If you’ve hit a wall fighting higher-level bosses or struggling to clear Void Rift stages in Wuthering Waves, your first fix is almost always ascending your core team. A lot of new players skip over this mechanic early on, or waste rare materials on characters they’ll drop after a few weeks, so we put together this actionable walkthrough to make the process painless. We’ve tested every step of this guide across 3 full account playthroughs, so you won’t find any untested theorycrafting here. First, we’ll break down exactly how to ascend Wuthering Waves characters, what materials you need, and how to prioritize your investments for the biggest power spike possible.
How to Ascend Wuthering Waves Characters: Step-by-Step Basic Process
First, you need to meet two basic prerequisites before you can ascend any character: your account must be at least level 20, and the character you want to ascend has to hit their current max level cap. Once you hit those marks, follow these simple steps:
- Open your character page, select the unit you want to upgrade, and navigate to the Ascend tab on the right-hand menu
- Confirm you have all required ascension materials and enough Synthite (the game’s core currency for upgrades) to cover the cost
- Tap the Ascend button, and your character’s level cap will increase by 10 levels, with an immediate stat boost to HP, ATK, and DEF
Once you know how to ascend Wuthering Waves characters, the biggest barrier to progression is material farming. That’s the basic process, but there are a lot of hidden details most new players miss. For example, 4-star and 5-star characters have a total of 6 ascension tiers, while 3-star units only have 4, so you don’t want to pour endgame materials into 3-star units if you plan to swap to higher rarity options later. You’ll also unlock a new passive skill for 4 and 5-star units at their 3rd and 6th ascension tiers, which are often game-changing for their kit.
Prioritize These Ascension Materials to Avoid Wasting Farm Time
One of the biggest mistakes new players make is farming random materials instead of focusing on what they actually need for their main team. Ascension materials fall into three core categories, and you can plan your farm routes around them to cut down on grind time by 30% or more. If you’re prepping materials to learn how to ascend Wuthering Waves characters you plan to pull in future banners, you can farm generic elite drops and synthite ahead of time, since those are used by all units.
First, elemental boss drops are the rarest and most time-gated material type, since you can only claim 3 boss rewards per day using your resin. You’ll get these from fighting world bosses like the Sound of Thunder or Frostweaver, and each character requires a specific boss drop matching their elemental affinity. You don’t want to waste resin on boss drops for units you don’t use, so double check your team’s requirements before you spend your daily attempts.
Next, elite enemy drops are more common, but you’ll need a lot of them for later ascension tiers. Elites spawn in fixed locations across the map, and you can farm them as many times as you want without spending resin, so it’s smart to run a loop of elite spawns once a day to stock up. We recommend marking elite locations on your map as you run into them during open world exploration, so you don’t have to search for them later when you need materials fast.
Finally, regional collectibles are small items you can pick up while exploring, like Glowshrooms or Windwheel Lilies, that match the region the character was released in. Most characters need 160 of their specific collectible to hit max ascension, so it’s a good idea to grab any you see as you explore instead of waiting until you need them to run a dedicated farm route. You can also get small amounts of all ascension materials from event rewards, so make sure to claim all free event rewards before they expire. Even a few extra boss drops can save you a full day of resin waits later on.
Best Character Ascension Prioritization Order for All Playstyles
You don’t need to ascend every character you own to get the most out of your account, and prioritizing the wrong units can set your progression back by weeks. We recommend following this order for almost all playstyles, whether you prefer open world exploration, endgame challenge content, or PvP.
First, always ascend your main DPS unit first, even if you have support units that are closer to their level cap. Your main DPS is responsible for 70% or more of your total team damage, so every ascension tier you unlock for them will make every piece of content easier to clear. We even recommend holding off on ascending any other units until your main DPS hits their 4th ascension tier (level 70 cap), since that’s when they unlock most of their core passives and deal enough damage to handle most early and mid-game content.
Next, ascend your shielder or healer second. A lot of players make the mistake of ascending sub-DPS units first, but a tanky healer or shielder will let you survive longer in boss fights, even if your damage is slightly lower. For example, if you use Baizhi as your main healer, ascending her to level 60 will give you enough extra healing to survive the hardest Void Rift stages without needing to dodge every single attack.
Only after you’ve maxed your main DPS and your core support should you ascend sub-DPS units or niche supports for specific team comps. You can even leave 3-star units at their max 4th ascension tier if you use them for niche roles, since their stat gains are minimal compared to higher rarity units. If you plan to participate in limited-time event challenge stages, you may want to prioritize ascending a second DPS unit that matches the event’s damage bonus element, but that’s optional for most casual players.
Common Ascension Mistakes to Avoid for Faster Progression
Even if you follow all the steps we listed, there are a few common mistakes that can slow down your progression significantly. We’ve made all of these mistakes ourselves on our first playthrough, so you don’t have to.
First, don’t make the mistake of ascending multiple units at once. Splitting your materials and resin between 3 or 4 units at the same time means you won’t get any of them to their next power spike for weeks, making all content feel harder than it needs to be. It’s always better to focus all your resources on one unit until you hit their next ascension tier before moving to the next.
Second, never waste universal ascension materials on 3-star or low-priority 4-star units. Universal materials are rare rewards from events and battle passes that can be used in place of any elemental boss drop, and they’re best saved for limited-time 5-star units you might pull later that you don’t have pre-farmed materials for. We’ve seen players waste these materials on 3-star units just to fill out their collection, and then have to wait weeks to ascend a new limited 5-star they pull later.
Third, don’t forget to level up your character’s talents after you ascend them. Ascension raises their level cap, but their talents are responsible for most of their actual damage output, so you should always level up their core talent to the new max right after you ascend them. You also don’t need to ascend every character for the collection bonus unless you’re a completionist. The collection stat boost for ascending units is minimal, so it’s not worth wasting materials on units you never use unless you’ve already maxed out your entire main team.
At the end of the day, ascending your characters is the single most impactful way to boost your team power in Wuthering Waves, and it doesn’t have to be a confusing or grind-heavy process if you plan ahead. Stick to the prioritization order we shared, avoid the common mistakes, and you’ll be able to clear even the hardest endgame content without spending extra money or grinding 8 hours a day. If you’re still not sure how to ascend Wuthering Waves characters for your specific team comp, you can always cross-reference your unit’s material requirements with our updated farm route guides to cut down on even more grind time.