Wuthering Waves doesn’t hand out five-star characters lightly, which is exactly why the Moon Grace Event instantly set off alarm bells across the community. The Chasing Festival isn’t just seasonal filler; it’s a full-on progression event designed to reward consistent play, and Xiangli Yao sits at the very end of that track as a guaranteed, no-gacha unlock. If you’re free-to-play or conserving pulls for future banners, this is one of the most important limited-time events the game has run so far.
At its core, Moon Grace is a celebration-style event layered with combat challenges, exploration tasks, and daily objectives tied together by a festival currency. The Chasing Festival is the main progression path within Moon Grace, and every action you take feeds directly into unlocking rewards. Xiangli Yao isn’t locked behind RNG, pity, or banners here; she’s positioned as a milestone reward for players who fully engage with the event loop.
What the Chasing Festival Actually Is
The Chasing Festival functions like a time-limited event pass, but without a paid track. You earn Moon Grace tokens by completing event-specific combat stages, open-world objectives, and daily check-in tasks tied to the festival. Each completed task advances your festival progress, gradually unlocking tiers of rewards.
Unlike permanent content, these activities rotate and refresh on a schedule, meaning procrastination is the biggest enemy. Miss too many days and you’ll be forced to grind harder near the end, which can be rough if you’re underleveled or short on stamina. The structure clearly favors steady, daily play over last-minute marathons.
Why Xiangli Yao Is Being Given Away
Xiangli Yao is positioned as a roster stabilizer, not just a hype character. She fills a flexible combat role that works well even at base investment, making her ideal for newer accounts and budget builds. By offering her for free, Kuro Games is effectively raising the baseline power level of the player base ahead of upcoming content.
This also lowers the pressure on limited banners. Giving players a strong, versatile unit reduces frustration with RNG while encouraging experimentation with team comps, elemental reactions, and rotations. From a live-service perspective, it’s a retention move, but for players, it’s a rare win-win.
How You Actually Unlock Xiangli Yao
To obtain Xiangli Yao, you must progress far enough along the Chasing Festival reward track to reach her unlock tier. This requires accumulating a fixed amount of Moon Grace points, earned exclusively through Moon Grace event activities. Standard story progress is required first, so brand-new accounts need to clear the early main quests to even access the event hub.
Once the event is unlocked, the optimal path is simple but strict. Complete all daily festival tasks, clear each limited-time combat stage as it unlocks, and prioritize objectives with bonus Moon Grace rewards. Skipping optional challenges early can delay your progress just enough to make the final tiers stressful.
Timelines, Pitfalls, and Efficiency Tips
Moon Grace is time-gated, and the Chasing Festival does not extend beyond the event’s end date. If the event expires, so does your chance to claim Xiangli Yao for free, with no retroactive compensation. That makes logging in consistently more important than min-maxing difficulty.
Avoid over-investing resources early unless required. The combat stages are tuned to be accessible, and brute-forcing with consumables or over-leveled gear wastes materials better saved for later content. If a challenge feels rough, adjust rotations and abuse I-frames instead of assuming you need more stats.
Most importantly, always claim your rewards as you go. Festival progress does not always auto-redeem, and unclaimed milestones have trapped more than a few players into missing characters in past events. In Moon Grace, attention and consistency are just as valuable as DPS.
Event Prerequisites and Unlock Conditions (Story Progress, Union Level, and Time Gating)
Before you can even start earning Moon Grace, the Chasing Festival is locked behind several layered requirements. None of them are particularly punishing, but missing even one will hard-stop your progress and delay Xiangli Yao’s unlock. This is where preparation matters more than raw skill.
Required Story Progress: Clearing the Early Main Quest Wall
The Moon Grace event does not appear for brand-new accounts. You must advance far enough in the main story to unlock the event menu and festival hub, which typically means clearing the opening chapters and gaining access to standard activity systems.
If you’re still in tutorial territory, prioritize main quests over exploration. Side content can wait, because Moon Grace points cannot be stockpiled retroactively. Until the event tab appears, none of your playtime contributes toward Xiangli Yao.
Union Level Requirements: Soft-Gated but Non-Negotiable
Alongside story progress, a minimum Union Level is required to participate. This acts as a soft skill check, ensuring players have unlocked basic progression systems like character leveling, echoes, and team slots.
The good news is that the Union Level requirement is modest. Daily commissions, stamina spending, and main quests will naturally push you there. The bad news is that hitting this level late compresses your Moon Grace earning window, making daily logins even more critical.
Event Time Gating: Why Logging In Matters More Than DPS
Chasing Festival is structured around staggered unlocks. New Moon Grace activities and combat stages open on a fixed schedule, meaning you cannot grind everything in a single day, no matter how strong your roster is.
This time gate is the most common failure point for players chasing free characters. Missing multiple days limits how much Moon Grace you can earn, and there is no catch-up mechanic if you fall behind. Even perfect clears won’t save you if you simply don’t log in.
Daily and Weekly Reset Rules You Cannot Ignore
Moon Grace income is heavily weighted toward daily tasks. These reset every day and form the backbone of your progress toward Xiangli Yao’s reward tier. Weekly objectives exist, but they are supplements, not replacements.
If you miss dailies early, you are effectively borrowing stress from the final days of the event. That’s when players start rushing, misplaying combat stages, and burning resources they didn’t need to touch in the first place.
One-Time Unlock Windows and Permanent Miss Risks
Once the Chasing Festival ends, the reward track closes permanently. Xiangli Yao cannot be claimed afterward, even if you were one objective away. There is no mail compensation, no delayed claim window, and no safety net.
This is why unlocking the event as early as possible is non-negotiable. Story progress, Union Level, and consistent logins aren’t optional prep work. They are the foundation that determines whether Xiangli Yao joins your roster or stays locked behind a missed opportunity.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough: Completing Chasing Festival Objectives to Earn Xiangli Yao
With the stakes clearly set, it’s time to get practical. Chasing Festival isn’t difficult, but it is rigid, and success comes from understanding the order of operations rather than raw combat power.
Step 1: Unlock Chasing Festival and Moon Grace Tracking
Once you meet the Union Level requirement and clear the prerequisite story quest, Chasing Festival appears in the Events menu. Opening it immediately is important, even if you don’t plan to play that day.
This initial entry unlocks Moon Grace tracking. From that moment forward, eligible actions begin contributing toward your progress, and anything done before unlocking the event does not retroactively count.
Step 2: Prioritize Daily Moon Grace Objectives First
Daily objectives are the spine of your Moon Grace income. These usually include simple tasks like completing combat encounters, spending Waveplates, or participating in event-specific challenges.
Knock these out early in your session. If you leave dailies for last and get interrupted, that’s a full day of Moon Grace permanently lost, and no amount of late-game grinding fixes that mistake.
Step 3: Clear Time-Gated Combat Stages as They Unlock
Chasing Festival combat stages unlock gradually across the event timeline. Each stage provides a one-time Moon Grace payout that’s mandatory for reaching Xiangli Yao’s tier.
You don’t need a hyper-invested DPS to clear these. Focus on clean rotations, dodging for I-frames, and breaking enemy patterns instead of brute forcing with resources you’ll regret spending later.
Step 4: Complete Weekly Objectives Without Overcommitting
Weekly objectives act as buffer Moon Grace. They’re forgiving, flexible, and usually tied to content you’re already playing, like exploration or repeated combat clears.
Treat these as insurance, not your main income source. If you rely on weeklies to catch up, you’re already behind and risking the final reward threshold.
Step 5: Track the Xiangli Yao Reward Tier Every Day
Xiangli Yao sits at a fixed Moon Grace milestone on the event reward track. Check this number daily so you know exactly how much margin you have.
If you’re only barely ahead of the curve, that’s a warning sign. One missed login or forgotten daily could push you below the required total with no recovery window.
Step 6: Avoid These Common Moon Grace Killers
The biggest trap is assuming you can binge the event on the final weekend. You can’t. Time gates and daily caps make that mathematically impossible.
Another frequent mistake is overspending Waveplates on non-event farming early in the day. Always complete Moon Grace-related tasks first, then use remaining stamina elsewhere.
Step 7: Claim Xiangli Yao Immediately Once Unlocked
When you hit the required Moon Grace tier, claim Xiangli Yao immediately from the event interface. Do not wait, even if the event still has days remaining.
Delaying claims is how players lose rewards to server resets, maintenance timing, or simple forgetfulness. Once claimed, the character is permanently secured in your roster, regardless of what happens next.
Moon Grace Currency Breakdown: How Much You Need and the Fastest Ways to Earn It
At this point, you should already understand that Moon Grace isn’t optional progression currency. It is the single gate standing between you and the free Xiangli Yao unlock, and the event is tuned so that missing even a small chunk can brick your run.
The Xiangli Yao reward tier sits near the end of the Chasing Festival track. In practical terms, that means you need the overwhelming majority of Moon Grace the event offers, not just casual participation.
How Much Moon Grace Is Actually Required
Xiangli Yao is locked behind a fixed Moon Grace milestone displayed directly on the event reward track. There is no RNG, no alternate unlock path, and no late-event catch-up mechanic.
If you are not consistently clearing dailies, time-gated combat stages, and at least a portion of weeklies, you will fall short. The event is balanced around steady daily play, not end-of-event grinding.
Think of your Moon Grace total as a running checklist. You should always be pacing slightly ahead of the current day’s expected total, not barely meeting it.
Primary Moon Grace Sources You Cannot Skip
Daily Chasing Festival tasks are your core income. These reset every server day and provide the most reliable, repeatable Moon Grace gains throughout the event.
Skipping even one daily is not “minor.” Over the full event duration, missed dailies compound into a gap that weeklies cannot fully fix.
Time-gated combat stages are the second pillar. Each stage is a one-time payout, but together they account for a massive portion of the total Moon Grace pool required for Xiangli Yao.
Secondary Sources That Act as Safety Nets
Weekly objectives exist to stabilize your progress, not carry it. They’re designed to reward normal play patterns like repeated clears, exploration, or enemy defeats.
If you complete all dailies and combat stages on schedule, weeklies give you breathing room. If you skip core content and rely on weeklies alone, you will run out of time.
Treat these as correction tools. They’re there to cover a missed day or a late login, not repeated neglect.
Fastest Ways to Earn Moon Grace Each Day
Always prioritize Moon Grace tasks before spending Waveplates elsewhere. Event activities are tuned for efficiency, meaning they give better reward-to-time ratios than standard farming.
Knock out dailies first, then clear any newly unlocked combat stages immediately. Waiting serves no purpose and only increases the chance you forget or mismanage stamina later.
If you’re short on time, skip optimization and focus on completion. A clean clear with basic rotations beats a perfect run that never happens.
Common Efficiency Traps That Cost Players Xiangli Yao
The most dangerous mistake is assuming extra days at the end will save you. Time gates cap how much Moon Grace you can earn per day, so lost progress cannot be recovered.
Another trap is over-investing in non-event progression early, especially burning Waveplates before checking event tasks. Moon Grace should always be your first priority during the Chasing Festival window.
If your Moon Grace total ever drops behind the expected curve for the event timeline, you need to course-correct immediately. Waiting even one more day can permanently lock you out of Xiangli Yao.
Timeline and Deadlines: Event Duration, Claim Windows, and Point-of-No-Return Warnings
All of the efficiency advice above only matters if you respect the calendar. The Moon Grace Event is structured to look generous on paper, but it quietly enforces hard limits that can lock you out of Xiangli Yao if you misread the timeline.
This section is where most players fail, not because the content is hard, but because the deadlines are unforgiving.
Official Event Duration vs. Effective Play Window
The Chasing Festival runs for a fixed number of days listed on the event banner, but your effective play window is shorter. Daily Moon Grace caps mean progress is throttled, so you cannot grind everything on the final weekend.
If you start several days late, you are already behind the curve. Even perfect play afterward may not generate enough Moon Grace to hit Xiangli Yao’s unlock threshold.
Treat Day 1 as mandatory, not optional. Every missed daily permanently reduces your maximum attainable Moon Grace.
Stage Unlock Timing and Forced Progression Gates
Combat stages unlock gradually across the event timeline. You cannot front-load them, and you cannot skip ahead to compensate for missed days.
Each newly unlocked stage represents Moon Grace that must be claimed during the remaining window. If you delay clearing them, you compress your workload and increase the risk of running out of Waveplates or real-world time.
Clear stages the moment they unlock. There is no advantage to waiting, and significant downside if you forget.
Claim Windows for Xiangli Yao and Event Rewards
Unlocking Xiangli Yao is a two-step process. First, you must accumulate the required Moon Grace. Second, you must manually claim him from the event interface.
The claim window does not always extend beyond the event’s end date. If the event closes and you haven’t clicked the claim button, unspent Moon Grace does nothing for you.
Never assume auto-delivery. Claim Xiangli Yao immediately once the requirement is met.
The True Point of No Return
The real failure state happens earlier than most players expect. If your Moon Grace total falls below the minimum possible amount for remaining days, the run is mathematically dead.
At that point, no amount of perfect play, weeklies, or late-night grinding will save you. The game has already decided the outcome.
This is why checking your progress against remaining days is critical. If you’re behind, you must immediately pivot all Waveplates and playtime into Moon Grace tasks or accept that Xiangli Yao is gone.
Last-Day Myths That Kill Free Character Runs
There is no final-day surge mechanic. There is no hidden catch-up bonus. There is no mercy system for “almost enough” Moon Grace.
The last day is for cleanup, not recovery. If you reach it needing large chunks of Moon Grace, you’ve already lost.
Players who earn Xiangli Yao do so before the final stretch, not during it. That timing difference is everything.
Common Pitfalls That Can Block the Free Character (Missed Tasks, Wrong Mode, or Late Claims)
By this point, most failed Xiangli Yao runs aren’t caused by bad combat or low DPS. They collapse due to small, preventable mistakes that quietly drain Moon Grace without triggering obvious warnings.
These pitfalls don’t feel fatal when they happen. That’s why they’re so dangerous.
Skipping “Low-Value” Tasks That Are Actually Mandatory
Many Moon Grace objectives look optional on paper. A few points here, a short activity there, nothing that feels worth stressing over.
In reality, the event is tuned so that you need nearly every source of Moon Grace unless you play perfectly every day. Skipping even one category of tasks early forces you into an impossible math problem later.
If a task awards Moon Grace, it is not filler. Treat it as required content, not bonus progress.
Playing the Right Activity in the Wrong Mode
One of the most common blockers is clearing content in the wrong mode or difficulty. The game will happily let you finish the activity, spend your Waveplates, and walk away with zero Moon Grace.
This usually happens with combat challenges that look identical to non-event versions. If the activity isn’t launched directly from the Chasing Festival interface, assume it doesn’t count.
Always double-check the event tag before committing resources. If Moon Grace isn’t listed in the rewards preview, back out.
Letting Daily Tasks Expire Unclaimed
Daily Moon Grace tasks do not stack. Miss a day, and that progress is gone forever.
Players often assume they can “catch up” later with longer sessions. That assumption is wrong. The event does not retroactively offer missed dailies, no matter how active you are afterward.
Log in every day, even if you only have ten minutes. Claiming the daily Moon Grace is more important than pushing story or farming echoes.
Forgetting Manual Claims After Task Completion
Completing an objective does not always automatically add Moon Grace to your total. Many tasks require a manual claim inside the event menu.
This is especially dangerous because the UI often marks the task as finished, creating a false sense of security. Players leave Moon Grace sitting unclaimed until the event ends.
After every play session, open the Chasing Festival screen and clear all claim buttons. Make it muscle memory.
Hitting the Moon Grace Requirement Too Late
Even if you earn enough Moon Grace on the final days, you can still fail the event by waiting too long to claim Xiangli Yao.
Some players delay claiming because they expect the reward to auto-unlock at event end. Others simply forget to check the reward tab after hitting the requirement.
Once the claim window closes, the character is gone. Moon Grace does not convert, roll over, or trigger compensation.
Assuming the Event Will Warn You Before Failure
The game does not alert you when your run becomes impossible. There is no warning message, no flashing UI, and no safety net.
You can continue playing normally while already being locked out of Xiangli Yao mathematically. By the time most players realize it, the deadline has already passed.
That’s why proactive tracking matters. If your remaining days and remaining Moon Grace don’t line up, the mistake already happened earlier.
Splitting Focus Between Events Too Aggressively
Wuthering Waves often runs multiple events simultaneously, and it’s tempting to juggle all of them evenly. During Chasing Festival, that mindset can cost you the free character.
Moon Grace tasks should override most other activities until Xiangli Yao is secured. Other events can usually be finished later or partially ignored without permanent loss.
Xiangli Yao is a one-time opportunity. Treat it like a limited banner with a hard pity you can actually miss.
Efficiency Tips for F2P and Light Spenders: Minimizing Playtime While Securing the Reward
Once you understand how easy it is to lock yourself out of Xiangli Yao, the priority shifts from “playing more” to “playing smarter.” The Chasing Festival is not a grind test; it’s an optimization check. If you approach Moon Grace like a daily checklist instead of an open-ended event, you can secure the character with minimal time investment.
Anchor Your Progress Around Guaranteed Daily Moon Grace
Daily Moon Grace sources are your backbone. These tasks are fixed, predictable, and designed to carry consistent players to the requirement without relying on RNG or bonus objectives.
Log in, clear the daily Moon Grace tasks first, and stop once they’re done unless you’re behind schedule. This prevents burnout and avoids the trap of overplaying early, then skipping days later when it actually matters.
Stack Moon Grace With Your Existing Routine
The fastest progress comes from overlap. Many Chasing Festival objectives align naturally with things you already do, like stamina spending, combat trials, or exploration-related activities.
Instead of treating the event as a separate grind, route your daily play so one activity completes multiple objectives at once. If a task can be finished while burning Waveplates or farming echoes, that’s the correct choice every time.
Ignore Low-Yield, High-Time Tasks Unless You’re Behind
Not all Moon Grace tasks are created equal. Some offer small payouts but demand awkward conditions, extra loading screens, or extended combat time.
F2P and light spenders should only dip into these tasks if they’ve missed days or miscalculated earlier progress. If your daily and weekly Moon Grace keeps you on pace, skip the inefficient objectives and save your time.
Track the Math, Not the Mood
The biggest efficiency upgrade is knowing exactly how much Moon Grace you still need versus how many days remain. Emotional play leads to panic grinding or, worse, false confidence.
Check your remaining Moon Grace requirement every few days and compare it to your guaranteed income. If the numbers don’t line up, adjust immediately instead of hoping bonus tasks will bail you out later.
Claim Xiangli Yao the Moment You Hit the Requirement
Efficiency isn’t just about earning Moon Grace; it’s about locking in the reward. The moment you hit the required total, stop what you’re doing and claim Xiangli Yao from the event menu.
There is zero benefit to waiting, and every delay introduces risk. Once claimed, the pressure is gone, and anything else you earn during the event becomes optional instead of mandatory.
Do Not Spend Premium Currency to “Save Time”
Light spenders might feel tempted to shortcut progress with premium refreshes or convenience items. This is almost always unnecessary if you’ve been consistent.
The Chasing Festival is tuned so that F2P players can succeed without spending, as long as they don’t miss days or forget claims. If you’re considering spending just to keep up, it usually means the issue was scheduling, not difficulty.
Front-Load Awareness, Not Playtime
The most efficient players aren’t online longer; they’re informed earlier. Read the Moon Grace task list on day one, identify the must-do objectives, and plan around them.
Once you know which tasks matter and which ones are filler, the event becomes low-maintenance. That’s how F2P and light spenders secure Xiangli Yao without turning Chasing Festival into a second job.
After You Unlock Xiangli Yao: Best Early Uses, Team Synergies, and Immediate Power Gains
Once Xiangli Yao is safely in your roster, the Chasing Festival pressure disappears, but the real value of the event reward finally shows itself. This is where efficient planning pays off again, because Xiangli Yao delivers immediate account power without heavy investment.
If you deploy him correctly from day one, he becomes a low-cost upgrade to both your combat clears and your daily resource farming.
Why Xiangli Yao Is an Immediate Upgrade for F2P Accounts
Xiangli Yao slots cleanly into early and mid-game teams thanks to his consistent damage output and forgiving execution. His kit doesn’t rely on perfect rotations or tight animation cancels, which makes him ideal for mobile players and anyone juggling daily content quickly.
Even at low Resonance Chain levels, he provides reliable DPS uptime and strong crowd control presence. That alone can shave minutes off Tacet Field runs and make overworld farming far safer.
Best Early Team Compositions Using Xiangli Yao
The safest early setup pairs Xiangli Yao with a sustain unit and a flexible buffer or sub-DPS. Characters like Baizhi or Verina stabilize fights, letting Xiangli Yao stay aggressive without worrying about chip damage or missed dodges.
For the third slot, look for units that can apply debuffs or off-field damage while Xiangli Yao is active. This keeps your rotation simple: swap in, dump skills, maintain pressure, and swap out only when necessary.
Where to Use Him First for Maximum Value
Your first priority should be daily farming content: Tacet Fields, Forgery Challenges, and Waveplate-efficient activities. Xiangli Yao’s consistent damage and AoE coverage speed up clears, which directly translates into time saved every day.
He also performs well in Tower-style content where survivability and sustained DPS matter more than burst. Even if he’s not your endgame carry, he will comfortably carry progression content while your account matures.
Minimal Investment, Real Power Gains
One of Xiangli Yao’s biggest strengths is that he doesn’t demand rare gear or heavy tuning to feel good. Basic weapon upgrades and average Echo sets are enough to unlock his core value.
Avoid over-investing immediately. Level him to match your main team, give him serviceable Echo stats, and reassess later once you see how he fits your long-term roster plan.
Common Mistakes to Avoid After Unlocking Him
Don’t bench Xiangli Yao “for later” just because you’re still building another character. That delays the exact efficiency gain the event was designed to give you.
Also avoid dumping premium resources to rush his build. His strength comes from accessibility, not from squeezing every last stat point on day one.
Final Take: The Event Reward That Keeps Paying Off
Unlocking Xiangli Yao isn’t the finish line; it’s the return on your planning. The Moon Grace Event rewards players who think ahead, and Xiangli Yao rewards players who deploy smartly instead of impulsively.
Claim early, build modestly, and use him where he saves the most time. In a live-service game like Wuthering Waves, efficiency isn’t just comfort—it’s long-term power.