Wuthering Wave’s Character Kit Restrictions Are Becoming a Real Problem, Here Is Why

Wuthering Waves is easily one of the most popular games in the gacha genre market for numerous reasons. Whether you’re a regular player or just someone aware of the title, chances are, you’ve heard about it due to its staggeringly difficult launch or its more recent anniversarial redemption. In truth, the gacha does a lot of things right and appeals to a large audience for numerous reasons.

Wuthering Waves has earned its overwhelming success, but one area has recently started to really slip. The skillsets, or kits, of newer characters have begun falling short of the game’s usual high standards. It’s not the quality that’s in question, but the scope. Character kits have become noticeably more restrictive than before, and Kuro Games, developer of Wuthering Waves, shows no sign of pulling back.

The most controversial example of such restriction that exists is in the form of the character Zani. She is a premium main damage dealer designed to head a team composition of three, and by most visible metrics, her damage is considered high by the Wuthering Waves community. Ordinarily, this would be enough for a character in her stated role, but the reason Zani is so controversial is that she requires another character to reach viable levels of damage. This is not a scenario where another character can provide beneficial boons to boost high damage further. Zani’s kit is intentionally designed downward unless she has another character in her team that applies an arbitrary debuff called Spectro Frazzle. To be clear, if Zani has no outside source of Spectro Frazzle, she deals minuscule amounts of damage and is unable to fulfill her core role.

Due to the existence of Spectro Frazzle, Zani is not a self-sufficient character. She requires another teammate just to sit at the baseline, a foundation that most other characters in Wuthering Waves are at naturally. This kit restriction has led to numerous discussions surrounding the legitimacy of Kuro Game’s current and future kit design framework. This is for good reason. Such a blanket restriction sets the precedent that future characters may end up being hyper reliant on others to function normally. This is especially troubling given that earlier released characters never faced this kind of limitation.

The problem is further amplified when taking into account that Wuthering Waves, despite its high quality, is still a Gacha game at its core. Team flexibility is an important aspect of this type of game because, unless you’re spending large amounts of money, it is nearly impossible to get every character. When character kits are intentionally designed with limited synergy, it reduces the ability to experiment with different team compositions. This not only affects overall player enjoyment but also creates a clear gap between those who can afford to pull every character and those who can’t. In a genre that thrives on variety and creative team-building, this growing limitation stands out as a concerning design shift.

In Zani’s case, even if new characters are added that can apply the Spectro Frazzle that she needs to function, she will always be on the back foot in terms of team building because she must always have a teammate who can apply the debuff. Again, her kit was designed to be weak without this debuff being present, meaning she is heavily restricted and will always be. If this were a one-time offense, then the concern would not be as warranted. Unfortunately, there are, admittedly, less egregious examples that are more recent than Zani.

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Lupa, the newest obtainable character in Wuthering Waves, has a different type of restriction where she needs to be played with at least two teammates of the same type as her, or she loses damage. A previous character, Phoebe, suffers from a hungering need for Spectro Frazzle, similarly to Zani, if she is to act as a main damage dealer. Cartethyia, another main damage dealer, requires Aero Erosion, another debuff, to deal her maximum damage. In Cartethyia’s case, she can apply it herself, but her kit is deliberately designed to feel clunky or inefficient unless you rely on a teammate to do it for her.

So with this growing restrictiveness now in focus, what can be done about it? If you’re a player of Wuthering Waves, every version update has a survey that is sent out toward the end of its run. This survey is your opportunity to share feedback directly with Kuro Games and express your thoughts on the game’s overall direction. It’s the perfect moment to make it clear that restrictive kit design isn’t a direction the community supports. Kuro Games has a history of listening well to player feedback, so if the opportunity arises, fill out the survey. Let your voice be heard. Push back on this trend before it becomes the norm.