Wuthering Waves is an upcoming open-world action RPG gacha game that is taking the internet by storm. It’s currently in active development by Kuro Game, the developers behind one of the most underrated and under-appreciated gacha games, Punishing Gray Raven. Wuthering Waves has been in development for the past three years and is currently in its second round of closed-beta testing, which we were lucky enough to be a part of.
We’ve spent countless hours understanding the game’s core mechanics (that may or may not change on full release, but we expect the system to be more or less the same with minor changes). The game has a lot to offer, and just like any other gacha game, Wuthering Waves also comes with its own set of unique gear system called the Echo System.
The Echo System is a unique take that combines traditional gear systems with major aspects of Pokemon’s “gotta catch ’em all.” It might be a bit confusing initially, but let’s dive into everything you need to know about the Echo System in Wuthering Waves and it will become crystal clear.
The Echo System
As mentioned earlier, the Echo System is the name of the complex yet unique gearing system for Wuthering Waves where different Echos are used to strengthen your characters. Think of these Echos as the artifact system from Genshin Impact or the relic system from Honkai Star Rail. However, what differentiates the Echo system from your traditional gear farming is that you can catch different monsters and enemies upon defeating them in the overworld that serves as your gear. These are called Echos.
There are different rarities of Echos, such as Rank 2 (green color), Rank 3 (blue color), Rank 4 (purple color), and Rank 5 (gold color). The stat levels and number of sub-stats of these Echos also increase as their rank increases. The following table shows the exact number of levels you can upgrade each Echo at their respective rank and the number of sub-stats they get upon tuning. Each also gets a fixed substat, which we are not counting here – more on tuning below.
| Rank | Can be upgraded up to | No. of tuned substats |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 10 | 0 |
| 3 | 15 | 3 |
| 4 | 20 | 4 |
| 5 | 25 | 5 |
Echo Cost
There are three types of Echoes based on their cost – 1, 3, and 4 and there are a total of five slots in which you can equip your Echos. However, there is a cost to equip certain types of Echos.
You can equip Echos with a cost of 12 across all five slots of your character. What that means is that you won’t be able to stack multiple 4 cost Echos as they won’t fit within the 12 cost criteria. This is Wuthering Waves way of limiting your gear system, just like other gacha games.
| Echo Cost | Main Stat | Fixed Sub-Stat |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ATK% / DEF% / HP% | HP |
| 3 | ATK% / DEF% / HP% / Energy Regen% / Elemental DMG% (Example, Spectro DMG Bonus) | ATK |
| 4 | ATK% / DEF% / HP% / Crit Rate / Crit DMG | ATK |
The 4 cost Echos are always the bosses you fight in the overworld – for example, the Feilian Beringal monkey boss. It is also worth noting that the cost of the Echos are independent of the rarity. It means whether you get a Rank 2 or Rank 5 boss, it will always have 4 cost.
Data Bank Terminal
In Wuthering Waves, you have something called a Data Dock Terminal that can be leveled up to level 20 all the way from level 1. The Data Dock shows you your Echo drop rate, enhanced absorption probability (basically the chance of getting a higher rarity Echo), maximum absorbable rarity, and the cost limit. The Echo drop rate and the cost limit are fixed at 20% and 12, respectively, even at level 20 Data Dock Terminal (unless they change it at launch).
You can increase your chances of getting a better rarity Echo by increasing your Data Dock Terminal level to 20. At that level, your highest absorbable rarity will be increased to Rank 5, and the probability of getting a higher rarity Echo will increase to 100%. This means you will always get a Rank 5 Echo drop. But the drop rates will remain the same at 20%. 20% means you have a 1/5 chance of getting an Echo drop. But fortunately, at Terminal level 20, it will always be a Rank 5. Some players have reported that their chances of getting an Echo drop increase as they kill the same enemy type.
You can increase your Terminal level by capturing more Echos and unlocking new types of Echos. You also get Data Bank experience for capturing the higher quality (higher ranked) Echo of the same type you might have captured before.
Echo Slots
To build your characters, you need to equip these Echos in your Echo slots. You might be thinking, “Oh, I can just equip a bunch of 4 cost crit stats to max out my damage.” Unfortunately, that won’t be possible due to the maximum cost limit, which is 12. If you have two 4 cost boss Echos, you’ve already accumulated 8 costs and are left with 4 costs where you will need to slot in a 3 and a 1 cost Echo.
The most optimal build could be 4,3,3,1,1 cost. The 4 cost will be your main boss slot Echo. It doesn’t matter where you place your Echos, but it is best to put the boss Echo in the active Echo slot so you can use them actively during your fights. Note that the damage output of the active Echos increases as their rank increases. So, if you have a Rank 5 boss Echo, consider using it in your active slot. Some strong contenders include the Thundering Memphis and the Crownless boss.
The 3 cost Echos have elemental DMG% and energy regen%, so two 3 cost slots can be filled by using either or both depending on your character’s requirement. You can also slot in ATK%, HP%, or DEF%, depending on what your character scales off of.
Finally, the last two slots can be filled with 1 cost Echos each. Once again, you can get one of the following stats depending on what your build is missing: ATK%, DEF%, or HP%.
Optimizing your cost is crucial in Wuthering Waves as it also has a Sonata effect.
Sonata Effect
Sonata effects are basically your set bonuses. Set bonuses are achieved by either getting 2 of the on-set pieces or 5 of the on-set pieces. For example, if you have equipped two Freezing Frost Echo pieces, you will get a 10% increase in Glacial damage.
If you have five Freezing Frost Echo pieces, you will get a 10% increase in Glacial damage after using your basic or heavy attack, and this effect can stack up to three to three times, which means an easy 30% increase in Glacial damage. In turn, this also means having a five-piece grant grants you a whopping 50% increase in Glacial damage!
Echo Tuning
Echo tuning refers to unlocking the random sub-stats of your Echo. You can unlock your sub-stats by tuning at every five levels you upgrade your Echo. For example, you can upgrade your Echo to level 5 and you will be able to get the first sub-stat by tuning your Echo. In the same way, leveling up your Echo to level 10 will allow you to unlock another sub-stat. You can unlock up to 5 sub-stats for a Rank 5 Echo piece by upgrading it to level 25.
You can use a Tuner to unlock your sub-stats. The sub-stats come with a fixed range of stats, and they can be anything within that range. The range has still not been determined yet since we’re still in the closed-beta testing 2, and it will very likely change upon the game’s final release. In general, we’ve seen crit sub-stats going as high as 10.9% and HP% as high as 6.6%, with Def% going up to 8%. It is hard to determine the exact range.
There are three main types of Tuners in Wuthering Waves – Medium (used for Rank 2 and 3 Echos), Advanced Tuner (used for Rank 4 Echos), and Premium Tuner (used for Rank 5 Echos).
Shiny Echos
Yes, you heard that right! You also have a chance of obtaining a shiny variant of these Echos similar to how you can find shiny variants of Pokemons in the Pokemon games. So far, as per our personal experience in closed-beta testing 2, the shinies are extremely rare, and we’ve only come across one.
The shiny Echos don’t have any special stats and act exactly the same as your regularly caught Echos. However, they have a distinct “white” color that helps you distinguish the Echos from the standard ones. It’s a neat feature and incentivizes players to hunt for these Echos for hours at end, which players should already be doing, given they need to farm for them.
The shiny Echos also comes in all rarity levels. We managed to capture a shiny Hoartoise that goes by Phantom: Hoartoise. You can also show off your rare shiny Echos to your friends in co-op mode.
Tacet Fields
Now you might be wondering, isn’t it quite tedious to run up and down this huge overworld to farm for these Echos? Yes, it is, but only for the first time. Luckily, Kuro Game has kept this potential drawback in mind and introduced something called Tacet Fields, where you can farm for Echos using your stamina (Waveplate).
Once you’ve captured a certain type of Echo for the first time, it will be recorded in one of the many Tacet Fields scattered around the map. All these Tacet Fields have different Echo sets that you can farm for.
Using your stamina at the Tacet Fields guarantees you an Echo whereas farming them in the open world, has a 20% chance to drop an Echo. You just need to fight multiple waves of enemies after which you can claim your rewards, including the Echos. You can also farm these Echos with your friends in co-op by killing the enemies in the overworld. These enemies spawn once every server reset, so if you’ve exhausted all the enemies in your world (except bosses, of course – they respawn), you can go to your friend’s world and farm there.
Both you and your friends will have their own 20% chance of getting the Echo. This means even in co-op, it is independent for all the players, which is great. This also allows players to play co-op and have fun with their friends. You can more or less farm for your gear without using your stamina. However, you do need to use your stamina to get the sealed tubes to upgrade your Echo.
The rarity of the Echos appearing in the Tacet Fields seems to level up with your SOL3 Phase Rank and Data Dock Terminal level. It is best to max out your Data Dock Terminal level is by maxing out your Data Bank and then using your stamina at the Tacet Fields to get higher rarity Echos. Otherwise, you will be wasting your stamina, which can be used more efficiently to level up your characters and their talent tree.
Final Thoughts
In my opinion, the Echo System within Wuthering Waves stands out as one of the most distinctive, captivating, and intricate gear systems among all gacha games. Its “Pokemon style” farming aspect is also intriguing and incentivizes players to kill overworld enemies and bosses to obtain Echos without spending stamina. However, the system incorporates several layers of RNG, resulting in a rather tedious process to achieve the desired build.
I think Kuro Game needs to either reduce the number of sub-stats for each cost and distribute them across all three cost categories (1,3 and 4) to allow for a more flexible farming experience or allow us choose the main stats while keeping the rest of it as is. It would make more sense for us to grind for the sub-stats than for the main stats.
But with both the main stats and the sub-stats having so many layers of RNG, it will lead to players burning out and hurting the game’s longevity. Players will just quit, which we do not want for this game.
Another simple yet effective solution could be to allow us to re-roll or re-tune the sub-stats. Many other gacha games have this feature where players can use resources (obtained using stamina) to re-roll the sub-stats to get to the closest sub-stats required. One of the recent popular gacha games with this system is Black Clover: Mobile.
Wuthering Waves has a lot of potential, and seeing how well Kuro Game has handled one of the most underrated gacha games, Punishing Gray Raven, I expect nothing less for Wuthering Waves.
