Dying Light 2: Windmill jumping puzzles guide

Windmills are a fixture in the game world of Dying Light 2. They have jumping (or parkour) puzzles that you have to complete to reach the top. Once you’re there, you’ll interact with a panel to claim the windmill for the faction that controls that region. This will turn the windmill into a makeshift safe zone, providing a UV lamp and a bed. Here’s our Dying Light 2 guide to help you with the more troublesome windmill jumping puzzles.

Note: For more information, check out our Dying Light 2 guides and features hub.

Dying Light 2 windmill jumping puzzles guide

To be brief, we’re not going to discuss every windmill location or jumping puzzle in Dying Light 2. There are around a dozen of them, and the mechanics are fairly similar. Here’s the gist:

• The first windmill that you’ll stumble upon just by progressing through the campaign is Oak Windmill in Quarry Edge. However, you’re not actually required to capture it. You just pass by the area during a main quest called The Only Way Out.
• However, there’s a main mission called Unruly Brother that takes place after that. In it, you’ll meet an NPC named Donald. He’ll ask for your help. If you agree, you can power up the Larch Windmill in Trinity.
• In general, windmills have a minimum stamina requirement. If you don’t meet that requirement, then there’s a chance that Aiden’s meter will run out before he can reach the top (assuming he’s just jumping and climbing).
• Look for moving platforms, monkey bars, ledges, and walls that you can grab hold of.
• Upon activating a windmill, you’ll also receive some parkour XP.

Another key facet to take note of is that you can use your surroundings to your advantage. This is also why I suggest prioritizing the Paraglider upgrades instead of the other Nightrunner Tools. Once fully upgraded, you can use the Paraglider to increase height and gain a speed boost.

This makes windmill challenges a breeze (pun intended). If there are nearby buildings, houses, or air vents, you can use those as jump-off points to bypass the parkour stuff completely. In any case, what I’d cite below are some windmills in Dying Light 2 that can prove to be troublesome.

Magnolia Windmill

• Location: The Wharf
• Requirement: 160 stamina

Okay, well,  this isn’t really much of a challenge. However, it’s one of the few unique windmills in Dying Light 2 since you’ll find a panel at the bottom. This will cause the monkey bars to move vertically. Use those to swing higher and, on the second landing, you’ll find yet another panel. That will cause the other monkey bar to lift upward.

Hickory Windmill

• Location: Garrison
• Requirement: 200 stamina

This is similar to the Magnolia Windmill. The difference here is that — and I’ll honest with you — there is something weird going on. Normally, monkey bars would let you swing forward. But, for some inexplicable reason, I do the same action and button presses that I’ve always done, without moving my mouse at all, and Aiden kept jumping sideways. I’ve no idea if it’s because of input delay or framerate drops, but it caused a headache. Fortunately, the Paraglider upgrade and boost saved the day.

Juniper Windmill

• Location: Garrison
• Requirement: 200 stamina

This is just like Magnolia and Hickory in that there are moving monkey bars (there’s a wooden panel that blocks the opening here). Instead of having another headache, I just opted to ride the elevator to the top of the VNC Tower. I had around 520 stamina by this time, so I just glided until I reached the top. Halfway to my destination, I realized that there were other buildings that I could’ve used as jump-off points, but what’s done is done.

Cedar Windmill and Spruce Windmill

• Location: Saint Paul Island and Lower Dam Ayre respectively
• Requirement: 200 and 400 stamina respectively

I was able to reach the top of these windmills. In fact, in the case of the Cedar Windmill, I actually just flew from the nearby cathedral. So, why mention them here? Well, it’s because I had no way of activating them.

I had already killed all nearby hostiles, and I’ve assigned the facility in that region to a faction. I still couldn’t activate the panel and, as such, these tasks remain incomplete. Perhaps something else went wrong. If it’s a bug, then I hope it gets fixed in time for release.

Dying Light 2 is available via Steam. For more information, check out our guides and features hub.