Wuthering Waves Tier List

Tier List Overview

Welcome to our tier list where we go over the best characters in Wuthering Waves. If you’re here for the purpose of rerolling, you can check out our Wuthering Waves Reroll Guide as well. Before we dive into the tier list, I want to provide many disclaimers.

Wuthering Waves is not a game where chasing the meta or top tier characters is required. It’s a single-player pve game where enjoyment is your goal.

Different characters have vastly different combat styles and aesthetic, and you should ultimately go for what you will enjoy. Even if your character is in the lowest tier, with enough investment and/or skill, you can still tackle endgame content.

Some players will enjoy games based on dealing the most damage possible or playing meta characters. Having stronger characters will also let you push through hard content faster or with less investment in levels or weapons.

Ultimately, this tier list is for your reference to draw your own conclusions about what you want to do.

Lastly, Wuthering Waves is still in its infancy. While there are tons of theorycrafters out there, the meta can shift dramatically when new techniques are learned. With that being said, take everything with a grain of salt.

Note: Tiers are not ordered. They’re mostly alphabetical/rarity ordered.

Tier	Resonator
S	Encore, Jiyan, Verina, Yinlin, Rover (Havoc), Sanhua
A	Calcharo, Lingyang, Baizhi, Chixia, Danjin, Mortefi
B	Jianxin, Rover, Aalto, Taoqi, Yangyang, Yuanwu

Character Breakdowns and Reasoning

In this section, I’ll briefly cover every character that’s releasing. I’ll give a general idea of how their kit works, and why they’re rated the way they are.

Encore: S-Tier

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fusion/Rectifier

Recommended Team:Encore, Sanhua, Verina

When it comes to 5-star Main DPS characters, Encore has basically the highest damage in the game. While she doesn’t have a dedicated Fusion DMG subdps, her damage is very high compared to the others.

However, this is “on paper.” Maximizing Encore’s damage requires precise timing and attack ordering. This doesn’t always pan out when you’re trying to target multiple enemies, dodge attacks, etc.

Even still, the fact that her damage is one of the highest in the game makes her worthy of S-tier.

Jiyan: S-Tier

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Aero/Broadblade

Recommended Team:Jiyan, Mortefi, Verina

Jiyan will be the first Event 5-Star character and is the only other Main DPS currently in the S-tier. If you have Jiyan and his weapon, his damage will rival that of Encore.

But, Jiyan is infinitely easier to play compared to Encore. You activate his Resonance Liberation and hold down your mouse to go brr. Furthermore, his Liberation State groups enemies while attacking, making him very comfortable for overworld play or stages with multiple small enemies.

Overall, Jiyan is a very strong DPS character with both ease of use and grouping.

Verina: S-Tier

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Spectro/Rectifier

Recommended Team:Anyone, Anyone, Verina

Verina is a Standard Banner character, meaning you can roll her on the Novice Banner/Selector Banner or any future Limited Banner.

Her main role is as a support. Verina’s passive grants an ATK bonus for the team when using her skill. Her outro skill further buffs the ATK of your team.

Verina’s Liberation heals the entire team while also marking enemies. While attacking marked enemies, Verina will perform a Coordinated Attack, meaning she deals off field damage as well.

Lastly, her second passive allows you to avoid fatal damage once every 10 minutes. While this may not be extremely useful, getting one free revive against a Hologram boss is nice to have.

Overall, Verina is the most flexible character in the game. She buffs every character’s ATK, provides healing, and deals off-field damage. Almost every team will ideally use their third slot for Verina.

Yinlin: S-Tier

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Electro/Rectifier

Recommended Team:Calcharo, Yinlin, Verina

Note: Yinlin will not be available when the game releases. She is set to release 3 weeks after the game launches.

Yinlin is an Electro character that boasts high damage while also not taking up a lot of field time. You can only attack with one character at a time, so being able to spend less time on Yinlin is a big advantage.

Her Outro Skill buffs both Electro Damage and Liberation DMG, making her an excellent Sub DPS alongside Calcharo, an Electro Main DPS. There aren’t many strong Sub DPS characters in the game, thus, Yinlin’s value increases a lot because of this.

Rover (Havoc): S-Tier

Sanhua: S-Tier

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Glacio/Sword

Recommended Team:Anyone, Sanhua, Verina

Sanhua is a character that everyone will get for free on their 5th Day Login Reward. She is a Glacio DPS unit, with a Basic Attack DMG buff on her outro skill.

This makes her a strong teammate for just about any character. Most characters will use Basic Attacks to some degree, but some prioritize other things like Heavy Attack.

Her Skill, Intro Skill, and Liberation generate Ice on the field, which you can detonate with her Heavy Attack. This allows her to play as a Sub DPS very easily, requiring little field time to utilize her abilities.

While Yinlin is a powerful Sub DPS, Sanhua makes up for it with flexibility. Yinling will only buff Electro/Liberation DMG, which makes her a bit more focused, compared to Sanhua who can be used in just about any team.

Calcharo: A-Tier

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Electro/Broadblade

Recommended Team:Calcharo, Yinlin, Verina

Like Jiyan, Calcharo is an on-field Broadblade DPS character. Calcharo is nerfed compared to his CBT state, but he’s still a strong Main DPS. While Calcharo + Yinlin make for a powerful combo, Calcharo doesn’t necessarily make Yinlin better, but rather vice versa.

When looking at his kit, his Skill and Liberation look to focus on his Skill and Basic Attack damage. His Liberation state empowers his Basic Attack, dealing more damage.

However, his Forte Circuit revolves around Heavy Attacks and Liberation Damage.

To try and summarize:

Skills will grant Cruelty (Forte Circuit resource, max 3)
Consume 3 Cruelty for an empowered Heavy Attack and recover energy (counts as Heavy Attack Damage)
In Liberation State, Cruelty becomes Killing Intent (max 5)
Empowered Basic Attacks in Liberation State grant Killing Intent
Consume 5 Killing Intent for an empowered Attack and recover energy (counts as Liberation Damage)

With all of these mechanics, Calcharo deals a variety of damage through Basic Attacks, Heavy Attacks, Skills, and Liberation Damage. Having a support that buffs ATK or Electro damage will be ideal, since these buff all aspects of his kit.

Lingyang: A-Tier

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Glacio/Gauntlets

Recommended Team:Lingyang, Sanhua, Verina

Lingyang was poorly received in the CBT, but his performance on release has been quite comparable to other 5-stars like Calcharo. He weaves his Skill and Basics together to form chains, and his Forte Circuit puts him into a mid-air state, empowering your basic attacks.

The main caveat to his enhanced state is that since you are mid-air, you only have access to one dodge. You can’t keep dodging attacks as if you were grounded. This can be clunky in some scenarios, but if you time things well, you should have ample time to dish out damage before going back on the ground.

Having empowered Basic Attacks also pairs him nicely with Sanhua, who will buff Basic Attack DMG with her outro skill.

Baizhi: A-Tier

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Glacio/Rectifier

Recommended Team:Anyone, Anyone, Baizhi

Baizhi is the last character that you receive early in the story. She is a healer character with most of her kit revolving around healing party members.

Her Skill will heal party members while also dealing a small bit of off-field damage. Baizhi’s passive also makes it so that her Skill provides a small ATK buff, similar to Verina.

Overall, Baizhi is a healer like Verina, but Verina has much more offensive capability with her ATK buffs. If you want to play by dodging enemy attacks and never getting hit, Baizhi doesn’t provide as much value compared to Verina.

Even still, you will need three teams in Tower of Adversity, and having two healers built will be good for two teams.

Chixia: A-Tier

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fusion/Pistols

Recommended Team:Chixia, Sanhua, Verina

Chixia is one of the free units you get early in the game, and she’s a Main DPS character. Being a ranged character has benefits, as you can attack enemies from a safe range. Enemies will move closer to attack you, but you can avoid dodging and just run around instead.

Damage wise, Chixia isn’t too far behind the other Main DPS characters. Having a ranged DPS is also a good idea for your 3rd team in Tower of Adversity, since there are only 2 healers in the game.

Danjin: A-Tier

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Havoc/Sword

Recommended Team:Rover (Havoc), Danjin, Verina

Danjin is a strong 4-star DPS that can be played as both a Main DPS and Sub DPS. Her damage isn’t as amazing as in CBT, but it’s more than enough to clear content.

She plays a “berserker” style, where her attacks will drain her life in exchange for dealing high damage. She also has a bit of healing built into her kit, so she can also be played without a healer if you’re daring enough.

Her Sub DPS role also comes from her Outro Skill which grants a Havoc DMG bonus. This pairs her very well with Rover (Havoc) as a duo.

Mortefi: A-Tier

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fusion/Pistols

Recommended Team:Jiyan, Mortefi, Verina

Mortefi is a strong off-field DPS, which already gives him potential. You can only attack with one character at a time, so having damage while off-field is valuable.

His Liberation allows him to coordinated attack whenever the active character hits with a Basic or Heavy Attack. The coordinated Heavy Attack will deal more damage, and this has a short cooldown. Because of this, Mortefi synergizes with DPS units that use a lot of Heavy Attacks.

His outro skill also provides a large buff to Heavy Attack DMG. This makes him the perfect teammate for any Heavy Attack DPS like Jiyan.

Jianxin: B-Tier

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Aero/Gauntlets

Recommended Team:Anyone (that deals Liberation DMG), Jianxin, Verina

Jianxin is a jack of all trades but a master of none. Her kit provides a little bit of everything: Liberation DMG buff outro skill, enemy grouping, shielding, and healing.

However, her Forte Circuit generates quite slowly and takes a while to cast. This makes her a bit lacking when it comes to Sub DPS roles.

In terms of comfortable gameplay, Jianxin is one of the best. But when it comes to tackling Holograms or Tower of Adversity, other characters simply perform better.

Something to note is that her Liberation DMG buff on her Outro Skill can be more impactful down the line. In the current roster of characters, there aren’t too many that focus on Liberation DMG. If a powerful Resonator comes out that deals mostly Liberation damage, Jianxin may move up the tier list as a Sub DPS/Support.

Rover (Spectro): B-Tier

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Spectro/Sword

Recommended Team:Rover (Spectro), Sanhua, Verina

Rover is the main character you start with, and you can pick between male or female. Overall, the kit isn’t anything superb, but it’s not bad either.

Rover’s kit is mostly based around dealing Spectro damage with your Forte Circuit. Empowered Basics (post Heavy Attack or after Basic Attack 3) generate their Circuit, which you use to empower your Skill.

Rover’s Outro Skill is also a 3 second time stop, allowing you to get in free damage. There isn’t too much utility, but Rover doesn’t demand a lot either. You can utilize them as your Main DPS or as a quick Sub DPS.

Lastly, since Rover is the main character, you’re able to get Resonance Chain 6 for free. (Although only RC4 is available as of the current version)

Sequence 6 makes it so Rover’s Skill will shred enemy Spectro RES. Verina is the only other Spectro character thus far, but this utility can be great when paired with a future Spectro DPS character.

This is nice because Spectro Rover lends themselves to more of a Sub DPS role. They don’t require too much field time, and once RC6 is available, the Spectro Res Shred can be a solid source of buffing.

Aalto: B-Tier

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Aero/Pistols

Recommended Team:Jiyan, Aalto, Verina

Aalto is mainly a Sub DPS Aero Resonator. His kit doesn’t require long field time, and it allows you to gain movement speed, letting you dodge attacks or move to favorable positions.

His passive grants him a guaranteed Crit every 30 seconds, which counts down even if he’s not on the field. While you can play him as your main on-field character, you make make use of his quick firing and 30 second Crit much more as a secondary DPS.

Lastly, his outro skill buffs Aero damage, making him a good teammate for other Aero characters like Jiyan. Unfortunately, Mortefi is a better Sub DPS compared to Aalto, even when paired with Jiyan.

Taoqi: B-Tier

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Havoc/Broadblade

Recommended Team:Rover (Havoc), Danjin, Taoqi

Taoqi is another defense scaling character and is a “tank” similar to Noelle from Genshin Impact.

Her Heavy attack puts her in a defensive stance. When hit, you will automatically perform a parry attack.

Taoqi’s skill will generate 3 shields for the active character. When a shield is depleted, you will gain Forte Circuit resource (max 3). If the shield duration ends, you will also gain this resource.

The main clunky part of her kit is that in order to proc her Forte Circuit skill, you need to parry attack or activate intro skill. Thematically it makes sense. You can scale into defense to tank hits, parry attacks, and generate shields.

However, if late game Holograms can’t be tanked, Taoqi becomes somewhat useless when tackling difficult content. Even if she can help tank hits, one could argue that dodging is more effective and other offensive supports are better.

Lastly, her outro skill does buff Skill DMG. So you can still use her as a shield-generating support character, but that part of her kit is lacking compared to other supports.

Yangyang: B-Tier

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Aero/Sword

Recommended Team:Anyone, Yangyang, Verina

Yangyang is another free character from the early story, and she’s a simple DPS unit with a bit of utility. Her Skill and Liberation summon cyclones that pull in enemies around it. This is very helpful when dealing with lots of weak monsters in the overworld.

Her outro skill is her other piece of utility, granting Energy for the character you swap into. Outside of that, her kit mainly consists of dealing Aero damage.

Her damage is lacking compared to other Main DPS, so most will use her for her grouping utility as a Sub DPS/Support role.

Yuanwu: B-Tier

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Electro/Gauntlets

Yuanwu is a character similar to Mortefi in that he provides off-field damage, this time for the Electro attribute. He places down a totem which will launch coordinated attacks, and his ultimate buffs the entire party.

He is also a defense scaling character, meaning he can use echoes that your main DPS units won’t want.

However, other parts of his kit lend him to being a Main DPS, with an enhanced state Forte Circuit and damage dealing Outro Skill. This puts him in a weird spot as his damage is lacking compared to other Main DPS, and his Sub DPS role is lacking as well.

In terms of unique utility, Yuanwu does provide Anti-Interruption for the party. This can be useful if you don’t want to dodge and just want to tank hits. While it’s not “meta,” it is something to consider.

Methodology

This tier list is mostly comprised of two factors: value and strength.

Value

When it comes to value, it’s somewhat of a catch all term. To put it simply, a character is more valuable if their role cannot be easily replaced or replicated.

For example, Verina is extremely valuable, because she is the best sustain/support in the game. She can fit onto any team, and with the lack of healing options, Verina’s value is immense.

A character can also be valuable if they’re flexible. Sanhua is a great example. There are a variety of sub DPS units like Mortefi, Aalto, etc. However, Sanhua’s Outro Skill buffs Basic Attack DMG, which is almost universally good on any character.

This makes her extremely flexible like Verina, thus increasing her value. So while Mortefi might be a better sub DPS for Jiyan, Sanhua is a strong investment as she can work with just about any character.

Strength

When it comes to strength, this part is fairly self explanatory. If a character outputs the highest damage in the game, that should be worthy of a higher rating.

Quality of Life

One big factor that I do not take into consideration is quality of life. For example, Jianxin and Yangyang both have grouping abilities in their kit.

This allows you to group enemies together, which can save a lot of time when fighting monsters in the overworld. For many, this quality of life is a high priority over brute strength or flexibility. If 90% of the game is spent running around, making your life easier with grouping is high value.

However, for this tier list, the purpose is to target endgame content like Tower of Adversity or Holograms. In those fights, grouping is less valuable.

Closing Words

This wraps up our Resonator Tier List for Wuthering Waves. As with all tier lists, things are definitely going to change as the community learns more about the game and optimizes.

Tier lists are also not the ultimate truth. There is enjoyment in tackling fights with weaker characters, and it might even help you improve your combat skills.

Remember that tier lists are always meant as a reference and point of discussion. You should ultimately decide what you want with your account and play the characters that you enjoy.

Thanks for Reading! For more resources, be sure to check out our other Wuthering Waves Guides.

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