Information
As you progress through the story in Wuthering Waves you will obtain quite a lot of free 4★ characters. This guide will list all the free characters and also let you know when you will be able to obtain them - so you can easier plan your early game progression team!
Also keep in mind that a lot of the 4★ characters are actually really strong and can be the backbone of your team for quite a long time.
Free characters
Rover [Hybrid]
Rover is the main character in Wuthering Waves, starting as a Spectro-based Hybrid character who is a jack-of-all-trades, splitting their focus between dealing damage and controlling the battlefield. In the future, you can expect other elemental variants of the Rover that use different Weapons to be released, similar to other games in the genre, but for now, you will be stuck with the Spectro variant, so let's dig into what they offer.
Rover tries to do many things at once and while they can perform adequately well in all of them, they aren’t top of their role at anything - which early on isn't that big of a downside but as you obtain more characters, you will most likely want to switch to them due their more specialized roles. Rover's damage is some of the highest of any hybrid character without considering coordinated attacks, partially thanks to their high base stats, and the fact you get all their sequences for free (many of which are damage boosts). In the CBT2 they were often played with damage-focused builds capitalizing on their fast and precise attack frames that allow for effective parrying against endgame bosses.
Overall, Rover's a great free character who is easy to learn and can be played in ways with a variety of builds, allowing them to 'fill in' for whatever you're missing - especially considering that for the endgame, you need 3 teams, in 1.0 you’ll likely always find a use for them.
Pros & Cons
- Boasts a good combination of damage and utility,
- Can quickly fill their Forte Gauge,
- All Sequences are available for free,
- Fast and precise attack frames that make parrying easier,
- High utility outro, opening enemies for an easy combo or a quick escape.
- While early on, they will feel really strong due to the free Sequences, the rest of the cast will catch up once you start getting theirs,
- While the damage output is really good, it still lags behind the dedicated main DPS, and at the same time, their Outro is a CC effect, not a buff, making it hard to find a place for them in most endgame best-in-slot compositions.
Yangyang [Support]
Yangyang is a Support/Hybrid character who doesn't provide a Deepen buff with her Outro but instead recovers Energy for the next character. In most games, characters that can recover energy for their allies are always strong, but in Wuthering Waves it's difficult to assess the power of this before seeing her used by more players on release - it could be quite strong or quite weak. Yangyang is one of the few characters in the game with an Outro that can be used offensively but doesn’t lose its effect when the receiving character switches out allowing her to be built as a Hybrid character or Support. To play her as a Support she can make use of a weapon that triggers a heal after unleashing her ultimate which allows her to make use of the powerful 5P Rejuvenating Glow set which on release doesn’t have many viable users (while being absurdly powerful).
Yang Yang has a few downsides though. Her basic attack rotation is a little unforgiving and if you miss the last part, you will lose a big portion of her Forte Gauge, forcing you to restart the basic attack combo from scratch. Her personal damage is also on the lower side, further pushing her more into a Supporting role than a Hybrid. Her required on-field time is a little awkward as It's longer than other Supports but shorter than a lot of Hybrids, which puts her in a weird spot. Overall Yangyang is an interesting character that potentially can be game-changing depending on how important her Energy Recovery will be in the endgame, but until we see more from her it’s difficult to gauge just how powerful she’ll be or if she’ll be present in any top-tier teams and if that’ll be in the Hybrid or Support role.
Pros & Cons
- Requires low field time to execute Concerto combo, with the ability to get in and out fast (for a Hybrid character),
- Outro that recovers energy,
- Can gather enemies both with her skill and ultimate,
- Can use a healing Weapon to effectively turn her into a support which synergizes with a lot of the rest of her kit,
- Gains great utility with Sequences,
- She's free!
- No Deepen buff on Outro skill,
- Unforgiving basic combo which if missed costs more field time,
- Mediocre damage output,
- In a weird spot between a Hybrid and Support
Chixia [Main DPS]
Chixia is a Main DPS that offers a completely ranged playstyle, perfect for those who want to rain destruction upon their enemies from afar while kiting them and dodging their attacks with ease. She's also incredibly easy to understand and play as her kit revolves around building and spending Bullets via her Basic Attack and Skill. Her damage output is decent for a 4-star, and one that you obtain for free in the tutorial on top of that, so every additional copy of her you will obtain from pulls with further amplify her performance.
But... There's always a but. Being easy to play and master, comes at a cost and the cost is pretty high for Chixia. First of all, she requires the longest on-field time among all Main DPS - fortunately, this can be fixed with her Sequences but this increases her reliance on her Ultimate. Also, while she can move when she's channeling during the DAKA DAKA! Mode (her enhanced Resonance skill), she's vulnerable to interruptions if your position is off and the enemy starts a big attack - especially against those enemies that have fast animations. And if you stop channeling to avoid the attack, it will come with a big damage loss.
Overall, Chixia is a decent character who will help you progress through the early game, but you will most likely bench her once you pull characters that perform better.
Pros & Cons
- Completely ranged playstyle,
- Easy to understand and play,
- Deals a tremendous amount of resonance damage with her channeled skill combos,
- Can move while channeling her resonance skill,
- Has a strong dash attached to her resonance skill that can be used for quick repositioning,
- You get her for free!
- Almost completely single target outside a few burst skills,
- Cannot parry as a ranged character,
- Expensive ultimate,
- Takes up the most on-field time among all Main DPS,
- Vulnerable to interruption by fast enemies or large attacks while channeling resonance skill if positioned poorly.
Baizhi [Support]
Baizhi is a Support who can be summed up as 'Verina at home'. Jokes aside, Baizhi is a very versatile Support character who can be slotted into any team due to her healing and buffing capabilities. She has an incredible Outro skill that is only inferior to Verina's and that provides All-Type DMG Deepen to the next ally, but compared to other 'next-type' Outros, the buff isn't lost when you switch as it retriggers on heal. Her Sequences also give her a teamwide Cheat Death mechanic (at S5) and a Glacio DMG% buff that helps characters from that element (at S6).
Sadly, the 'Verina at home' line wasn't a joke and Baizhi is worse than her in almost every way. She requires more on-field time, her healing is worse, her buffs are worse and she's a bit clunky to play - for example, while she's a ranged character, she still has to remain in melee range to gain resonance energy from her Resonance Skill (she can still heal and get concerto from it though). Her pet who actually is the one attacking also had a bit of delay in the CBT2, causing gameplay to sometimes feel sluggish which is especially noticeable when comparing her to Verina. We are unsure if this will be fixed on release.
Overall, despite the fact that Baizhi is inferior to Verina she's still the second-best Support available to us on release, and since she's being given for free, you will use her in your second or third team in Tower of Adversity even after you obtain Verina.
Pros & Cons
- Incredible supportive Outro, granting 15% DMG Deepen which is not lost when switching,
- Can effortlessly enable the 5P Healer set bonus without sacrificing her weapon choice,
- Completely universal - every single team can use Baizhi,
- Has decent team-wide healing,
- Can grant the team a cheat-death after unlocking S5 in the form of a full heal to the character that would have suffered fatal damage,
- Has a pet? Dinosaur? Thing..?
- Verina at home - is worse in almost every way requiring more field time, and effort to play, and is still more clunky after all that,
Yuanwu [Hybrid]
Coming soon!
Pros & Cons
- Coming soon!
- Coming soon!
Sanhua [Hybrid]
Sanhua is a Hybrid character who has one of the fastest possible Concerto rotations in the game, allowing her to execute quickly, deal great burst damage, and switch out granting her Concerto outro buff to those who need it. Her Ultimate is tied for the lowest cost in the game (100), and she generates a decent amount of energy herself, meaning she can focus on a more offensive build instead of Energy Regen, further adding to her burst potential.
Burst damage is only one of her playstyles and she can choose to incorporate some Basic Attacks into her rotation if desired, altering her from Burst-oriented playstyle into sustained on-field damage one, to take advantage of some of her Basic Attack focused kit. Still, no matter the playstyle, you always have to keep in mind her Forte Gauge mini-game that forces you to time her heavy Basic Attack detonate at the right moment. Missing this will decrease the amount of damage and energy Sanhua recovers and negatively affect her rotation.
Overall, Sanhua is a great character whom everyone will obtain for free from the login calendar on the 5th day. So don't let her rot on your account and try her out - she won't disappoint you!
Pros & Cons
- One of the fastest concerto rotations in the game,
- Fantastic burst damage when using her ultimate, intro, and skill in combination with an Ice 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.
- Need to time the Forte's mini-game properly in the combos,
- The burst-specific rotation doesn't use any Basic Attacks, wasting parts of her kit even if it’s optimal.