Echoes are one of the primary mechanics in Wuthering Waves and similar to Artifacts in Genshin Impact. Here is everything you need to know about the Wuthering Waves Echoes mechanic and how you can use them to increase your character’s stats.
What Are Echoes In Wuthering Waves?
Echoes are equipment that you can equip to your characters to make them stronger. They’re really similar to Artifacts from Genshin Impact or Relics from Honkai: Star Rail. Echoes’ primary function is to grant your characters additional abilities that they can use in combat, called Echo Skills.
These abilities transform your character into a beast which attacks enemies, protect against enemies’ attacks, and heals your active character. Additionally, they also provide stat buffs and extra effects. Each Echo has its own unique stat boosts. To make the most out of this, make sure the Echoes you’re equipping have the stat bonuses that they need most to make them more effective.
Finally, your Echoes have two bonus effects called Sonata Effects. These are used to give your characters additional passive buffs but can’t be used to transform in combat like Echo Skills. You can equip up to five Echoes to a character at once.
Echo Skills And Sonata Effects Explained
Each Echo has an Echo Skill and two Sonata Effects. Depending on how you equip Echoes, they will apply either its Echo Skill or its Sonata Effects. If you equip an Echo in the first slot, you will be able to use its Echo Skills in combat. Echo Skills usually transform the equipped character into a monster, which will be used in combat for attacks, healing, or defense.
You can only make use of one Echo’s Echo Skill. The rest of your equipped Echoes will be used for Sonata Effects. Sonata Effects are bonus passive effects that grant passive buffs, such as making certain damage types more powerful, increasing healing, and increasing stats. Your character cannot transform into these Echoes.
Echoes have two Sonata Effects. The first is a basic buff that can be obtained from having one or two Echoes of the same type equipped to a character at the same time. The second buff is a stronger one, usually a special effect that triggers during special circumstances. You can activate the second Sonata Effect buff by having even more Echoes of the same type equipped to a character. Usually, this number is around five, which means that all your slots have to have Echoes of the same type.
How to Get Echoes in Wuthering Waves
Echoes are obtained from defeating certain enemies in the overworld. When an enemy is defeated, they may leave behind an orange silhouette where they once stood. This is an Echo. By approaching it, you will be prompted to absorb it, which will absorb the Echo within your Gourd.
Your newly captured Echo will appear in the Echoes section of your bag and the Echoes menu of the character screen. Note that human enemies (such as the Exiles) cannot turn into Echoes.
How to Equip Echoes in Wuthering Waves
To equip Echoes to a character, open the character menu and select the character you wish to equip Echoes to. Click on the third icon on the left side of the screen, which looks like a swirling triangle. This opens your character’s Echo menu. You’ll see a semi-circle on the right side of the screen.
Click on one of its circles, and it will open the pool of all the Echoes you have obtained. Look through your Echoes and equip the ones that you want to equip. The Echo in the first circle on the left side of the screen will determine your Echo Skill.
The rest of the circles will contain Echoes which will be used towards determining your Sonata Effects. To check an Echo’s stats, click on the Echo you want to look at. Its stats will appear on the top right part of the screen. Below are the Echo Skill and Sonata Effects, which it can grant.
Why Won’t Wuthering Waves Let Me Equip More Echoes?
Each Echo takes a certain amount of Cost. Cost is a balancing mechanic to prevent characters from becoming too overpowered. Each character has a certain amount of Cost, starting at 10, but increases as your Data Bank Level grows.
If the game won’t let you equip an Echo, then that means that equipping the target Echo will cause you to go over that character’s Cost limit. An Echo’s cost is indicated by the number in a small black box near its icon. The more powerful an Echo is, the higher its cost will be. You can increase your Data Bank Level by absorbing more and more Echoes.
How to Upgrade Your Echoes in Wuthering Waves
You can upgrade your Echoes to increase their stats and make them stronger overall.
You can use the following materials to upgrade your Echoes:
- Basic Sealed Tube
- Medium Sealed Tube
- Advanced Sealed Tube
These items are obtained from Tacet Fields and are explored all over the world.
Wuthering Waves is now available on Android, iOS, and PC.
