If you’ve ever seen other players pull off a sleek backflip mid-battle or while gliding across the open world of Wuthering Waves, you’ve probably wondered how to pull it off yourself. I spent three evenings messing with controls and testing different Resonators before I figured out how to do a backflip in Wuthering Waves consistently, and it’s way simpler than most guides make it sound. This move isn’t just for showing off to your friends either – it can help you dodge heavy enemy attacks, extend your glide time, and even get extra height to reach hard-to-access chests scattered across Jinzhou. I’ve broken down every step of the process below, including unlock requirements, control schemes for all platforms, and common mistakes you’ll want to avoid.
What You Need to Unlock the Backflip First
A lot of new players assume the backflip is a special move locked to 5-star Resonators, but that’s not true at all. You can pull it off with any Resonator in your roster, as long as you’ve hit account level 8 and unlocked the advanced movement perk from your player progression menu. This perk unlocks automatically when you hit that level, so you don’t have to spend any in-game currency or complete a special side quest to get access. If you’re a brand new player, you can hit account level 8 in about 90 minutes of play, just by doing the main story quests and opening a few chests along the way. You don’t have to grind any side content to hit that threshold, which is nice. The only exception is if you’re using a story-locked Resonator during a quest sequence – some of these have restricted movement sets, so you won’t be able to pull off the backflip until you’re back to free roam. I also tested this move across 7 different Resonators including Jiyan, Verina, Rover and Changli, and the input works exactly the same for all of them, even if their animations look a little different.
How to Do a Backflip in Wuthering Waves: Controls for All Platforms
Once you have the advanced movement perk unlocked, the actual input for the backflip is super straightforward, but it does vary slightly depending on what platform you’re playing on. I’ve tested all of these controls across dozens of play sessions on PC, PS5 and mobile to make sure they work consistently, no matter what weapon or build you’re running:
- PC: Hold the S key (backward movement) while pressing the dodge button and jump button at the exact same time. You don’t need to hold any other keys for this to work, even if you have rebound your default controls.
- PlayStation / Xbox: Pull the left joystick directly backward, then press the dodge button and jump button simultaneously. Don’t tilt the joystick left or right at all, or you’ll do a side dash instead of a backflip.
- Mobile: Drag the movement joystick all the way down, then tap the dodge and jump buttons at the same time. Turn off 3D touch if you’re having trouble getting both inputs to register at once.
Timing is the most important part here. If you press dodge a fraction of a second before jump, you’ll just do a regular backward dash. If you press jump first, you’ll do a normal backward jump. I found that practicing in the empty starting area outside Jinzhou City for 10 minutes was enough to get the timing down perfectly. For PC players with custom keybinds, you just need to swap the default dodge and jump keys for whatever you’ve set them to – I rebound my dodge to left mouse button for faster combat inputs, and the backflip still works exactly the same. For mobile players, I recommend turning on the "button press confirmation" setting in the controls menu, so you can see exactly when your taps register – that made it way easier for me to get the timing right when I was playing on my phone while traveling.
Best Situations to Use a Backflip During Gameplay
Once you get the hang of the backflip, you’ll find yourself using it all the time instead of regular dodges or jumps. The biggest practical use is dodging unblockable heavy attacks from world bosses. Unlike regular dodges, the backflip gives you twice the distance from an enemy, so you can avoid AOE attacks that would otherwise hit you even if you dash sideways. I used this trick to beat the level 30 Feilian boss on my first try last week, when I would have otherwise wiped three times to its big sweeping AOE attack. It’s also really useful for traversal – if you do a backflip right before you open your glider, you get an extra 3 meters of height, which is enough to reach most high-up chests that you’d otherwise need to climb 10 minutes to get to. Another great use is for photo mode shots: you can pause mid-backflip to get really dynamic action shots of your favorite Resonators, which is perfect for sharing on your profile page. I’ve gotten a ton of compliments on my Jiyan backflip shots that I took near the mountain peaks in the northern part of the map. I’ve even noticed that if you chain a backflip into a charged attack, some Resonators get a small utility boost – Verina’s charged heals apply to party members even if they’re a little further away than normal when I use them right after a backflip, for example. The only time you don’t want to use it is if you’re standing near a cliff edge – the backward momentum can send you falling off before you have time to react.
Common Mistakes That Stop You From Landing a Backflip
When I first started trying to pull off this move, I failed at least 20 times in a row before I figured out what I was doing wrong. The most common mistake is tilting the movement input slightly off-center when you press the buttons. Even a tiny left or right tilt will make your Resonator do a side dash instead of a backflip, so make sure you’re pulling directly backward. Another common issue is using the move while you’re out of stamina – the backflip uses the same stamina bar as regular dodges, so if you’re at zero stamina, nothing will happen when you press the buttons. You might also run into trouble if you’re using a controller with stick drift – if your left joystick drifts even a little bit when it’s centered, you’ll struggle to get the backward input to register correctly. I fixed this issue on my old PS5 controller by recalibrating the joysticks in the system settings, and that made the backflip work 100% of the time after that. Another mistake a lot of new players make is trying to do a backflip while they’re in the middle of a normal attack combo. Your Resonator has to be in a neutral state, not mid-attack or mid-climb, for the input to work. So if you’re in the middle of a 4-hit combo, you’ll need to wait for the last hit to land before you can pull off the backflip. I used to try to do it mid-combo all the time and couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t working, until I realized you need to pause for half a second after your last attack to get back to neutral.
At the end of the day, learning how to do a backflip in Wuthering Waves is a small skill that makes a huge difference to how fun the game feels to play. You don’t need any special items or high-level characters to pull it off, just 10 minutes of practice to get the timing right. Once you master it, you’ll find yourself weaving it into combat and traversal without even thinking about it, and it’ll make exploring the open world and fighting bosses feel way more dynamic. If you’re still struggling to get the input right, head to an empty open area with no enemies and practice the button sequence slowly at first, then speed up as you get more comfortable.