Wuthering Waves Beginner's Guide (3.4)

Starting Wuthering Waves can feel overwhelming with its vast open world, multiple progression systems, and fast-paced combat. This guide covers everything you need to do first as a new player - from Union Leveling to team building, waveplate management, and which early investments pay off long-term.

Union Level is the single most important progression gate in Wuthering Waves. It determines your world level, the maximum level of your Resonators and weapons, and the quality of your Echo drops. Your #1 goal as a new player is to reach UL40+ to unlock the highest difficulty domains.

Best ways to earn Union XP:
• Complete main story quests (highest XP/hour)
• Spend waveplate on Simulated Domain (weapon/talent materials you need)
• Open chests and explore - every chest gives small Union XP
• Complete daily tasks and battle pass missions

Resources are tight in the early game. Focus your materials on one main DPS rather than spreading them across multiple characters. Your best options from the starter roster:

• Rover (Spectro) - Your free main character, surprisingly strong, gets free Sequences from story progression
• Sanhua - Excellent sub-DPS, fast concerto generation, works with many teams
• Baizhi - Best free healer, essential for survival in early Tower of Adversity

Pull for limited banners once you have enough Astrite saved. Check our Tier List to see which current banner units are worth pulling.

Waveplate (resin/stamina) is your most limited daily resource. Never let it cap at 240. Early game priority spending:

Priority 1: Character talent materials (Simulated Domain - unlocked after story chapter 2)
Priority 2: Weapon ascension materials (Simulated Domain)
Priority 3: Echo farming (Tacet Fields) - Echoes = your character's secondary gear set
Priority 4: Credit/Shell Credit farming (only if you're broke)

Use our Daily Checklist to track your waveplate spending.

Echoes are Wuthering Waves' artifact system - they provide massive stat boosts and set bonuses. Early game tips:

• Don't farm Echoes extensively before UL40 - you'll replace them anyway
• Use any main stat Echoes with correct set bonus early on (ATK%/Element% for DPS)
• Save your Echo XP materials for UL40+ Echo farming
• Each Echo set requires 5 pieces (2-set = one bonus, 5-set = full bonus)

Check our Echo Database for set recommendations per character.

A typical Wuthering Waves team has three roles:

Main DPS - Your primary damage dealer, stays on field most of the time (e.g., Rover, Jiyan, Xiangli Yao)
Sub-DPS - Quick swap in, use skills/concentrated attacks, swap out (e.g., Sanhua, Yinlin, Mortefi)
Support/Healer - Provides healing, shields, or attack buffs (e.g., Baizhi, Verina, Shorekeeper)

In the early game, a Hypercarry team works best: one invested DPS + two buffers/healers. As you get more characters, transition to dual-DPS quick-swap teams for higher damage ceiling.

Once you've done the main story, here's your daily loop:

• Spend waveplate on materials you need (check Simulated Domain)
• Complete daily tasks for Union XP + Astrite (press B to open guide)
• Kill world bosses for materials (use waveplate x60 each)
• Open chests while exploring for Union XP + upgrade materials
• Check events - limited-time events give massive rewards

Use our Daily Checklist to never miss anything!

💡 Pro Tip: Don't forget to redeem your active codes! Wuthering Waves gives away free Astrite and materials regularly. Check our Codes page for all currently working codes - many expire after each patch.