Last updated: 07/09/2024
Please keep in mind Wuthering Waves is a skill-based game and each character has a different playstyle, difficulty level and even special tricks and combos. Wuthering Waves is also a team based game and it’s only by combining both these factors to the highest level a character can reach optimal performance. Our Wuthering Waves tier list was created with the help of various players who shared their thoughts about Wuthering Waves characters and their performance with us. Special thanks to iamrivenous, Rexlent and Steparu. If you want to learn more about the characters and why we rated them in that way, check their profiles - in the Review tab we have posted short reviews and pros & cons.
This tier list assesses characters based on their combat potential in Wuthering Waves current most demanding content Tower of Adversity (ToA). ToA is a mode similar to Genshin Impact’s Spiral Abyss or Honkai Star Rail’s Memory of Chaos and requires multiple teams, strong Echoes and good Weapons. This mode offers a reasonable mix of Boss encounters (single target), Elite packs (2-3 targets) and AoE scenarios (5+ Targets), allowing multiple characters to find a niche but in the end, there's a bias toward single target focused characters at the top-end.
ToA is not the most mechanically demanding content in Wuthering Waves with high difficulty Holograms requiring much higher player skill levels. Holograms though can only offer their rewards once, can be completed with a singular unit, punish specific character kits and are exclusively single target. For these reasons we feel Tower of Adversity is a better representation of an ongoing meta in Wuthering Waves. As additional modes or rewards are added we will update the tier list or add variants as needed.
As an action-combat game, Wuthering Waves offers many combat options to players - some of which are not easily executed but boost certain characters' powers substantially. The Switch Cancel is an example of such a technique allowing you to switch out a character mid-attack to a new character while still fully executing the move you interrupted, essentially allowing you to attack with two characters at once. Such techniques won't be for everyone but a tier list must assess characters on their maximum potential and best teams. Each character is assessed with only the easiest and most powerful switch cancels included like Encore Rupture. Harder or more frequent cancels, such as Calcharo’s Death Messenger cancels, are not considered.
We compare characters within their role - so DPS are compared to other DPS and the ratings are adjusted based on their performance within the role. Don't try to compare characters between roles, because their ratings mean different things.
DPS
DPS characters focus on being your sole damage dealers and the rest of your team is built to synergize with them and make them stronger. Stacking Echo set bonuses, character kit's and Outro Deepen bonuses together to power up a DPS is the goal of many teams. DPS character generally aim to spend roughly 14-15 seconds on the field to consume all the team's buffs.
Criteria that impact ratings for DPS:
Hybrid
Hybrid characters directly support your damage dealer of choice, often with incredibly synergistic kits, specialized Outro buffs like “Deepen” multipliers or other beneficial effects. Almost always built to complete their rotation right before your DPS performs their full damage combo. Hybrid characters kits offer a diverse combination of supportive, offensive and sustaining capabilities and possess the most variety in gameplay and have many different niches. Most Hybrid characters prioritize generating their Concerto, Resonance energy, and getting their buffs up in as little on-field time as possible to maximize the field time of the damage dealer.
Criteria that impact ratings for Hybrid:
Support
Support characters must have the capability to provide benefit to the team regardless of the order in which they are switched in, so as not to conflict with the majority of Hybrid characters outro’s only buffing the next character to enter. Supports aim to provide maximum buffs, utility, defenses and healing in as little field time as possible to maximize the capabilities of your damage dealer foremost but also your hybrid character.
Criteria that impact ratings for Supports:
Tags represent the most defining features of a character's kit.
Jianxin has been moved to Support category and her rating has been increased from T1 to T0.5. After discussing, reviewing and testing different playstyles put forth by the community, creators and our own team, Jianxin has found great success in the Support role thanks to her CC, defensive nature, gathering and situationally powerful Outro. As big Jianxin fans, we’re very happy she’s able to shine in the AoE portions of ToA. For more info about her, check our blog here.
Our team has reviewed all changes made to each character in 1.0 against our experiences in pre-release version and made the following changes to our initial rankings.
"Deepen Multipliers"
In 1.0 all characters Outro buff skills have been changed from standard increases for example Heavy ATK DMG% (Mortefi) or Resonance Liberation DMG% (Jianxin) which stacked additively with normal increases to DMG% like Electro DMG% or standard DMG% to a new multiplier that scales outside of them called a "Deepen" multiplier. The "Deepen" multiplier is a true multiplier outside of the standard damage formula, meaning after all your normal team buffs including CRIT RATE, ATK%, DMG%, etc. are included. For example, if you dealt 1000 damage normally, after a "Deepen" buff of 15% you would now deal 1150. This is a tremendous change and raises the value of specific characters with Deepen buffs that are useful to the most powerful main damage characters as such tier list adjustments are required.
Damage Dealer Changes
Many have noted large changes to character balance between CBT2 and 1.0 for DPS characters like Calcharo and Encore. Please rest assured all Prydwen's calculations already have all these nerfs factored in and our tier list also accounts for them.
Initial release of the tier list.
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