Choosing to go free-to-play in a gacha game like Wuthering Waves is a great option. While the very top-tier content might be rough, you can still play every adventure, mission, and quest without issue.
The truth is that free-to-play games are designed to get some kind of investment out of many of the folks who play them. If you are happy to go on a slow grind and take advantage of all the free resources and items, you can enjoy everything that is available, for free. Will you get your parties to the same overpowered level as those who are willing to pay? It seems unlikely, but you can still have a lot of fun.
All free Wuthering Waves characters
The main way to get free characters in Wuthering Waves is to play through the story. Certain story beats will introduce new characters, and they may end up joining your party for free, giving you your first instance of the character. You can still earn them from pulls, getting additional Resonance Chains or special currencies to spend on other things.
Rover (Spectro)
Rover is the main protagonist of Wuthering Waves, and at the start of the game, you will need to pick between a male or female version of the character. The Rover is a pretty solid starting character overall who can dish out some good damage but also has solid defense due to strong parrying ability. They are effectively designed to fill in gaps in your party without needing to be the main focus at all. They are someone that you can replace if a better character comes along, but they can definitely get the job done for you.
Chixia (Fusion)
Chixia is a Fusion character that you will get extremely early in the game. She is ranged and uses her guns to pump out plenty of single-target damage, but will struggle to find quick clears against large groups. I really feel her potential single-target damage will make up for this, giving players a very reliable source of damage to their party. Her parry game is weak, but you can abuse certain Echoes to take advantage of i-frames, and she does come with a dash if you need a get-out-of-jail-free card.
Yangyang (Aero)
Yangyang is a Support character that you meet in the Prologue, giving you your first taste of someone who will live off-field. The point of Yangyang is to perform her full combo and then allow you to switch back to your main or sub-DPS, depending on what you need to do. She is actually a very strong character, and effort and resources invested in Support is rarely wasted. Unless you plan on aiming for Vernia, Yangyang can really act as a solid Support option. The bad news is that she can’t do much to help with damage, so you either take advantage of her ability to group or get little additional benefit out of her rotation.
Baizhi (Glacio)
Another Support, Baizhi offers a very solid alternative to Yangyang. Truthfully, you will be very happy you have both of them when it comes to Tower runs. Which one you use will depend a lot on your other characters, but Baizhi can offer a fantastic damage buff to the next character you switch to, so keep that in mind. Baizhi slots in very well almost everywhere, so it is a superb gap filler for any awkward Support needs. I would actually recommend you level her before Yangyang, frankly, because she will hold up really well even after you get stronger support options.
Sanhua (Glacio)
Sanhua is an excellent sub-DPS because you can drop a load of damage and then switch to a main DPS that has more demanding on-field time. I’d really suggest leaning heavily into her burst damage over worrying too much about basic attacking, as there will be better options available to you for that. You absolutely need to work in some attacks to your rotation, but the real focus with her should be dropping as much nuke as you can, as quickly as you can. She is definitely worth investing in and will pay dividends when those damage numbers start to climb.
Yuanwu (Electro)
Yuanwu is a default beginner character. He is basic attack-focused, and his damage scales with defense, so he is somewhat low-risk. He uses Gauntlets and will basically punch everything around him. Unfortunately, I feel that I’m going to spend way too much time with Yuanwu, as I think he is a bit weak, but I love his kit and feel. At the end of the day, the game is about having fun, not just making the numbers get bigger.
Those are all the free characters for now, but we will keep this updated as more arrive, hopefully with further story expansion. You will also be able to earn the currency you need to unlock other characters from the Banners, so don’t worry about struggling to build up your teams.
