Wuthering Waves Echo Tier List – Best Skills

This guide covers the basics of echoes’ skills, their verbs, how to “swap-out” of an echo and a breakdown of each kind of echo based on their tier.

Disclaimer

• This tier list does NOT cover what’s meta.
• It’s used as a method to categorize each echo’s skill, their versatility, ease of use and amount of damage.
• It’s aimed to help players on what to prioritize or make strategies based on the enemy they fight.

Verbs

Each Echo has a skill that starts off as “Summon” or “Transform”.

Only certain Transform echoes can parry flawed attacks and special skills, specially when stated by the description; however some which aren’t stated can still parry and most of them are Cost 3 and a few Cost 4 echoes.

Keep in mind, echoes can crit based on the character's stats.

Swap-Out | Tag-Team

Depending on the Transform echo, it will have a different animation-lock (locking you into an animation). During this lock, if you swap characters too early, the echo will disappear- However, if you swap in the right time, the echo will remain on the field while you control a different character.

If you swap back to the previous character, you'll be placed at the last position where said character was while transformed. 

This playstyle is very similar to Tag-Teaming where you control both characters by using their skills' end lag, Forte Circuit and Echo Skill in tandems while a long animation-lock from either of them finishes.

However, this WILL remove the Outro Skill effect of certain resonators due to swap while the echo’s buff from its skill (Such as most Cost 4 echoes) are assumed to remain on the character for the set duration; although not displayed visually.

Here’s a guide that covers everything related to the Tag-team playstyle

Tier List

S Tier: For echoes that are very versatile, have high ease of use and high utility/damage for most, if not all, situations. Parrying is taken into account for this tier as well as buffs.

A Tier: For echoes that have high damage/utility. The ease of use and versatility doesn’t match S-Tier but they’re very reliable. Parrying and Buffs are accounted for ranking as well as how fast they can yield their damage and utility.

B Tier: For echoes that are niche and situational. They hold some level of utility and versatility but their damage can be extremely underwhelming compared to S and A tier.

C Tier: For echoes that have high ease of use, very low utility and deal average damage overall. Most of the Summon echoes land on this tier.

D Tier: This category is for echoes whose damage are all aligned to be below Cost 3’s average, perhaps even zero damage and hold zero utility in combat.

Breakdown

S Tier

Herons

• Transform Echoes.
• Cyan Heron can parry flawed attacks and special skills.
• Violet Heron parries any attack but flawed attacks- it cannot parry special skills but it can block them by not getting affected (Such as the Mourning Aix’s grab).
• These echoes can be used right after an attack or skill, useful against enemies with multiple attacks. Their damage is underwhelming compared to Cost 4 Echoes; however their ability to parry attacks and deal vibration damage should not go unnoticed.
• Certain characters have difficulty parrying enemies due to their animations, timing or their weapon type, like Aalto, and these birds allow you counter and reposition; Cyan Heron dashes towards the enemy while the Violet Heron stays on the spot- and on counter, repositions your character above the enemy for a plunge attack or dodge mid-air.

Lumiscale Construct

• Transform Echo
• Can parry any attack and special skills- (the timing for flawed attacks will never line up with your transform due to the long counter stance duration).
• Highest damage ratios among the Cost-3 Echoes.
• It's significantly stronger than Violet Heron in terms of ease of use, damage and versatility; although slightly slower.

Thundering Mephis

• Transform Echo.
• Can parry flawed attack instantly on transform.
• It's a very strong and solid choice as an echo, it’s fast, stylish and buffs the current character’s Electro and Resonance Liberation damage; however it must land the final hit for the buff and it won’t continue the rest of it’s attacks if you swap-out but it will perform the next attack instead.
• You can slightly delay the attacks to hit every flawed attack but the window for the next attack is too tight for this strategy to work perfectly. You’re better off doing it with Basic Attacks.

Bell-Borne Geochelone

• Summon Echo
• One of the stronger echoes for any support. It grant’s a damage buff party-wide and a 50% damage reduction for the next 3 hits. It’s the most viable- if not a must-have, echo for any support
• Its animation can be canceled by immediately using your Resonance Liberation right after using your Echo Skill.

A Tier

Dreamless

• Transform Echo
• Cannot parry flawed attacks or skills.
• Despite her inability to parry, her damage, ease of use, speed, utility and special interaction with Havoc Rover makes her top of A tier.
• You can swap-out of her after using your Echo Skill and she’ll perform her entire skill as well as help you reposition if you swap back to the character equipped with Dreamless.

Tempest Mephis

• Transform Echo
• Can parry on the first hit but it’s extremely slow.
• This echo is on the Top 2 of A tier for two reasons: He can parry but it's very slow and you almost need to predict the flawed attack and you can swap-out of his Echo skill easily.
• To swap-out, you can either transform and swap for the first hit (which can parry) OR wait for him to land on the ground after the first hit, swap, then he’ll perform the rest of the skill on the spot.

Feilian Beringal

• Transform Echo
• Cannot parry flawed attacks.
• It’s one of the strongest Cost 4 echoes due to the damage and shortness of its animation- but it can’t parry and even if the 2nd hit parries; it is almost at a prediction range in terms of timing it- not as reliable and consistent.
• You can swap-out easily by landing the first hit, then swapping to another character and it will deal its entire damage and buff Aero and Heavy Attacks to the character equipped with Feilian Beringal.

Lampylumen Myriad

• Transform Echo
• Cannot parry flawed attacks.
• Can freeze non-Calamity and non-Overlord class enemies.
• Its ability to freeze small and medium enemies is noticeable in endgame content as it allows players for more room of survivability and creating an opening in Tower of Adversity.
• Its buff stacks depending on the amount of hits landed but the ability to swap-out of its Echo Skill is tougher than most echoes due to timing on the jumps and you’ll most likely be mid-air into a plunge attack.

Mourning Aix

• Transform Echo
• Cannot parry flawed attacks.
• This echo is weaker than Feilian Beringal but they fall under the same category with the inability to parry but with a short animation while being easy to swap-out of it. 

Inferno Rider

• Transform Echo
• Cannot parry flawed attacks.
• Its echo skill consists of 3 hits, the last one being very slow and granting you a Fusion and Basic Attack buff- This skill has a lot of commitment and swapping-out can be difficult depending on the fight; hence its spot on Tier A. Its damage is very noticeable but it can become risky to use on fights where you die in 2 hits.

Impermanence Heron

• Transform Echo
• Cannot parry flawed attacks.
• Its echo skill has two damage versions where you either slam or fly and deal damage from above.
• The initial hit grants a buff to the current character’s outro skill and the next character’s damage.
• Compared to Bell-Borne Geochelone; it’s a 2% increase and only applies to the next character rather than the whole team for the same duration and must execute an Outro skill in the next 15 seconds right after transforming. Not only the echo is hard to swap-out for but it can be inconsistent in terms of buffing the next character for your Tag-team playstyle.

Stonewall Bracer

• Transform Echo
• Can parry flawed attacks and parry special skills. (Not stated in the description).
• It generates a shield after the 2nd hit and can be swapped out right after transforming but won’t perform its 2nd hit.
• This echo is in A tier due to its ability to close gaps, transform for a long duration while running towards the enemy and automatically parrying any incoming flawed attacks or special skills (you can still get damaged during the attack and this doesn’t include basic attacks) and the parry for either can trigger as soon as you transform.
• It can also parry after swapping out!

Havoc Dreadmane

• Transform Echo
• Can parry flawed attacks and parry special skills. (Not stated in the description).
• Its ease of use and ability to parry puts it on par with Stonewall Bracer but it has a harder and tighter timing.
• Its damage rounds up to half of a Cost 4 Echo and can be swapped out easily after transforming or right after the first hit to perform the rest of its animation. Its skill pierces enemies on the front and covers a large area.

Glacio Dreadmane

• Transform echo
• Can parry flawed attacks and parry special skills. (Not stated in the description).
• Can be used mid-air, with a different version of it's echo skill.
• Very similar to Havoc Dreadmane, it has the ability to parry with an odd timing; creates glacio projectiles on transform dealing additional damage; but the damage itself is very underwhelming and is not as high as Havoc Dreadmane.

Lightcrusher

• Transform Echo
• Can parry flawed attacks and parry special skills. (Not stated in the description).
• Similar to the Cost-3 Dreadmane echoes before, it has the ability to parry at a timing; easier than Havoc and Glacio manes- however, it's damage is significantly lower than both; as it spawns crystals that explode after a short delay, even when summing them up, doesn't reach their damage numbers.
• Has a hold version for mobility and exploration.

Rocksteady Guardian

• Transform Echo
• Can only parry special skills.
• This echo isn’t as versatile as the previous two. It can only parry special skills and does not move. The parry is instant, similar to Stonewall Bracer.
• Its damage scales off your max. HP which makes it a niche pick but can be handy in certain situations.

Jué

• Summon Echo
• It behaves as any other Cost-3 summon echo.
• Deals under average damage compared to most Cost-4 echoes and higher than average Cost-3 echoes- although, it's damage is split into 3 portions: 2 as part of the skill and 1 from the player's attacks as coordinated attacks up to 15 times, 1 per sec for 15 sec. There can be a damage loss in this case.
• This echo is a niche, as it only buffs resonators that use Resonance Skill DMG as their main source of damage- specially for Jinhsi, maybe even Spectro Rover but Mourning Aix is a better pick for Rover.

Crownless

• Transform Echo
• Cannot parry flawed attacks nor skills.
• Has one of the slowest movesets compared to the rest of the Cost 4 echoes to deal all of it’s damage, which rounds up a little higher than the average of Cost 4 echoes but there’s too much commitment on the animation-lock and you can only swap-out to the next attack out of 3 sets rather than the whole animation.
• The only reason it’s not bottom of A tier it’s because the buff to Havoc Damage and Resonance Skill triggers the second you transform into Crownless so you can transform and swap/dodge to cancel the animation and still get the buff to the character equipped with Crownless.

Mech Abomination

• Summon Echo
• This echo falls into the category of most Cost 3 Summon echoes, however due it’s damage and buff to the equipped character, it remains at the bottom of A tier. It doesn’t require to be swapped out due to being a Summon Echo.

B Tier

Zig Zag

• Summon Echo
• Surprisingly, this echo can be useful but quite niche. It causes stagnation on a set area, slowing enemies for the next 2 seconds, similar to Spectro Rover’s outro skill.
• This effect also affects Common, Elite and Calamity-class enemies!
• Despite its low damage, this debuff is an AoE (Area of Effect) skill that can help you tackle multiple enemies at once in high difficulty on Tower of Adversity or a specific boss by delaying their attack.

Tick Tack

• Summon Echo
• Cannot parry flawed attacks nor skills.
• It’s utility is on par with Zig Zag’s by passively reducing any calamity-class’ enemy vibration strength by 5% after it deals damage.
• This affects parried flawed attacks by increasing the percentage of vibration strength reduced by 5% as well.
• Even without parrying flawed attacks, the amount reduced is very noticeable in both parrying and just Basic Attack.

Flautist

• Transform Echo
• Cannot parry flawed attacks nor skills.
• This echo is placed at mid B tier since its only purpose is to deal damage above the average Cost 3 echoes and it’s best used as a swap-out for that reason. It can only be swapped out once it starts shooting its beam.

Tambourinist

• Summon Echo
• Due to its damage, it’s not at the bottom of B tier since it allows the equipped character to deal Havoc damage seamlessly after summoning it.

Fusion Warrior

• Transform Echo
• Cannot parry flawed attacks, can block special skills.
• This echo is at bottom B tier due to its very slow animation and its only ability is to counter a basic attack; the damage is very underwhelming. It has the ability to block Special Skills, which should be taken into account, doesn’t push it into C Tier but there are better choices all around in S and A tier for the sets it covers.

C Tier

Traffic Illuminator

• Summon Echo
• Top of C tier due to its ability to immobilize all enemies, similar to Zig Zag’s skill but shorter and cone-sized range that isn’t as reliable.

Spearback

• Summon Echo
• Damage-focused echo that’s summoned in front of the enemy, deals damage lower than the average of Cost 3 echoes.

Geohide Saurian

• Summon Echo
• Damage-focused echo that’s summoned in front of the enemy, deals damage significantly lower than the average of Cost 3 echoes.

Hoochief

• Transform Echo
• Cannot parry flawed attacks nor skills.
• Instantly shoots a blast of Aero in front of you, dealing damage that’s average to most Cost 3 echoes. The animation is so short, you don’t need to swap-out to another character.

Autopuppet Scout

• Transform Echo
• Cannot parry flawed attacks nor skills.
• Its damage is significantly higher than most Cost 3 but the animation is very slow. It also creates 3 ice walls in front of the echo.
• Swapping out is recommended even for a single-hit skill.
• The ice walls MAY be useful for blocking projectiles from enemies although very situational for high difficulty content and may result in an obstacle rather than a benefit- hence its position on C tier.

Chaserazor

• Transform Echo
• Cannot parry flawed attacks nor skills.
• Its damage is higher than most Cost 3; the animation is faster than the Autopuppet Scout’s- however it only deals damage and the timing to swap-out can be tricky. This echo has no other utility other than damage.

Chasm Guardian

• Transform Echo
• Cannot parry flawed attacks nor skills.
• This Cost 3 is on a rough spot despite the amount of damage it deals, it comes at the cost of your HP and slowly regens the same amount it consumed. 

Cruisewing

• Summon Echo
• It doesn’t deal damage, it only heals you and allies in the party. If you don’t have a healer and you need one, you could use this echo.

Whiff-Whaff

• Summon Echo
• It deals a decent amount of total damage compared to most Cost 1 echoes and has the ability to pull enemies together- although it only affects certain Common enemies.

D Tier

Electro, Aero and Glacio Predators

• Summon Echo
• It’s a damage-focused echo that you summon, dealing damage directly to the enemy (Electro), a projectile that inconsistently bounces between enemies slowly (Aero) or at the enemy’s location (Glacio). Between the three, electro is the most reliable. The other two are very inconsistent and can easily miss the enemy.

Fission Junrock

• The only reason this echo is so high up in D Tier is for the fact that it can heal and collect minerals and plants around you outside of combat.

Roseshrooms

• Summon Echo
• Both versions are damage focused with different cooldowns, amount of damage and costs. Essentially, they do the same skill and nothing else.

All Elemental Prisms

• Summon Echo
• Essentially, they all do the exact same damage skill in different versions, amount of hits and ranges.

Dawrf Cassowary

• Summon Echo
• Summons a chicken that deals physical damage higher than Elemental Prisms but significantly slower.

Lava Larva

• Summon Echo
• Summons a Firebug that shoots a few fireballs before digging back into the ground. Projectiles are very slow and deal average damage total compared to most Cost-1 echoes.

Sabyr Boar

• Summon Echo
• It summons a boar that runs at the enemy dealing damage. It’s not a reliable source of damage and has zero utility.

The Puffs

• Summon Echo
• Summons a pufferfish, both deal damage and have different effects yet they’re barely noticeable and the damage is very underwhelming. Whiff Whaff would be a better choice in comparison for the same Cost.

Clang Bang

• Summon Echo
• Summons a TD ice cube that deals damage after leaping towards the closest enemy. It's damage is just as underwhelming as the puffs.

Havoc Warrior

• Transform Echo
• Cannot parry flawed attacks nor skills.
• It deals the highest amount of damage among the Cost 1 echoes, even higher than some Cost 3 echoes but it’s split between 3 slow hits. Swapping out will only perform the next hit and you’re better off using any other Cost 4 echo for damage alone in one hit.

Hooscamp

• Transform Echo
• Cannot parry flawed attacks nor skills.
• It transforms you into Hooscamp, jumping at the target dealing damage. It’s not reliable in terms of damage but can close the gap between you and the enemy.

Snip Snap

• Summon Echo
• It summons the echo, shooting a singular fireball at the enemy and then retreating. Would not recommend using it.

Diamondclaw

• Transform Echo
• Cannot parry flawed attacks nor skills.
• Despite having a counter state like Fusion Warrior, it is very inconsistent, underwhelming and you will get damaged during the counter state. Would not recommend using it.

Young Geohide Saurian

• Transform Echo
• Cannot parry flawed attacks nor skills.
• You simply fall asleep and heal over time. Would not recommend it despite its cuteness.

Hoartoise

• Transform Echo
• Objectively, it’s identical to the Young Geohide Saurian. Would not recommend it for combat, maybe co-op with friends for fun.

Excarat

• Transform Echo
• Excarat allows you to dig underground and become immune to all damage. Despite its niche utility; it deals zero damage and has no practical use in combat. Maybe the developers will add puzzles or exploration related to it; otherwise it stays at the bottom of D tier.

If you need more information about sets, echo stats or how to build your characters, check our echo-related guides or build guides!