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Wuthering Waves tier list and suggested team comps [Version 2]

A run-down of the best DPS, sub-DPS, and support characters in Wuthering Waves V2, plus our advice on how to put together the best team compositions.

Three Wuthering Waves characters are shown in promotional artwork for the game. From left to right: Jianxin,  Rover (F), and Chixia
Image credit: Kuro Game
Update: Given the arrival of Wuthering Waves Version 2, we have updated this tier list with new Resonators (characters) that have been added to the game.

Wuthering Waves is one of many new gacha games to capture the imaginations of RPG fans, so naturally, there were loads and loads of characters to choose from at launch, and almost double that now that WuWa Version 2 is here. While the lootboxy nature of WuWa's monetisation means you can't guarantee access to all of your favourite characters straight away, it's not too hard to fill out your roster quite quickly from early on in the game.

Wuthering Waves characters, known as "Resonators" in-game, each come with a rarity, elemental affinity, and weapon of choice, but what the game won't explicitly tell you is what role each is best suited to in combat. So we've put together a ranked run-down of our favourite Resonators in this Wuthering Waves tier list, as well some tips on how to put together the best team compositions to tackle the challenges Wuthering Waves throws at you.

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Wuthering Waves character tier list

Before we get into a run-down of the best characters in Wuthering Waves Version 2, a few words on how we constructed this tier list.

First off, a general rule to bear in mind: Wuthering Waves is a gacha game, and as such, the "best" character for each role will usually be the most recently-released 5-star unit, at least if your main concern is with watching big numbers go up fast in combat. It's called power creep and it's how the developers keep you paying for yet another expensive premium character when you already have more than enough options to get you through the very endgame with no problems. It also results in pretty boring tier lists if you just list every character by their potential damage output. This is one of the reasons why we've broken our tier list down into three parts: best DPS, best sub-DPS, and best support, with characters ranked only under the category they're best suited for.

Another factor to take into consideration is that there's no way to be entirely objective about this. For one thing, how you build a character in Wuthering Waves makes a huge difference to their utility in whatever role you have them playing — which by no means has to be their ideal role, either. On that subject, your choice of team composition can radically alter the utility of a given character, which is why we've done an overview on how to build the best teams further down the page.

The gacha adds a further wrinkle by granting special skills and bonuses (called Sequences) the first six times you pull a duplicate of any given character from the gacha. Sequences can be complete game changers: to pick just one example, Mortefi at Sequence-0 is just one of many pretty-good 4-star characters, while Mortefi at Sequence-6 is an unstoppable one-hit killing machine and arguably the best sub-DPS in the game. Comparative scaling on Sequences isn't always fair and it's hard to write one-size-fits-all advice when there are seven basic variants on each character even before individual players' builds and playstyles enter the mix.

So to construct this tier list, we've used a mix of our own experiences playing the game, early preferences we've seen emerging among the game's community, and a kind of literature review of V2.0 tier lists from respected WuWa specialists such as Prydwen.gg and Gacha Gamer on YouTube.

Best DPS in Wuthering Waves V2

Rank: Resonator:
S Carlotta, Camellya, Jinhsi
A Encore, Jiyan, Calcharo, Xiangli Yao
B Chixia, Lingyang, Havoc Rover

Carlotta

5-star Glacio/Pistols

Promotional artwork for Wuthering Waves' five-star Resonator, Carlotta, is shown
Image credit: Kuro Games

Carlotta is one of few pistol-wielding Resonators available in Wuthering Waves, and is the only five-star character to use them, making her rather desirable for that and that alone. As a result, not only is she a powerful character from the get-go, but she can dish out damage while maintaining a safe distance from the most brutal of enemies.

Unlike the aforementioned Camellya, Carlotta's kit primarily focuses on single-target damage, mainly using her Resonance Skill (and Resonance Liberation, which deals Resonance Skill DMG) to immobilise and deal devastating blows to enemies. She pairs well with F2P Resonator and all-round versatile sub-DPS, Sanhua, as well as premium option, Zhezhi.

Camellya

5-star Havoc/Sword

Promotional artwork for Wuthering Waves' five-star Resonator, Camellya, is shown
Image credit: Kuro Games

Camellya stands tall as one of the best DPS Resonators in Version 2.0 of WuWa. She's capable of dishing out an enormous amount of AoE damage, making light work of battles featuring multiple targets, and unlike most highly-praised DPS characters, she does not require the use of her Ultimate to be successful. Though, it's a nice addition to her kit.

With her high damage output, the Havoc-using, sword-wielding beauty fits nicely into hyper-carry comps. Her main source of damage is Basic Attack DMG above all else, as well as AoE attacks, meaning she is pretty versatile when it comes to pairing her with an appropriate sub-DPS too. You can consider Sanhua, Roccia, or even Danjin to accompany her.

Jinhsi

5-star Spectro/Broadblade

Promotional artwork for Wuthering Waves' five-star Resonator, Jinhsi, is shown
Image credit: Kuro Games

Jinhsi is a rather chaotic five-star Resonator to use in Wuthering Waves, but once you become used to her kit and everything she's capable of, she's among the highest damage-dealers in the game. Her kit has her dodging foes while dishing out Spectro DMG, and she regularly attacks from mid-air, meaning she can easily avoid incoming attacks while continuing to dish out damage.

Mid-air attacks, you say? This might make you worry about Jinhsi's mobility, given mid-air attacks can limit other characters' capabilities, but in Jinhsi's instance, this isn't much of a problem when you take into account her overall, incredibly impressive damage output. Even if you don't get her combos quite right, she'll still deal plenty of damage regardless, especially when paired with a synergising sub-DPS such as Zhezhi.

Encore

5-star Fusion/Rectifier

A character card for Wuthering Waves' Encore is shown
Image credit: Kuro Game

She might look as cute and fluffy as her plushie sheep companions, but Encore follows the proud gacha RPG tradition of having one of the game's biggest bruisers take the form of a tiny little girl. While Encore's kit is largely focussed around ranged combat, her ultimate switches her into melee mode for its duration. She's equally tough in both forms meaning that Encore is the best DPS option in the game if you favour a flexible playstyle, although there's a small caveat in that she becomes rather vulnerable if you don't remove her to a safe ranged distance again before her ult timer ends. See our Wuthering Waves best Encore build for more information.

Jiyan

5-star Aero/Broadblade

Wuthering Waves' Jiyan in his official banner art

Remember what we were saying earlier about how event-exclusive 5-star characters tend to perform the best? Well, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the banner star WuWa chose to lead with at launch is one of the best DPS in the game — to be honest, I'd be more shocked if it had been any other way.

Jiyan quite simply has the highest damage potential in the game right now, mostly thanks to his powerful ultimate. He combines AoE attacks with crowd control, giving him a great deal of potential to round up enemies and hit them all in one strike. He's also a comparatively easy character to play and performs well even if you don't have the resources to optimise his build straight away — speaking of which, you can check out our Wuthering Waves best Jiyan build for more information.

Calcharo

5-star Electro/Broadblade

Key artwork for Wuthering Waves' Calcharo is shown
Image credit: Kuro Games

It'd be too simplistic to say that Calcharo is a replacement for Jiyan if you skipped the debut banner, since their playstyles really couldn't be more different. Calcharo is as exacting as Jiyan is forgiving, requiring precise time management if you really want to make the most of him as your DPS. But skilled players — or just those who want to experiment with a hectic combo-heavy playstyle even if it means playing with a (shudder) non-optimised damage output — will find that Calcharo has perhaps the highest damage potential of any permanent character in the game at launch. Read our Wuthering Waves best Calcharo build guide for more info!

Xiangli Yao

5-star Electro/Gauntlets

Promotional artwork for Wuthering Waves' five-star Resonator, Xiangli Yao, is shown
Image credit: Kuro Games

Xiangli Yao is the second premium Electro-using DPS in Wuthering Waves, provided you don't count sub-DPS Resonators such as Yinlin (who, incidentally, is Xiangli Yao's best combat partner), and he was temporarily free to acquire from the 'By Moon's Grace' event in Version 1.2. If you missed that, sucks to be you, but he'll no doubt be back in one way or another in future, whether via a banner rerun or another in-game event.

Xiangli Yao's kit revolves around the use of his Resonance Liberation (Ultimate), which allows him to enter the Intuition state. While in Intuition, his Basic/Heavy Attacks are replaced with Impale (which dishes out three consecutive Electro DMG attacks upon use), his Resonance Skill Deduction becomes Resonance Skill Divergence (which deals Electro DMG), and his Dodge Counter becomes Dodge Counter Unfathomed (and is then considered Resonance Liberation DMG). He also gains three Hypercubes while in this state, one of which is used everytime he uses his Resonance Skill; his Ultimate then ends once all three Hypercubes are consumed.

That's a lot to take in, but to put it simply, Xiangli Yao is capable of dealing extraordinary amounts of damage upon using his Ultimate. That is provided you're willing to take the time necessary to learn how to properly use his rather complex kit!

Chixia

4-star Fusion/Pistols

Wuthering Waves' Chixia making a salute sign near her head

The DPS of choice for no-pull accounts, Chixia is the second party member to join Rover in the game's opening, and as such it'd be expecting a bit too much for her to be better than the premium candidates for the role. However, she's still pretty good, with an easy-to-use kit that's focussed on quickly dashing around firing her pistols from a distance, and a surprisingly high damage output for a free starter character. As with most starting party members, the main downside is that she's slow to activate her skills and ult, and she's further slightly limited by her kit's focus on single-target attacks. See our Wuthering Waves best Chixia build for more on how to make the most of Rover's loyal outrider pal.

Lingyang

5-star Glacio/Gauntlets

A character card for Wuthering Waves' Lingyang is shown
Image credit: Kuro Game

As his whimsical design might lead you to expect, Lingyang's role in the game is one of sheer fun factor. If you want a DPS with a wholly unique playstyle, Lingyang is your flying catboy. The trade-off for this experimental take on combat is that his damage output isn't all that impressive, meaning that the time you invest in learning his tricky manoeuvres won't translate to big numbers even once you've mastered the art of aerial attacks; putting him at a disadvantage when compared to, say, Calcharo. Still, unlike Calcharo, he's a combo-heavy DPS who's pretty easy to pick-up-and-play even if you're a beginner.

Havoc Rover

5-star Havoc/Sword

Rover, Wuthering Waves' main character, is shown staring at the camera
Image credit: VG247/Kuro Games

Unlike most characters in Wuthering Waves, you have to work a bit to unlock the Havoc Rover, but you don't need to touch the gacha in order to get them. Instead, they become available once you beat Chapter 6 of the main storyline.

Unlike most DPS candidates in WuWa, the Havoc Rover isn't reliant on their ultimate to deal big damage, although their ult is a very good feature of their kit. But since Havoc Rover can do a lot of damage just by consuming a full Forte Gauge, you have a solid option to play with while you're waiting for that ult to kick back in. It's much better than you might expect for a completely F2P DPS option, even if you do have to invest some time into unlocking them. Take a look at our Wuthering Waves best Havoc Rover build if you want to know more!

Best Sub-DPS in Wuthering Waves V2

Rank: Resonator:
S Zhezhi, Sanhua, Changli, Yinlin
A Mortefi, Roccia
B Danjin, Yangyang, Jianxin
C Lumi, Yuanwu, Aalto

Zhezhi

5-star Glacio/Rectifier

Promotional artwork for Wuthering Waves' five -star Resonator, Zhezhi, is shown
Image credit: Kuro Games

Zhezhi, as a Glacio-using sub-DPS, pairs nicely with other Glacio-using characters such as Carlotta and Lingyang. You could even consider Sanhua in a duo sub-DPS team composition if in a pinch, or pair her with the likes of Jinhsi, who benefits greatly from her ATK buffs.

The talented painter is able to dish out hefty amounts of damage while she isn't on the field and provide Enery Regeneration using her Outro Skill, allowing your main DPS to get to work. With the additional help of her buffs, which come from her kit and the Moonlit Clouds Sonata Effect (ultimately boosting Skill DMG, flat ATK, Glacio DMG, and more), she stands proud as one of the best and most useful sub-DPS Resonators available.

Sanhua

4-star Glacio/Sword

A character card for Wuthering Waves' Sanhua is shown
Image credit: Kuro Game

Despite her average rarity, Sanhua is one of the best sub-DPS in Wuthering Waves, beating out even the 5-star competition. Her low energy cost means that she requires the shortest on-field time of any sub-DPS to dole out her best damage — she's a menace with those ice attacks, and can chain hits from her various skills extremely fast. Therefore, she's especially ideal to pair with more time-intensive DPSes like Encore or the Havoc Rover (the latter making her a particularly strong candidate for F2P teams). See our Wuthering Waves best Sanhua build for more info!

Changli

5-star Fusion/Sword

Promotional artwork for Wuthering Waves' five-star Resonator, Changli, is shown
Image credit: Kuro Games

We've listed Changli as a sub-DPS in this WuWa tier list, because while she can easily be used as a fully-fledged DPS Resonator on your team, there are other DPS-focused Resonators who outperform her. Given this, and her ability to buff the Fusion DMG and Resonance Liberation DMG of her team using her Outro Skill, we think she makes a better sub-DPS than DPS at times.

As a sub-DPS, Changli pairs nicely with premium Fusion-imbued DPS, Encore. Though, you could try pairing her with four-star, Fusion-focused sub-DPS, Mortefi; Changli and Mortefi will be able to buff one another repeatedly, but you may be missing out on some damage output that you'd otherwise have from using Encore or another strong DPS.

Yinlin

5-star Electro/Rectifier

A character card for Wuthering Waves' Yinlin is shown
Image credit: Kuro Game

Yinlin was WuWa's first premium 5-star whose kit is ideal to fill the sub-DPS role. While her high damage output might make her seem like a more obvious DPS candidate, she can be swapped out extremely quickly without sacrificing any of her damage potential, meaning that she plays sub-DPS incredibly well against characters like Calcharo who require very specific conditions to maximise their damage and who also benefit from being rotated off-field frequently. As with Calcharo, though, the precise timing required can make her tricky to play most effectively, and comes with the added downside that her outro skill actually isn't optimised for the kind of quick swapping that works best for most of the rest of her kit.

Mortefi

4-star Fusion/Pistols

A character card for Wuthering Waves' Mortefi is shown
Image credit: Kuro Game

While 4-stars tend to be easily overshadowed by their 5-star counterparts, Mortefi bucks this trend as one of the best overall characters in Version 1.0. In Version 2.0, he isn't as appreciated compared to other sub-DPS' on offer, but he's still pretty good.

It helps that he makes an excellent sub-DPS for the two strongest DPS launch characters, thanks to his kit's focus on buffing and following up Heavy Attacks, which makes him a solid second for either Jiyan or Calcharo. Pair him with either DPS and together the duo can deal some eye-watering damage, especially if you have at least one of Mortefi's absurdly powerful Sequences. See our Wuthering Waves best Mortefi build for more!

Roccia

5-star Havoc/Gauntlets

Promotional artwork for Wuthering Waves' five-star Resonator, Roccia, is shown
Image credit: Kuro Games

Roccia's kit in WuWa, as a sub-DPS, is focused on buffing the attacks of Havoc characters. This makes her a great Resonator to pair with the likes of Camellya, the Havoc Rover, or even the underrated four-star, Danjin. Given that you likely have the Havoc Rover built already, it's a bit of a no-brainer trying to get your hands on her if you can. That said, if Havoc comps aren't your thing, you might want to pass on Roccia despite how great she can be, as she works best alongside another Havoc DMG-dealer.

The improvisational comedian is capable of basic crowd control using her Magic Box — part of her inherent set of skills that become active upon using her Outro — preparing enemies for the incoming Resonator and damaging them simultaneously. On top of that, she can buff the flat ATK of her team using her Ultimate, and the Havoc DMG and Basic Attack DMG of incoming Resonators after using her Outro Skill.

Danjin

4-star Havoc/Sword

A character card for Wuthering Waves' Danjin is shown
Image credit: Kuro Game

Are you one of those show-offs who actually learns how to dodge and parry in video games? If you enjoy fast-paced ducking-and-weaving the way the developers presumably intended, then Danjin could be the party leader for you — especially if you're an F2P player, since she's another one of the better 4-star DPS' in Wuthering Waves. While her footwork might be fancy, Danjin's attacks are very straightforward, meaning you can hit hard and regularly without waiting for ultimate cooldowns to make her damage output worthwhile.

The downside is that Danjin consumes her own HP to unleash her skills, making her something of a proverbial glass cannon — extremely rewarding to play as if you're quick with your parries and counters, but liable to go down fast even with a good healer on the team if your reflexes aren't up to the task.

Yangyang

4-star Aero/Sword

A character card for Wuthering Waves' Yangyang is shown
Image credit: Kuro Game

As the very first companion to join Rover's party in Wuthering Waves, it should come as no surprise that Yangyang is another character who tries to do a bit of everything — she's a bit like a 4-star Jianxin, in fact. The difference is that while Jianxin is largely able to pull off covering multiple bases at once, Yangyang suffers the fate of so many starter characters in gacha games: she's decent, but there's always someone better.

As a sub-DPS character, her core focus is energy regeneration for the rest of the team, but if you equip her with a healing weapon or Echoes she makes for a surprisingly effective medic as well. On the downside, though, she's not an inherently strong damage dealer in her own right, and the trade-off for her energy regeneration buff is that she doesn't increase the damage of her teammates on her outro skill, which is unusual for a support character in WuWa. Take a look at our Wuthering Waves best Yangyang build for a more in-depth look at her kit.

Jianxin

5-star Aero/Gauntlets

A character card for Wuthering Waves' Jianxin is shown
Image credit: Kuro Game

The first of two generalist support characters available in the game during launch, Jianxin is a top choice of character for exploration, but suffers slightly during boss fights and end game content due to her Jill-of-all-trades kit. Like most Aero characters she excels at crowd control, plus she has great shields and good healing potential with the right equipment, and can even pull an extra shift as a decent tertiary damage dealer if your DPS and sub-DPS both need a cooldown.

She hits her limits towards the end of Chapter 1's more intense battles, though, since she struggles to control boss and elite enemies as easily as she does crowds of mooks. She's also a surprisingly sedentary fighter, with long animations that mean her skills aren't always practical to use in fast-paced combat situations. See our Wuthering Waves best Jianxin build guide to learn more.

Lumi

4-star Electro/Broadblade

Promotional artwork for Wuthering Waves' four-star Resonator, Lumi, is shown
Image credit: Kuro Games

Lumi is another character who's small, cute, and accompanied by a cute companion called Squeakie — much like Encore — though, she packs less of a punch in battle than Encore and her woolies. As a free-to-play sub-DPS, she pairs nicely with Jinhsi and Carlotta who'll benefit from her buffs to Resonance Skill DMG (via her Outro Skill), something both characters use often.

She's also highly mobile, able to run rampant while dishing out a mixture of ranged and melee attacks, meaning that you can play her in a variety of different ways. Fans of Lumi can even run her as a primary DPS with the right weapon and Echoes. That said, Lumi requires a lot of Energy to keep up and running, something that her stronger teammates might require more, making other sub-DPS' on this list better options overall.

Yuanwu

4-star Electro/Gauntlets

A character card for Wuthering Waves' Yuanwu is shown
Image credit: Kuro Game

It's relatively easy to realise Yuanwu's full damage potential as a sub-DPS, but unfortunately this comes at the cost of that potential being significantly lower than that of other characters in this category. However, Yuanwu has some very specific utilities as a sub-DPS, since his kit features a very quick cooldown on his damage-dealing skills, combined with an ability to shield the whole team from interruptions that's near-unique in the launch version of the game.

Like many characters we've ranked lower here it's not that Yuanwu is in any way bad, just that he has many minor talents — decent enough damage, short cooldown times, a unique shield buff — combined with some curious shortcomings (like the fact that his damage-dealing abilities scale off of his defence stat, making it hard to equip him with an optimised set of damage-enhancing Echoes).

Aalto

4-star Aero/Pistols

A character card for Wuthering Waves' Aalto is shown
Image credit: Kuro Game

Despite residing on the lower end of our sub-DPS tier list, it's worth noting that Aalto is a lot of fun to play as. Not only is he a delightful character who really seems to be having fun in battle (if his making pew-pew-pew noises while he fires is anything to go by), but his playful attitude is reflected in his kit, which contains unique skills that allow him to taunt and distract enemies while greatly amplifying his own attack power. His outro skill grants a solid Aero damage buff to the incoming DPS, too.

The downside to Aalto really lies in the fact that his damage amplifiers rely on some very specific positioning, which can be difficult to maintain depending on what exactly you're up against. He also requires quite a lot of on-field time to get the most out of his kit. Like Yuanwu just above him, he's not quite powerful enough to make him an ideal DPS, but a bit too needy to really shine as a sub-DPS; so while he's by no means a bad character, it can be hard to find a team composition that really makes the most of him as it stands.

Best Support in Wuthering Waves V2

Rank: Resonator:
S Verina, The Shorekeeper
A Baizhi
B Youhu, Taoqi
C Spectro Rover

Verina

5-star Spectro/Rectifier

A character card for Wuthering Waves' Verina is shown
Image credit: Kuro Game

Of the two healing-focussed supports in the game at launch, Verina is easily the best, and you want her as part of any team if you're lucky enough to have her. In addition to providing powerful heals, she can also buff her whole team for big damage boosts — really, there are simply few if any downsides to using her. Her support capabilities can be triggered without her spending a lot of active time in combat, too, meaning that she's ironically easier to build and play than her 4-star equivalent; see our Wuthering Waves best Verina build for more information.

The Shorekeeper

5-star Spectro/Rectifier

Promotional artwork for Wuthering Waves' five-star Resonator, The Shorekeeper, is shown
Image credit: Kuro Games

The Shorekeeper is one of two five-star support units available in Wuthering Waves at the time of writing, and she arguably outperforms Verina. Not only does she keep her team healed and alive, but she's capable of buffing her team's Crit. Rate and Crit. DMG, and can hold her own when needed with a decent damage output (especially when compared to Verina).

Much like Verina, The Shorekeeper can also be slotted into near enough every type of team, and her allies - regardless of who they are - will benefit from her kit greatly. Her only downfall when compared to Verina is that she doesn't perform coordinated attacks, but this doesn't matter so much overall.

Baizhi

4-star Glacio/Rectifier

Wuthering Waves' Baizhi with her summoned pet

Though very much second fiddle to Verina, and now The Shorekeeper, Baizhi is far from a bad choice of support character due to her strengths as a healer, and indeed is our pick for the best overall 4-star support character in the game. Her kit is essentially a less impressive version of Verina's, meaning that she gets a watered-down but still very serviceable set of healing and buffing abilities, and if you don't have Verina then Baizhi is the obvious substitute. Take a look at our Wuthering Waves best Baizhi build for advice on how to make the most of having her on your team.

Youhu

4-star Glacio/Gauntlets

Promotional artwork for Wuthering Waves' four-star Resonator, Youhu, is shown
Image credit: Kuro Games

Youhu is one of few four-star support Resonators available in Wuthering Waves, and if you've already got the likes of Verina/The Shorekeeper and Baizhi built, you may not want to bother with her unless you're preparing a third team composition to play around with. On top of that, Youhu is best played with a team she can perform coordinated attacks with, making her much less versatile than Baizhi, Verina, and The Shorekeeper.

That said, Youhu does what needs to be done for her role by keeping the team healed up, and her buff to coordinated attacks allows for 100% additional coordinated attack damage by the incoming Resonator once she casts her Outro Skill.

Taoqi

4-star Havoc/Broadblade

A character card for Wuthering Waves' Taoqi is shown
Image credit: Kuro Game

Taoqi is a shield specialist with a sideline in healing, and her Outro targets Resonance Skill DMG, making her a great teammate to Carlotta, Jinhsi, or the Havoc Rover. Most of her Sequences revolve around improving her own skill performance, and she can become a particularly useful shield/healer double-threat at higher levels if you like the idea of a support character who can do it all; but this comes at the cost of lacking buffs that can be applied to the rest of the team.

Spectro Rover

5-star Spectro/Sword

The Spectro Rover is pretty much exactly what you'd expect from Wuthering Waves' starting playable character: a quick and easy-to-play lead who comes out swinging early on thanks to their Sequences being obtained for free at regular story beats, but falls behind many of the premium units once you start really engaging with the gacha. Still, they're a great character to help you learn the game, since they neatly showcase some of WuWa's more unique features while being suitable for just about any role.

They're a decent damage dealer and can even be pressed into service as a support, but their bullet time-y outro skill makes them perfectly positioned as a sub-DPS. Indeed, your first team comp will ideally see them playing this role against Chixia's DPS and Yangyang's support. The other two starting characters are likely to get rotated out early on, though, so it's fortunate that Spectro Rover can sub-DPS equally well for just about any main in the game. See our Wuthering Waves best Spectro Rover build for our suggestion on the most effective choices to make when building them.


Wuthering Waves best team compositions

Wuthering Waves allows you to bring just three characters with you as part of your active team, which is on the small side for an RPG; but since there are broadly three roles to fill, it makes establishing the basic outline pretty straightforward. You'll almost definitely want a DPS, a sub-DPS, and a support character for the most balanced and effective team line-up.

When building a team in WuWa, your best approach is to choose your DPS and then pick a sub-DPS whose skills complement theirs. We've already mentioned that Verina and The Shorekeeper are the best support characters for almost any team composition, and we'd recommend using one of them or Baizhi as your support in almost any of the team comps we're about to outline.

The two best premium DPS/sub-DPS pairs in Version 1.0 were Jiyan/Mortefi and Calcharo/Yinlin — we've outlined their complementary skill sets in the tier list above, but in short, Mortefi's brief field time allows Jiyan to spend longer as the active character, while Calcharo and Yinlin both favour swapping out rapidly and frequently. Playing either duo allows you to maximise the damage potential of both characters.

These two pairs still perform brilliantly in Version 2.0, but as outlined in our introduction, power creep is a thing in Wuthering Waves and new characters have since taken their top spot from them. Some of the best premium DPS/sub-DPS pairs in Version 2.0 are Xiangli Yao/Yinlin, which is great news for those who already have Yinlin built. There's also Camellya/Roccia, with Roccia capable of amplifying Camellya's Basic Attacks and Havoc DMG.

Last, but not least, you could consider Jinhsi/Zhezhi, with Zhezhi capable of buffing Jinhsi's Resonance Skill while performing coordinated attacks. Zhezhi is one of the best sub-DPS characters in Version 2.0 of WuWa, meaning multiple DPS characters benefit from having her on their team. You could try her alongside Changli or Carlotta too.

For F2P players, early-game team building can actually go in reverse, thanks to the Spectro Rover being a suitable sub-DPS for any of the main DPS characters in the game. This will often mean pairing them with Chixia as DPS, at least initially, since most free characters in the game are better suited to either sub-DPS or support roles.

However, once you can switch Rover to their Havoc form, they become easily one of the best free DPS in the game, pairing ideally with Sanhua (also a free unlockable) as their sub-DPS. Or, if you're interested in running a co-DPS duo rather than a DPS/sub-DPS pair, Havoc Rover and Danjin have some of the best synergy in the game for pure damage output thanks to their shared element and Danjin's Deepen outro skill.

As a general rule, Sanhua is the best sub-DPS to pair with any DPS and Mortefi is second-best if you're not sure who to use or don't yet have an ideal partner for them. Sanhua requires only very short bursts of on-field time and her outro skill buffs basic attack damage, meaning that you can't really go wrong with her as your go-to sub-DPS, especially if you're F2P or otherwise don't expect to pull every premium character. Similarly, Mortefi doesn't require too much time on the field; he needs to attack enough to get his Resonance Liberation up, use it, and then activate his Outro Skill.


If you want to know how you might go about getting your hands on the various characters ranked above, take a look at our Wuthering Waves microtransactions explainer, where we break down the inner workings of the gacha. Be sure to also check out our Wuthering Waves codes list to make the most of any free pulls Kuro Games are giving away right now.

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