Wuthering Waves: All 5-Star Characters, Ranked

Like most Gacha games, Wuthering Waves offers a variety of 5-star units that are much better than most characters in the game. These P2W characters are the best at each one of their roles and can immensely change how a team feels when they join them.
Despite 5-star Resonators generally being better than their 4-star partners, there's still a noticeable gap in power among these premium characters. Therefore, players may be interested in knowing the best 5-star characters in Wuthering Waves.
Lingyang is a Glacio DPS in Wuthering Waves. He heavily relies on his Resonance Liberation and Forte Gauge to deal DMG. While his DMG is acceptable compared to other DPS in the game, he still feels way too slow when he’s in his Striding Lion state. If two enemies are standing away from each other, he needs time to reach each one of them.
Jianxin is only limited by herself in trying to do everything at once. That is especially apparent from the amount of time she takes to set everything up for the next character in rotation, since she needs to tank DMG, shield, heal, parry, and build up her own Concerto meter.
That being said, Jianxin can still collect enemies with her Resonance Liberation and offer a buff on her Outro Skill. Other than that, Jianxin can't offer anything for her team.
Calcharo is an all-rounded main DPS that can deal DMG with any of his attacks. Calcharo is more tame in AoE situations and tends to do better against single-target units. Although he was the top-tier Standard Banner option when WuWa was first released, he got powercrept by other strong DPS, earning him a low spot on the list.
Havoc Rover can inflict a lot of DMG with their Basic ATK or Resonance Liberation. No matter how you choose to play them, they’re strong enough to get the job done. The only problem the Havoc Rover has is not having a dedicated Support that can buff their kit.
You either add Sanhua to maximize the DMG of their Basic ATK or Jianxin to do the same for their Ultimate. Danjin can give them a 23% Havoc DMG, but you’re going to lose a great DPS just to Outro buff Havoc Rover.
After the Spectro Frazzle buff, Spectro Rover became an option to join Zani and Phoebe teams in Wuthering Waves. This is because their gameplay revolves around Spectro Frazzle DoTs, while Spectro Rover can generate them. Unfortunately, these kinds of characters are not the best DPS in the game, which means Spectro Rover is still lacking in terms of kit and teams.
Both Calcharo and Xiangli Yao are practically free characters to an extent, so it's unfortunate for Calcharo that Xiangli Yao is much better than him. Unlike Calcharo's unforgiving rotations and frequent interruptions, Xiangli Yao is much easier to use and more forgiving. That being said, as a DPS, Xiangli Yao still suffers against newer enemies since they're more challenging and chunkier in HP.
On her release, Roccia was a very useful Hybrid character in Wuthering Waves. However, as the DPS units she paired with started losing their ranks, Roccia also began to fall out of the meta. She's still a decent support unit because of her Outro Skill, which gives the next resonator's Havoc and Basic ATK DMG by 20% and 25%, respectively.
Yinlin is a prime example of an off-field DPS. She has excellent AoE DMG and provides great Liberation DMG and Electro DMG buffs for DPS units like Xiangli Yao in Wuthering Waves. Sadly, her performance tanks without her signature weapon, making her not very F2P-friendly.
Zhezhi is one of the strongest off-field DPS in Wuthering Waves. However, damage is not the only thing she does. First, all of her hits are considered Basic Attack, making her easy to build as she simply must focus on Basic Attack DMG.
Second, Zhezhi is incredibly simple to use and can be swapped in and out swiftly. Third, she grants plenty of useful buffs that make her brilliant for many characters, not just Glacio ones. Finally, she also gives Resonance Energy, further emphasizing her role as a buffer who simultaneously deals a lot of damage.
Although Cantarella is the best teammate to one of the best DPS in Wuthering Waves, you can still feel her shortcomings. It won't be long before another resonator becomes Phrolova's best pair, and then Cantarella will further fall in the meta.
The main problem with Cantarella is her long rotation, while she offers a hybrid of mediocre DMG and healing on top of some buffs that other characters can give.