Priority Guide

This guide is aimed for those who want to be on top of the grind and not make newbie mistakes. This guide is going to be divided every 10 Union Levels up to 40- since this was around the “soft cap” in CBT2 due to time constraints and you would’ve every feature unlocked at that point.

This guide does not contain:

• Story Spoilers.
• Gacha recommendations (except for events for 1.0).
• Meta composition or picks (it will recommend free characters from 1.0 and details of 5*).

Beginners should also check out the Starter Guide for more information about the systems of Wuthering Waves:

Wuthering Waves Starter Guide

Characters

The recommendations are based on my experience during CBT2 and characters’ potential as Standalone characters.

Why? Because later, resources for F2P players become very scarce as you max out characters and reach Union Level 30- even more at Union Level 40.

The overall recommendation for characters available for free and in an order based on potential and power alone are: Rover (male) > Chixia > Sanhua > Yangyang > Yuanwu.
If you dislike following a meta and planning ahead, this guide isn’t for you. However, consider reading through the top priorities as some can be helpful advice. 

Depending on the 5* you get from Novice Banner, keep these details in mind:

• Calcharo: Strongest main DPS among the standard banner characters. He can be slow on the parrying timing but he’s a powerhouse spamming heavy attacks and requires some animation canceling to some degree.

• Encore: She’s a solid main DPS that can deal continuous damage from her Outro skill. Her kit relies on entering into a state where she deals the most damage and keeping up your uptime. She can’t parry like other characters, you need to plunge attack for this.

• Lingyang: He’s a strong main DPS with one of the trickiest kits to master. Most of his damage comes from keeping his Forte Circuit effect up and its airtime; while in this mode, he can only dodge once instead of the usual twice and you must time your attacks properly when playing it safely.

• Verina: She’s one of the strongest healers/supports in the game. She gains Forte Circuit from her 5th normal attack and her skill. Heavy attacks heal your whole party and her outro skill buffs heals and buffs the next character’s ATK.

• Jianxin: She’s a support first, sub DPS second. Most of her kit relies on countering incoming attacks, tanking enemies, creating shields and gathering enemies on her Resonance Liberation. When swapped out, she increases the Resonance liberation of the next character.

Whoever you get, if it's a main DPS, consider building them as a 2nd main DPS. If you get a support, you can upgrade them later and focus on 2 main DPS (Rover included).

Union Level 1 - 10

• Top Priority
  • Main Story.
  • Teleport Points (Resonance Beacon and Nexus).
  • Reveal the entire Map.
  • Spend Waveframe on Weapon materials (Preferably Sword and Gun for Rover and Chixia).
    
• Optional
  • Killing enemies on the way while doing these 3, make sure to get those you don't have in your Data Bank yet.
  • Discovering New Echoes will grant you Union EXP so this will speed up your progress.
  • Side Quests.
  • Collect any Sonance Caskets you see.

Recommendations

• Level characters you’re willing to use. Enemies are very easy to deal with around this level and any level is good enough.
• Characters you can build at this point: Rover > Chixia > Yangyang. Do NOT build them all at once, pick one or two that click with you.
• DO NOT spend Echo EXP for Green nor Blue Echoes, they’re worthless- but keep them for the Data Merge, so you can get 5* echoes later at higher Union Level.

Union Level 11 - 20

• Top Priority
  • Side Quests.
  • Kill every enemy you need for your Data Bank, new enemies that aren’t in your data bank will most-likely drop their echo.
  • Max out your Data Bank's Level as high as possible; as it becomes VERY important for your gear.
  • Equip 3* or 4* weapons and for echoes, any 2 2-pieces set works perfectly fine. You don’t need a full set until 5* echoes become available- otherwise you will burn enemies and echoes.
  • Collect Sonance Casket for Rover’s Resonance Chains.
  • Spend Waveframe on Weapon materials, Ascension materials for your 2nd main DPS and perhaps Echo EXP. Focus on your Weapon and Ascension Materials first.
  • If you haven’t done your weekly, do it in this UL range, otherwise save it for UL+20.

• Optional
  • If you’re building Rover, you should upgrade their Forte Circuit (the middle ability in the Forte menu). It will increase their damage significantly.

Recommendations

• If you’re F2P, consider building Chixia or Yangyang first (your choice). Preferably Chixia for damage.
• Rover must be your main DPS since it’s cheaper to build and very strong due to Chains and ascensions being more accessible than any other character early on.
• For builds, just aim for a 2 2-piece set with their own element and ATK, it’s faster and cheaper.
• DO NOT UPGRADE ANY ECHO AT THIS POINT YET. Save the Echo EXP for 5* echoes!!

Union Level 21 - 30

• If you’re F2P, consider building Chixia or Yangyang first (your choice). Preferably Chixia for damage.
• Rover must be your main DPS since it’s cheaper to build and very strong due to Chains and ascensions being more accessible than any other character early on.
• For builds, just aim for a 2 2-piece set with their own element and ATK, it’s faster and cheaper.
• DO NOT UPGRADE ANY ECHO AT THIS POINT YET. Save the Echo EXP for 5* echoes!!

• Top Priority
  • Finish your Data Bank, make sure all your Data Bank is filled with 5* Echoes, since they give the max. Amount of Data Bank EXP possible.
    Even if you gain more EXP and cannot level up your Data Bank, the EXP remains until you rank up your Data Bank.
  • At UL 25 - 30, once you unlock 5* echoes, FARM AS MUCH AS YOU CAN; specially 3 cost and “Shiny” versions of Echoes!
  • Farm Cost 4 Echoes as much as possible, you don’t need Wavematter for this!
  • If you got the 5* Weapon Selector Box, consider using it on a sword for Rover.
  • There’s a 4* Weapon selection box at Tiger’s Maw (You can preview the main stats it has. Consider picking Guns for Chixia and spend the 5* Weapon Selector box for Rover)
  • Finish your exploration %.
  • Attempt Tower of Adversity’s Stable Zone.

Recommendations

• CAREFUL WITH WHO YOU BUILD AT UL30. Even though it’s faster at UL40, it gets more and more expensive. At this point, you should have 2 main DPS fully built and 1 support.
• Spend your echo EXP sparingly, once you get a good main stat for a 5* echo, get it to +15. Even though the max is +25, you want to max both DPS equally so your character isn’t as Handicapped on Tower of Adversity. You can also build a full set if you’re lucky and swap it around.
• If you’re planning on investing for +25, consider Cost 4, then Cost 3 and Cost 1s in that order.

Union Level 31 - +40

• Top Priority
  • Farming 5* Echoes with the desired stats and set for every character you own, this will save you lots of time and gather materials as you try and collect the sets you want.
  • Invest in Fortes, specially the Forte Circuits and the 1-time upgrades above your abilities- they WILL require weekly materials.
  • You should be able to finish Stable Zone and, maybe, Experimental Zone at the Tower of Adversity- not fully 3* it however.
  • Complete all of your exploration rewards, this will unlock your Lootmapper, which marks all nearby chests- as well as finishing your Sonance Casket if you haven't.

Recommendations

• Farm 3 Cost echoes as much as possible since they're at a limited quantity per day. Best way of farming is via co-op F2P. Tacet Fields are also good but can be quite expensive if you're trying to build characters.

If you’re considering fully upgrading sets of Echoes, consider starting from your 2 main DPS, then your support. Any other character should be their echoes and 10 levels under the current max. Level you can acquire.
For example: If the max level you can acquire is 70, you should put your main DPS characters at 70, anyone else at 60. This will take a lot of time, even patches due to Wavematter and in-game money.

Union Level +40 - Endgame

Recommendations

• Farm 5*, they should drop consistently from now on.
• Ascending characters at Lv70 is a lot faster, but leveling them all and your echoes are SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive. This is a massive timegate as patches are released for UL50.

Closing Words

At this point, you can play the game more casually or finish farming sets for your characters. Minmax your most used characters and complete challenges you have yet to complete. Remember this process takes a LONG time and this type of game isn’t a race, it's a MARATHON.
Every bit you put per day counts and helps you progress further as new updates releases and more resources become available.

If you want a full breakdown of each of the characters, visit the character section of the website!

Change Log

• May 25, 2024: Release of the guide.
• July 1, 2024: Updated to 1.1 Information.