Honestly, if you’ve been playing Wuthering Waves since that chaotic launch week, you know the "banner math" has shifted. A lot. It’s not just about hoarding Astrites anymore; it’s about timing. Since Kuro Games dropped the first version 1.0 update back in May 2024, the rhythm of how characters arrive has evolved from a steady drumbeat into something way more complex.
Look at the Wuthering Waves banner history and you’ll see a developer that actually listens—sometimes to a fault. Remember when they literally moved Yinlin’s debut up because players were impatient? That single move set a precedent for the high-speed, dual-banner meta we’re sitting in right now.
From Jiyan to the 2.0 Power Creep
The game started simple. You had Jiyan, the Aero broadblade king, followed by Yinlin. Simple 1.0 stuff. But then 1.1 hit with Jinhsi and Changli, and suddenly, the "DPS ceiling" wasn't a ceiling anymore; it was a suggestion.
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If you look back at the timeline, the 1.2 and 1.3 patches were where things got really interesting for f2p players. We got Xiangli Yao for free. Seriously. A top-tier 5-star just handed out during the Celestial Revelation event. That doesn't happen often in gacha games without a catch, but Kuro used it to bridge the gap into the Shorekeeper era.
The Version 1.x Legacy
- 1.0: Jiyan (Prevail the Lasting Night) and Yinlin (When Thunder Pours).
- 1.1: Jinhsi (Thawborn Renewal) and Changli (Vermillion's Ploy).
- 1.2: Zhezhi (Chromatic Prose) and Xiangli Yao (Celestial Revelation).
- 1.3: The Shorekeeper (Till the Sea Turns Clear). This was a turning point. A dedicated 5-star healer that actually rivaled Verina.
- 1.4: Camellya (End of Lost Trail). The first time we saw a massive Havoc DPS that felt like a true "must-pull" for meta-chasers.
The 1.4 update also gave us Lumi, the 4-star who ended up being a surprisingly good sub-DPS for bridge teams. But by the time we hit the 2.0 milestone, the "one new character per half" rule was long gone.
Why the 2.0 Banners Changed Everything
When the game transitioned into the 2.0 era with the Rinascita region, the banner structure got a massive overhaul. We started seeing consistent dual-banners. Carlotta and Roccia didn't just bring new elements; they brought a new way to spend.
Phase 1 of 2.0 featured Carlotta (Glacio Pistol) alongside a Zhezhi rerun. If you missed Zhezhi the first time, you were basically forced to choose between the shiny new DPS or the best Glacio support in the game. It was a brutal choice for anyone low on Radiant Tides.
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Recent 2.0+ Banner Snapshots
Then came the 2.1 cycle with Brant and Phoebe. By this point, the Wuthering Waves banner history had become a graveyard of "lost 50/50s." People were starting to realize that the 80-pull hard pity is a safety net, but the soft pity starting around pull 70 is where the real magic happens.
Interestingly, the 2.2 leaks and subsequent releases like Ciaccona and Cartethyia showed Kuro leaning into more niche kits. They aren't just making "Jiyan but better" anymore. They’re making characters that require specific team compositions, which makes the 4-star rate-ups on these banners arguably more important than the 5-stars themselves.
The Pity System: What Most People Get Wrong
You've probably heard that the pity carries over. It does. But there’s a nuance people miss. The pity from a "Limited Character Convene" carries over to the next limited character, but it doesn't touch the "Permanent Convene" or the "Weapon Convene."
In Wuthering Waves, the weapon banner is actually the "fairest" part of the gacha. It’s a 100% guarantee. No 50/50. If you hit a 5-star on the weapon banner, it is the featured weapon. This makes the Wuthering Waves banner history of weapons like Verdant Summit or Stringmaster look way more attractive than the character pulls for many veteran players.
How to Plan Your Future Pulls
Looking at where we are now in 2026, the patterns are clear. We usually get a new 5-star in Phase 1 and a rerun (or dual rerun) in Phase 2.
- Check the 4-stars: If the 4-star lineup is Danjin, Mortefi, or Sanhua, the banner value triples. These characters are still competitive even in high-level Tower of Adversity clears.
- Weapon over Sequences: Unless you're a whale, getting a character’s signature weapon is usually a bigger power spike than getting their S1 (Sequence 1).
- The "Support" Rule: In the history of this game, supports like Shorekeeper and Verina have stayed relevant longer than any DPS. If a 5-star support shows up, you pull. No questions.
Basically, the game isn't just about who is the strongest anymore. It's about who completes your elemental teams. With the way the Wuthering Waves banner history has trended, we’re likely to see even more specialized Resonators that make older units feel fresh again through synergy.
Keep an eye on the shop, too. Spending your Afterglow Coral on extra pulls is tempting, but saving them for those guaranteed 5-star Sequences is the real pro move for long-term account health. Honestly, just play who you like, but if you're trying to beat the timer in the Tower, the data doesn't lie: supports are the real MVPs.
To stay ahead of the next cycle, start tracking your "pity count" manually in the Convene history tab. Since the game doesn't give you a live counter, knowing exactly how far you are from that 70-pull soft pity mark is the difference between a wasted 10-pull and a precision strike on a character you actually need.