Compared to Hoyoverse’s previous gacha titles, Zenless Zone Zero has a much tighter focus on combat, with a unique fast-paced battle system focused on quick switches and stunning opponents for high damage. What it lacks in large combo lists, it more than makes up for in team composition depth as well as in tons of tiny details which make combat really shine. Between secret animations and combo strings, additional ways to avoid damage, and a bunch of interesting tech which can be used in a wide variety of situations, ZZZ is full to the brim with plenty of special mechanics to learn and explore.
Here are seven unique and special hidden combat mechanics in Zenless Zone Zero which you may not know about.
If you’d like to read some more Zenless Zone Zero content and articles, then you’ll find it here on KeenGamer:
- Zenless Zone Zero | All Agent and Signature W-Engine Combinations
- Zenless Zone Zero | How to Increase Inter-Knot Level Fast
Nicole, the Queen of Hidden Tech
Watch for Black Flashes in Long Boss Attack Strings
The first mechanic we’ll be going over for Zenless Zone Zero is going to help you with timing your Quick Assists and parries against difficult foes. Boss battles in ZZZ are frantic and chaotic fights against massive monsters, all of which are relentless in their assault on your party. Many of Zenless’ coolest moments occur in these boss fights when you’re able to string together a chain of Quick Assists, parrying the enemy’s blows one after another.
Most of the time this can feel a bit random but did you know that there’s a way to tell whether a specific boss attack is going to continue or not? If the screen flashes mono-chromatic (black-and-white) after a boss attacks, it means it’s going to do another attack you can parry soon after.
This effect is most obvious against the Dead End Butcher who has a long combo which you can repeatedly parry using Quick Assists. In this attack, the Butcher has three attack phases, each of which is punctuated by the screen flashing black-and-white and all of which can be parried by a Quick Assist. Once you’ve seen this effect and figured out the timing, you’ll be able to reliably parry every attack a boss throws at you. It’s also a good gauge of when you can go in and punish an enemy with a longer string of attacks: if that monochrome flash doesn’t show up, it means you’re safe to jump in and beat down on the enemy for at least a few seconds.
Watch for Static and Monochrome
Certain Characters Can Deflect Ranged Projectiles
A lot of attacks can be reliably dodged or parried in Zenless Zone Zero but some of the more irritating are ranged attacks. While not super dangerous, these attacks deal a lot of stagger damage and can stun-lock for several seconds if you’re unable to dodge them in time.
However, there is a way around them if you have some specific characters. In the Zenless Zone Zero’s Version 1.0 roster, three characters can reflect projectiles: Solider 11, Anby, and, surprisingly, Ellen. If you enter a Dash using any of these characters, they will be able to deflect any ranged projectile which comes their way. Anby and Soldier will twirl their swords to parry away any missiles or bullets, while Ellen spins her giant pair of scissors in a circle to the same effect.
Deflecting these ranged attacks will completely negate the damage they would have dealt, allowing you to safely escape any number of scenarios. While it isn’t a useful ability in every fight, knowing this hidden aspect of each of these units is great in a pinch, especially on certain tough Shinyu Defence or Hollow Zero stages.
Deflect Ranged Attacks with Ellen, Soldier 11, and Anby
Nicole’s Hidden Animations
Next, let’s go over several hidden features or mechanics with some specific characters, starting with everyone’s favourite money-lover, Nicole. She’s a support unit that specialises in grouping enemies together while piling on some potent debuffs such as DEF shred and bonus Ether DMG. However, she’s also hiding some of ZZZ’s most interesting tech.
Ordinarily, Nicole’s EX Special Attack will fire off a small Ether black hole towards a chosen target, with the option to fire a second larger black hole if you have enough energy. Additionally, if you hold down her EX Special Attack, she will charge her black hole for several seconds, resulting in a massive explosion which sucks enemies in.
However, by rotating the analogue stick (WASD on the keyboard) during Nicole’s EX Special Attack, her attack animation will completely change. Instead of firing her black hole from a standing position, Nicole will instead sit down on top of her briefcase, increasing the charge time of her EX Special Attack by a few seconds. That’s not all though as you’ll get another special animation if you end the attack early by letting go of the Special Attack as soon as Nicole begins charging the black hole: instead of going forward, the ether field will shoot straight up, sending Nicole to the floor.
EX Special Attack vs Hidden EX Special Attack vs Failed Hidden EX Special Attack
Aside from being an interesting bit of tech, these combos are actually really impactful from a gameplay perspective. Nicole is completely immune to damage while charging her EX Special Attack so it’s beneficial to use either of these alternative animation cycles due to their longer animations. Because they’re both longer than her normal EX Special Attack, she’s invulnerable for a much longer period, allowing you to get in close to enemies without worry.
Additionally, these combos synergise greatly with some of Nicole’s Mindscape Cinema effects. In particular, her first Mindscape Cinema – Supercharged Bomb – increases the DMG and Anomaly Build-up of her EX Special while also increasing the duration of her black hole by 0.15s for every additional 0.1s of charging Nicole does. As we just mentioned, her alt animations are roughly two seconds longer than her regular ones, allowing you to have Nicole’s energy field up for a much longer stretch of time with this Cinema effect active.
Longer Animation, Longer I-Frames
Anby’s Alternative Combos
Nicole isn’t the only Cunning Hare with some hidden tricks up her sleeve, though. Anby, the Cunning Hares monotone film buff and the Zenless Zone Zero mascot character has a surprising amount of depth to her main combo and rotation, one you can use to great effect under the right circumstances.
Anby’s main rotation has two paths which diverge after you use three of her Basic Attacks. On the one hand, you can go straight into her EX Special Attack, empowering it and greatly improving the amount of Stun it deals. On the other, though, you can end the combo by holding down the Basic Attack button, causing Anby to throw her sword down on top of the enemy, summoning lightning down in the process.
However, there’s more to this combo chain than meets the eye. If you have the requisite energy, Anby can perform both her charged Basic Attack and her EX Special Attack in a single combo. To do this, you need to perform either of the following combos:
- BA > BA > BA > Charged BA > Special EX Attack
- BA > BA > BA > Special EX Attack > BA
While these combos are pretty long and leave Anby very open to attacks, they are an excellent way of dealing with high amounts of Stun and Daze damage, as well as building up the Shock Anomaly Effect. Bouncing back and forth between her regular four-hit combo and her lengthened combos is very fun and a staple of her already excellent kit.
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- Anby’s Charged Basic Attack
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- Anby’s Quick Launch EX Special Attack
Ben’s Special Parry
The last free character we’ll discuss in this guide is Ben Bigger, the lovable number-obsessed bear Therian from Belobog Industries. He’s, currently, the only Defence character in the ZZZ roster, with a large part of his kit revolving around his EX Special Attack, which he can hold to enter a guard stance that blocks incoming damage.
Ben’s EX Special Attack – Cashflow Counter – is actually part of a three-hit combo which changes depending on whether Ben blocks an attack. If you activate his EX Special Attack, you can instantly follow it up with two more presses of the Special Attack button with enough energy. In the second button press, Ben will detonate his weapon, dealing high Fire DMG directly in front of him, while the third will propel him forward at high speeds, dealing Fire DMG to any enemy directly in front of him.
Meanwhile, if you block an attack using Ben’s first EX Special Attack in either his ordinary stance or the blocking stance, Ben’s third follow-up attack changes. He will still detonate his weapon like in the first combo but, instead of charging forward, he will swing his weapon in a wide arc around himself several times, dealing a massive amount of Fire DMG to any nearby opponents.
- Ben’s Regular Combo: EX Special Attack > EX Special Attack > EX Special Attack
- Ben’s Block Combo: EX Special Attack > Block an enemy attack > EX Special Attack > EX Special Attack
Both of these attacks have their uses in different moments. Ben is the biggest, and slowest, character in Zenless Zone Zero: he cannot even sprint, making him quite sluggish when it comes to moving around the battlefield. Fortunately, you can use his ordinary EX Special Attack combo to quickly close the distance between you and distant enemies. On the other hand, his parry combo is a lot more combat-oriented, negating damage while also allowing you to more easily hit multiple targets in a single attack.
Ben’s Regular EX Combo vs Ben’s Block EX Combo
Koleda and Ben’s Combo Attacks
Ben isn’t out of tricks yet, though, as he’s part of Zenless Zone Zero’s first team-up kit with Belobog’s President, the fiery little Koleda.
While you have Koleda and Ben in the same party, several aspects of Koleda’s kit will change. Firstly, she gains access to an alternative version of her regular Basic Attack combo where, after the second hit of her hammer, she will leap up onto Ben’s weapon and detonate it, dealing a much higher amount of Fire DMG than in her regular combo. Her Ultimate also changes to one featuring her and Ben, ending in another massive explosion.
You can still run Koleda and Ben in teams without the other – in fact, one of Koleda’s best teams includes Soldier 11 and Lucy – but their fusion attacks make it hard to separate them, especially when it increases Koleda’s damage by such a significant amount. Every player even gets a copy of Ben for free as part of the newcomer event, making lucky Koleda-havers even better. Hopefully, we see more fusion and team-up attacks in the future.
Koleda and Ben’s Combo Attack
You Can Stagger the Start of Your Chain Attacks
Constantly switching characters is a cornerstone of ZZZ’s combat framework and nothing exemplifies this more than Chain Attacks. Once an enemy’s Daze reaches maximum, you can trigger a Chain Attack in one of two ways, either by finishing a character’s Basic Attack combo or by using their EX Special Attack. Chain attacks let you quickly switch between all of your units, allowing you to deliver several devastating attacks on a Stunned target (who will be taking 150% DMG as a result of the Daze).
Usually, if you fail to switch to a secondary character, the Chain Attack will end and you will be unable to re-trigger the Chain Attack until you get another Daze. However, if you triggered the Chain Attack using a Basic Attack combo, you can let the bar run out and then immediately re-trigger it using that unit’s EX Special Attack: so long as the Daze bar is still flashing rainbow, the Chain Attack can be reactivated.
Patience is Rewarded
As for why you would want to do this, it depends on which characters you’re using in your team. Corin, for example, has an extremely powerful, and very long, EX Special Attack which increases in damage the longer it goes on. She also gets additional damage against Stunned targets if you have another Physical or Victoria Housekeeping unit in your team. In this instance, staggering your Chain Attack can be extremely beneficial, as triggering the Daze with Corin’s EX Special Attack will cause you to miss out on a not-so-insignificant chunk of damage: triggering with her Basics and then letting the bar run out will let her unleash the full might of her Special Attack without losing out.
The same can be said for several other characters, mainly those who rely on their EX Special Attack in one way or another. Whether it be with Nicole’s ability to inflict a potent DEF shred debuff, Lucy’s ability to increase the team’s ATK, or even Piper’s excellent Assault application, there are a lot of different ways to use this niche, but effective, technique in combat.
Stagger Your Chain Attacks
Those were seven hidden combat mechanics or techniques in Zenless Zone Zero.
