The bodyguard of Jinzhou’s Magistrate, known for having an icy personality. Once regarded as the Asura of Calamity, Sanhua is now a taciturn guardian. She has learned to maintain inner calmness amidst the chaotic frequencies, and the things that once frightened her now fuel her determination.
To learn more about Sanhua check the sections below. Use the tabs to quickly switch to the kind of information you're looking for.
Video guide
Sanhua has at least one video guide available, so if you prefer this sort of medium to learn more about a character, check it out:
Update tracker
Last review update
Patch 1.0
Last major build/calcs update
Patch 1.3
Last profile update*
November 13th, 2024
*Profile update means smaller edits to echoes, stats, synergies or teams that don't require new calculations.
To learn more about Sanhua 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
Frigid Light
Basic Attack
Sanhua performs up to 5 consecutive attacks, dealing Glacio damage.
Heavy Attack
Sanhua consumes Stamina to launch attacks, dealing Glacio damage.
Mid-air Attack
Sanhua consumes Stamina to perform a Mid-Air Plunging Attack, dealing Glacio damage.
Dodge Counter
Use Basic Attack after a successful Dodge to attack the target, dealing Glacio damage.
Lv. 1
Part 1 Damage
24.50%
Part 2 Damage
37.10%
Part 3 Damage
10.85%*4
Part 4 Damage
19.95%*2
Part 5 Damage
117.60%
Heavy Attack Damage
11.20%*5
Mid-air Attack Damage
43.40%
Dodge Counter Damage
84.00%
Heavy Attack Stamina Cost
25
Mid-air Attack Stamina Cost
30
Resonance Skill
Eternal Frost
Sanhua sends an air blade to create 1 "Ice Prism" cross the ground, dealing Glacio damage.
Lv. 1
Skill Damage
181.00%
Cooldown
10
Con. Energy Regen
15
Resonance Liberation
Glacial Gaze
Sanhua deals Glacio damage and creates 1 "Glacier".
Lv. 1
Skill Damage
407.16%
Cooldown
16
Res. Energy Cost
100
Con. Energy Regen
20
Forte Circuit
Clarity of Mind
Heavy Attack: Detonate
When holding Basic Attack, your cursor can move. If Basic Attack is released when cursor falls in the "Frostbite" area, Sanhua will cast a Heavy Attack Detonate to attack the target, dealing Glacio damage, considered as Heavy Attack damage.
Ice Burst
Sanhua’s Heavy Attack Detonate detonates all "Ice Thorns", "Ice Prisms" and "Glaciers" within her attack range, dealing Glacio damage. DMG done by Ice Burst is considered as Resonance Skill damage.
Frostbite Area
The "Frostbite" area expands with every 1 stack of "Clarity". "Clarity" stacks up to 2 times.
Sanhua obtains 1 stack of "Clarity" upon performing Basic Attack V.
Sanhua obtains 1 stack of "Clarity" upon casting Intro Skill Freezing Thorns.
Sanhua obtains 1 stack of "Clarity" upon casting Resonance Skill Eternal Frost.
Sanhua obtains 2 stack(s) of "Clarity" upon casting Resonance Liberation Glacial Gaze.
Upon casting Heavy Attack Detonate, all "Clarity" is removed.
Lv. 1
Burst Damage
93.70%*2
Glacier Burst Damage
70.00%
Ice Prism Burst Damage
40.00%
Ice Thorn Burst Damage
30.00%
Clarity Duration
5
Glacier Duration
5
Ice Prism Duration
5
Ice Thorn Duration
8
Burst Con. Energy Regen
15
Glacier Burst Con. Damage Regen
15
Ice Prism Burst Con. Damage Regen
15
Inherent Skill
Condensation
Damage dealt by Sanhua's Resonance Skill increased by 20% for 8s after casting her Intro Skill.
Inherent Skill
Avalanche
Damage dealt by Sanhua's Forte Circuit Ice Burst is increased by 20% for 8s after casting Basic Attack V.
Intro Skill
Freezing Thorns
Sanhua swings her blade downward and creates 1 "Ice Thorn", dealing Glacio damage.
Lv. 1
Skill Damage
70.00%
Con. Energy Regen
10
Outro Skill
Silversnow
The next character (or other characters on a nearby team that activates an Outro Skill) gains 38% Basic Attack DMG Deepen for 14s, or until the character is switched off field.
Resonance Chain (Dupes)
S1
Sequence Node 1
Basic Attack V increases Sanhua's Crit. Rate by 15% for 10s.
S2
Sequence Node 2
Stamina cost of Heavy Attack Detonate is reduced by 10. When Sanhua casts Resonance Skill Eternal Frost, her Anti-interruption is enhanced for 10s.
S3
Sequence Node 3
Sanhua's damage dealt is increased by 35% against targets with HP below 70%.
S4
Sequence Node 4
Resonance Liberation Glacial Gaze restores 10 Resonance Energy. DMG of the next Heavy Attack Detonate within 5s is increased by 120%.
S5
Sequence Node 5
Crit. DMG of Forte Circuit Ice Burst is increased by 100%. Ice Creations (Ice Thorn, Ice Prism, and Glacier) will explode even if they are not detonated.
S6
Sequence Node 6
After an Ice Prism or a Glacier is detonated, all team members' ATK is increased by 10% for 20s, stacking up to 2 times.
Minor Fortes (Total)
Glacio DMG
+12%
ATK%
+12%
Stats
Include minor fortes
Lv. 90
HP
10063
ATK
275
DEF
941
Max Energy
100
CRIT Rate
5%
CRIT DMG
150%
Healing Bonus
0%
Glacio DMG
0%
Upgrade Materials
Character Ascension (total)
4xLF Whisperin Core
12xMF Whisperin Core
12xHF Whisperin Core
4xFF Whisperin Core
46xSound-Keeping Tacet Core
60xWintry Bell
170 000Shell Credits
Skill Upgrades (total)
25xLF Whisperin Core
28xMF Whisperin Core
40xHF Whisperin Core
57xFF Whisperin Core
25xInert Metallic Drip
28xReactive Metallic Drip
55xPolarized Metallic Drip
67xHeterized Metallic Drip
26xUnending Destruction
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:
One of if not the fastest Concerto rotations in the game
Great burst damage when using her Ultimate, Intro, and skill in combination with a Forte Burst
Gains an absurd amount of Concerto when detonating the ice spawned from her abilities
Low energy cost of 100 means she can consistently pull off her super-fast burst combo
She’s free so if you get another copy you’ll start getting Sequences, making her stronger
Multiple viable rotations, all powerful enough you can use the one fits best
Cons
Combo is so fast, inputting everything correctly and in time can sometimes be overwhelming
Requires you to successfully time her Forte mini game in order to complete her rotation each time
Review
Sanhua is a free 4-star Glacio Sword wielding Hybrid that deals great damage with absurdly low field time requirements. She also has great Support capabilities, mainly owing to her Outro’s whopping 38% Basic Attacks amplification and her easy accessibility to one of the best supportive echo sets in the game. The combination of these factors makes Sanhua one of the strongest and popular hybrids in the game with even more room to scale with sequences.
Sanhua’s Forte allows her to charge and enhance her Heavy Attacks via a minigame. While she is charging, an indicator will pulse continuously on her Gauge; if released on blue area they will turn into detonating attacks, exploding all ice glaciers/prisms/thorns on field causing Glacio Damage and generating a large amount of Concerto Energy and Resonance Energy. Normally the blue area on the Gauge is very small and difficult to hit, however using either her Basic Attack 5, Intro Skill, Resonance Skill or Ultimate skill will cause the area to expand significantly for the next attack.
Her Ultimate Skill deals Glacio damage in front of her, generating a good chunk of Concerto Energy and spawning a large glacier. This can be detonated by utilizing her Forte Gauge for even more Concerto Energy generation along with a good amount of Resonance Energy.
Her Resonance Skill spawns a small Ice Prism in front of her that can co-exist with her Ultimate Skill, allowing you to stack both to detonate at once with her Forte Gauge.
Sanhua requires minimal field time thanks to having the fastest Concerto rotation in the game, but is a bit tricky to execute perfectly. She deals good burst damage due to the quick rotation as well as providing an excellent Outro buff to allies.
In regards to difficulty of playstyle, her insanely fast rotation can sometimes cause a challenge when attempting to input all the correct abilities on time. It is further complicated by requiring correct timing in her Forte Gauge mini game in order to detonate her ice crystals to complete her rotation.
While being able to deal good damage as far as Hybrid characters go, her true calling is as a Support thanks to her Outro Skill. To perform her best, she prefers the combination of 5P Moonlit Clouds and Impermanence Heron Echo. This stacks an additional 12% DMG and 22% ATK on top of her already potent 38% Basic Attack amplification from her Outro, generating a massive buff stack for the character switching in.
Overall, Sanhua, like Mortefi, is currently one of the top Hybrid characters in endgame, especially for characters/teams centered around Basic Attack burst rotation. Even outside of those types of teams, she sees use thanks to her incredibly fast Concerto Rotation and synergy with the 5P Moonlit Clouds and Impermanence Heron Echo.
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.
T0
Tower of Adversity
Video guides
Build
Best Weapons
109.61%
Stats at Level 90: ATK: 587 | CRIT DMG: 48.6%
Changli's signature weapon that's not only fantastic for her but also usable on all damage-focused Sword users who have a large portion of their damage originating from Resonance Skill damage. Offers a huge main stat of CRIT DMG% granting excellent scaling, 12% permanent ATK% and up to 56% increased Resonance Skill DMG% which should be at or close to full power during the bulk of your rotation when opening with one or two resonance skills.
100%
Stats at Level 90: ATK: 587 | CRIT Rate: 24.3%
Outstanding Sword choice, offering significantly higher base damage due to its 5★ rarity, as well as a stackable ATK% buff almost every character can effortlessly get 1 stack of (but with 2 also being easily achievable by most when played correctly). Additionally has a good amount of Energy Regen, which on most characters will allow one sub-stat of Energy Regen to be allocated elsewhere to increase damage even further. Best Sword choice across the board with only S5 4★ Swords having a chance to compete with it.
87.74%
Stats at Level 90: ATK: 412 | ATK: 30.3%
Exceptional all-around generic Sword gaining its bonus close to unconditionally as most Resonators almost always aim to make use of their Intro skill and very few characters spend more than 15 seconds on field during their duration.
85.46%
Stats at Level 90: ATK: 387 | ATK: 36.4%
Sword option for Heavy and Basic ATK users with an easy to trigger passive - with the only downside being its 10 second time limit. For characters that use their Skill multiple times per rotation, this downside is a non-issue but for Main DPS characters who take up a lot of field time and don't use their skill often this sword can lose value.
86.44%
Stats at Level 90: ATK: 462 | ATK: 18.2%
-
86.09%
Stats at Level 90: ATK: 412 | ATK: 30.3%
Powerful sword for Resonators spending minimal time on the field - the shorter the better. Best for Hybrid characters executing their rotation fast and infrequently, but less powerful on Main DPS characters that aim to spend extended time on field.
78.82%
Stats at Level 90: ATK: 387 | ATK: 36.4%
Sword with decent base stats but a passive that only activates after taking sufficient damage after which it offers a sizable increase Heavy Attack DMG. Primarily suitable only for berserker characters that sacrifice their life to deal damage like Danjin, but can be used strategically after multiple copies have been merged (only calculated with bonus active on characters that consume their life to deal damage).
Best Echo Sets
1
2 Set: Energy Regen increases by 10%.
5 Set: Upon using Outro Skill, ATK of the next Resonator increases by 22.5% for 15s.
Best Main Echoes
Echoes in Wuthering Waves are an essential part of the character rotations, granting a large amount of Resonance Energy and damage but at the cost of high field time for the most powerful ones. But by using some Echoes right before you're about to switch out on the character, you're able to move to your next character while your previous one is still in the echo animation - it’s what we call an Echo Swap Cancel.
Echo Swap Cancel is almost always the optimal way to use Echoes, and will result in big reductions in character field time and large increases to DPS, but not all of the most powerful Echoes can be swap cancelled in this way. For example, the Feilian Beringal (Aero), Dreamless (Havoc), Tempest Mephis (Electro), Mourning Aix (Spectro), and Infernal Rider (Fusion) Echoes can all be Swap Cancelled.
The remaining element, so Glacio while having powerful Echoes has none powerful enough that can be swap cancelled, and to make things worse, no Echoes that generate sufficient Energy and damage for their field time investment.
The result of this is that you can expect Glacio characters to have higher field time and lower DPS in calculations than their other elemental counter parts until they receive better Echoes to use.
Moonlit Clouds
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: 950+
GLACIO DMG%: 42%-72%+
CRIT RATE%: 50-70%+
CRIT DMG% 100-140%+
Energy Regeneration: 0%
Skill Priority
Below you can find the order of leveling the abilities for Sanhua.
Forte Circuit
Res. Liberation
Res. Skill
Intro Skill
Basic Attack
Gameplay and teams
Rotation
This is the optimal rotation for the character. The total time needed to perform it is 5.29 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.
When playing Sanhua, you have few choices to quickly and effectively build her Concerto gauge, while dealing great bust damage. Below listed are two commonly used rotations with the Heavy Attack variant being the preferred choice of player base currently. When playing Sanhua, keep in mind the following things:
Deploy her 3 Forte Ice Constructs - 1 each from her Intro, Skill and Ultimate.
Shatter all 3 Constructs via a Heavy Attack Detonate before their expiry, as exploding each Construct generates 15 Concerto Energy for a combined total of 45, something not worth missing).
Trigger her Concerto at the right moment to buff DPS of choice with her 38% Basic Attack Amplification.
A large amount of Camellya's damage is counted as "Basic Attack" damage which Sanhua can buff with her Outro skill that amplifies Basic ATK DMG by 38% offering a substantial boost to her output. Sanhua's Outro is excellent but her field time is also some of the shortest of the game, allowing Camellya and the support of your choosing more time for themselves. At higher Sequences, Sanhua's supportive capabilities only improve further specially at S6, offering a 20% ATK team wide buff, further boosting Camellya's capabilities. Due to Camellya's long rotation you'll want to time Sanhua's buffs right before you swap to her and execute her damage combo.
Verina as a healing support can easily accommodate running the 5P Rejuvenating Glow set alongside a Bell-Borne Geochelone echo, offering the team a wide array of offensive and defensive buffs already bringing a tonne of worth just from that alone.
Additionally Verina's many rotational options to access her Ultimate and Concerto are all fast and relatively easy to execute, leaving ample field time for the rest of team mates to execute their combos. Verina's Outro is by far the most flexible and powerful Outro in the game granting all allies 15% generic DMG% "Deepen" for 30 seconds. Most units only grant 1 type and only for the very next unit to switch in locking them into staying on field less they lose the buff but Verina grants it to all allies completely unrestricted.
On top of this Verina grants an additional 20% ATK and a Cheat Death ability preventing one death every 10 minutes. She's universal, flexible, takes little field time and outstanding in every team.
Shorekeeper is incredibly flexible thanks to her generic buffs, lingering Outro amplification and relatively low field time requirements after her first rotation. Because of she she can be played as a support in most team compositions to great effect.
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.
Sanhua in 1 Target scenario
Rotation time: 5.29s
Sanhua (S6)
137,058 DMG (25,909 DPS)130.42%
Sanhua (S5)
134,876 DMG (25,496 DPS)128.34%
Sanhua (S4)
130,650 DMG (24,698 DPS)124.32%
Sanhua (S3)
120,138 DMG (22,710 DPS)114.32%
Sanhua (S2)
105,093 DMG (19,866 DPS)100.00%
Sanhua (S1)
105,093 DMG (19,866 DPS)100.00%
Sanhua (S0)
105,093 DMG (19,866 DPS)100.00%
Details about the calculations
Here's the rotation we have used to calculate the DPS (Damage Per Second) shown above. The total time needed to perform the rotation is 5.29 seconds.
HEAVY ATK CONCERTO ROTATION
Intro
Ultimate
Skill
Heavy Attack: Detonate
Heavy Attack: Detonate
Echo (Impermanance Heron Swap-Cancel)
Outro
BASIC ATK CONCERTO ROTATION
Intro
Basic Attack P3
Basic Attack P4
Basic Attack P5
Ultimate
Skill
Heavy Attack: Detonate
Echo (Impermanance Heron Swap-Cancel)
Outro
And here are the Echoes and Weapons used in the calculations.
Stats at Level 90: ATK: 587 | CRIT Rate: 24.3%
2 Set: Energy Regen increases by 10%.
5 Set: Upon using Outro Skill, ATK of the next Resonator increases by 22.5% for 15s.
Echoes in Wuthering Waves are an essential part of the character rotations, granting a large amount of Resonance Energy and damage but at the cost of high field time for the most powerful ones. But by using some Echoes right before you're about to switch out on the character, you're able to move to your next character while your previous one is still in the echo animation - it’s what we call an Echo Swap Cancel.
Echo Swap Cancel is almost always the optimal way to use Echoes, and will result in big reductions in character field time and large increases to DPS, but not all of the most powerful Echoes can be swap cancelled in this way. For example, the Feilian Beringal (Aero), Dreamless (Havoc), Tempest Mephis (Electro), Mourning Aix (Spectro), and Infernal Rider (Fusion) Echoes can all be Swap Cancelled.
The remaining element, so Glacio while having powerful Echoes has none powerful enough that can be swap cancelled, and to make things worse, no Echoes that generate sufficient Energy and damage for their field time investment.
The result of this is that you can expect Glacio characters to have higher field time and lower DPS in calculations than their other elemental counter parts until they receive better Echoes to use.
