AaltoBuild and Guide

Character
Introduction

Aalto is a 4 rarity character from the
Aero
Aero element who uses the Pistols type weapon.

Aalto is an enigmatic Information Broker, known for his elusive nature and welcoming smile. Rumor has it he'll provide any information at the right price.

To learn more about Aalto check the sections below. Use the tabs to quickly switch to the kind of information you're looking for.

Video guide

This character has no video guide yet.

Last updated

Aalto profile has been last updated on June 8th, 2024.

To learn more about Aalto check the sections below. Use the tabs to quickly switch to the kind of information you're looking for.

Profile

Review

Build

Gameplay and teams

Calculations

Profile

Skills
Active skills
Passive skills
Concerto skills
Basic Attack

Half Truths

Basic Attack

Aalto fires up to 5 consecutive shots, dealing Aero DMG. Basic Attack 4 will spread the "Mist" forward, which lasts for 1.5s.

Heavy Attack

Aalto enters the aiming state for a more powerful shot. The aimed shot fired after charging finishes deals Aero DMG.

Mid-air Attack

Aalto consumes Stamina to perform consecutive shots at the target in mid-air, dealing Aero DMG.

Dodge Counter

Use Basic Attack after a successful Dodge to attack the target, dealing Aero DMG.

Lv. 1
Part 1 Damage
16.00%
Part 2 Damage
26.67%
Part 3 Damage
24%*2
Part 4 Damage
25.34%*2
Part 5 Damage
90.40%
Mid-Air Attack
30%
Aimed Shot Damage
18.00%
Fully Charged Aimed Shot Damage
40.50%
Dodge Counter Damage
107.70%
Mid-Air Attack Stamina Consumption
5
Resonance Skill

Shift Trick

Mist Avatar

Casts "Mist" and 1 "Mist Avatar(s)" to taunt the surrounding targets. The avatars inherit a portion of Aalto's HP and generate 6 Mist Bullets around them, dealing Aero DMG.

Mist Missiles

Deals Aero DMG, considered as Resonance Skill damage.

Lv. 1
Mist Missile Damage
30.00%
Mist Avatar HP
100%
Mist Avatar Duration
8
Cooldown
10
Con. Energy Regen
15
Resonance Liberation

Flower in the Mist

Generate a "Gate of Quandary" in front of you dealing Aero DMG. When bullets pass through the "Gate of Quandary", ATK is increased. "Gate of Quandary" lasts for 10s.

Lv. 1
Skill Damage
200.00%
Gate Of Quandary ATK Increase
10.00%
Cooldown
20
Res. Energy Cost
150
Con. Energy Regen
20
Forte Circuit

Misty Cover

When Aalto passes through "Mist" or "Gate of Quandary", he enters "Mistcloak Dash".

Mistcloak Dash

Movement speed increased; During this period, "Mist Drops" are continuously consumed, and for each 1 "Mist Drop" consumed, 1 Resonance Skill Mist Missile is generated.

Mist Drops

Aalto can hold up to 6 Mist Drops. When Basic Attack or Mid-air Attack passes through "Mist" and hits the target, 1 "Mist Drop" is recovered.

Lv. 1
Mist Missile Dmg
30.00%
Movement Speed Increase
40.00%
Inherent Skill

Perfect Performance

Aalto's Heavy Attack will always critically hit, triggered once every 30 seconds.

Inherent Skill

Mid-game Break

Aalto will continuously recover Stamina when he is in the Forte Circuit Miscloak Dash state.

Intro Skill

Feint Shot

Aalto suddenly appears and performs rapid continuous shooting, dealing Aero DMG.

Lv. 1
Skill Damage
33.34%*3
Con. Energy Regen
10
Outro Skill

Dissolving Mist

The next character (or other characters on a nearby team that activates an Outro Skill) gains 23% Aero DMG Deepen for 14 seconds or until the Character is switched.

Resonance Chain (Dupes)
S1

Sequence Node 1

The cooldown of Resonance Skill Shift Trick is reduced by 4s.

S2

Sequence Node 2

"Mist Avatar" inherits 100% more HP from Aalto. When Aalto attacks targets taunted by the "Mist Avatar(s)", his ATK is increased by 15%.

S3

Sequence Node 3

When Aalto's Basic Attack or Mid-Air Attack passes through the "Gate of Quandary", 2 more bullets will be generated, dealing 50% of the DMG of Basic Attack or Mid-Air Attack.

S4

Sequence Node 4

The damage of Resonance Skill Mist Bullets is increased by 30%; Aalto receives 30% less damage in his Forte Circuit Mistcloak Dash state.

S5

Sequence Node 5

In the Forte Circuit Mistcloak Dash state, Aalto's Aero DMG Bonus is increased by 25% for 6s.

S6

Sequence Node 6

Resonance Liberation Flower in the Mist now additionally increases Crit. Rate by 8%. When Aalto's Heavy Attack passes through the "Gate of Quandary", the damage dealt is additionally increased by 50%.

Minor Fortes (Total)
Aero DMG
Aero DMG
+12%
ATK
ATK%
+12%
Stats
Include minor fortes
Lv. 90
Stat
HP
9850
Stat
ATK
263
Stat
DEF
1076
Stat
Max Energy
150
Stat
CRIT Rate
5%
Stat
CRIT DMG
150%
Stat
Healing Bonus
0%
Stat
Aero DMG
0%
Upgrade Materials
Character Ascension (total)
  • 4x LF Howler Core
  • 12x MF Howler Core
  • 12x HF Howler Core
  • 4x FF Howler Core
  • 46x Roaring Rock Fist
  • 60x Wintry Bell
  • 170 000 Shell Credits
Skill Upgrades (total)
  • 25x LF Howler Core
  • 28x MF Howler Core
  • 40x HF Howler Core
  • 57x FF Howler Core
  • 25x Impure Phlogiston
  • 28x Extracted Phlogiston
  • 55x Refined Phlogiston
  • 67x Flawless Phlogiston
  • 26x Monument Bell
  • 2 030 000 Shell Credits

While the source of the materials can be quickly found in the game, when it comes Wintry Bell you will have to gather them from the map. Check our Ascension material map guide to find them quickly:

Voice Actors
ENG
James Day
JPN
Iwasaki Ryota
CN
Liang Dawei
KR
Im Chaebin

Review

Mini-review

Aalto is a Hybrid character who has a unique playstyle - he creates misty gates that empower his attacks when he shoots through them and he can also jump through the gates to turn incorporeal, increasing his movement speed. This combined with the ability to create mist clones that taunt nearby enemies, make him a trickster that is hard to catch if you know what you're doing.

The strongest part of his kit is definitely his Outro skill that provides the next ally with Aero DMG% Deepen, making him a good partner for Jiyan and any other future Aero Main DPS. Unfortunately, to balance out this powerful and generic outro as S0 he takes up quite a bit of field time to access his concerto while also having just “ok” damage output putting him a decent bit behind other hybrid characters in 1.0.

With just these points considered, it’s not enough for Aalto to be placed low performance-wise but what makes him rank him quite a bit lower at S0 than alternatives is his playstyle and immensely high ultimate energy cost (150). To play Aalto effectively, you must shoot through his Mist Gate and then after accumulating 6 charges, dash through it. But doing so, puts him in between the gate and the targets you were just shooting, forcing him to either reposition, create another gate with his skill (which has a long cooldown), or do a full basic string without gaining any charges. All of these options aren’t great and are needed to perform an optimal rotation making Aalto a little awkward to play at S0.

Fortunately for Aalto, he gains a lot of power, utility, and most importantly quality of life from his Sequences which will help him later on in the lifetime of players' accounts. In conclusion, Aalto has some interesting utility and a good generic outro buff but falls short a bit at S0.

Pros & Cons
Pros

  • Fantastic outro for buffing Aero damage dealers,

  • Can execute a fast concerto rotation when cooldowns are managed effectively,

  • Becomes smoother to play with more damage with higher Sequences,

  • Spawns clones that taunt enemies improving endgame survivability,

  • Cool Sunglasses.

Cons

  • Interesting Forte Ability but very hard to use properly in endgame,

  • Inherent abilities that essentially do nothing,

  • Underwhelming Resonance Liberation at S0 outside of concerto generation,

  • Has no place in the meta currently due to being overshadowed in his main team composition.

Ratings

This tier list assesses characters based on their combat potential in Wuthering Waves current most demanding content Tower of Adversity (ToA). ToA is a mode similar to Genshin Impact’s Spiral Abyss or Honkai Star Rail’s Memory of Chaos and requires multiple teams, strong Echoes and good Weapons. This mode offers a reasonable mix of Boss encounters (single target), Elite packs (2-3 targets) and AoE scenarios (5+ Targets), allowing multiple characters to find a niche but in the end, there's a bias toward single target focused characters at the top-end.

Please keep in mind Wuthering Waves is a skill-based game and each character has a different playstyle, difficulty level and even special tricks and combos. Wuthering Waves is also a team based game and it's only by combining both these factors to the highest level a character can reach optimal performance.

T2

Tower of Adversity

Video guides

Aalto guide videos aren't available yet.

Build

Best Weapons

100%

Stats at Level 90: ATK: 587 | CRIT Rate: 24.3%

Best gun in the game by a landslide, offering main stat CRIT RATE, granting better Crit ratios (and as a result scaling), great base damage, and a good amount of Energy Regen (which saves you at least 1 sub-stat on gear). Also currently the only weapon in the game that offers any form of team-supportive ability granting the next character to switch in via intro an ATK boost synergising immensely with the hybrid playstyle.

80.48%

Stats at Level 90: ATK: 412 | ATK: 30.3%

Usable gun by all Resonators offering good bonuses to ATK but reliant on dodging 3 times during your rotation for maximum value with continual dodges after that. Should only be used by those willing to perform dodges at the start of their rotation and consistently after. Calculations assume you perform dodges as soon as possible and maintain the buff.

79.83%

Stats at Level 90: ATK: 387 | ATK: 36.4%

Generic gun option usable by all characters but with a significant ramp-up time on its bonus. Also requires the player not to be hit to extract full value. If you do get hit this weapon will fall behind (calculations assume you don't get hit even once).

78.59%

Stats at Level 90: ATK: 412 | ATK: 30.3%

One of the top gun options for Resonators that deals primarily Resonance Skill DMG with little to no conditions to worry about thanks to its effect being tied to Intro skills. Almost all characters make use of Intros in their rotation and the bonus lasts for 15 seconds - long enough for most Main DPS to finish their burst window making this a strong consistent option.

76.51%

Stats at Level 90: ATK: 387 | ATK: 36.4%

Alternative gun option to Undying Flame for Resonance Skill focused damage characters, assuming they weave in several Basic Attacks in their rotation.

71.04%

Stats at Level 90: ATK: 325 | ATK: 24.3%

Easily accessible 3★ weapon that despite having lower base attack makes up for it with a high ATK% bonus at higher dupes. It does not have enough stats to compete with 4-star weapons but is a reasonable option if it's all you have. The only downside is that the buff only lasts 10 seconds, meaning it may fall off in the hands of a Main DPS character who takes up more field time.

-

Stats at Level 90: ATK: 337 | Energy Reg.: 51.8%

A utility-focused weapon prioritizing lightning-fast Concerto rotations over raw output with the ability to transform entire units' action priorities under the right circumstances. Not always a good choice but when implemented correctly makes all the difference. Also offers an immense amount of Energy Regen further accelerating rotations and supportive capabilities.

-

Stats at Level 90: ATK: 300 | ATK: 30.3%

An easily accessible supportive option with a reasonable amount of Energy Regen. It also grants the unique ability to gain a sizable chunk of raw Resonance Energy once every 20 seconds. For most character's rotations in teams, this bonus will be ready every time it's their turn to switch-in, making this weapon a great choice for any character who doesn't need damage but needs their Ultimate fast and has trouble accessing it otherwise. The flat energy gain is more powerful the less energy the character and team they are a part of can generate.
Best Echo Sets

1

2 Set: Energy Regen increases by 10%.

5 Set: Upon using Outro Skill, ATK of the next Resonator increases by 22.5% for 15s.

Best Main Echoes

Echoes in Wuthering Waves are an essential part of the character rotations, granting a large amount of Resonance Energy and damage but at the cost of high field time for the most powerful ones. But by using some Echoes right before you're about to switch out on the character, you're able to move to your next character while your previous one is still in the echo animation - it’s what we call an Echo Swap Cancel.

Echo Swap Cancel is almost always the optimal way to use Echoes, and will result in big reductions in character field time and large increases to DPS, but not all of the most powerful Echoes can be swap cancelled in this way. For example, the Feilian Beringal (Aero), Dreamless (Havoc), Tempest Mephis (Electro), Mourning Aix (Spectro), and Infernal Rider (Fusion) Echoes can all be Swap Cancelled.

The remaining element, so Glacio while having powerful Echoes has none powerful enough that can be swap cancelled, and to make things worse, no Echoes that generate sufficient Energy and damage for their field time investment.

The result of this is that you can expect Glacio characters to have higher field time and lower DPS in calculations than their other elemental counter parts until they receive better Echoes to use.

Set

Moonlit Clouds

Supportive Echo that can be run at the cost of a sizeable chunk of damage for the character who equips, trading personal gain for team benefits. Should always be used and immediately switch cancelled right before performing an Outro, leading to another DPS. When done so will grant the next character switching in 12% increased DMG% which when combined with the 5P Moonlit set which also grants 22.5% ATK% under the same conditions makes for a sizeable boost.

While the echo does lower the damage of whoever wears it, it grants a massive chunk of energy on use usually saving 1 or sometimes even 2 Energy Regen sub stats that may otherwise be needed by the wearer allowing for some damage to be recovered.

Best Echo Stats
4-3-3-1-1:
4 cost
CRIT DMG
CRIT DMG
CRIT Rate
CRIT Rate
3 cost
Aero DMG
Aero DMG
3 cost
Aero DMG
Aero DMG
Energy Regen
Energy Regen
1 cost
ATK
ATK%
1 cost
ATK
ATK%

Substats: Energy Regeneration (Until Breakpoint) >= CRIT RATE = CRIT DMG > ATK% > Flat ATK

Comparison of 4-3-3-1-1 variants
Best Endgame Stats (Level 90)

Important! CRIT DMG has base value of 150% and Energy Regen has a base value of 100% when you check them in game. The recommended values below don't include the base value but rather show how much on top of it you need to obtain.

  • ATK: 1700-2000+

  • HP: 14000+

  • DEF: 1000+

  • AERO DMG%: 52%-82%+

  • CRIT RATE%: 50-70%+

  • CRIT DMG% 100-140%+

  • Energy Regeneration: 30-40%

    • Aalto's ultimate is essential for achieving his optimal Concerto rotation as such we recommend getting 30-40% Energy Regen so he'll have it every time you need it.

Skill Priority

Below you can find the order of leveling the abilities for Aalto.

Basic Attack

Forte Circuit

Res. Liberation

Res. Skill

Intro Skill

Gameplay and teams

Rotation

This is the optimal rotation for the character. The total time needed to perform it is 3.75 seconds. When selecting the rotations we prioritized achieving 100 Concerto as fast as possible and once that condition was fulfilled, we focused on maximizing the damage output. As or if new and more optimal rotations are found, we'll update the characters calculations as needed.


Aalto's primary role in teams is to spend as little field time as possible to fully generate his concerto and to grant another character his powrful 23% generic Aero amplification buff with as little opportunity for failure as possible. Aalto as a trickster and master of movement has many quirks and playstyles but in order to best fufill his current role in endgame we've gone with the fastest and most consistant Concerto Rotation possible which avoids most of these for now. Here is a little more information about how to play Aalto and how his rotation works:

  • Aalto's Resonance Skill, Mist Avatar, generates an absurd amount of Concerto Energy and decent amount of Resonance Energy for him while also taunting enemies with a Mist Clone.
  • The fastest and most efficient way to generate Aalto's outro is to use his skill twice alongisde his ultimate and a short string of basic attacks. But his skill has a decently long cooldown of 10 seconds at S0 much longer than any rotation he'd want to employ. To get around this long cooldown, weave in Aalto's skill into the rotation of your other support on the team to allow it's cooldown to tick down and be ready for use again in Aalto's main concerto rotation.
  • Aalto's Forte skill, Mistcloak Dash, is an excellent mobility tool but challenging to use reliably in actual combat especially when attempting to generate Concerto quickly under pressure. Due to this reason on top of the challenge of actually generating the Forte charges to begin with while dodging around and repositioning we've gone with a no Forte rotation and found it worked the best but feel free to weave in his Forte where you find it to be effective!
  • Aalto's skill, Mist Avatar, requires a target in order to generate the majority of it's Concerto and Resonance Energy and has a slight delay to the gains as the bullets must first find their target. This can delay your outro so finding ways to use the skill as early in his rotation as possible can be helpful.
  • In the rotation below you do not need to worry about firing through or positioning around Aalto's Mist Gates, they are not required to achieve the needed concerto for his outro.
  • Skill: Mist Avatar (Use during another character's rotation to allow for cooldown)
  • Intro
  • Ultimate
  • Skill: Mist Avatar (Can be used after Basic Attacks if still on Cooldown)
  • Basic P1
  • Basic P2
  • Basic P3
  • Basic P4
  • Basic P5
  • Echo (Impermenance Heron)
  • Outro
Synergies

Aalto isn't Jiyan's best support but he certainly gets the job done coming close enough to the total team damage output of Mortefi teams when all units are at S0 albeit with a few downsides.

Aalto's main claim to fame is his 23% Aero DMG Deepen buff that like Mortefi's is a special multiplier boosting up Jiyan's entire burst window. This alone matches the Heavy Deepen bonus from Mortefi as not all of Jiyan's attacks are Heavy but all of them are Aero. While Aalto's Aero buff is excellent, he doesn't have many other damage focused synergies with Jiyan and has a slightly longer rotation, requires some positional maneuvering around his Gates and is harder to play overall. If you like Aalto and or don't like or get Mortefi he is a good substitute.

Verina as a healing support can easily accommodate running the 5P Rejuvenating Glow set alongside a Bell-Borne Geochelone echo, offering the team a wide array of offensive and defensive buffs already bringing a tonne of worth just from that alone.

Additionally Verina's many rotational options to access her Ultimate and Concerto are all fast and relatively easy to execute, leaving ample field time for the rest of team mates to execute their combos. Verina's Outro is by far the most flexible and powerful Outro in the game granting all allies 15% generic DMG% "Deepen" for 30 seconds. Most units only grant 1 type and only for the very next unit to switch in locking them into staying on field less they lose the buff but Verina grants it to all allies completely unrestricted.

On top of this Verina grants an additional 20% ATK and a Cheat Death ability preventing one death every 10 minutes. She's universal, flexible, takes little field time and outstanding in every team.

If you don't have Verina, Baizhi is a good alternative with very similar buffs and capabilities albeit in a much more restricted fashion. Her Outro instead of buffing all units only buffs the next unit, her ATK% boost is only 20% and requires the on field character interact with a special collectable dropped by Baizhi on the ground, she takes up more field time, generates less concerto and resonance energy and heals less.

A downgrade across the board but still a potent option for all the same reasons of Verina just on a smaller scale. Verina can only be in one team if you have her at all so Baihzi is a good next pick.

Example Teams

Team #1

Calculations

Damage Profile
Aalto damage profile
Damage Output
Additional information

The numbers below show the character's DPS (Damage Per Second) and DMG (total damage done). When selecting the rotations we prioritized achieving 100 Concerto as fast as possible and once that condition was fulfilled, we focused on maximizing the damage output. As or if new and more optimal rotations are found, we'll update the characters calculations as needed. Listed character calculations are done without buffs or any damage contribution from teammates (full solo). They only include what the character, their Weapon, Echo and gear are capable of during their ideal Burst or Concerto rotation when starting with their Intro and Resonance Liberation available.

Aalto in 1 Target scenario

Rotation time: 3.75s

Details about the calculations

Here's the rotation we have used to calculate the DPS (Damage Per Second) shown above. The total time needed to perform the rotation is 3.75 seconds.

Aalto's primary role in teams is to spend as little field time as possible to fully generate his concerto and to grant another character his powrful 23% generic Aero amplification buff with as little opportunity for failure as possible. Aalto as a trickster and master of movement has many quirks and playstyles but in order to best fufill his current role in endgame we've gone with the fastest and most consistant Concerto Rotation possible which avoids most of these for now. Here is a little more information about how to play Aalto and how his rotation works:

  • Aalto's Resonance Skill, Mist Avatar, generates an absurd amount of Concerto Energy and decent amount of Resonance Energy for him while also taunting enemies with a Mist Clone.
  • The fastest and most efficient way to generate Aalto's outro is to use his skill twice alongisde his ultimate and a short string of basic attacks. But his skill has a decently long cooldown of 10 seconds at S0 much longer than any rotation he'd want to employ. To get around this long cooldown, weave in Aalto's skill into the rotation of your other support on the team to allow it's cooldown to tick down and be ready for use again in Aalto's main concerto rotation.
  • Aalto's Forte skill, Mistcloak Dash, is an excellent mobility tool but challenging to use reliably in actual combat especially when attempting to generate Concerto quickly under pressure. Due to this reason on top of the challenge of actually generating the Forte charges to begin with while dodging around and repositioning we've gone with a no Forte rotation and found it worked the best but feel free to weave in his Forte where you find it to be effective!
  • Aalto's skill, Mist Avatar, requires a target in order to generate the majority of it's Concerto and Resonance Energy and has a slight delay to the gains as the bullets must first find their target. This can delay your outro so finding ways to use the skill as early in his rotation as possible can be helpful.
  • In the rotation below you do not need to worry about firing through or positioning around Aalto's Mist Gates, they are not required to achieve the needed concerto for his outro.
  • Skill: Mist Avatar (Use during another character's rotation to allow for cooldown)
  • Intro
  • Ultimate
  • Skill: Mist Avatar (Can be used after Basic Attacks if still on Cooldown)
  • Basic P1
  • Basic P2
  • Basic P3
  • Basic P4
  • Basic P5
  • Echo (Impermenance Heron)
  • Outro

And here are the Echoes and Weapons used in the calculations.

Stats at Level 90: ATK: 587 | CRIT Rate: 24.3%

2 Set: Energy Regen increases by 10%.

5 Set: Upon using Outro Skill, ATK of the next Resonator increases by 22.5% for 15s.

4 cost
CRIT Rate
CRIT Rate
3 cost
Aero DMG
Aero DMG
3 cost
Aero DMG
Aero DMG
1 cost
ATK
ATK%
1 cost
ATK
ATK%

Substats: ATK (27%), CRIT Rate (42%), CRIT DMG (84%), Energy Regen (28%)

Echoes in Wuthering Waves are an essential part of the character rotations, granting a large amount of Resonance Energy and damage but at the cost of high field time for the most powerful ones. But by using some Echoes right before you're about to switch out on the character, you're able to move to your next character while your previous one is still in the echo animation - it’s what we call an Echo Swap Cancel.

Echo Swap Cancel is almost always the optimal way to use Echoes, and will result in big reductions in character field time and large increases to DPS, but not all of the most powerful Echoes can be swap cancelled in this way. For example, the Feilian Beringal (Aero), Dreamless (Havoc), Tempest Mephis (Electro), Mourning Aix (Spectro), and Infernal Rider (Fusion) Echoes can all be Swap Cancelled.

The remaining element, so Glacio while having powerful Echoes has none powerful enough that can be swap cancelled, and to make things worse, no Echoes that generate sufficient Energy and damage for their field time investment.

The result of this is that you can expect Glacio characters to have higher field time and lower DPS in calculations than their other elemental counter parts until they receive better Echoes to use.