Wuthering Waves Beginner's Guide (3.4)

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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. New to the game? Start by claiming all active codes for free Astrite and materials.

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. Here's the recommended UL progression path:

• UL 1-20: Follow the main story quests. Don't rush exploration — just play naturally.
• UL 20-30: Continue story + spend waveplate daily. Start using your daily checklist.
• UL 30-40: Focus on talent + weapon materials. This is where early Echo farming becomes viable.
• UL 40+: Endgame unlocked. Start farming Echoes seriously and attempt Tower of Adversity.

Best ways to earn Union XP: Complete main story quests (highest XP/hour), spend waveplate on Simulated Domain, open chests while exploring, and complete daily tasks + battle pass missions. See our Daily Checklist for the complete routine.

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, and can carry you through all early content. Best starter choice.
• Sanhua — Excellent sub-DPS with fast concerto generation. Works with many teams. You'll get her free from early convene pulls.
• Baizhi — Best free healer, essential for survival in early Tower of Adversity. Invest in her early to keep your team alive.
• Chixia — A free 4-star pistol DPS with solid single-target damage. Good backup if you need a second team.

Once you've saved enough Astrite, pull for limited banner characters. Check our Tier List and Current Banners to see which characters are worth pulling right now.

Waveplate (resin/stamina) is your most limited daily resource. Never let it cap at 240. It regenerates at 1 per 6 minutes, so you get 240 per day. Here's your early game spending priority:

1. Character talent materials (Simulated Domain — unlocked after story chapter 2)
2. Weapon ascension materials (Simulated Domain — same location, different stage)
3. Boss materials (world bosses like Crownless, Dreamless — 60 waveplate each)
4. Echoes (Tacet Fields — start at UL30+, focus after UL40)
5. Credits (only if you're completely broke — Shell Credit farming is least efficient)

Use our Daily Checklist and Farming Guide to optimize your waveplate spending. Pro tip: always keep at least 60 waveplate saved for a boss kill — don't drain it all on domains.

Echoes are Wuthering Waves' artifact system — they provide massive stat boosts and set bonuses. Think of them as gear that you equip on your characters, similar to Relics in Honkai Star Rail or Artifacts in Genshin Impact. Here's what beginners need to know:

• Don't farm Echoes extensively before UL40 — you'll replace them anyway with higher-rarity drops.
• Use any main stat Echoes with correct set bonus early on (ATK% for DPS, HP% for supports).
• Each Echo set requires 5 pieces to get the full 5-set bonus. The 2-set gives a smaller bonus.
• Echo cost system: Each character has 12 Echo cost slots. A 4-cost boss Echo takes 4 slots, 3-cost elite takes 3, 1-cost normal takes 1. Optimal setup is usually 4-3-3-1-1 (total 12).
• Main stats matter most: 4-cost = CRIT Rate/DMG, 3-cost = Elemental DMG%, 1-cost = ATK%/HP% for supports. Don't stress about sub-stats until endgame.
• Save your Echo XP materials for UL40+ — early Echoes are temporary.

Check our Echo Database for complete set recommendations per character. For a complete overview of which characters use which sets, see the Characters page.

A typical Wuthering Waves team has three roles. Understanding this is key to building effective teams:

• Main DPS — Your primary damage dealer, stays on field most of the time. Examples: Rover, Jinhsi, Camellya, Changli. They want as much field time as possible to deal their rotation.
• Sub-DPS — Quick swap in, use skills/concentrated attacks, swap out. Examples: Sanhua, Zhezhi, Roccia, Mortefi. They provide off-field damage and buffs.
• Support/Healer — Provides healing, shields, or attack buffs. Examples: Baizhi, Verina, Shorekeeper. Essential for survival in endgame content.

Early game team (F2P): Rover (DPS) + Sanhua (Sub-DPS) + Baizhi (Healer). This team can clear all early content and even some Tower of Adversity floors. Ideal team structure: 1 Main DPS + 1 Sub-DPS + 1 Healer. Some advanced teams use 2 DPS + 1 Healer for quick-swap playstyles. For detailed tier rankings and team comps, see our Tier List page and Character Builds.

Wuthering Waves' gacha system is called "Convene." Here's what you need to know to spend your Astrite wisely:

• Pity system: Limited character banner soft pity starts at ~65 pulls, hard pity at 80. Weapon banner soft pity at ~55, hard pity at 65.
• Character banner: 50/50 chance at the featured character. If you lose to a standard character, your next 5-star is guaranteed. This carries over between banners!
• Weapon banner: 75/25 chance at the featured weapon. Generally lower priority than a new character for F2P players.
• Astrite sources: Daily tasks (60/day), Tower of Adversity (up to 800 every 2 weeks), events (300-500 per event), exploration, battle pass.
• F2P pull strategy: Save for one key character per patch. Priority: Main DPS > Support > Weapon. Don't pull on standard banner with Astrite — use only free standard pulls (blue orbs).
• Standard banner selector: At 80 pulls on the standard banner, you can pick a 5-star character. Best picks: Verina (best healer, still meta) > Calcharo (solid Electro DPS) > Jianxin (situational).

Check our Current Banners page to see who's available right now. For weapon pull advice, see the Weapons guide.

Once you've completed the main story content (typically 15-20 hours), here's your 15-minute daily routine:

1. Spend waveplate on materials you need (Simulated Domain or boss fights)
2. Complete daily tasks (press B to open guide) for 60 Astrite + Union XP
3. Kill world bosses if you need materials — each costs 60 waveplate, use x3 solvent if you need more
4. Check the event tab — limited-time events give massive rewards and often reset daily
5. Capture Echoes from overworld mobs for passive EXP and potential good rolls
6. Claim your mailbox — Kuro Games frequently sends compensation Astrite and materials

Use our Daily Checklist to track everything. See the Farming Guide for optimized farming routes.

Not all farmable resources are equal. Here's your priority list for using waveplate and exploration time:

For complete farming routes and respawn timers, see our Farming Guide.

• Always redeem codes — Kuro Games gives free Astrite per patch. Check our Codes page for updated codes.
• Don't buy standard banner pulls with Astrite (blue orbs). Save Astrite exclusively for limited banners.
• Weapon banner is optional for F2P. A 4-star R5 weapon is often 80-90% of a 5-star R1 weapon's performance.
• Monthly pass ($5/month) is the best value if you spend anything at all — 90 Astrite/day for 30 days + 300 bonus.
• Battle pass ($10/patch) gives weapon materials, standard pulls, and a solid 4-star weapon. Good value for light spenders.
• Save waveplates before a new patch — Kuro Games sometimes releases double-drop events for talent/boss materials.
• Only pull characters you like — meta shifts every patch, but your favorite character is forever.

💡 Don't forget to redeem codes! Wuthering Waves gives away free Astrite and materials regularly — many codes expire after each patch ends. Check our Codes page for all currently working codes. Also see the Banner schedule to plan your pulls ahead.

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