Wuthering Waves Best Echoes: How to get 5 star Echoes

UPDATE: We've learnt a few new things about Echoes since WuWa's release, so we've updated this page with exactly how they work, how to get your hands on 5-star Echoes with efficiency, and what the best Echo abilities to use are.

In the realm of action-gacha-RPGs, Wuthering Waves has to do something special to make its own mark in a crowded landscape. However, when a huge open-world, massive roster of characters and energetic hack-and-slash battles are all considered the norm in the genre, what can Kuro Games do to meet that already high bar?

Wuthering Waves’ solution is its Echoes system, which lets players and their team of Resonators wield the unique powers of the different monsters they defeat, adding an extra dimension to Wuthering Waves' combat, its builds, gear sets, and possibly even traversal. Think of it as a strange, sci-fi Pokedex for you to fill while exploring WuWa's map. With that in mind, here's everything you need to know about Wuthering Waves Echoes, and how to get more 5-star Echoes.

What are Echoes in Wuthering Waves?

Echoes are the essence of defeated monsters your party can collect and add to their toolkit of abilities. They're basically combat abilities which can unleash an ultra-powerful attack, hit many enemies at once with AoE, or even heal your party.

But what kind of Echoes will the Rover and their Resonators be using, and what do Echoes do for them? Well, Echoes belong to different sets that all possess their own Sonata Effects, which we detail in our guide to WuWa's Sonata Effects.

You'll then find that different Echo sets fit best with different Resonators, depending on their kit and damage type. For example, Verina works best with a set of Rejuvenating Glow Echoes, while Calcharo uses Void Thunder Echoes best. That's because the Sonata Effects of these types of Echoes bolster the kits of these Resonators more, allowing Verina to do more healing and Calcharo to do more Electro DMG.

Not only do Echoes come from different sets, but like Relics in Honkai Star Rail, these Echoes will have varying stats and substats that you'll want to look out for, depending on who you're equipping them on.

Echoes, so far, look like Wuthering Waves’ biggest avenue for expansion going forward, with new areas and updates sure to bring new monsters with new abilities. This make a nice change from the wholly character-focused competitors on the market, and provides a very fun monster-collecting element to the game that can be fun to do in co-op after approaching WuWa's endgame.

How to get 5 star Echoes in Wuthering Waves

In this section, we're going to detail how to get more Echoes in Wuthering Waves, with a specific focus on how to get your hands on more 5 star Echoes, which is the endgame gear you ultimately want to be farming for.

Collecting Echoes seems to be as simple as defeating specific monsters in the world of Wuthering Waves; these can be your basic overworld monsters (look out for ones protecting Heritage chests and so forth), monsters from Boss and Weekly Challenges, as well as monsters from Tacet Field Challenges. All these challenges are found in your Guidebook, which is accessible via the Terminal.

Tacet Fields are also where you'll get materials for upgrading and Tuning Echoes, so they're very important to be doing when you can.

When it comes to collecting 5-star Echoes, which is the endgame gear you'll want to kit your Resonators out with, you'll want to work on your Data Bank Level. This is done by collecting more new Echoes of varying rarities, and once you reach Data Bank Level 15, you'll have a new, 30% chance to receive 5-star Echoes. At Level 17, this is a 50% chance for 5-star Echoes to drop, and from Level 19, this becomes an 80% chance.

So, ultimately, to farm five-star Echoes, you'll want to farm and merge existing Echoes to increase your Data Bank Level; the higher your level, the higher your chance for finding better rarity Echoes.

Your Rover and Resonators then have an overall budget of 12 points to spend on equipping Echoes, with more powerful effects eating up more of that precious budget. We recommend the 4/3/3/1/1 split, but if you have some exceptional high cost echoes, you can try the 4/4/1/1/1 cost split.

However, it’s also worth noting that as of upcoming version 1.1 of Wuthering Waves, which arrives on June 28, the Shell Credit cost to upgrade your Echoes is being reduced, and Tacet Fields will have increased drops. So, it might be worth waiting until then before upgrading your echoes if you want to be as efficient with your resources as possible.

Best Wuthering Waves Echoes

The best Echoes in Wuthering Waves are the ones you need to put in the top slot for your Resonators. Echoes in the top slot can be accessed during battle, whereas your other equipped Echoes are there for the stat buffs.

We've listed the Echoes with the best abilities below, and while most of these are bosses you'll wind up farming for Ascension materials, there are some decent overworld enemies whose abilities you can use while trialling new characters and so forth, too.

• Dreamless - Transform into the Dreamless and deal Havoc DMG. This Echo is best for Havoc Rover.
• Crownless - Transform into Crownless and deal Havoc DMG. This Echo is best for Havoc Rover and Danjin.
• Mech Abomination - Create Mech Waste while dealing Electro DMG; the Waste explodes after a while and increases Attack.
• Inferno Rider - Transform into the Inferno Rider and deal Fusion DMG. Hold to turn into Inferno Rider's back, dealing damage upon impact. This Echo is great for Encore.
• Mourning Aix - Transform into Mourning Aix and deal Spectro DMG. Increases Spectro DMG and Ultimate DMG. The best Echo for Spectro Rover.
• Bell-Borne Geochelone - Receive defensive help from Bell-Borne Geochelone, then deal Glacio DMG. Reduces incoming damage. A good Echo for Verina, Sanhua, Yangyang, Baizhi, and Taoqi.
• Thundering Mephis - Transform into Thundering Mephis and deal Electro DMG. This increases current Electro DMG and Ultimate DMG. This Echo is great for Calcharo.
• Tempest Mephis - Another great Echo for Calcharo, transform into the Tempest Mephis to deal Electro DMG. This increases Electro DMG and Heavy Attack DMG.
• Impermanence Heron - Transform into the Impermanence Heron and deal Havoc DMG. Hold to fly and breathe flames at enemies; this restores Resonance Energy. This is a great Echo for Mortefi, Yangyang, Danjin, and Taoqi.
• Feilian Beringual - Transform into Feilian Beringual and deal Aero DMG. This then increases Aero DMG and Heavy Attack DMG. A good Echo for Yangyang and Jiyan.
• Stonewall Bracer - Turn into the Stonewall Brace and charge attack. This provides a shield if successful. A good temporary Echo for many Resonators.
• Hoartoise - Transform into a Hoartoise and restore HP. A good early Echo for those who need a HP boost.

For more on Wuthering Waves, look at our WuWa codes to try bag yourself some freebies, as well as our character list, and our guide on how to increase your Union Level.