Wuthering Waves combat guide for Genshin Impact players

Wuthering Waves, the recently launched open-world RPG from Kuro Games studio, has already established a fanbase among dedicated MMORPG and gacha enthusiasts. Being in the same genre as the immensely popular Genshin Impact, it was inevitable that comparisons would be drawn between these two games.

While there are plenty of fresh new mechanics in Wuthering Waves, it does have a lot of similarities to Genshin Impact. That is not necessarily a bad thing, as it can instantly help players of the Hoyoverse title learn certain aspects and mechanics of the new game easily.

In this article, we have broken down the combat system in Wuthering Waves for Genshin Impact players.

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Combat styles in Genshin Impact and Wuthering Waves

Characters in combat in Genshin Impact and Wuthering Waves (Image via HoYoverse/ Kuro Games)

The basics of combat in Wuthering Waves is a hack-and-slash technique, which Genshin Impact players are familiar with. Genshin Impact is not just a hack-and-slash game, but it does incorporate elements of it in its combat, and so does Wuthering Waves.

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Basic attacks, skills, and ultimates

Similar to Genshin Impact, Wuthering Waves characters have a basic attack, a special skill called a Resonance Skill, and an ultimate called Resonance Liberation. Genshin Impact characters have passive abilities that can either aid them in combat or exploration, and Wuthering Waves characters offer something similar.

Characters have a Forte Circuit gauge above their HP bar in Wuthering Waves (Image via Kuro Games)

All characters in Wuthering Waves have a Forte Circuit, a passive ability built into their kit, depending on which their combat styles vary from character to character. A dedicated Forte Gauge above the health bar informs players of how much their gauge is charged. Once it is full, players can unleash a special attack that deals extra damage to enemies.

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No elemental reactions in Wuthering Waves

Genshin Impact players are very familiar with elemental reactions in standard combat. However, this aspect of the combat involving elemental reactions is missing in Wuthering Waves.

Jiyan's burst deals Aero damage (Image via Kuro Games)

Even though characters in Wuthering Waves might have certain elements in their kit (such as Aero, Electro, Glacio, etc.), these have no impact on the gameplay or combat mechanics. They also do not interact with each other at all. Nevertheless, Aero characters do deal wind damage, Electro characters do deal lightning damage, and so on, and the animations for the attacks look gorgeous.

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Parry mechanic in Wuthering Waves

The biggest difference between the combat mechanics of Wuthering Waves and Genshin Impact is that the former incorporates a parry and dodge mechanic in its combat. This requires players to strategize and fight enemies with precise and skillful timing, as opposed to just left-mouse-button spamming.

Parrying in Wuthering Waves (Image via Kuro Games)

When enemies have a golden halo around them, timing your basic attack correctly will trigger a perfect parry, which lets players follow it up with a counterattack stronger than other normal attacks.

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Dodge mechanic in Wuthering Waves

While it’s true that dodging is somewhat important in Genshin Impact (unless you have Zhongli or another well-built shielder as a permanent member of your team), it is not integral to the combat system. In Wuthering Waves, however, you can lose out on an extra DPS window if you can't perform a perfectly timed dodge.

A perfect dodge in Wuthering Waves (Image via Kuro Games)

A perfect dodge needs to be timed accurately. Right when an enemy is about to land a hit, press the dodge button to trigger a perfect dodge. Keep in mind that dodging takes up stamina, so you can only do it a limited number of times before your stamina runs out.

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Echo system in Wuthering Waves

Wuthering Waves’ Echo system is an important aspect of every character’s combat skill. Echoes in Wuthering Waves are what artifacts are in Genshin Impact. Echoes boost a character’s stats and allow them to perform special in-combat attacks, depending on the equipped echo.

Echo system in Wuthering Waves (Image via Kuro Games)

While artifacts in Genshin Impact need to be farmed, echoes in Wuthering Waves can be collected by defeating overworld monsters and absorbing their echoes. You can then equip these on a character. Similar to Genshin Impact’s artifacts, echoes have certain main stats and substats that you can pick and choose depending on the character you’re equipping them with.

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Overall, while the combat mechanics in Wuthering Waves are fairly reminiscent of Genshin Impact’s, Wuthering Waves definitely adds its flair to the mix, making the combat very fresh and exhilarating.

Check out this guide for a list of all the new trophies introduced in version 1.1 of Wuthering Waves.