As the tankiest of the virtues in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, wood is great for newer players who are going to get thrashed around a bit. Even expert gamers will likely dump a ton of points into the wood virtue before pursuing a different style of play, if they decide to change styles at all.
Crafting a loadout around the wood virtue is a great idea. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty doesn't have many builds that work as well at the start as they do at the end, but wood remains the exception. With the right weapons, players can develop a formula that works at the start and lasts for the entire game.
Primary Weapon: Sword (Sword Of Yu The Great)
The sword is the designated preferred playstyle of the wood virtue. It's the starting weapon and, if players invest in their virtues correctly, it can also be the last type of weapon players will want to use. Swords are quick and have no real downside.
If there is any gripe about swords, it's that they don't deal very much damage. But given their attack speed, they end up bridging the gap by getting extra hits in where most other weapons would only get one swing. From experts to novices, swords will be the default weapon for primarily wood virtue builds.
Secondary Weapon: Staff (Golden Staff of King Yufu)
The trick to a good secondary weapon is that it should behave differently than the primary weapon, otherwise there is no need to switch. The staff is slower but deals lots more damage. The Golden Staff of King Yufu has the highest benefit from wood levels, more than even the swords give.
Master switching melee weapons quickly. Use the sword to drain the enemy's spirit bar and, when they get stunned, pull out the staff to deliver a massive lethal blow. This is far superior to just using the sword to deal such blows. Don't leave extra damage on the table.
Ranged Weapon: Repeating Crossbow (Bamboo Repeating Crossbow)
No ranged weapon benefits from the wood virtue. Because of this, it's best to take the weapon with the most damage. That distinction goes to the Bamboo Repeating Crossbow. When going in on foot is a bad idea, the crossbow will finish off enemies from afar.
The fact that this weapon is repeating only sweetens the deal. If players see a group of targets and need to thin them out before heading in on foot, this weapon is as effective as a fire pot with some practice. Headshot enthusiasts will love how this swings the battle in their favor. Players don't get this until further along, so plan on using an early game build in the meantime.
Thrown Weapon: Poison Throwing Knife
With weapons that are fast, hit hard, and can take out multiple targets, the final base to cover is damage over time. Spells can help with this, but for brief attack windows, it's hard to be a Poison Throwing Knife. Toss one quickly anytime a boss isn't already poisoned and the fights got that much smoother.
The damage isn't going to be more of a burst than an effectively timed Divine Beast cast can do, but they can do just as much damage over the course of a long encounter. With a full stack, using them every so often is the equivalent of getting free hits in.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.