Wuthering Waves: Best 5 Star Characters

Like most Gacha games, Wuthering Waves offers a variety of 5-star units that are much better than most characters in the game. These P2W characters are the best at each one of their roles and can immensely change how a team feels when they join them.

Despite 5-star Resonators generally being better than their 4-star partners, there’s still a noticeable gap in power among these premium characters. Therefore, players may be interested in knowing the best 5-star characters in Wuthering Waves.

Updated on January 1, 2025, by Nahda Nabiilah: Wuthering Waves is soon entering the 2.0 era, and many 5-star Resonators have been added since the initial release. In total, there are seven new characters who are released after Jiyan, resulting in a total of 15 5-star characters as of WuWa 1.4. Due to the many missing units in the article, this piece has now been updated to include everyone before Rinascita is released in version 2.0.

15

Spectro Rover

Weakest, But Good For Beginners

Everyone starts with Spectro Rover as their DPS in Wuthering Waves. However, they’re not there to stay. In fact, after your first 5-star DPS, or even some 4-star ones, you start to see how your Spectro Rover’s DMG falls back.

Spectro Rover is not the weakest DPS out there and definitely has some good qualities, but there will always be a better DPS than them. At least, they still work perfectly as a guide to teach new players in Wuthering Waves how to use their Forte Gauge.

14

Lingyang

Decent DMG, But Feels Slow

Lingyang is a Glacio DPS in Wuthering Waves. He heavily relies on his Resonance Liberation and Forte Gauge to deal DMG. While his DMG is acceptable compared to other DPS in the game, he still feels way too slow when he’s in his Striding Lion state. If two enemies are standing away from each other, he needs time to reach each one of them.

That said, he excels against bosses and delivers a hurtful DMG to them, making him super helpful to farm Overlord Echoes in Wuthering Waves.

13

Calcharo

An All-Rounder

Calcharo is an all-rounded main DPS that can deal DMG with any of his attacks. His DMG is considered notably high, especially when he enters his Ultimate state. However, Calcharo is more tame in AoE situations and shines better in single-target DMG ones. Although he was the top-tier Standard Banner option when WuWa was first released, he got powercrept by other strong DPS, earning him a low spot on the list.

12

Jianxin

Good Character With Just Too Much To Handle

Jianxin is only limited by herself to trying to do everything at once. That is especially apparent from the amount of time she takes to set everything up for the next character in rotation since she needs to tank DMG, shield, heal, parry, and build up her own Concerto meter.

That being said, Jianxin can still collect enemies with her Resonance Liberation, while her Outro can make any DPS a Nuker with her whopping 38% Ultimate Buff.

11

Havoc Rover

Strong DMG, But Without Dedicated Support

Havoc Rover can inflict a lot of DMG with their Basic ATK or Resonance Liberation. No matter how you choose to play them, they’re strong enough to get the job done. The only problem the Havoc Rover has is not having a dedicated Support that can buff their kit.

You either add Sanhua to maximize the DMG of their Basic ATK or Jianxin to do the same for their Ultimate. Danjin can give them a 23% Havoc DMG, but you’re going to lose a great DPS just to Outro buff Havoc Rover.

10

Encore

Someone Who’ll Get The Job Done

Encore is very fun to play while getting the job done. She can deal with a massive amount of DMG while switching between Ranged and Melee modes. Encore also plays well with others since you can cancel her Heavy ATK and Echo Skill to switch with other characters.

When Encore enters her Melee stance during her Resonance Liberation state, she becomes unstoppable. That’s where she does most of her DMG and what makes her rank so high among the best 5-stars in Wuthering Waves.

9

Yinlin

Prime Sub-DPS

Yinlin is a prime example of an off-field DPS. She has excellent AoE DMG and provides great Liberation DMG and Electro DMG buffs for DPS like Xiangli Yao. Sadly, her teams aren’t as strong as the meta Jinhsi + Zhezhi pairing, which causes her to not claim any of the top rankings.

Additionally, while Yinlin is amazing with her BiS weapon, Stringmaster, her performance tanks without it, making her not very F2P friendly.

8

Changli

Phoenix Lady

Mastering Changli can be difficult since she has some fancy rotations and canceling, but it’ll surely be rewarding. Jinhsi’s mentor is excellent at being both a Sub-DPS and Main DPS, making her a versatile unit to have.

Changli’s Outro gives Fusion DMG and Liberation DMG bonuses, so she’s the perfect teammate for characters like Encore. Additionally, since she works great in a quick-swap team, other Sub-DPS with minimum field time like Yinlin also work great with Changli.

7

Xiangli Yao

Calcharo Powercreep

Both Calcharo and Xiangli Yao are practically free characters to an extent, so it’s unfortunate for Calcharo that Xiangli Yao is much better than him. Unlike Calcharo’s unforgiving rotations and frequent interruptions, Xiangli Yao is much easier to use and more forgiving.

Players can pair Xiangli Yao with characters such as Yinlin for her insane Liberation + Electro DMG buff, and a second buffer like Verina.

6

Zhezhi

Off-field Mastery

Zhezhi is one of the strongest off-field DPS in Wuthering Waves. However, damage is not the only thing she does. First, all of her hits are considered Basic Attack, making her easy to build as she simply must focus on Basic Attack DMG.

Second, Zhezhi is incredibly simple to use and can be swapped in and out swiftly. Third, she grants plenty of useful buffs that make her brilliant for many characters, not just Glacio ones. Finally, she also gives Resonance Energy, further emphasizing her role as a buffer who simultaneously deals a lot of damage.

5

Jiyan

Wreak Havoc

When it comes to DPS, Jiyan ranks in the top tier in Wuthering Waves. What makes Jiyan so good, other than his ability to wreak havoc across the battlefield, is how smoothly he does it. When playing him as a main DPS, you can easily rotate back and forth with him until you’re ready to unleash his Ultimate.

Other than his DPS, when casting his Resonance Liberation, Jiyan starts swinging enemies around him, collecting them in one place to amplify his DMG against them. His entire attacks during that state are also considered Heavy ATKs, which makes him a perfect pair with Mortefi, which is one of the best Sub-DPS in Wuthering Waves.

4

Verina

Never Worry About Health

With the lack of healers and Supports in general, Verina is one of the most valuable characters in Wuthering Waves. She has one of the highest heals in the game alongside a great buff, which makes her extremely important to be in any team composition.

For a game that requires multiple teams, players have to settle for another character to try and sustain while granting international buffs as she does.

3

Shorekeeper

The Fancier Verina

The Shorekeeper and Verina are actually somewhat the same. Both are excellent healers and buffers who can fit into any team composition. However, unlike Verina who has short and easy rotations, Shorekeeper must follow a fixed rotation to do her work.

Shorekeper grants Crit Rate and Crit DMG buffs, which Verina doesn’t. She also deals far higher damage than the Botanist. The bad things about the Shorekeeper are the fact that she doesn’t have Coordinated Attack and desperately needs Energy Regen to work.

2

Camellya

Spin to Win

Camellya is one of the most powerful DPS. Although her damage isn’t as high as Jinhsi, her AoE far outperforms the Magistrate of Jinzhou.

Camellya has a simple playstyle where players only need to use her Skill then spin, and occasionally use her Skill or Ultimate to deal more AoE damage. She doesn’t need players to build her Ultimate like Jiyan, and works brilliantly with multiple characters, such as Verina, Shorekeper, and Sanhua.

1

Jinhsi

Skill Monster

Jinhsi has one of the best burst DPS in Wuthering Waves, where her damage can reach a crazy level with a proper buffing. The crazy part is that her rotation is straightforward and can be mastered easily.

Jinhsi’s airborne state is mostly a double-edged sword. It helps her avoid plenty of the enemy’s attacks, but makes it a little difficult to reposition. She works best with Coordinated Attackers like Zhezhi, Yinlin, and Verina, as she needs this type of attack to stack her Incandescence faster.