Wuthering Waves is here and there are a ton of incentives and freebies for all the newbies and pre-registration players to grab. If you’re hopping on early, you can take advantage of the starter and beginner banners to guarantee a 5-star. In fact, with the new free 5-star selector on the way, it’s important to decide which 5-star character you should choose in Wuthering Waves.
Wuthering Waves Beginner Banner 5-star Characters
The Beginner Banner allows you to guarantee a wish for one of the following 5-star characters:
- Jianxing
- Calcharo
- Verina
- Lingyang
- Encore
We’ll provide a breakdown for each character to help you make a decision and then give our personal pick for the best 5-star character you should choose from the selector.
Jianxing
Jianxing is a jack of all trades who does a bit of everything. She can provide shields while dealing AoE damage with her heavy attack. Her attacks can hit hard and her shield provides a bunch of healing. It’s a bit clunky, but it works against mobs of enemies pretty well. Her skill has a parry ability and her ultimate will group up enemies and deal damage to them with a whirlwind, similar to Venti from Genshin Impact.
Her playstyle involves summoning a shield, using the vortex, and then using her Outro ability to buff the next character’s ultimate ability. This makes her a pretty good support unit with untapped potential.
Calcharo
Calcharo is in an interesting spot right now as he has been nerfed a bit compared to CBT2. However, he’s still a powerful Electro DPS unit. However, he cannot reach his full potential without the crucial Electro Support from Yinlin, who releases next month. If you plan on pulling for Yinlin, Calcharo is a good 5-star to invest in early. His playstyle involves playing around his ultimate which buffs all of his attacks and is more or less required to get good damage out of Calcharo.
Verina
Verina’s primary role is that of a healer-support, a role that is currently in demand in Wuthering Waves. It’s actually such an important role that every single meta team will be making use of Verina in one way or another. Her abilities make use of plant-based attacks that heal her team and an ult that empowers your attacks and provides healing.
Lingyang
Lingyang is also a solid pick right now as a Cryo DPS for those looking to run a cheaper team comp and save up on their Gacha currency. Lingyang is a main DPS hyper carry who uses a unique Liondance ability to jump around and pogo on top of enemies to deal damage. He’ll be running around in the air dealing damage to enemies, and this can take a while to get used to since it’s a very different playstyle. His best team is relatively cheap with Senhua and Verina.
Encore
Last but not least, we have Encore, who is a nimble fighter with two modes. Primarily, she is a ranged fighter, but with her ultimate ability, she becomes a powerful melee fighter ripping apart enemies with her claws. Her combos are pretty fun and easy to use if that’s the kind of playstyle you enjoy. You can sort of go wild with her and get some good damage regardless. She’s a powerful DPS character that you should go for if you like her design.
Which 5-star Character Should You Choose?
I believe the best character to choose with the Beginner Banner is Verina as her unique role as a healer support makes her a good placement in almost all team compositions. The ability to heal and buff your DPS is incredibly useful and not many other characters fulfill this role. You’ll need multiple teams for the challenging content later in the game, so she won’t become obsolete even when new supports are introduced.
If you already have Verina, you’re going to want to pick a character who can serve as your main DPS. In this case, Calcharo is the best Electro DPS and he gets even better once Yinlin releases next week. If you plan on pulling for Yinlin, then Calcharo, Verina, and Yinlin will be an amazing team. Check our best Team Comps guide for other optimal teams with the rest of the 5-star characters.
That being said, you’re free to pick whatever character you personally like before caring for things such as meta. All of these characters have their own unique strengths and deciding to choose a character you like is the best way to enjoy the game. We’ll get a free 5-star selector ticket soon, so your choice is now easier than ever before!
That concludes our guide on which 5-star you should pick in Wuthering Waves. While you’re here also check out our Weapons Tier list and best Team Comps. For more on the game, check out our guide to increasing your cost capacity, how to farm Lustrous Tides, daily reset time, and today’s daily quests.