If you’ve spent even a few hours exploring Wuthering Waves’ sunken ruins and neon-lit cities, you’ve probably seen a 5-star roamer or support that makes you want to rebuild your entire team around them. Whether you’re a F2P player saving every last pull or a low spender looking to get the most out of your money, figuring out how to get characters in Wuthering Waves without wasting resources is half the battle. I’ve been playing since global launch, and I’ve tested every method to unlock units, from the obvious banner pulls to the hidden free rewards most new players miss. This guide breaks down every legitimate way to grow your roster, no exploits or sketchy third-party tools required.
Core Methods for How to Get Characters in Wuthering Waves
The core of Wuthering Waves’ character unlock system revolves around its gacha banner system, which uses two types of fates (pull items) to unlock units. If you’re new to gacha games, the system can feel overwhelming at first, but once you understand how pity works, the process becomes a lot more predictable. Soft pity for 5-star characters kicks in around 70 pulls, meaning your odds of getting a 5-star increase with every pull after that point, until you hit hard pity at 80 pulls for a guaranteed 5-star. 4-star characters have a hard pity at 10 pulls, so you’ll never go more than 10 pulls without a 4-star or higher unit.
- Limited Character Event Banner: The best option for targeting specific 5-star units, with a 50/50 chance to get the featured character when you hit 5-star pity. If you lose the 50/50, your next 5-star is guaranteed to be the featured unit. Only runs for 2-3 weeks, so plan your pulls accordingly.
- Standard Permanent Banner: Features a fixed pool of 5-star and 4-star characters that never leave the pool. You get free pulls for this banner as you level up your account, but you can’t target specific units, so only pull here if you have extra fates you don’t want to save for limited banners.
- Beginner Banner: Available for the first 2 weeks of your account, with a 20% discount on pulls and a guaranteed 5-star character within your first 20 pulls. This is the best first investment for new players, as you get a strong 5-star for a fraction of the cost of regular banners.
Free Ways to Unlock Characters Without Spending Money
A lot of new players assume you have to spend money to get good units, but these free methods make up more than half of how to get characters in Wuthering Waves for F2P players. The first free unit you’ll get is from story progression rewards, you unlock the 4-star healer Verina within the first 3 hours of play if you follow the main quest line, and she’s viable for all endgame content if built correctly. You also get free fates from completing story chapters, side quests, and 100% exploring each region on the map. Next, limited time event rewards almost always include a free 4-star character if you complete all event tasks, no pulls required. I got my first Aalto from the summer event last quarter, and he’s still my main sub-DPS for overworld exploration. You can also unlock units through roam encounter quests, where you find specific characters wandering the overworld, complete their short side quest, and raise their friendship level to 2 to add them to your roster permanently. Most new players don’t know this exists, so they end up pulling for units they could have gotten for free just by exploring off the main path. You don’t even have to play every day to get free units. The 7-day login reward gives new players a free 4-star character selector, and monthly login rewards include free fates, character shards, and even premium currency you can use for more pulls. But don’t expect 5-star units from free overworld unlocks, those are almost exclusively limited to banner pulls or very special anniversary events. I’ve never seen a free 5-star given out outside of major milestone celebrations, so don’t hold your breath waiting for one.
Smart Spending Tips to Get Rare Characters Faster
If you’re comfortable spending a little money each month, these tips will help you stretch your budget further and get more value out of how to get characters in Wuthering Waves as a paying player. The best value purchase by far is the Monthly Breeze Pass, which costs less than $5 a month and gives you daily premium currency, extra fates, and bonus exploration rewards. I’ve had the monthly pass since launch, and it gives me enough extra pulls to hit pity for one limited 5-star every 2 months, no extra spending required. Next, the paid Sojourn Record Battle Pass is a great value if you play at least 3-4 times a week. It gives you 10 limited fates, a ton of character upgrade materials, and an exclusive 4-star character skin if you reach level 50 before the pass ends. It’s not worth buying if you only play once a week, though, because you won’t be able to unlock all the rewards before it expires. One-time first recharge bonuses are also a great deal, as they double the amount of premium currency you get for your first purchase of each tier. But avoid buying individual pulls directly from the store, they are incredibly bad value, you’ll spend 3x more to hit pity than if you bought a pass or bundle. I also strongly recommend avoiding any third-party sites selling cheap premium currency, they are almost always scams that will steal your account information or get your account banned permanently. I’ve had three readers reach out to me in the last month saying they lost their accounts after buying currency from these sites, so it’s just not worth the risk, no matter how good the deal seems.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Pulling for Characters
Even if you follow all the tips above, small mistakes can cost you dozens of pulls and delay you from getting your favorite units. The most common mistake new players make is pulling on every limited banner that comes out. It’s tempting to pull for every new shiny character that gets announced, but if you don’t save enough to hit pity, you might end up with no 5-stars at all for months. I made this mistake when I first started, I pulled 30 times on two different banners and didn’t get a single 5-star for 2 whole months. Another mistake is wasting star flares (the premium currency used to buy fates) on cosmetics or weapon banners before you have a solid core team. Cosmetics are fun, but they don’t make your team stronger, and weapon banners have even lower odds than character banners, with two separate rate-up items and a separate pity system. Only pull on weapon banners if you already have the 5-star character you want to pair the weapon with, and you have extra fates to spare. You also want to make sure you’re tracking your pity count for each banner. You can find your pull history in the banner menu, and if you’re close to pity (around 60+ pulls), you can decide if you want to save a few more pulls to get the 5-star, or stop and save for the next banner. A lot of players forget they’re at 65 pulls on a banner and stop pulling right before they hit soft pity, missing out on a 5-star they almost had. That said, you don’t need every 5-star to enjoy the game. All overworld and story content is balanced well enough that you can clear everything with a team of free 4-star characters if you build them correctly. Don’t get caught up in the meta hype and pull for units you don’t actually want to play with, just because other people say they’re strong.
At the end of the day, figuring out how to get characters in Wuthering Waves is all about planning ahead and knowing what methods give you the best value for your time and money. You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars to get a strong, fun team that fits your playstyle, as long as you take advantage of free rewards and only pull for units you actually want to use. I still use the free Verina I got in my first week of play in almost every team I run, even though I have a roster of 8 5-star units now. Don’t get caught up in the hype of every new banner release, and you’ll build a roster you love without burning out or wasting resources.