The banner system in Wuthering Waves is better than any HoYo game and here’s why

Wuthering Waves has a unique way of pulling special characters and weapons that all of miHoYo's games don't use. In HoYoverse games - Genshin Impact, Honkai Impact 3rd, and Honkai Star Rail - players pull from banners that combine characters and weapons, so there's no guarantee that you're going to get something special from any single pull.

Wuthering Waves offers players a minimum of three separate banners: One that requires the more common Lustrous Tide to pull from the banner; a second that requires the rarer Radiant Tide; and a third that is a weapons-only event banner requiring Forging Tide.

None of the Genshin or Honkai games have ever had a fully separate weapon banner that needs a different item from the other banners to be activated.

The weapons-only banners in Wuthering Waves set the game apart from any HoYo game, ensuring that players can have a better chance to draw the characters or weapons they want when Convening with the powers that be. This post on Reddit highlights how much players are enjoying this unique approach to the gacha system.

There are also beginner-only banners that new players can take advantage of to get four- and five-star characters and weapons earlier in the game than usual.

Let's not forget the built-in pity system in Wuthering Waves: For every 10 Convenes on one of the banners, players are guaranteed to get a four-star item or better. The base four-star drop rate in WuWa is 6%, and the average drop rate is 12%.

Five-star characters/weapons are guaranteed after 80 pulls of any one banner. The standard drop rate for five-star characters/weapons is 0.8%, and the average drop rate is 1.8%.

These rates count per banner, so you can't expect to have 80 pulls across every banner and suddenly get a five-star item. I recommend that you focus on one character and one weapon that you want from the Convene system and keep pulling from the same banner until you reach your goal.

But what makes Wuthering Waves stand out the most is the permanent weapon banner. This allows you to pick a five-star weapon that you want and the next five-star you get is guaranteed to be that weapon—end of story. I got my chosen weapon the first time I Convened with the banner (though I did Convene x 10). Once you pull your weapon, you can then change the target of the banner.

According to a Reddit post, it's better to roll on the weapon banner if you're F2P because there aren't other ways in-game to get these weapons. I haven't seen a way to earn or purchase the ones offered, either.

Want to read more about Wuthering Waves at Pro Game Guides? Check out our piece on Wuthering Waves – When is the next banner coming? and Wuthering Waves – All current banner characters, ranked.