Windrose hands you a lot of weapons on your way through the game, but most of them are just stat sticks until you know about the ascension system. Special abilities are what separate a good weapon from one that genuinely changes how a fight plays out, and they're locked behind a specific upgrade path that the game doesn't explain especially well. Here's exactly how it works.
What weapons can get special abilities?
Not every weapon qualifies. According to Destructoid's coverage of Windrose, only Rare-tier and Epic-tier weapons can have special abilities at all. Common and Uncommon weapons can be upgraded to improve their base stats, but they will never carry a special ability regardless of how much you invest in them.
Epic-tier weapons are the real prize here. Some of them, like the Plague Halberd and the Rapier of Devastation, come with two separate special abilities rather than one. That double-ability slot is almost exclusively an Epic-tier privilege, and it makes a meaningful difference in the endgame when enemy difficulty spikes hard.
Hold onto your Tumbaga Ingots until you've found a weapon you're actually going to keep. Ascending a weapon you'll replace in two hours is a waste of scarce resources.
Epic weapons hold two abilities
How do you unlock a weapon's special ability?
The process runs through a system called ascension, and it requires your Weaponsmith to be upgraded first. You can't skip that step.
Step 1: Upgrade the Weaponsmith
To upgrade the Weaponsmith, you need two components: an Anvil and Bellows. Both are crafted items.
The Bellows is the harder of the two to put together. Mire Metal Ingots in particular require their own farming loop, so plan ahead before you commit to this upgrade path.
Step 2: Access the Ascend tab
Once the Weaponsmith is upgraded, an Ascend tab appears in the Weaponsmith interface. Select it, then choose the Rare or Epic weapon whose ability you want to unlock.
Step 3: Spend Tumbaga Ingots
Ascending a weapon costs Tumbaga Ingots. The source material doesn't specify exact quantities per weapon tier, but Epic weapons with two abilities cost more resources to ascend than single-ability Rare weapons, which makes sense given the payoff.
Ascending a weapon is a significant resource investment. The Bellows alone requires 20 Mire Metal Ingots and 15 Crocodile Hide Pieces, so don't rush this system in the early game.
Ascend tab in Weaponsmith
When should you actually start ascending weapons?
The honest answer is: not early. Ascending weapons costs a lot, and the payoff only becomes obvious when you're deep enough into the game that enemies are actually threatening. As Destructoid notes, the special abilities feel "almost necessary" by the endgame stage, which tells you something about the difficulty curve.
Spend your early and mid-game hours finding the strongest weapons available to you. Once you've landed something like the Plague Halberd or another Epic-tier piece you're confident you'll use long-term, that's when the Tumbaga Ingots are worth spending.
Some Rare weapons carry a single special ability while most Epic weapons carry two. If you're choosing between ascending a Rare or an Epic, the Epic almost always gives you more return on the resource investment.
Resource checklist before you ascend
Before you sit down at the Weaponsmith, make sure you have everything lined up:
- A Rare or Epic-tier weapon with at least one locked special ability
- Weaponsmith upgraded with both Anvil and Bellows installed
- Enough Tumbaga Ingots for the ascension cost
- Confirmation that the weapon is one you'll keep through the endgame
The system rewards patience. Players who rush ascension on mid-tier weapons tend to hit the endgame short on materials right when the abilities matter most. Save the browse more guides on games.gg for deeper dives into specific weapon farming routes once you've got the Weaponsmith sorted.
Ascending a Plague Halberd or Rapier of Devastation with both abilities unlocked turns them into genuinely different tools. The investment is real, but so is the result.