WaniKani doesn’t teach you enough vocab (vocab associated with Kanji), nor do Core 10k or any flashcard decks.
If you want to learn vocab through reading native materials, you must be able to guess Kanji readings to some extent. I find myself guessing the vocab’s reading using both Kun and On readings, that is, guessing twice.
So, knowing multiple readings have its advantage.
Kanji-in-the-wild learning pattern (outside WaniKani) → I said in this topic… yes, as further as my journey in WaniKani goes, I tend to learn vocab (associated with selected Kanji) before the Kanji itself. Still, it counts as “studying selected Kanji.”
But it’s a different approach from learning vocab without regards to Kanji (like studying an English picture dictionary).