Kuro Games’ response to Genshin Impact has finally arrived in the form of Wuthering Waves. The open world title has drawn many similarities to the Genshin, with both positives and negatives being drawn. However, the combat in Wuthering Waves is done spectacularly and is superior to Genshin Impact — here’s why.
Wuthering Waves is the brand new title released by Chinese developers Kuro Games. Having already made Punishing Gray Raven, the expectations for the title were considerably high, and the developers certainly met them.
The game has swiftly become popular amongst fans, entering the public discourse on social media sites like X (formerly Twitter). The game has already been compared heavily to Genshin Impact, except being hosted in a slightly darker tone. Despite this, Wuthering Waves’ combat is a huge step up from the former, and its improvements result in a more satisfying and challenging gameplay experience.
Parry and Dodge system
Whilst Genshin does have a system that allows characters to quickly dash out of harm’s way, Wuthering Waves ups the ante by implementing a Parry system that rewards skillful play.
Whenever an enemy charges up a large attack, a golden circle will appear with an inner and outer ring. When the two meet you can attack the enemy to stagger them, dealing massive damage to their toughness.
Once an enemy’s toughness is completely broken, they’ll drop to the ground and remain stunned for a period of time. This is perfect for setting up huge amounts of burst damage by swapping in and out of your Resonators to optimally combo your abilities together.
On top of that, once you Parry or Dodge in Wuthering Waves, time slows down for a brief moment. This really lets you capture the cool animation of whatever Resonator you’re playing and gives you respite to take in the situation and play accordingly.
Echoes
Echoes add levels of randomness to equipment, but have the added benefit of having their own abilities.
Echoes are essentially Wuthering Waves’ version of Artifacts. They provide various stat bonuses to your character and can be randomly rolled, meaning you can specialize whatever stats you want on them. The main difference is that Echoes can be summoned in battle and used as an ability.
Each Echoes’ ability can vary from creature to creature, which makes build crafting and theorizing even more important. Instead of running a healer, you could instead solely rely on a healer Echo and vice versa.
What’s even more impressive is that Echoes can also be used in combination with your Resonator abilities, letting you perform even greater combos to air juggle enemies at the right timings. Boasting over 50 different Echoes available at launch, there are tonnes of different ways you can mix and max your Resonators, as well as find fantastic builds that suit your playstyle.
Concerto Bar
Concerto is a concept unique to Wuthering Waves. Characters can gain Concerto Energy by performing various abilities and tasks in combat, which is represented by the bar at the bottom of the screen.
Each character has a different method of spending this Concerto Energy, which adds further depth to the combat and makes the player think about how to properly use this resource.
Kuro GamesThe Concerto Bar is another fantastic resource that needs to be managed by the player, adding further depth.
For example, Verina can gain her Concerto Energy by casting her ability or performing her full combo on an enemy. She can then spend it to heal herself and her party members, making her Concerto Energy one of the primary ways to heal her team.
Conversely, the Havoc Rover can fill their Concerto Energy purely by hitting enemies and casting their ability and can activate it once full to enter a new mode that significantly increases their damage output.
Intro and Outro Skills
Another addition on top of the Concerto Bar is the introduction of Intro and Outro skills. These attacks can only be performed once you fill a circular bar on the left of the Concerto Bar. You can then swap into another Resonator, who will perform an action depending on what they play like.
Kuro GamesNot only does this feel incredibly flashy and up the game’s alley, but it’s as satisfying to continue a juggle by swapping in another character, having them perform their Intro Skill, all while your current resonator launches their Outro Skill and dips.
Character Swapping
An albeit small upgrade from Genshin’s combat is the lack of animation when swapping between characters. Wuthering Waves and Genshin’s combat primarily revolves around swapping between characters and setting up combos within your team to deal massive damage and take down opponents.
While the cooldown between switching characters is the same in both games, Wuthering Waves doesn’t have an animation for when you swap characters, which makes jumping in and out of various Resonators feel far smoother.
In defense of Genshin Impact
While Wuthering Waves has definitely iterated and improved upon the formula originally pioneered by Genshin Impact, there are clear signs that Genshin could also look to improve their own combat, bringing it up to the same standard.
In the end, without the clear foundations laid out by Hoyo, Wuthering Waves may not have had the stellar combat system that it has today.
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