Wuthering Waves Encore build guide
May. 31, 2024How to build Encore in Wuthering Waves and get the most explosive DPS
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The best Encore build in Wuthering Waves requires much less active field time than you’d expect from one of the game’s best DPS characters. This 5-star Rectifier-wielder of the fusion attribute may look innocent, but on a quick-swapping team centered around her Resonance Liberation ability, and she’ll obliterate enemies.
From weapons to Echoes, here’s how to get the best Wuthering Waves Encore build. And, if you want to check whatWuthering Waves codesare currently live, I can help you there too.
Encore’s abilities and rotation
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Don’t fall for the apparent simplicity of Encore’s Basic/Heavy/Dodge Attacks, Intro- and Outro Skill, and Resonance Skill, as they don’t deal a lot of damage without the Liberation’s Cosmos Rave state. Furthermore, Encore’s Basic Attack can’t counter during boss fights. Instead, Encore’s real value lies in her Resonance Liberation, which greatly enhances all other attacks during a ten-second window.
As a result Encore should spend as little time as possible on-field when she isn’t using her Resonance Liberation. Instead charge her Resonance Liberation by quick-swapping Encore with another DPS - swap her in, use her Resonance Skill, and immediately swap her out again. You can cast the Skill, swap Encore out and use another DPS’s attack while the Skill remains active, swap Encore in again, and cast the attack again - the Resonance Skill doesn’t automatically cancel when Encore leaves the field (as the picture above demonstrates, both Encore and Spectro Rover are on the field at the same time). This quick-swapping combo will save you from taking damage during the attack animations too. To counterattack during this sequence, you can rely on Intro Skills and the other DPS’s attacks.
Don’t worry if this sounds too complex; you can also swap Encore in, use her Resonance Skill twice, then swap to another ally. It’s less efficient, but very easy. If timing attacks isn’t your thing, just spam the Resonance Skill button after the first use - this will do the trick.
Just one successful Resonance Skill sequence (both attacks) is enough to fill more than half the Mayhem meter, which means you’ll be able to cast her enhanced Heavy Attack before too long. You don’t need to save this attack for the Resonance Liberation (it can also be charged during Cosmos Rave), but do try to swap out immediately after casting it since it’ll trigger a lengthy attack animation. Swapping characters will prevent incoming damage during the animation.
Once you’ve triggered Encore’s Resonance Liberation, use Basic Attack combos to deal damage. Following a Basic Attack combo, trigger Encore’s Resonance Skill to quickly fill the Mayhem meter; at the end of the Cosmos Rave, use an enhanced Heavy Attack to consume Mayhem and trigger a massive explosion. You can swap out after initiating this attack - again, there’s no need to wait out the animation.
To sum up Encore’s rotation:swap into combat, cast Resonance Skill, swap to another DPS, use attack, swap back to Encore, cast Resonance Skill (repeat until Liberation is ready for use). The Mayhem Heavy Attack is optional. Trigger Resonance Liberation, trigger Resonance Skill, do a Basic Attack combo, trigger Resonance Skill, do another Basic Attack combo, trigger Resonance Skill again, use the enhanced Heavy Attack, swap Encore out, and watch your enemies explode.
Encore’s Resonance Chain passive abilities can be unlocked by obtaining Encore duplicates from theWuthering Waves wish banners. Since Encore is a 5-star character it takes a very large amount of Astrite/Lustrous Tides to unlock all six Resonance Chain abilities.
Should you wish to upgrade the Resonance Chain levels on your Encore build, note that ‘Wooly’s Fairytale’ is quite strong as it consistently grants a 12% Fusion Damage Bonus during the Resonance Liberation’s Cosmos Rave status. An even better Cosmos Rave damage boost is granted by ‘Woolies Save the World’, which easily stacks up to a 30% Attack bonus. ‘Fog? The Black Shores!’ and ‘Hero Takes the Stage’ offer decent damage bonuses as well, though not quite as good. ‘Sheep-Counting Lullaby’ can be a great help if your Encore build lacks Energy Regeneration, but ‘Adventure? Let’s Go!’ is only useful if you have another Fusion DPS on your Encore team.
Be sure to upgrade Encore’s stat bonuses, which provide extra Fusion Damage as well as Attack Power. Her Inherent Skills (passives) on the Forte Circuit skill tree are important too: they will increase the damage dealt during Cosmos Rave by 10% as long as Encore’s HP is at least 70% (add a good healer to your Encore team) and increase Encore’s Fusion Damage when the normal or Cosmos Rave version of the Resonance Skill are cast.
When upgrading the active abilities for your Encore build, prioritize Resonance Liberation, followed by the Resonance Skill, Forte Circuit, and finally her Basic Attack. Her Intro Skill is nothing special and doesn’t play a role in her rotation, so it’s not important to upgrade.
Encore uses Rectifier weapons and the best 5-star weapon for your build is the Stringmaster, as it grants a much-needed Critical Rate boost, increases all the Resonance Damage, works well with Encore’s frequent Resonance Skill usage, and grants a damage bonus when Encore leaves the field (which you’ll do during the animations).
The 5-star Cosmic Ripples isn’t bad either, and since this is the Rectifier currently on the Permanent Convene Banner, it’s easier to obtain. Cosmic Ripples offers Attack instead of Critical Rate (which means you can’t get a Critical Damage Echo), but it also increases Energy Regeneration, which will help you cast the most important ability more frequently.
The best 4-star weapon for your Encore build is Augment, which offers a 15% Attack boost when Resonance Liberation is activated plus a permanent Critical Rate increase. Since Augment is a Battle Pass weapon, you can also go for Jinzhou Keeper, which offers a smaller Attack and HP boost whenever the Intro Skill is released - as Encore triggers her Intro Skill a lot, the effect is always active.
The best Echo set for your Encore build is Molten Rift, which increases Fusion Damage and since Encore uses her Resonance Skill a lot, it’ll be easy to activate the additional 30% Fusion Damage. As the only Echo offering a Fusion Damage bonus as part of its ability, Inferno Rider is by far the best choice to put in the main slot.
Try to get better Energy Regeneration stats on your Encore build; this will help her trigger the Resonance Liberation faster. Without it, you may have to continue the quick-swapping sequence outside of Cosmos Rave for quite some time. Of course, Critical Rate and Critical Damage are important to a DPS like Encore. Most Encore builds should go for Critical Rate as an Echo stat, but if you’re using a fully upgraded Stringmaster or Augment weapon and have excellent Critical Rate substats, focus on Critical Damage instead. Fill the remaining Echo slots with Fusion Damage and Attack.
Encore doesn’t need much active field time and switches often, so it’s good to have another ally capable of dealing high damage in a short amount of time on her team. This means you can match Encore with someone like Jiyan, who can use a fast attack combo (and has a nice crowd control ability to boot) and swap back to Encore, but not Calcharo, whose long field time doesn’t work with Encore’s quick-swapping rotation.
As quick-swapping means there’ll be plenty of Intro/Outro Skills, however, it’s best to find a sub-DPS teammate with a supportive Outro Skill, such as Sanhua or Spectro Rover. While Spectro Rover’s ability to slow enemies is certainly handy, Sanhua’s 38% Basic Attack boost is even better as it improves Encore’s most important damage source. Finally, remember that Encore needs an HP of at least 70% to receive a damage bonus, so make sure you’ve got a brilliant healer on the Encore team, such as Verina or Baizhi.
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