I watched people give up halfway through. Literally months in, gone. And that's not an exaggeration to hook you into reading — it's genuinely what happens when someone decides to chase the hardest Arcana that ever existed in Dota 2, Windranger's Compass of the Rising Gale. If you've tried before and hit a wall, if you're thinking about going for it now, or if you just want to understand why this one specific skin became something close to an urban legend inside the community, stay with me until the end, because the answer isn't as simple as "just play more matches." ## Why the Compass of the Rising Gale Became Legendary Windranger won the 2019 Battle Pass Arcana vote, going head to head with Faceless Void, and the item that came out of it, the Compass of the Rising Gale, wasn't handed out as a fixed-level reward or sold directly in the store. It required players to grind their Battle Pass level to an absurd height, and Battle Pass level, for anyone who doesn't remember how that system worked, climbed through XP earned in matches, weekly challenges, Cavern Crawls, and direct level purchases — except buying every level you needed cost an amount most players simply weren't willing to spend on a skin. People reported on Steam forums that, playing Turbo mode only and not spending an extra cent, it would take something close to ten months to get there. Ten months of grinding, every single day, just to unlock something someone else got with a credit card in one afternoon. That already hints at the first practical thing you need to face before chasing it today: this Arcana is retired. Traditional Battle Passes stopped existing after 2023, and exclusive items from old editions, like Windranger's, don't come back into the normal progression system. There's no "play and unlock" path left for this specific skin — I'd love to hand you an optimized farming guide here, but that would be a lie. The only real path today is the Steam Community Market, buying from someone who's had the item sitting in their inventory since 2019 or 2020. ## What to Watch Out for Before You Buy It Today And this is where things tend to catch people off guard: not everything that looks like Windranger's Arcana on the market is actually the same item. Pay attention to the rarity listed as Arcana itself, check whether the item comes with both styles (purchases made before a certain date came with a different finish, which affects price), and be suspicious of listings priced well below average — check the Steam Market's own price history before closing a deal, because scams involving skin trades are still fairly common, especially outside the official platform. Always prefer trading within Valve's own market or on trading platforms with an established reputation and an escrow system, never through random DMs promising a discount. It's also worth pausing to think about whether it's actually worth it. The price moves with demand — when Windranger is riding high in the competitive meta, or when some major tournament puts a spotlight on her, the Arcana's value tends to climb along with it, because more people want to show off the skin while playing the hero that's trending. So if your plan is investment as much as aesthetics, paying attention to these popularity cycles can make a real difference in how much money changes hands when you buy or resell. Some people try the alternative route of buying an old account that already has the Arcana in its inventory instead of buying the item on its own. I wouldn't recommend it. Beyond the ban risk under Valve's account-trading policy, you lose whatever history, rank, and progress actually meant something to you, just to inherit a stranger's inventory. The cost-to-risk math simply doesn't add up. At the end of the day, the Compass of the Rising Gale is a symbol of a kind of difficulty that no longer exists in the game — it was never about luck or skill, it was raw time or raw money, and today only the second option is left standing. If you want it on your account, set a budget, watch the market for a few weeks before buying, and close the deal through safe channels only. And if the real reason you want it is nostalgia for seeing someone rock it back in 2019... well, then I'd suggest sorting out your actual priorities: spend on a skin or invest in ranked. Both give satisfaction, but only one of them raises your MMR.