Which 5-star Standard Character to Pull

Wuthering Waves has an initial set of "standard" characters that you can possibly get from the beginner banner and the free 5-star selector (Targeted Convene). Getting one of these 5-star characters is meant to give you a good start in the game and maybe influence building your main team around them. One great beginner tip that you should follow is to focus on building your main team early on. Since you can only have three characters in an active party, a safe party composition should include a main damage dealer, a sub-DPS, and a support. In this article, we will take a look at each standard character and learn what they offer. Hopefully, this should help you decide which one to get as your starter 5-star.

Jianxin

Jianxin is a gauntlet-wielding, aero-elemental monk who is basically a jack-of-all-trades. Her skill enables her to perform a Counter and Parry, depending when she gets attacked or she releases her stance. She also has the special mechanic of storing Chi, which can be built up by hitting enemies with her attacks or using her skills. This chi can then be used to build a shield that will be retained to the active character even after Jianxin swaps out, heals the onfield character, or deals aero damage to enemies upon meeting certain conditions.

Her Resonance Liberation (ultimate/ burst) creates a powerful vortex that pulls enemies within the center dealing Aero damage and will deal damage again once the field disappears. However, not all enemies can be pulled this way; certain enemies like bosses or heavier/larger enemies are somewhat immune to this effect so that's something to keep in mind.

Her intro skill (triggered when she swaps in) is akin to her burst/ultimate's effect where a small vortex effect will trigger, sucking in nearby enemies while dealing Aero damage. Not only that, her Outro skill (triggered when she's swapped out) boosts the Resonance Liberation (ultimate) damage of the next character which provides a significant boost if your next character has their burst ready.

Overall, she's a decent character all throughout and in the hands of a skilled player, along with great Echoes and weapons, she's capable of soloing several game content and modes.

Calcharo

Calcharo is currently one of the top-tier DPS characters in the game. DPS-oriented players who are especially adept and comfortable with properly-timed combos and attacks will feel at home controlling him, as he seems to be really optimized for that. Calcharo is considered to be a electro "hypercarry" unit, which means you can expect him to deliver tremendous amounts of damage, especially when he has a team built around his strengths.

Unleashing his potential really depends on the natural progression of his attack combos. While in his ‘normal’ state, Calcharo’s Basic Attack, Heavy Attack, and Resonance Skill provide decent Electro melee damage; however these attacks won't be your main source of damage with Calcharo. Instead, you need to build up Cruelty and Killing Intent stacks. Let's tackle that briefly.

At the start of the battle, quickly unleash Calcharo’s Basic Attacks and use his Resonance Skill whenever possible. After landing three Resonance Skill hits, the ‘Cruelty’ gauge above his HP bar (purple color) fills up. Once filled, a heavy attack will be unleashed, dealing Mercy damage while also giving him energy. Once his Resonance Liberation is fully charged, activate it to enter the Deathblade Gear state. While this state is active, his basic and charged attacks become powerful versions so keep swinging away during the duration of this effect.

Calcharo needs a team built around him; this means she needs a healer and another ally who can complement his style. For example, the free 4-star character Yangyang can recover energy with her Outro skill, which can allow Calcharo to use his Resonance Liberation earlier. A healer will ensure that Calcharo will be able to do this thing long enough to trigger his devastating stackable effects. There are currently two healers only in the game (Verina and Baizhi) so unless you picked or got Verina, you'll be stuck with Baizhi for the meantime until other healers become available.

Verina

Verina is a 5-star Spectro healer and is considered to be a valuable character to include in any team composition. It is also worth noting that she doesn't need her signature weapon to shine; her base kit is significantly effective enough to keep your team alive. This also makes her quite F2P (free-to-play) friendly, especially if you pick her from the free 5-star convene available for new players.

Verina's Forte Circuit builds up "Photosynthesis Energy" stacks (she can hold up to four) by performing full basic attack combos, using her resonance skill, or hitting enemies with her intro skill. She consumes these photosynthesis stacks whenever she performs a heavy or mid-air attack to recover Concerto energy and heal HP to all party members.

Verina's ultimate deals Spectro Damage while restoring the HP of all party members. This also tags a target hit with a Photosynthesis Mark. If an ally attacks a marked enemy, Verina will follow up and inflict Spectro damage while also healing the HP of the ally.

Once you have unlocked her Inherent Skill, she'll also be able to buff the ATK of all party members for a few seconds, as well as protecting an ally from fatal damage and providing that ally with a shield, once every 10 minutes.

When leveling up her skills, consider only allocating resources towards her Resonance Liberation (ultimate) and Forte Circuit (passive) since her healing will primarily come from those two skills. Overall, you can't go wrong with Verina, even if you are not going to main her.

Lingyang

Lingyang is another gauntlet-wielder DPS of the glacio element. His actual fighting style is somewhat unique and you'll either love it or hate it. Similar to the other DPS standard characters (Calcharo and Encore), Lingyang's significant damage comes from his ultimate that once activated, enables him to enter a special "state" that improves his normal attacks and gives him damage and speed boost.

Lingyang's gimmick is the ability to stay afloat and air juggle an enemy, rendering them helpless while he's dishing the damage. While that sounds somewhat okay on paper, you also need to remember that boss and elite enemies exist; these enemies are immune to being juggled in the air so Lingyang's burst seems to be very effective only on ordinary targets. Unfortunately, he can only target a single enemy and to top it off, his DPS output is lower compared to Calcharo and Encore.

Lingyang will appeal to players who want to try out something new but remember, building him and a team around him will require a lot of attention and skill, as well as getting the right gear and echoes to unleash his full potential.

Encore

Encore is a 5-star fusion, rectifier-wielding DPS character accompanied by her two plushies, Cloudy and Cosmos. She might be cute and cheerful but as a DPS, she can deliver serious damage to enemies unwary of her potential. Similar to Calcharo and Lingyang, her main source of damage is the brief window of special state that will take effect once her ultimate is activated.

Whenever she hits targets with her normal attacks, resonance skills, intro, and resonance liberation, she'll earn stacks of Mayhem (she can carry up to 100). These Mayhem stack are consumed in any of her two heavy attack modes: Cloudy Frenzy and Cosmos Rupture. Both skills reduces the damage dealt to Encore and deal heavy Fusion damage that are considered as Resonance Liberations (ultimates). Once her ultimate is activated, all her attacks get transformed into their respective enhanced versions, dealing damage.

Another thing to note is that since Encore is a fusion character, there's currently not much of a selection for viable fusion echoes that will help boost her skill. Alternatively, you can use the Inferno Rider as it provides both Fusion and basic attack damage.

The verdict

So who is the best 5-star pick? I will personally rank the current 5-star character roster below:

1. Verina

2. Calcharo

3. Jianxin

4. Encore

5. Lingyang

Verina is undoubtedly the best pick as she'll be extremely valuable to any team composition. Her base kit is outstanding and she doesn't require too much resources in order to be effective. Calcharo delivers the best damage output compared to Encore and Lingyang so if you're DPS-oriented, you'll find more value in adding him to your team. Jianxin is a good all-rounder but won't normally be the first pick of anyone; however, players who get Verina or Calcharo first can easily consider Jianxin as the next option.

Encore and Lingyang have their faults but they're not entirely bad characters. You can still get them for the looks or for the heck of it but if you're really interested in learning their gameplay, I would suggest checking several YouTube video guides for them.