing aggressively in melee. It’s a luxury, not a core skill.
Tier 4 Arcanist is where you choose between reliable boosts and high-variance gimmicks. I tried both; one made my clears smooth, the other made them… exciting, let’s say.
Role: Access to top-end magic weapons and spellbooks
Just like Advanced Weapons and Advanced Armor, these skills are pure unlock gates:
If you’re primarily a caster or rod user, grabbing these early in Tier 4 is essential. Your elemental masteries don’t really shine until they’re paired with high-end gear.
Role: Status-based damage and control
Poison Mastery lets your attacks deal poison damage and occasionally inflict the poison status on enemies. Status effects are incredibly useful in Everwind because they keep doing work while you dodge, reposition, or swap targets.
I found Poison especially handy on tankier enemies and bosses. Even when I had to back off to heal or kite, their health kept ticking down.
Priority: A strong pick if you like more methodical fights and want extra safety. It’s not mandatory, but it’s very comfortable.
Role: High-risk, high-reward magic damage modifier
Wild Magic is the definition of a coin flip. Every time you cast a spell, it either:
When the buff side procs, fights melt. When the debuff hits during a clutch moment, it feels awful. On higher islands where consistency matters, this got me killed more than it saved time.
Priority: Only take Wild Magic if:
If you want stable progress rather than highlight-reel bursts, invest in Lightning/Poison mastery, Advanced gear unlocks, and Warrior defenses instead.
To make this more concrete, here are paths that felt the strongest once I hit Tier 3/4.
If you’re staring at the Tier 3/4 screens wondering where to put your hard-earned points, use this short priority ladder:
Builds in Everwind can get pretty wild, but the pattern that kept me alive across the tougher floating islands was simple: health and armor first, sustainable healing second, advanced gear third, and flashy damage last. If you follow that order, Tier 3 and 4 stop feeling like a brick wall and start feeling like the power spike they’re meant to be.
Get access to exclusive strategies, hidden tips, and pro-level insights that we don't share publicly.
Ultimate Guide Strategy Guide + Weekly Pro Tips