Have you ever wished to become a martial artist? Well, no wonder you chose to play Age of Wushu. Not many MMORPGs offer such immersive gameplay. However, the game doesn’t offer much information on how to play it. Worse yet, the forums are not even functional.

Before you start to enjoy this masterpiece among games, expect to read through countless fan-made guides on how to build your character. One of the first things you’ll need to choose is your school.

 As opposed to factions and subsects, schools are unique in several ways. For one, you may only be in one at a time and when you choose to betray it, you lose all progress related to that school. Since you will eventually disguise and travel to every faction and subsect, you must choose the right school at the beginning.

But how can you determine which one is the best? In this list, I’ve ranked all schools based on the general benefits they offer. Both internal skills and skillsets were considered when building the list. 

As always, I believe the most important thing in any game is for you to have fun. If you enjoy a specific playstyle, then go for it, even if it might not be the strongest. I’ve outlined what kind of playstyle each school promotes to help you in your decision-making.

 

10. Beggar’s Sect

The disciples of the Beggar’s sect like to dress in common tattered rags. 

The last school on this list is Beggar’s Sec. It is easily the worst school you can join in the current meta. It doesn’t have a single strong point. The sets are completely useless. The two decent ones, Dog Beating Staff and Dragon-Subduing Palm are available in stronger forms for players who aren’t in Beggar’s Sect. 

The 6th inner is just horrible. Perhaps in future patches, it might receive a buff but in its current state, I’d advise you to stay away from it. Joining it will only make you weak.

 

9. Ming Cult

A girl from the Ming Cult readies her arrows for a fierce shot. 

Ming Cult came before Tianshan as the ninth available school. However, it was a major letdown. Neither the sets nor the inner are good enough for you to consider this school. Ming Cult’s only saving grace might be its 4th set. While this spear set may be alright for PVP, it pales in comparison to Tianshan. Much like with the Beggar’s Sect, I’d recommend against joining this school.

 

8. Wanderer’s Valley

A member of the Wanderer’s Valley stands in front of his sect’s fire pit. 

Lots of people choose Wanderer’s Valley as their go-to school before they go on a disguise trip to other subsects and factions. Whether you’re free-to-play or pay-to-win, Wanderer’s Valley offers the best PVE set in the entire game – the Perish Blade.

 Thanks to its damage-stacking mechanics, it has one has the highest DPS potential in the game. Furthermore, the rage move allows you to heal for the percentage of the damage you deal. 

Why it does great:

The vampiric effect of Perish Blade makes it the best option for most of Age of Wushu’s PVE content. It even allows you to run most of the dungeons completely alone which means you won’t have to roll for the loot – it will be all yours. 

However, the set has its drawbacks. Newer bosses reduce your healing, rendering it useless. In Forbidden Instances such as the Cloud Valley, you’ll want to use ranged sets instead. Additionally, you need CC-heavy sets in for some solo PVE mini-bosses such as the Lingxiao heroes. 

Unfortunately, Perish Blade lacks in this department. It has no form of reliable CC. The rage even works against you, since it pushes mobs away from your main AOE attack.

You might be wondering why Wanderer’s Valley is so low on this list despite having one of the best sets in the game. The answer is simple – you can obtain low-level Perish Blade chapters via the Script Stealing Event which happens six times a week. 

While the damage output will be slightly lower, it’s good enough. Most people play Age of Wushu for its innovative PVP mechanics – they couldn’t care less about grinding dungeons. Thus, it might not be worth going there just for a single skill set.

And unfortunately, this school’s other sets are quite underperforming. While Wind-chasing Blades might be viable for mass PVP after the rework, you can choose plenty of better sets. The Lethal 13 Sword set was once great but now it’s outdated – anyone with a decent cash shop set will beat it. The other sets are not even worth mentioning as no one uses them. 

As far as the inners are concerned, Wanderer’s Valley leaves things to be desired. Its 6th inner is mediocre at best so most people choose either a subsect or Jianghu inner. However, their 4th inner is decent in PVE – it boosts your critical attack damage and adds extra healing. This makes it excellent for tanking bosses. But once again, most people don’t care much for PVE.

Wanderer’s Valley Excels In:

• Soloing most of the game’s PVE content
• Tanking bosses
• Keeping you alive during fights

Choose Wanderer’s Valley If:

• You love grinding Forbidden Instances
• You're a casual player who likes PVE
• You wish t to farm rare items without having to split the loot among the team

 

7. Tianshan Sect

Two Tianshan Sect members are engaged in a bone-chilling fight with each other. 

Tianshan is the newest school to arrive in Age of Wushu. When it first came out, many players quit their current ones to go to Tianshan. Was their decision justified or was it a major blunder?

Why it does great

Tianshan’s main and perhaps only strength is its powerful 4th set – Tianshan Sword Skill. It features so many moves with knock-up and stun effects that fighting it can quite painful. Even overpowered cash shop sets will have a tough time beating this set. Although it may be the only Tianshan set that’s worth anything, it’s just so good that it justified joining this school.

Unfortunately, Tianshan’s inner is quite bad. It’s practically a worse version of Wudang’s inner. 

What Tianshan Excels In:

• Has the best free-to-play PVP set in the game
• Features lots of crowd control
• Has a high damage output

Choose Tianshan If: 

• If you love dueling
• You don’t want to rely on your ping to win
• You want to make your opponent cry after you wreck them

 

6. Shaolin

The monks of Shaolin practice their martial arts at the break of dawn.

Shaolin is a school exclusive to male characters. Though it may not be the best school in the game, it offers a powerful inner and a tough 1v1 PVP set. If you decide to join Shaolin, you should bear a few things in mind. 

For instance, your character can’t drink alcohol while in this school or you will gain a lot of disciplinary points. Additionally, getting married will require you to buy an expensive item to bypass the restriction.

Why it does great

Following the rework patch, Long-Style Boxing became a formidable PVP set. It has a stun that ignores Yellow Armor and its parry break is a charge move. This means it will guarantee that you break your opponent’s parry. 

The other sets are not nearly as strong. They are too situational for you to use them often.

In terms of inners, Shaolin has one of the tankiest ones in the game. Their 6th inner boosts your damage output and defenses. At the same time, you have a chance to recover your HP upon being hit. 

At higher levels, you’ll also gain a third effect – whenever you are attacked, you have a chance to break free from CC. Of course, these effects shine the most when you duel other players. 

What Shaolin Excels In:

• Offers some of the best defensive stats in the game
• Great HP regeneration
• Plenty of crowd control

Choose Shaolin If: 

• You like a tanky playstyle
• Prefer a PVP-oriented inner
• Don’t mind the several restrictions this school imposes on you
• You like PVP

 

5. Wudang

A Wudang disciples practices the Wyvern leaves the sea movement from Taiji Fist.

Although not quite what it used to be during the 5th inner era, Wudang still remains one of the best schools you can choose. Its internal skills and skillsets focus on tanking damage. 

But unlike the Wanderer’s Valley, it works reliably enough in both PVE and PVP. Although it doesn’t have the highest DPS out there, turtling your way to victory works surprisingly well. 

Why it does great:

All schools give the player 5 unique sets. However, usually only one of them is good. This is not the case with Wudang – four of its sets are great in different scenarios. 

The first one is the famous Breeze Sword. Once you get your rework, you will be using it quite a lot. In PVE, it offers a mechanic unique to only a few sets – air-tanking. This means staying in the air so that the AI doesn’t target you while you whittle down the boss. The best thing? It has a pretty high DPS output too when compared to other air-tanking sets. 

Since you’re untouchable, it’s a great alternative to the more common Perish Blade. It’s also ranged and features an AOE knockdown. This makes it excellent for mass PVP too.

Another formidable set is the Taiji Sword. Or rather, two of its skills. These are Pegasus Flying in the Sky (commonly referred to as Steed) and Circle the Moon Three times. Steed swaps your HP and IP bars. This enable you to escape sticky situations both in PVP and PVE. 

Circle the Moon restores your IP so you should use it right after Steed. Although these skills have a high cooldown, they can alter the flow of your fights. Other moves in this set are not that special though the rage is great for clearing mobs. 

However, you can get Steed and Circle the Moon through script stealing too which may devaluate going to this school a bit. 

You’ll also gain access to the Taiji Fist. Naturally, it’s not as strong as its Ancient version but it can be a valuable asset. Stroking the Peacock’s Plume makes you invincible to damage for a short duration. It even converts the damage you receive to HP. 

The rage is an AOE stun with high damage output. But more importantly, its animation lasts longer than the 7 seconds it takes before you can swap to another set. This is the reason people use this set in PVP.

With the arrival of Penglai Island, all schools received their 5th set. In Wudang’s case, the Pliant Sword. You should only use this set in 1v1 PVP combat. Since it is quick and reactive, you will need a decent ping to use it effectively. But if your ms is low, you’ll be able to decimate your opponents within seconds.

Wudang’s 6th inner is decent. It’s not great but it’s not bad either. It revolves around tanking – each time you take damage, there is a small chance you will absorb it and reflect it onto the attacker. 

While it sounds good on paper, it relies too much on luck. According to rumors, it will be buffed significantly in the upcoming patches. However, it may be years before that happens.

What Wudang Excels In:

• Tanking damage
• Prolonging your fights
• AOE damage
• Air-tanking

Choose Wudang If:

• You prefer slower combat
• You like to negate all of your opponent’s damage
• You like to run solo Instances

 

4. Royal Guards

The Royal Guard disciples brandish their sabers, eager to spill the blood of their enemies. 

Royal Guards is the best school for Yang-based players. Since Shaolin and Beggar’s Sect are so underperforming, it makes sense why it is so. While their inner is pretty lackluster, they have some great PVP sets.

Why it does great

Most people flock to Royal Guards for the Blood Killing Knife Skill, their powerful 4th set. It uses a single blade together with a flying claw. With the Blood Killing Knife Skill, you can quickly dash to your enemy to wreak havoc on them. 

The set features a lot of DoT moves that will drain your opponent’s HP. Additionally, the parry buff and rage move have leeching properties. Sustain can be very valuable in PVP. The only downside of this set is that it relies on ping. 

Although ping-based as well, the Soul-Chasing Claw is another great PVP set. While it may be external, this flying claw set counters most ranged sets in the game. With it, you can stun your enemies and pull them toward you. During its heyday, every single Tangmen player despised this set. 

The other sets are not worth mentioning – they are essentially useless.

The same goes for Royal Guards’ internal skills. I suggest going to the Blood Blade Clan, their subsect, to get a good inner if you’re a Yang player. Most players do so. 

What Royal Guards Excels In:

• Disables most ranged sets
• Offers a mixture of damage and sustain
• Good damage over time

Choose Royal Guards If: 

• If you are a Yang player
• You love PVP
• Want to counter many meta sets

 

3. Tangmen

A Tangmen disciple who’s an expert in both poisons and ranged attacks. 

Veteran players have been flocking to Tangmen ever since the 6th inner came out. Their inner is one of the best offensive inners in the game, allowing you to boost your critical damage and rate significantly. 

But the true reason Tangmen is so popular is the 4th set, the King of Hell’s Invitation. This is arguably the strongest AOE set in the game right now.

Why it does great

Although Tangmen has only one powerful set, it’s one of the best ones in the game. The King of Hell’s Invitation is a ranged dart set that deals insane damage to everyone around you. The great range and high damage already make it a formidable set. 

However, there’s one more reason why it’s so broken – there are special weapons that cause your ranged moves to deal triple your base damage. If you equip it with this set, you’ll dominate in every mass PVP fight.

That’s more or less it as far as sets are concerned. The 5th one is decent for 1v1 but it gets outshined by cash shop sets. So can one set, however amazing, justify this going to this school?

The answer is yes because Tangmen also has one of the best free-to-play inners in the game. It ramps up not only your critical damage over time but also your critical rate and overall damage. These effects are great for both PVE and PVP. 

Thanks to internal alchemy skills, you can swap your stats and run this inner with internal sets too. Many people use it together with Buddha Palm for some great damage potential.

Tangmen’s 2nd inner is great for PVE. At max level, it applies a stackable debuff to your enemies. Each debuff stack makes them take additional damage from every source. This makes it very popular for boss fights and can cut your clearing speed in half. 

The only downside to Tangmen is its lack of defensive moves. You could compare their playstyle to the assassin archetype in many other games – a fast and powerful glass cannon. 

But with such a great variety of sets in the game, you’ll likely be able to offset this. Another problem might be that you’re just getting two benefits from the school. A great inner and one good set. The other four sets are just not that strong. 

What Tangmen Excels In:

• The best ranged set in the game
• Incredibly powerful free-to-play inner
• Great AOE damage

Choose Tangmen If:

• You like an offensive playstyle
• You want to deal massive damage to your foes
• Prefer ranged combat

 

2. Emei

An Emei disciple practices her Yue Maiden sword techniques. 

Emei is an extremely overpowered school. I would place it on top of this list were it not for one downside – only female characters can join it. It features a great Yin inner as well as two extremely powerful sets. Emei offers both offensive and support capabilities.

Why it does great

Emei’s first set is called Golden Diamond Soft Palm. Ever since its release, it has been an invaluable support set in both PVE and mas PVP. The rage gives nearby teammates and you a durable shield that can absorb a lot of damage. 

As a member of Emei, you can get it to the max level, making it that much better. The set is ranged which means it’s very safe for you to use. Then the rework came and Golden Diamond Soft Palm became even better. The parry break is now ranged which allows you to use it in 1v1 scenarios and completely annihilate your opponents. 

The second valuable set is Departing Sting. In terms of DPS output, it’s very close to Perish Blade. While it lacks the leeching effect, it buffs your defensive stats significantly. It is one of the most popular sets people use in PVE. 

However, it has applications in PVP too. Its stun ignores Yellow Armor and allows you to chain your moves in a decimating combo. If your opponent allows you to ramp up your defensive stats and damage, you’ve already won the duel.

The third set is Rosy Cloud Stab. This one has a very niche use and is nowhere near as valuable as the other ones. Nevertheless, the AOE heal can be useful in Forbidden Instances, especially when paired with the AOE shield of Golden Diamond Soft Palm.

Emei’s 4th set is also decent. It’s a strictly 1v1 PVP set. Even though it’s not as strong as it used to be, it’s very decent for a school set.

This school has an Emei-zing inner too. When it comes to Yin inners, it might even be the best one. While you remain in combat, you gain stacks periodically. At six stacks, you will take 30 % less damage and deal 30 % extra soft damage with your attacks. The buff lasts until you attack or are attacked three times. 

This buff provides you with an excellent mixture of offense and defense, making it one of the best inner effects in the game. 

But it also has a secondary effect. When you would take otherwise lethal damage, it restores 15 % of your maximum HP and knocks nearby enemies away. 

What Emei Excels In:

• A fine blend of offensive and defensive capabilities
• Great DPS output
• Good support sets
• Excellent in both PVE and PVP

Choose Emei If: 

• You want the most versatile sets in the game
• Like both PVP and PVE equally
• Prefer a well-rounded combat style

 

1. Scholars

A Scholar disciple engages in a fierce battle with a Beggar’s Clan member. 

No school will provide you with as many benefits as Scholars. It made it to the top spot on my list thanks to its incredible inner and formidable sets. Much like Emei, it offers both offensive and supportive moves. 

To this day, Scholars has the most powerful PVP school set in the game. It’s open to anyone who bothered to learn a cultural life skill. So before you attempt to join, make sure you choose either the painter, scholar, weiqi player, or musician profession.

Why it does great

As I stated above, Scholars has one of the best 1v1 PVP sets a school can offer – the Leisure Kick. This internal set has a rage move that can whittle down most of your opponent’s HP in a matter of seconds. 

With the proper setup, unleashing this move effectively ends the fight. Just keep in mind the set is very ping-reliant. If you’re not American, you might have a tough time getting it to work.

Scholars also have the Boundless Sword, a great twin swords support set. It adds extra Soft damage to your team’s attacks. The rage restores IP to your whole team and adds even more extra damage. This makes it an excellent set to take into Forbidden Instances. 

But the most sought move in this set is the parry buff – the Turn Weapon Around move. This will make you recover % IP whenever an enemy strikes your parry. Unless you have the expensive Sun and Moon Demon King’s Pen book, you will need this move in every PVE instance.

Unlike most schools, the rework didn’t make Scholars’ first set all that strong. The Falling Flower Sword is only useful in PVE thanks to its AOE damage. The other two sets are not worth mentioning at all. Most people just don’t use them because they’re atrocious.

Scholars’ 6th inner, Moonlit Garden, is one of the best free-to-play ones in the game. Similar to Emei, it boosts your attack damage and reduces the damage you take by up to 50 %. Additionally, it makes you ignore some percentage of your opponent’s parry. 

Whether you like PVP or PVE, these effects are excellent for both. The only downside is the RNG involves in triggering these effects. 

Their 2nd inner is also coveted by all players. While useless in combat, it’s great for moving across the world. At the maximum level, it boosts your movement speed by 33 %. Combined with a Windrider, you’ll be zooming across the world. You can sell higher-level pages to other players and make money this way.

What Scholars Excels In:

• Has one of the best free-to-play PVP set
• Formidable inner
• Great for supporting your teammates
• Very versatile

Choose Scholars If: 

• You love PVP
• Prefer an offensive inner
• Want the best parry buff in the game
• Want to support your team in Forbidden Instances

You might also be interested in:

• Age of Wushu Guide [25 Useful Tips Every Player Should Know]
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