Aalto is an enigmatic Information Broker, known for his elusive nature and welcoming smile. Rumor has it he'll provide any information at the right price.
To learn more about Aalto check the sections below. Use the tabs to quickly switch to the kind of information you're looking for.
Video guide
This character has no video guide yet.
Update tracker
Last review update
Patch 2.0
Last major build/calcs update
Patch 1.4
Last profile update*
January 1st, 2025
*Profile update means smaller edits to echoes, stats, synergies or teams that don't require new calculations.
To learn more about Aalto check the sections below. Use the tabs to quickly switch to the kind of information you're looking for.
Profile
Review
Build
Gameplay and teams
Calculations
Profile
Skills
Active skills
Passive skills
Concerto skills
Basic Attack
Half Truths
Basic Attack
Aalto fires up to 5 consecutive shots, dealing Aero DMG. Basic Attack 4 will spread the "Mist" forward, which lasts for 1.5s.
Heavy Attack
Aalto enters the aiming state for a more powerful shot. The aimed shot fired after charging finishes deals Aero DMG.
Mid-air Attack
Aalto consumes Stamina to perform consecutive shots at the target in mid-air, dealing Aero DMG.
Dodge Counter
Use Basic Attack after a successful Dodge to attack the target, dealing Aero DMG.
Lv. 1
Part 1 Damage
16.00%
Part 2 Damage
26.67%
Part 3 Damage
24%*2
Part 4 Damage
25.34%*2
Part 5 Damage
90.40%
Mid-Air Attack
30%
Aimed Shot Damage
18.00%
Fully Charged Aimed Shot Damage
40.50%
Dodge Counter Damage
107.70%
Mid-Air Attack Stamina Consumption
5
Resonance Skill
Shift Trick
Mist Avatar
Casts "Mist" and 1 "Mist Avatar(s)" to taunt the surrounding targets. The avatars inherit a portion of Aalto's HP and generate 6 Mist Bullets around them, dealing Aero DMG.
Mist Missiles
Deals Aero DMG, considered as Resonance Skill damage.
Lv. 1
Mist Missile Damage
30.00%
Mist Avatar HP
100%
Mist Avatar Duration
8
Cooldown
10
Con. Energy Regen
15
Resonance Liberation
Flower in the Mist
Generate a "Gate of Quandary" in front of you dealing Aero DMG. When bullets pass through the "Gate of Quandary", ATK is increased. "Gate of Quandary" lasts for 10s.
Lv. 1
Skill Damage
200.00%
Gate Of Quandary ATK Increase
10.00%
Cooldown
20
Res. Energy Cost
150
Con. Energy Regen
20
Forte Circuit
Misty Cover
When Aalto passes through "Mist" or "Gate of Quandary", he enters "Mistcloak Dash".
Mistcloak Dash
Movement speed increased; During this period, "Mist Drops" are continuously consumed, and for each 1 "Mist Drop" consumed, 1 Resonance Skill Mist Missile is generated.
Mist Drops
Aalto can hold up to 6 Mist Drops. When Basic Attack or Mid-air Attack passes through "Mist" and hits the target, 1 "Mist Drop" is recovered.
Lv. 1
Mist Missile Dmg
30.00%
Movement Speed Increase
40.00%
Inherent Skill
Perfect Performance
Aalto's Heavy Attack will always critically hit, triggered once every 30 seconds.
Inherent Skill
Mid-game Break
Aalto will continuously recover Stamina when he is in the Forte Circuit Miscloak Dash state.
The next character (or other characters on a nearby team that activates an Outro Skill) gains 23%Aero DMG Deepen for 14 seconds or until the Character is switched.
Resonance Chain (Dupes)
S1
Sequence Node 1
The cooldown of Resonance Skill Shift Trick is reduced by 4s.
S2
Sequence Node 2
"Mist Avatar" inherits 100% more HP from Aalto. When Aalto attacks targets taunted by the "Mist Avatar(s)", his ATK is increased by 15%.
S3
Sequence Node 3
When Aalto's Basic Attack or Mid-Air Attack passes through the "Gate of Quandary", 2 more bullets will be generated, dealing 50% of the DMG of Basic Attack or Mid-Air Attack.
S4
Sequence Node 4
The damage of Resonance Skill Mist Bullets is increased by 30%; Aalto receives 30% less damage in his Forte Circuit Mistcloak Dash state.
S5
Sequence Node 5
In the Forte Circuit Mistcloak Dash state, Aalto's Aero DMG Bonus is increased by 25% for 6s.
S6
Sequence Node 6
Resonance Liberation Flower in the Mist now additionally increases Crit. Rate by 8%. When Aalto's Heavy Attack passes through the "Gate of Quandary", the damage dealt is additionally increased by 50%.
Minor Fortes (Total)
Aero DMG
+12%
ATK%
+12%
Stats
Include minor fortes
Lv. 90
HP
9850
ATK
263
DEF
1076
Max Energy
150
CRIT Rate
5%
CRIT DMG
150%
Healing Bonus
0%
Aero DMG
0%
Upgrade Materials
Character Ascension (total)
4xLF Howler Core
12xMF Howler Core
12xHF Howler Core
4xFF Howler Core
46xRoaring Rock Fist
60xWintry Bell
170 000Shell Credits
Skill Upgrades (total)
25xLF Howler Core
28xMF Howler Core
40xHF Howler Core
57xFF Howler Core
25xImpure Phlogiston
28xExtracted Phlogiston
55xRefined Phlogiston
67xFlawless Phlogiston
26xMonument Bell
2 030 000Shell Credits
While the source of the materials can be quickly found in the game, when it comes Wintry Bell you will have to gather them from the map. Check our Interactive map to find them quickly:
Spawns clones that taunt enemies improving endgame survivability;
Cool sunglasses.
Cons
Slightly dependent on his first sequence to make his support rotations smoother;
Inherent skills that do essentially nothing;
Needs to shoot exclusively through his gates to deal extra damage, which can be troublesome against moving targets;
Literally no AoE potential;
Underwhelming Resonance Liberation at S0 outside of concerto generation;
Has no current place in the meta as his damage isn’t the most competitive and is outshined in his best supporting slot.
Review
Aalto is a DPS character who is very unique - also playable as a Hybrid buffer, he creates misty gates that empower his attacks when he shoots through them. Able to jump through them to turn incorporeal to increase his movement speed, he can create mist clones to taunt nearby enemies and effectively endorse the role of a trickster, who can deal damage while distracting enemies to prevent himself from being interrupted as he attacks.
Able to buff Aero damage dealers via his Outro skill, he was originally perceived to work exclusively as a hybrid character. However, that is not the case — while this role is suitable for him, it is currently subpar in the meta, very much outshined in Jiyan teams by Mortefi, a hybrid who is not only stronger but featured on every banner along with Jiyan, as the heavy attack amplifier was designed with the heavy attack-focused DPS in mind.
Suffering from this constant comparison makes Aalto seem like a totally outclassed character; however, if you truly harness his damage potential and invest into him like a Main DPS, as it turns out, he is able to fully clear the tower’s endgame content if you wish to master his kit.
The main part of his DPS potential is acquired through his mid-air attacks, the pistol shots that he fires after jumping into the air and pressing the attack button. Typically totaling between 8 and 10 pistol shots, those effective ranged bursts of damage, that receive buffed damage when shooting through gates generated by his Ultimate, give Aalto a niche as a Main DPS carry, while not being near the best in his role. He falls short not only from a damage standpoint, but from an energy regen standpoint, as Aalto has a hefty 150 energy cost on his Ultimate, which can prove very tricky to acquire.
On top of this, the necessity to shoot through specific areas to deal extra damage, and the need to time jumps in order to make the most of his aerial attacks make him decently difficult to play and learn, as his unusual kit can prove very difficult to get used to.
In spite of all those flaws, however, it remains enough to clear the endgame content if you wish to master his kit.
In summary: Aalto is a subpar but viable DPS and Hybrid option, outclassed by stronger characters while still remaining usable if you play him well.
Ratings
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.
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.
T3
Tower of Adversity
Video guides
Aaltoguide videos aren't available yet.
Build
Best Weapons
100%
Stats at Level 90: ATK: 587 | CRIT Rate: 24.3%
Incredibly potent option offering main stat CRIT RATE, great base damage and a good amount of energy recharge allowing for sub stats to be used elsewhere. Also offers a supportive ability granting the next character to switch in an ATK boost granting it extra value for Hybrid and Support characters.
83.54%
Stats at Level 90: ATK: 412 | ATK: 30.3%
Gun usable by all resonators, offering good bonuses to ATK but reliant on dodging 3 times initially (with continual dodges after that). Should only be used by those willing to perform dodges at the start of their rotation and consistently after. Calculations assume you perform dodges as soon as possible and maintain the buff.
83.51%
Stats at Level 90: ATK: 462 | ATK: 18.2%
While in competition with other F2P 4* options, the buff uptime on this weapon is one of the most consistent and reliable for ATK scaling pistol DPS characters. The ATK% boost it provides when casting your Resonance Skill is great on most characters, and while the small energy generation it provides at the same time is more situational, it can be handy as well.
82.76%
Stats at Level 90: ATK: 387 | ATK: 36.4%
Generic gun option usable by all characters but with a significant ramp-up time on its bonus. Also requires the player not to be hit in order to extract full value. If you do get hit this weapon will fall behind (calculations assume you don't get hit once).
81.67%
Stats at Level 90: ATK: 387 | ATK: 36.4%
Powerful Gun option for Resonance Skill focused damage characters, but with a heavy conditional required for activation. Grants solid base damage and ATK% via main stats. Also offers an incredibly potent stackable Resonance Skill DMG% bonus that requires the users consistently use Basic Attacks to maintain.
79.89%
Stats at Level 90: ATK: 412 | ATK: 30.3%
Strong gun option for resonators that deal primarily Resonance Skill DMG with little to no conditions to worry about, thanks to its effect being tied to Intro skills. Grants a Resonance Skill DMG bonus that lasts for 15 seconds on using Intro - long enough for most Main DPS to finish their burst window making this a strong consistent option.
Best Echo Sets
Best Echo Sets show the best sets that support the main character playstyle and work out of the box while the Special Echo Sets either are situational, support an alternative playstyle or are targeted toward min-maxers. The percentage numbers showcase the relative DPS increase when you take into account the set bonus only. For some characters there's no DPS (or its equivalent) available and in that case we listed the sets in the order of priority.
Important! The 2.0 introduced quite a lot of new Echoes and we need more time to properly test out all of them (especially considering the past bugs related to them that made some stronger, some weaker). The builds below are provisional and we will be updating them over the next few days as we do our testing - so before you use all your stamina on the new Echoes, please have a bit of patience.
Best Echo Sets
100%
2 Set:Aero DMG increase by 10%.
5 Set: Upon using Intro Skill, Aero DMG increases by 30% for 15s.
Offers a 10% unconditional Aero DMG% boost and an additional 30% Aero DMG% after using the intro lasting 15 seconds for a grand total of 40% additional Aero damage for most of your damage window.
Below you can find Main Echo options that you should be using with the set:
Nightmare: Feilian Beringal
- Offers an unconditional 12% Aero DMG and Heavy ATK boost when used as the Main Echo, and additionally is a Summon-type echo making it easy to use in any character's rotation, which often makes it the best option for any character using the set.
Feilian Beringal
- Gives the same buffs as its Nightmare variant, but only after being transformed into, for a duration of 15 seconds. This Echo compensates by dealing close to double the damage of the Nightmare and giving more Energy to the character using it, but it's more difficult to incorporate into rotations, as it needs to be Swap Cancelled after the first hit to be used smoothly while making sure your character gets its buffs.
Special Echo Sets
2 Set: Energy Regen increases by 10%.
5 Set: Upon using Outro Skill, ATK of the next Resonator increases by 22.5% for 15s.
Offers a 10% unconditional Energy Regen% boost taking some pressure off your gear when aiming at ER breakpoints. Also upon using Outro, grants the next character switching in a 22.5% ATK boost, amplifying any of your main damage dealers burst windows.
Below you can find Main Echo options that you should be using with the set:
Impermanence Heron
- Supportive Echo that can be run at the cost of a sizeable chunk of damage for the character who equips, trading personal gain for team benefits. Should always be used and immediately switch cancelled right before performing an Outro, leading to another DPS. When done so will grant the next character switching in 12% increased DMG% which when combined with the 5P Moonlit set which also grants 22.5% ATK% under the same conditions makes for a sizeable boost. While the echo does lower the damage of whoever wears it, it grants a massive chunk of energy on use usually saving 1 or sometimes even 2 Energy Regen sub stats that may otherwise be needed by the wearer allowing for some damage to be recovered.
Important! CRIT DMG has base value of 150% and Energy Regen has a base value of 100% when you check them in game. The recommended values below don't include the base value but rather show how much on top of it you need to obtain.
ATK: 1700-2000+
HP: 14000+
DEF: 1000+
AERO DMG%: 52%-82%+
CRIT RATE%: 50-70%+
CRIT DMG% 100-140%+
Energy Regeneration: 30-40%
Aalto's ultimate is essential for achieving his optimal Concerto rotation as such we recommend getting 30-40% Energy Regen so he'll have it every time you need it.
Skill Priority
Below you can find the order of leveling the abilities for Aalto.
Basic Attack
Forte Circuit
Res. Liberation
Res. Skill
Intro Skill
Gameplay and teams
Rotation
Below you can find optimal rotation (or rotations) for Aalto. The total time needed to perform it is 3.75 seconds. When selecting the rotations we prioritized achieving 100 Concerto as fast as possible and once that condition was fulfilled, we focused on maximizing the damage output. As or if new and more optimal rotations are found, we'll update the characters calculations as needed.
Aalto’s primary aim is to spend minimal field time while fully generating his Concerto, in order to grant another character a powerful 23% generic Aero Amplification buff with least chance of failure. Due to his trickster build, he has many quirks and play styles available but to best suit his endgame role - we have settled with the fastest and most consistent Concerto rotation. Presented below is some information on how to play Aalto and how his rotation works:
His Resonance Skill: Mist Avatar, generates absurd amounts of Concerto Energy along with decent Resonance Energy and taunts the enemies with a Mist Clone.
The quickest and most efficient method to generate his Outro is to use his Skill twice alongside his Ultimate and sequence of Basic Attacks. Due to his Skill having a long cooldown of 10 seconds at S0, longer than any rotation he would want to employ itself, it is best to weave in his skill into rotation of your other support characters to refresh its cooldown, thus allowing you to use it again for his main Concerto rotation.
His Forte Skill: Mistcloak Dash, is an excellent but difficult to use mobility tool in actual combat situations, more so when attempting to generate Concerto quickly under pressure. Given this issue and challenge of generating Forte Gauge charges to begin with, we have opted for no Forte rotation and found it working the best, however feel free to weave in this Forte where you find it to be effective if given a chance!
His Resonance Skill : Mist Avatar, requires a target to generate most of its Concerto and Resonance Energy and features a slight delay in their gain due to bullets needing to hit the target first. This can lead to delay in Outro and as such should be used as early in rotation as possible.
In the given rotation, you don’t need to worry about firing through or positioning for his Mist Gates as the same is not required to achieve the Concerto threshold for his Outro.
Skill: Mist Avatar (Use during another character's rotation to allow for cooldown)
Intro
Ultimate
Skill: Mist Avatar (Can be used after Basic Attacks if still on Cooldown)
Basic P1
Basic P2
Basic P3
Basic P4
Basic P5
Echo
Outro
Synergies
Below you can find a list of some of the stronger synergies between this character and others.
Sanhua - Easily the best option to support Main DPS Aalto, sporting a 38% Basic Attack DMG Amplify on her Outro - his main damage type - which she accesses extremely quickly. Super easy and efficient - just slot her in on the Moonlit Clouds set, use her most important skills, and you're good to go.
Jiyan - Aalto's main (and really only) DPS option to support if you're playing him as a Hybrid. Amazing Aero DMG dealer who benefits a great amount from Aalto's Outro skill, which amplifies all Aero DMG by 23%. Note that Mortefi is a stronger option though.
Verina - One of the usual Healing Support options that can slot into any team. Super easy to use, provides amazing team-wide ATK% buffs and 15% DMG Amplify with one of the fastest rotations in the game. Enjoy.
The Shorekeeper - Similar to Verina, a premium Healing Support option who can not only slot into any team, but also provide insane 12.5% Crit Rate, 25% Crit DMG, 25% ATK and 15% DMG Amplify buffs to your whole team. One of the best but also easy to use characters in the game.
Don't use the damage output calculations as an indication on who is worth pulling or investing as those are just simulations and in day-to-day gameplay there's a lot variables and also the skill of the player is important - if you can't consistently perform the character's rotation, their damage will suffer.
As usual, don't compare the numbers between characters - especially between Main DPS and Hybrids as they fulfill different roles in the team.
Additional information
The numbers below show the character's DPS (Damage Per Second) and DMG (total damage done). When selecting the rotations we prioritized achieving 100 Concerto as fast as possible and once that condition was fulfilled, we focused on maximizing the damage output. As or if new and more optimal rotations are found, we'll update the characters calculations as needed. Listed character calculations are done without buffs or any damage contribution from teammates (full solo). They only include what the character, their Weapon, Echo and gear are capable of during their ideal Burst or Concerto rotation when starting with their Intro and Resonance Liberation available.
Do note that DPS and DMG aren’t perfect metrics for a character’s individual value and should be taken with a grain of salt.Anything pertaining a character’s relevance in the meta is addressed in our Review and Tier List, which the numbers below shouldn’t be used for as an end-all-be-all to. Instead, DPS and DMG are good metrics for a character’s sequence value and comparison between an individual character’s different rotations. We recommend using those metrics for such purposes.
Aalto in 1 Target scenario
Rotation time: 3.75s
Aalto (S6)
133,721 DMG (35,631 DPS)148.44%
Aalto (S5)
128,402 DMG (34,213 DPS)142.54%
Aalto (S4)
128,402 DMG (34,213 DPS)142.54%
Aalto (S3)
124,351 DMG (33,134 DPS)138.04%
Aalto (S2)
92,227 DMG (24,574 DPS)102.38%
Aalto (S1)
90,084 DMG (24,003 DPS)100.00%
Aalto (S0)
90,084 DMG (24,003 DPS)100.00%
Details about the calculations
Here's the rotation we have used to calculate the DPS (Damage Per Second) shown above.
Skill: Mist Avatar (Use during another character's rotation to allow for cooldown)
Intro
Ultimate
Skill: Mist Avatar (Can be used after Basic Attacks if still on Cooldown)
Basic P1
Basic P2
Basic P3
Basic P4
Basic P5
Echo
Outro
And here are the Echoes and Weapons used in the calculations.
Stats at Level 90: ATK: 587 | CRIT Rate: 24.3%
2 Set:Aero DMG increase by 10%.
5 Set: Upon using Intro Skill, Aero DMG increases by 30% for 15s.
