Playing Wuthering Waves as a complete beginner can be both thrilling and overwhelming, especially if you’re new to this genre.
In this post, we’ll share 15 life-changing tips for beginners to help you start and progress efficiently in Wuthering Waves. These tips will guide you through the early stages and ensure a smooth and enjoyable gaming experience.
Let’s dive in!
Content Overview
Video Guide
1. Prioritize Increasing Your Union Level
Union Level gates most of the game’s content and progression.
You cannot advance in the main story quest or unlock certain features and areas without reaching specific Union Levels.
Every 10 Union Levels increase your Sol3 Phase by 1, which is necessary for character ascension.
Even if you have the required materials, you can’t ascend your character without reaching the required Sol3 Phase, as it acts as a content gate.
The same applies to the Data Bank level.
You can gain Union EXP and level up your Union Level by:
- Finishing main quests
- Completing side quests, companion quests, and exploration quests
- Opening chests in the open world
- Unlocking beacons and nexuses in the open world
- Unlocking Tidal Heritage in the Open World
- Engaging in activities that increase your exploration progress in specific regions, such as solving puzzles or completing scattered challenges
- And spending Waveplates in Tacet Fields, Weekly Bosses, World Bosses, and Simulation battles
2. Rank Up Your Data Bank ASAP
Leveling up your Data Bank increases your Echo drop rate, maximum rarity, and the maximum Echo cost you can equip on your characters.
From levels 1 to 10, it also grants a permanent stamina boost.
And upon reaching level 15, you can start getting 5-star drops at a 30% drop rate.
To increase your Data Bank rank, hunt enemies in the overworld and absorb them into your Data Bank.
Each monster’s rarity provides different amounts of EXP for your Data Bank.
The idea is to absorb the echoes of each monster you encounter, aiming to get them at the highest rarity possible.
Wuthering Waves makes hunting higher rarities of monsters you’ve already encountered easy.
Here’s how:
- First, open the main menu (press the Escape key if you’re on PC).
- Then go to the Data Bank and select the second option.
- From there, you’ll see the monsters you’ve absorbed and their current rarities.
You can track a monster to show its location on the map and start hunting it.
Once you successfully hunt it, your map will update automatically and show the next nearest location of that monster.
Another source of Data Bank EXP is completing each milestone stage level.
This involves tasks like leveling your resonators, purchasing items from the Souvenir Shop, and other activities.
If you’re stuck and need more Data Bank EXP, check if you have unclaimed Milestone rewards.
To access this:
- Go to the menu.
- Select Guidebook.
- Navigate to the second tab for your Milestone progress and any unclaimed rewards.
3. Take Advantage of the Data Merge Feature
The Data Merge feature unlocks once you reach Data Bank level 8 and Sol3 Phase 3.
This feature lets you recycle 5 Echoes into one random Echo.
It allows you to discard Echoes you don’t need and get one with a potentially higher rarity or better stats.
The new Echo’s rarity is determined by your current Data Bank Level, not the rarity of the Echoes you used to merge.
For instance, if your Data Bank level is 15, you might get a 5-star Echo even if you only sacrificed 3-star Echoes.
However, discarding higher-rarity Echoes increases the chance of getting extra Echoes.
You could also wait until you max out your Data Bank Level before merging Echoes, but that’s a long-term strategy.
4. Feed Other Echoes For Upgrade
If you’re the type of gamer who enjoys upgrading even for temporary use, you’ll be glad to know that you can actually enhance Echoes by feeding them with other Echoes.
Note that you can only feed Echoes that have already been upgraded and are not equipped by other characters
And if you have already unlocked some sub-stats, you will get refunds for the tuners.
This feature is handy when quickly completing the level 6 milestone without wasting resources.
Personally, I recommend only upgrading Echoes that are 4-star or higher.
But if you’ve already upgraded lower-tier Echoes, know that this option is available to you.
5. Take Advantage of the Intro and Outro Skills
Every character in the game possesses a unique intro and outro skill.
You can trigger these skills by switching your active character when your Concerto energy is filled.
This action activates the Outro skill of your current character and the Intro skill of the character you switch to.
The Concerto energy gauge is located at the upper left side of your character’s HP bar.
Note that your character’s Energy Regen stat does not affect Concerto Energy.
The only way to fill this gauge is by dealing damage to enemies using basic attacks, heavy attacks, resonance skills, resonance liberation, or performing perfect dodges or parries with your active character.
Certain weapon effects, such as the “Variation” Rectifier weapon, can expedite this process by granting 8 Concerto energy whenever you use your resonance skill.
6. Study Your Team’s Optimal Character Rotation
Switching characters at the optimal timing plays a huge part in maximizing your damage output.
This depends on your team composition and the playstyle of your main DPS.
However, constantly switching characters is generally better for overall damage output than keeping a single character on the field for extended periods.
Ideally, your rotation should include:
- Casting each character’s resonance skill
- Casting the echo skill
- If possible, casting Resonance Liberation skills
- Filling up the concerto gauge
- Then switching to the next character to trigger Intro and Outro skills.
The idea is to cast every skill of your party whenever they finish their cooldown.
However, the actual sequence depends on the specific charter’s kit.
And in some cases, you might not be able to fill your concerto energy fast enough.
Having support characters with a high Energy Regen stat and who can generate Concerto Energy via Weapons will significantly improve your team rotation.
7. Practice Switch Cancels
You can do a lot of animation cancels in Wuthering Waves.
This technique reduces the execution time of your moveset while avoiding damage through character switching.
The idea is to swap to a different character in the middle of an attack.
This only works if the attack has a slightly long animation before the damage occurs.
An easy example is Encore’s Heavy Forte Attack, which takes a few seconds before it explodes.
As soon as you execute the attack, don’t wait for the animation to finish.
Instead, switch to a different character, allowing you to continue attacking while Encore finishes up her explosion attack.
The character you switched from will gain a form of invulnerability while their attack finishes and your next character will already be executing their next attack.
You can perform Switch Cancels on many Echo skills, though some are more challenging to execute than others.
But hey, that’s part of the fun.
8. NPC Shops Are Your Friends
Starting out, resources for character skill upgrades and weapon enhancements are scarce.
And most of these materials require spending waveplates.
Fortunately, two shops can help you gather essential materials early on.
First, visit Uncle Wei near the Weapon Crafting station.
In exchange for Shell Credits, he sells materials like Waveform Residue, Howler Core, Whisperin Core, and other items needed for character and weapon ascension.
Although his stock is limited, it’s enough to boost your initial skill levels.
The second shop is the Souvenir Store near the Resonance Beacon.
Here, you’ll spend Wood-Textured Shards, which are harder to find as they come from exploration.
This shop offers ascension materials, tuners, and even Lustrous Tides for the Gacha Banner.
Personally, I would get the Free Rolls in the Souvenir shop first, but if you’re in a rush, you could also get some much-needed materials here.
9. Get Access To The Merchant in Tiger’s Maw Mine ASAP
Unlock another shop by completing a Chain Exploration Quest, “Hidden Dangers in Peaceful Life”.
This is a chain quest that will unlock the “Shadows of the Past” quest.
You will have to wait 24 hours after completing the first quest, so I suggest you take on this quest as soon as you can.
This quest becomes available at Union Level 15 and can be initiated by talking to Xiaoyu near the south entrance of Jinzhou.
And a new merchant will appear in Tiger’s Maw Mine after completing both quests.
While his items are one-time purchases, they include blue-rarity enhancement materials in exchange for Lumpylumen ores you can get from the mines in this area.
He also sells 4-star grade Craftable Weapons and Weapon EXP materials.
That said, I would recommend farming ores in this area daily.
10. Use The Inferno Rider Echo For Faster Open World Travel
To travel faster in the open world, equip the Inferno Rider Echo as the primary Echo for all three characters.
Hold the Echo Skill button to transform and traverse the world on a badass fiery bike.
Since open-world monsters are pretty easy to defeat, this will save you time traversing the map.
11. Watch Out For The Enhance Drop Rate Chances
Data Bank includes a weekly limit of 15 Enhanced Drop Rate Chances.
These increase the probability of getting an Echo from defeating Overlord or Calamity class monsters.
Use these chances for Echoes you want as your Active Echo Skill or for hunting specific stats on Calamity or Overlord class Echoes.
Avoid World Bosses or Weekly Bosses you don’t intend to hunt, at least until you’ve used up your 15 chances.
These additional drop chances can help you get the desired Echo Skill early, potentially saving hours of hunting for Echoes with good stats.
Keeping tabs on this will be beneficial, especially at higher data bank levels.
12. Choose The Right Sonata Effect
Echoes in Wuthering Waves function like Artifacts in Genshin Impact, with set effects called Sonata Effects.
You need at least 2 Echoes of the same type to unlock the first set effect and 5 for the full set effect.
For example, the Void Thunder Sonata is ideal for Calcharo due to its element and playstyle.
Use the filter option to navigate and easily select the Echoes you want to equip.
Note that identical Echoes don’t count towards the set, so you’ll need five different Echoes to unlock the full effect.
13. Use The Compass Button on the Map
If you’re stuck trying to achieve 100% exploration in an area, click the Compass button.
This handy feature shows you what specific items or tasks you’re missing, helping you know exactly what to look for.
14. Increase Your Pioneer Level For Easier Exploration Completion
Unlock the Pioneer Association and reach Pioneer Level 3 as soon as possible to receive rewards that can aid you in map exploration.
You can gain Pioneer EXP just by doing some exploration activities like opening a chest, unlocking beacons or solving some puzzles.
Talk to the Pioneer Association NPC in Jinzhou to check your exploration progress and claim accumulated EXP points.
Reaching Pioneer Level 1 rewards you with the Lootmapper, which detects nearby chests and marks them on your map.
The great thing about this item is that it has no cooldowns, so you can spam it whenever you want.
At Pioneer Level 3, you’ll receive the Casket Sonar, which detects Sonance Caskets and marks them on your map.
Unlike the Lootmapper, it has limited uses but can be crafted via synthesis.
15. Restrict Upgrading Your Echo To Level 20 For Now
Upgrading your Echo from level 21 to 25 requires substantial resources.
Limiting Echo upgrades to level 20 in the early stages lets you distribute resources across more Echoes for different characters.
This will ease your progress and enhance farming efficiency, especially when climbing the early levels of the Tower of Adversity.
