Wuthering Wave’s Combat Is Surpassing Expectations, Taking Gacha Combat To Another Level

Wuthering Waves has barely been out for a few hours, and it is already experiencing the highest player count in the Gacha genre.  To put into perspective, Genshin Impact received around 10 million players that pre-registered, with Wuthering Waves honing 30 million. I’ve already sunk 7-8 hours into the game since launch, and Wuthering Waves’ combat is what stood out to me the most. 

While the lore isn’t something that I have been personally interested in, the engaging combat, and open exploration, alongside its vivid graphics have me hooked. I can already see myself losing any social life I had left once I reach the end game, and I will make it a point to make sure it happens to you too. 

PGR And Wuthering Waves’ Combat System Is Not The Same 

If there’s one thing that Wuthering Wave combat has managed to do, it’s to find the perfect balance between providing rewarding combat that suits hard-core players, while being forgiving enough that new players don’t feel overwhelmed. 

Punishing: Gray Raven’s combat system is a lot more hardcore, with players needing to learn combat mechanics from the get-go. Kuro throws you into PGR with a difficult boss battle, and you get annihilated if you don’t follow the proper string of attacks. 

On the other hand, Wuthering Waves seamlessly transitions the storyline into combat, introducing the concept of dodging, chain attacks, skills, and perfect timing. It not only becomes forgiving to new players, but I felt that Punishing: Gray Raven felt more like a Soulsborne game with its combat, whereas Wuthering felt easy to learn. 

Mid-Fight Character Switching Is Addictive 

Moving on, another thing that I found out while fighting a boss that was too high-level for my current rank was that while you’re mid-combat, you get a small sound effect that gets triggered, and the game asks you to switch to another character mid-combat. 

What happens with that is that at the perfect time, the other character can perform a special attack, with some characters that do a plunge attack, and some can even crowd enemies together and attack them at the same time. 

I became addicted to the perfect-timed switch that each character offered, since each of them had a different playstyle, and it was really fun trying out each character’s special abilities, as well as their Ultimate abilities. 

While Punishing: Gray Raven only offers the ability to use one character in each fight, there is only a small timeframe where you can bring out other characters to perform their QTE attacks, and Wuthering Waves offers the freedom to switch out characters anytime that you want. 

Wuthering Waves Vs Genshin Impact

While this topic has been in the works for a while now, there has been a lot of drama speculating on the difference between Genshin Impact offers and the combat that Wuthering Waves offers. 

Honestly, I feel like the two games are poles apart, and their combat is not similar at all. For example, one big difference I’ve noticed in Genshin Impact is that there isn’t an option to “string together enemies.” Simply put, chained reactions and a fast-paced combat system are not something that Genshin currently offers.

The combat in Wuthering Waves on the other hand feels more akin to a traditional hack-and-slash game similar to Devil May Cry and God of War on PS2.

On the flip side, however, Genshin Impact does offer Elemental Reactions, such as being allowed to mix Pyro and Hydro to Vaporize or mixing Pyro and Cryo to trigger the Melt reaction. 

As far as Wuthering Waves is concerned, chained attacks, evasion, and perfect timing are the name of the game. The combat system is also a lot more complex, making it feel fresh and interesting, especially if you’ve just come out of playing Genshin Impact as your only other Gacha game. 

Another major key difference between combat systems is evasion. There is no way to perfectly evade an enemy’s attack, so you’re stuck with sprinting or using Zhongli’s shield. With Wuthering Waves, evasion is one of the most important aspects to avoid getting hurt, since the enemies really hit hard. 

Dodge Counters are also something I’ve noticed that Wuthering Waves offers that I feel Genshin should also implement into their game. After evading an attack, you can perform a follow-up attack to deal higher damage to enemies. 

The only similar Dodge Counter system that I’ve encountered in Genshin Impact is Beidou’s ability to carry out perfect parries with her Elemental Skill. If the enemy attacks her enough while she holds her Claymore in front of them, she can perform a follow-up attack that can decimate them if she’s built right. 

Conclusion

All in all, Wuthering Waves’ combat system is a breath of fresh air in the Gacha genre. The combat system takes obvious inspiration from the greats. Wuthering Waves effectively channels the fast-paced, adrenaline-fueled action to titles such as Bayonetta and Devil May Cry while implementing its own interpretations of familiar mechanics.

While the game does suffer from an uninteresting storyline and flat characters, Wuthering Waves’ exceptional combat system puts it as a solid contender for the best modern Gacha game.