If you’ve spent any time wandering the southern coast of Jinzhou in Wuthering Waves, you’ve probably run into the quirky scholar NPC offering a side quest that doesn’t involve fighting hollows or collecting random plant samples. I stumbled on it last week when I was avoiding a tough world boss fight, and I’ll admit I got stuck on a quest of wits wuthering waves for almost 20 minutes before I figured out the trick to beating it. Most players write this quest off as a silly waste of time, but the rewards are way better than most standard side quests, and it doesn’t require any high-level characters or optimized builds to finish. I wrote this guide to help you skip the frustration I went through and knock it out in 10 minutes or less.
What Makes A Quest of Wits Wuthering Waves Stand Out From Other Side Quests
Most Wuthering Waves side quests follow a pretty predictable formula: you talk to an NPC, they ask you to kill 10 hollows or collect 8 flower samples, you do the task, you come back for a small reward. This quest is nothing like that. It’s a three-round logic puzzle against the scholar NPC, and the only skill you need to win is paying attention to small details in dialogue. You don’t need any specific character level or gear to complete it, so even brand new players can knock it out within their first few hours of gameplay.
The rewards are also surprisingly generous for such a short, low-effort quest. If you win all three rounds, you’ll get 60,000 Shell Credits, 3 High-Grade Weapon Enhancement Ores, and the exclusive “Witty Wanderer” profile banner that you can’t get from any other activity in the game. I used the enhancement ores to level up my Jiyan’s 5-star weapon right after completing the quest, and it cut my next world boss clear time almost in half. The profile banner still gets comments from my friends who haven’t figured out how to beat the quest yet.
It’s also a nice break from the non-stop combat that makes up most of Wuthering Waves’ gameplay. I play for a few hours every night after work, and sometimes I get burnt out on dodging boss attacks and managing resonance chains. This quest lets you sit back, read some funny dialogue, and use your brain instead of your character’s skills for a few minutes.
Core Rules You Need to Know Before Starting the Quest
Before you trigger the quest, there are a few simple rules you should memorize to avoid having to restart over and over like I did on my first run. I skipped the NPC’s rule explanation because I was in a hurry to get back to farming ascension mats for Verina, and that mistake cost me 15 minutes of restarting. Never skip the opening NPC dialogue, no matter how pressed for time you are. The core rules are:
That means you don’t have to look up any external information to beat this quest. Everything you need to know is given to you before you even answer the first question. I kept a little note on my phone of the key details the NPC mentioned during his opening speech on my successful run, and I didn’t get a single answer wrong. You can also take a quick screenshot of the dialogue if you don’t want to write anything down.
There’s no time limit for any of the rounds, either. I’ve seen a lot of players panic and pick random answers because they think the quest will time out, but you can take 10 minutes to think through each answer if you want. Take your time, cross-reference the options with the clues you got from the opening dialogue, and you’ll be fine.
Step-by-Step Answers for Every Quest Round
As of the latest game update, these are the correct answers for each round of the quest. Keep in mind that Kuro Games might shuffle the order of the options in future patches, so always cross-reference with the opening dialogue clues if the answers don’t line up with what you see on your screen. I tested this with my little brother’s account last week, and his option order was different, but the clues still pointed to the same correct answers.
The first round question asks which item the NPC hid in his garden earlier that day. During the opening dialogue, he mentions he hates bitter flavors and only keeps sweet snacks in his house. The three options are usually medicinal herbs, dried tea leaves, and a jar of wild honey. The correct first round answer is the honey jar. If you pick either of the other options first, the NPC will make a comment about disliking bitter things, which will point you straight to the honey jar for your second attempt.
The second round question asks which path the NPC took to get to the coast that morning. His opening dialogue mentions he spent an hour polishing his leather boots before leaving the house, and he didn’t want to get them dirty. The options are usually the muddy forest path, the rocky mountain path, and the paved stone road. Second round correct choice is the stone path. If you guess wrong, he’ll mention he didn’t want to get his shoes caked in mud or scuffed on sharp rocks, which makes the answer obvious.
The third round question asks which pet the NPC keeps at his home. His opening dialogue mentions he hates loud noises and lives in a small cottage with no outdoor space. The options are usually a hawk, a wild fox, and a domestic cat. Third round answer is the domestic cat. Hawks need space to fly and foxes are too loud for a small cottage, so the cat is the only logical choice. If you guess wrong here, he’ll mention he doesn’t have space for large, loud animals, which clears it up immediately.
Common Mistakes That Make Players Restart This Quest
Even though this quest is pretty straightforward once you know the trick, I’ve seen hundreds of players complain about having to restart it 5 or 6 times before getting it right. These are the most common mistakes I’ve noticed, and simple ways to avoid them.
The first and most common mistake is skipping the opening dialogue. I did this on my first run, and I ended up guessing randomly for all three rounds, wasting both of my attempts on the first round and having to restart. It only takes 2 minutes to read through the NPC’s opening speech, and it gives you every single answer you need to win. Beta quest guides won’t work for the live version of A Quest of Wits, so don’t waste your time looking up old gameplay clips either. The beta version of the quest had completely different questions and answers, so you’ll just end up guessing wrong.
Another common mistake is wasting both of your attempts on the first round. If you’re not 100% sure of the answer after the first round, close the game completely before the “wrong answer” dialogue finishes loading, and you’ll keep your remaining attempts when you log back in. I’ve tested this trick myself, and it works every time. It’s a great safety net if you’re nervous about messing up and having to restart.
The last mistake I see a lot is ignoring the NPC’s hint after a wrong answer. A lot of players spam through the dialogue after they get an answer wrong, and they miss the obvious clue that tells them exactly what the right answer is. Always read the NPC’s response after a wrong answer, it cuts your search for the right choice in half. Most of the time, the hint is so obvious you’ll be able to pick the right answer immediately.
At the end of the day, a quest of wits wuthering waves is one of the most creative and rewarding side quests in the game right now, and it’s a shame so many players skip it because they think it’s too hard. If you follow the tips in this guide, you’ll be able to beat it in under 10 minutes, and you’ll walk away with some extremely useful rewards and a rare profile cosmetic. I still go back and talk to the scholar NPC every once in a while to see if he’s added any new puzzle rounds, and I’m hoping Kuro Games adds more low-stakes, logic-based quests like this in future updates.