WuWa Cartethyia Build Guide: Best Weapons and Echoes

Cartethyia is a 5-star Aero Sword Main DPS in Wuthering Waves. She debuted in Version 2.4 and remains a T0-tier carry even now. What makes her stand out from every other resonator is her dual-form mechanic. She is the only character in the game who transforms into a completely different unit, Fleurdelys, mid-combat. Her damage scales off HP instead of ATK, which makes Cartethyia build path unique and very specific.

I have spent a lot of time with Cartethyia since her initial release, and this guide covers everything you need to know, from Cartethyia kit and rotation to weapons, echoes, teams, and materials. If you are also planning pulls for the current Version 3.4 patch, check out the WuWa 3.4 Banner Guide before spending your Astrites.

Cartethyia Quick Overview

How Cartethyia Works in Wuwa

Before we get into the build, you need to understand her core mechanic. Otherwise, the build choices will not make sense.

Cartethyia's kit revolves around generating three Sword Shadows through her normal combat and then consuming them to buff her Fleurdelys form. Each sword gives a different buff in Manifest state:

• Sword of Discord's Shadow (from Intro Skill): Raises all nearby enemy Aero Erosion stacks to the highest count. Also refreshes stack duration.
• Sword of Divinity's Shadow (from Basic Attack 4): Amplifies Aero Erosion DMG by 50% and halves the damage interval, effectively doubling tick damage.
• Sword of Virtue's Shadow (from Resonance Skill): Gives Cartethyia interruption resistance and creates a stagnation field in Fleurdelys form.

Once all three swords are out, a Plunging Attack recalls them and activates their effects inside Manifest. That is why we never skip the plunge in the rotation. After transforming into Fleurdelys, her HP drops to 50%. She gets an entirely new moveset. You fill her Conviction bar to 120 and fire her second Liberation, which deals massive damage and restores 50% max HP.

The second Liberation's damage scales off Aero Erosion stacks on the enemy. Each stack up to five removes on hit and adds 20% damage amplification, so a full 100% amp at five stacks is your goal every rotation.

Her Inherent Skill makes enemies with one to three Aero Erosion stacks take 30% more damage from her. For every stack above three, they take an extra 10%, up to three more stacks. At six stacks, that is 60% increased damage. This is why running Rover (Aero) or Ciaccona to push stacks past the natural cap of three matters so much.

Cartethyia Skill Priority

When you are tight on materials, just max Forte and Liberation first. The others can wait.

Cartethyia Rotation Guide

This is the most important section. Getting the rotation right is what separates a good Cartethyia from a great one.

A few things worth noting here. First, always use Echo before Outro. Second, Cartethyia can swap cancel out of Mid-air Attack 3, Skill 2, Basic 5, and Enhanced Heavy Attack in Fleurdelys form. If you run Aero Rover, weaving in one of their attacks during Fleurdelys phase lets them cast Omega Storm and benefit from Cartethyia's passive, which restores 25 Windstrings and improves team rotation flow significantly.

Best Weapons for Cartethyia

Because she scales off HP and not ATK, most 4-star swords are nearly useless on her. Her weapon pool is very narrow. Do not make the mistake of picking a weapon based on its high ATK stat.

One thing worth calling out here: because Cartethyia does not care about base ATK at all, a Feather Edge at R5 genuinely competes with most 5-star options. This also means most regular 4-star swords like Commando of Conviction are not useful on her since they offer stats she cannot use.

If you do not own Defier's Thorn, Red Spring is the safest pick. Do not spend resources chasing the signature if your Astrites are limited. Emerald of Genesis from the standard banner performs close enough for comfortable clears. That said, if you do want to go for her signature, make sure you have enough Lunite stocked up beforehand. You can Buy WuWa Lunite at a discounted rate to make your pull budget stretch further.

Best Echoes for Cartethyia

Echo Set

The best set for Cartethyia is Windward Pilgrimage with no real competition.

The 5-piece bonus gives 40% Aero DMG and 10% Crit Rate combined, and Cartethyia procs it herself through her kit. If you do not have this set yet, Gusts of Welkin works as a transition option. Sierra Gale is passable too but clearly worse.

Echo Cost Layout: 4-4-1-1-1

Cartethyia is one of the rare characters who genuinely prefers the 4-4-1-1-1 setup over the standard 4-3-3-1-1. She gets so much Aero DMG from her set, weapon, and kit that 3-cost Aero DMG echo main stats end up with diminishing returns. The three 1-cost HP% echoes scale directly with her damage output.

Reminiscence: Fleurdelys in the main slot gives 20% Aero DMG Bonus specifically when equipped on Cartethyia or Rover (Aero). That exclusive bonus is worth prioritizing above other 4-cost options.

Substat Priority

Energy Regen to 110% first, then Crit Rate and Crit DMG equally, then HP%, then Basic Attack DMG Bonus and Liberation DMG Bonus. Avoid flat ATK entirely as it does nothing meaningful for her.

Endgame Stat Targets

Best Teams for Cartethyia

Her best teams all revolve around Aero Erosion stacking. Without help pushing past the base three-stack cap, she misses out on a big chunk of her Inherent Skill damage bonus.

Top-Tier Team

This is her peak team. Ciaccona applies consistent Aero Erosion off-field and is the only other character in the game dedicated to this mechanic. Chisa is better than Rover (Aero) here if she has her signature weapon. Without it, Rover (Aero) is the safer and cheaper pick. In Whimpering Wastes multi-wave content, consider Shorekeeper in the third slot instead, since stacking to six becomes difficult between waves.

Standard Alternative

This team trades some damage ceiling for much better survivability. I run this in content where I get hit more often. The damage loss versus the full meta team is noticeable but the comfort is real.

F2P Team

This is genuinely strong for a free-to-play setup. Sanhua rotates in and out fast and her Basic Attack buff covers a meaningful portion of Cartethyia's kit. Aalto works too if Sanhua is unavailable, though he provides less overall value.

If you are building out your Version 3.4 roster and looking at what else to pull, comparing Cartethyia's team requirements against newer options like Lucilla is worth your time. We have a full breakdown in our WuWa Lucilla Build Guide if you want to see how the Glacio side of the meta stacks up.

Cartethyia Resonance Chains: Are They Worth It?

Cartethyia is fully functional at S0 and already the best DPS in the game. Her sequences do add a lot though, more so than most other characters.

My recommendation: if you can only make one investment beyond S0, get her signature weapon before chasing S1. The signature weapon adds more consistent damage than S1 does from S0. S2 is the first real build-shifting spike if you want to invest further.

Materials Needed to Fully Cartethyia Build

Start farming these before or right after pulling her to get her combat-ready fast.

Ascension Materials

Forte / Skill Materials

Bamboo Iris is the material that takes the most time. Collect the 48 available nodes across Titanbone Expanse and Capitoline Hill daily until you have enough. The When Irises Bloom weekly boss drop is your long-term bottleneck for skill upgrades, so start that grind as early as possible.

If you are also pre-farming for other Version 3.4 characters, we have dedicated materials guides for Lucy and Lucilla that walk through their full material requirements in the same format.

Is Cartethyia Worth Pulling?

Yes, she is. Cartethyia is the strongest DPS in the game right now and her damage ceiling is higher than any other resonator in Wuthering Waves. Even at S0 without her signature weapon, she clears all endgame content comfortably.

Her main limitations are teammate dependency (Ciaccona is almost mandatory for peak output) and a very narrow weapon pool. If you already own Ciaccona or plan to pull her, Cartethyia becomes even more valuable.

If you do not have Ciaccona, she still performs well with Rover (Aero) and Sanhua. The damage drops but it is more than enough for Tower of Adversity clears.

I would not skip her if Aero is your preferred element. She is one of those characters who stays relevant across multiple patches. Before you spend your Astrites though, take a look at the full WuWa 3.4 Banner Guide to plan your pulls smartly across the patch.

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