Having trouble figuring out what to do in Wuthering Waves? Don’t worry as we have you covered. Wuthering Waves is the latest addition to the Open World RPG in the gacha gaming space and although it features a lot of similarities to other giants, like Genshin Impact, there are many things it does differently. This is a complete Wuthering Waves starter guide, aimed to help new players understand the core mechanics of the game and start on a good footing for their long journey. With that being said, here are 10 beginner Wuthering Waves tips to help you start your journey.
1. Focus on Leveling up Union Level
After starting the game, the first thing you will see is the Union level (technically Yangyang and Chixia, but you get what I am saying) of your account. The Union Level is the main progress level of your account, the same as the Adventurer Rank in Genshin Impact or Trailblaze Level in Honkai Star Rail. Level up your Union Level will unlock character and Terminal level caps, and higher rarity drops (excluding Echoes) from enemies and domains.
In the initial part of the gameplay, your sole focus should be leveling your Union Level to at least 30. After you have reached level 30, you can start focusing on building your desired teams, builds and start being choosy with the characters you want to invest in.
2. Spend Your Waveplates
Waveplates are the stamina system of Wuthering Waves, capped at 240 on release. The waveplates regenerate 1 per 6 minutes and any waveplate after 240 is wasted. The game doesn’t store the waveplates after you have regenerated 240 points, unlike Honkai Star Rail, so don’t shy away from spending them whenever you get a chance. Waveplates are used to farm level-up, ascension materials, XP, and other similar materials. You can also use waveplates to quickly farm Echoes, instead of waiting for enemies to refresh each day.
Spending one waveplate gives 7.5 Union XP, so spending the waveplates is a great way to quickly increase your Union level to 30, which ties to the first tip. You will also earn Crystal Solvents early in the game, which can add 60 waveplates each. Don’t shy away from using them early game as your first priority should be to hit Union level 30.
3. Level Up Terminal to Farm and Equip Higher Rarity Echoes
Terminal is a separate leveling system from the Union level and it focuses on the Echoes, which are the equivalent of Artifacts in the Genshin terms. The Terminal level, found in the Data Bank, increases both the Echo drop rate and Echo rarity. Higher rarity echoes are very important as they have increased level cap and more main and sub-stats.
To level up the Terminal, you need to catch at least one Echo of each enemy, earning more XP for catching higher rarity ones. In Pokémon terms, you need to catch them all to level up your Pokédex. One thing to note is that your Terminal won’t level if your Union Level isn’t high enough. You need to get your Terminal level to 9 as quickly as possible to equip the maximum possible Echoes on your characters. It is best to level up the Terminal alongside the Union Level.
4. Complete Your Daily Quests
It’s very important to complete your Daily quests every day as they give your free Astrites up to 60. Furthermore, the Dailies also give 2000 Union XP per day, which will help you level up your Union level very quickly on the long run.
The Daily quests are fairly simple, with each quest rewarding points. There are smaller quests rewarding 10 to 20 points and larger quests (still small compared to a normal mission) that reward around 40 points each. Play the daily quests in the order you want, but remember to always do them every day.
5. Don’t Waste Resources on Blue and Green Echoes
As mentioned in the Terminal section, Echoes come in 4 rarities — 2-star (green), 3-star (blue), 4-star (Purple), and 5-star (Gold). Echoes at higher rarity have higher-level caps and can have more main and sub-stats. Before you can level up your Terminal to a certain level, you will mostly capture Green, Blue, and occasionally Purple echoes.
Leaving aside the type of Echoes you are capturing, it is very important not to waste your Echo level-up materials on Green and Blue Echoes. You can level up your Purple echoes as they can be quite effective even at higher levels, but it would be a complete waste of resources to invest in 2 and 3-star echoes.
6. Which Resonators You Should Build
Building the correct characters is always very important in gacha games. However, initially, you shouldn’t worry about the resonators you build, nor invest too much in any resonator. Until you hit Union level 30, just level up Rover and the other initial resonator you receive for free. After you have hit Union Level, you now need to worry about the resonators you need to invest in.
I would suggest investing in a healer at first. If you can pull Verina or Jianxin, then you can easily invest in them without worrying. Otherwise, Baizhi is also a good resonator for early healing in Wuthering Waves. Try out the different characters before you hit Union Level 30, and once you do, pick the characters you enjoy playing the most.
7. Building Teams and Rotating Correctly
After you have picked the characters you like, it is time to build your early teams. In Wuthering Waves, each character has intro and outro skills, which are triggered when they are swapped out. These skills are paramount when synergizing a team and swapping them during fights. Read through the intro and outro skills of each character carefully and create teams based on that synergy.
Ideally, you will need to have one main DPS, one sub-DPS or off-field buffer, and one healer. In Wuthering Waves, most healers are also buffers, so you can get both benefits with one character.
8. Slay and Collect Everything You See
When you are starting the game, you need to slay everything in your sight, while collecting every plant or material you find. Slaying every enemy or monster you come across (except human enemies) will level up your Terminal, which as mentioned above is very important to get higher-level Echoes.
Also, you will need many materials to level up your characters early on, so collecting anything you come across will be very useful. Other than that, collecting and slaying also rewards Union XP so, you will be hitting three birds with one stone.
9. Spend Banner Currencies Smartly
Banners are the most important part of gacha games. Spending the Banner currencies smartly will allow you to pull for characters that you want. First, do not spend Astrites on the Standard Convenes. Astrites are the premium currency of Wuthering Waves, equivalent to Primogems on Genshin Impact. You can convert Astrites to both Radiant Tides and Lustrous Tides to pull on the limited and standard convene.
The standard convene may appear attractive at the launch of the game, but trust me going forward you will need those astrites much more. Convert the Astrites only into Radiant Tides, and pull on the limited convenes. You can also obtain Astrites from Wuthering Waves codes, so bookmark our redeem codes article. Furthermore, I would recommend you to not spend on the Weapon banners as the 4-star weapons in the game are good enough early on.
Other than that, you also need to save up on Afterglow Corals, which are the in-game currency you receive by pulling duplicate characters in the banners. You can use the Afterglow Corals to buy Resonance Chain, which are character constellations in Genshin terms, for 5-star resonators including limited ones.
10. Collect Relics and Explore the World to Earn Rewards
Wuthering Waves rewards players highly for exploring the world. There is a Pioneer Association in Jinzhou, where you can get rewards for exploring different areas on the map. The rewards are very attractive, rewarding 500 Astrites for reaching level 10, including other rewards.
Other than that, you will often come across Sonance Castkets or Relics around the world, which you can collect and hand over to Relic Merchants to earn more rewards. Pair that with the Astrites you receive from collecting chests, and you can quickly store up a large amount of them. To put it simply, exploration in Wuthering Waves is quite rewarding, especially for early game.
