The BEST GUIDE to Maximize Ellen! Best Build, Combos, Teams - ZZZ

Summary

This video guide introduces Ellen, a top-tier DPS character in Zenless Zone Zero, with an in-depth look at her abilities, combos, and optimal playstyle. It covers her unique Flash Freeze mechanic, EX Specials, and Roaming Mode for charge generation. The guide also offers advice on the best gear, including disk drives and W-Engines, and suggests team compositions to maximize her potential. Ellen's high damage output and strategic depth make her a valuable asset for players seeking a powerful ice attacker.

Takeaways

• 🔥 Ellen is a high-damage DPS character in the game, excelling as a main carry with the highest base attack and a focus on CRIT Rate.
• ❄️ As an Ice Attack type character, Ellen benefits from Ice DMG sources and can contribute to Anomaly, a burst damage mechanic for Ice characters.
• 💠 Ellen utilizes Flash Freeze charges to enhance her basic attacks and dash attacks, which are crucial for maximizing her damage output.
• 🐾 Her EX Specials, Tail Swipe and Sharknami, are essential for generating Flash Freeze charges and can be strategically used for optimal combos.
• 🚀 Roaming Mode allows Ellen to move quickly and execute new attacks, including one that grants multiple Flash Freeze charges, enhancing her combo potential.
• 🔧 Perfect dodging or Quick Assists can reduce the charge time of certain attacks, optimizing Ellen's playstyle and damage potential.
• 🌟 Ellen's Chain Attack and Ultimate are significant damage dealers, with the latter being especially impactful in boss fights.
• 🛡 Her Core Passive and Additional Ability provide substantial buffs to her enhanced basic attacks and Ice DMG, reinforcing her role as a primary damage dealer.
• 🧩 Mindscapes offer various enhancements to Ellen's abilities, improving her charge generation, critical damage, and penetration.
• 🛠️ Disk drives and W-Engines are critical components of Ellen's build, with certain sets providing significant bonuses to her damage output and playstyle.
• 🤝 Team composition is vital for Ellen, with Soukaku and Von Lycaon being ideal partners to maximize her damage and utility in combat.

Q & A

What is Ellen's role in the game?

Ellen is an S Rank Ice Attack type Character, designed as a main carry with the highest base attack in the game and a focus on CRIT Rate.

What are Flash Freeze charges in the context of Ellen's gameplay?

Flash Freeze charges are a unique mechanic for Ellen, allowing her to enhance her basic attack strings and dash attack, with each enhanced attack using one charge.

How does Ellen's basic attack combo work?

Ellen's basic attack combo consists of three attacks with increasing multipliers, with the third attack being the most significant, contributing around 65% of the combo's total multiplier value.

What are the two variants of Ellen's EX Special, and how do they contribute to her gameplay?

Ellen has two EX Special variants: Tail Swipe, which is her normal EX Special, and Sharknami, which can only be accessed after using Tail Swipe and requires enough energy. Each special grants one Flash Freeze Charge.

How can Ellen quickly acquire Flash Freeze charges?

Ellen can quickly acquire Flash Freeze charges through her Roaming Mode, where holding the basic attack grants one charge with Arctic Ambush, or three charges with a charged scissor attack.

What are the benefits of using a Quick Assist or Perfect Dodge with Ellen?

Using a Quick Assist or Perfect Dodge with Ellen reduces the charge time of her charged scissor attack in Roaming Mode, allowing for faster acquisition of Flash Freeze charges.

What is the significance of Ellen's Core Passive and Additional Ability in her damage output?

Ellen's Core Passive greatly buffs the CRIT DMG of her enhanced basic attacks and her Charged Scissor Strike, while her Additional Ability allows her to stack up to 30% Ice DMG bonus, which is refreshed with each Ice DMG dealt.

What are Mindscapes in the context of the game and how do they benefit Ellen?

Mindscapes are the unit copy system in the game that provide additional benefits to characters. Ellen's Mindscapes enhance her CRIT Rate, Flash Freeze generation, CRIT DMG of her EX Special attacks, and provide a PEN ratio and DMG% buff to her Charged Scissor Strike.

What are the recommended gear sets for Ellen based on different gameplay scenarios?

For a burst rotation, Puffer Electro is recommended due to its ATK% and CRIT buffs, while for standard on-field rotation, Polar Metal is preferred for its synergy with Ellen's playstyle.

What are the main stats and substats priorities for Ellen's gear?

The main stats priorities for Ellen's gear are CRIT DMG or CRIT Rate, Ice DMG% or ATK%, and ATK%. For substats, the focus should be on CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, and ATK%.

What is the recommended team composition for Ellen to maximize her potential?

The recommended team composition for Ellen includes Soukaku, Ellen, and Von Lycaon, with Soukaku providing ATK buffs and Ice DMG%, and Von Lycaon offering damage amplification and enemy Stun capabilities.

Outlines

00:00

🔥 Introduction to Ellen: The Ultimate DPS

This paragraph introduces Ellen, a high-damage DPS character in the game with a unique playstyle involving flashy and powerful attacks. Ellen is an S-Rank Ice Attack type character, boasting the highest base attack and a focus on CRIT Rate. The guide will cover her abilities, combos, and optimal play strategies. Unique UI elements like Flash Freeze charges are explained, which enhance her basic attack strings. The paragraph also mentions the importance of reaching the third basic attack for maximum damage output and how to utilize her EX Specials to gain these charges effectively.

05:07

🛡️ Mastering Ellen's Combos and Strategies

This section delves into the specifics of Ellen's combos and strategies for both boss fights and against waves of weaker enemies. It explains how to utilize her Roaming Mode to quickly acquire Flash Freeze charges and the importance of perfect dodging and quick assists to reduce the charge time of her attacks. The paragraph outlines different combo sequences for maximum damage, including the use of her Chain Attack and Ultimate abilities. It also touches on her Core Passive and Additional Ability, which significantly boost her damage output, especially during her burst rotation.

10:10

🌟 Ellen's Mindscapes and Optimal Builds

The final paragraph discusses Ellen's Mindscapes, which are enhancements to her abilities, and how they can improve her performance in various combat situations. It also covers the best gear setups for Ellen, including Disk Drives and W-Engines, which are crucial for maximizing her damage potential. The summary provides recommendations for main and substats on her gear, as well as the best team composition to complement her strengths. The paragraph concludes with a tip on aiming for specific characters when rolling for new units to support Ellen's playstyle.

Keywords

💡DPS

DPS stands for 'Damage Per Second' and refers to a character's ability to consistently deal damage over time. In the context of this video, Ellen is described as an extraordinarily strong DPS, which means she excels at delivering high damage output in a fight, making her a valuable asset to the team.

💡Flash Freeze charges

Flash Freeze charges are a unique mechanic for Ellen that allow her to enhance her basic attack strings. The script mentions that she has 6 charges that can be spent to increase the damage of her attacks, which is a key part of her playstyle and strategy in the game.

💡EX Special

EX Special refers to a special ability or skill that a character can use in the game. For Ellen, she has two variants of her EX Special: Tail Swipe and Sharknami. These abilities are crucial for her to generate Flash Freeze charges, as each use grants her one charge, which is essential for her enhanced attacks.

💡Roaming Mode

Roaming Mode is another unique feature of Ellen's gameplay. When she holds the dash key, she enters a mode where she moves faster and gains new attacks. This mode is highlighted in the script as a quick way to generate Flash Freeze charges, especially through the use of her Arctic Ambush or charged scissor attack.

💡Perfect Dodge

A Perfect Dodge is a timing-based mechanic where a character dodges an enemy attack just as it is about to land. In the script, it is mentioned as a way to reduce the charge time of Ellen's scissor attack in Roaming Mode, making it a strategic element in her gameplay.

💡Chain Attack

Chain Attack is a term used in the script to describe a powerful attack that can be performed by certain characters in the game. Ellen's Chain Attack is mentioned as a significant damage-dealing move, especially when used in combination with other characters' abilities.

💡Core Passive

Core Passive refers to a character's inherent ability that is always active and affects their gameplay. Ellen's Core Passive is described in the script as providing a significant boost to her CRIT DMG on enhanced basic attacks and her Charged Scissor Strike, emphasizing the importance of these mechanics in her overall damage output.

💡Mindscapes

Mindscapes are a system in the game that allows for the enhancement of a character's abilities. The script details Ellen's Mindscapes, which improve her CRIT Rate, Flash Freeze generation, and provide other benefits that strengthen her performance in battle.

💡Disk Drive

Disk Drives are gear pieces in the game that characters can equip to enhance their stats. The script discusses different Disk Sets and their effects on Ellen's performance, such as Puffer Electro and Woodpecker Electro, which provide various buffs to her attack capabilities.

💡W-Engines

W-Engines are weapons in the game, known as 'W-Weapons', that characters can use to increase their combat effectiveness. The script mentions the Brimstone and Starlight Engine as options for Ellen, with her signature W-Engine providing a significant boost to her CRIT Rate and Ice DMG.

💡Team Composition

Team Composition refers to the selection and arrangement of characters in a player's party. The script suggests an optimal team for Ellen, including Soukaku, Von Lycaon, and the use of a Stun Unit like Koleda, to maximize her damage potential and overall team synergy.

Highlights

Ellen is introduced as an extraordinarily strong DPS with a fluid playstyle and high damaging attacks.

Ellen has the highest base attack in the game and a core stat of CRIT Rate, offering a base 19.4% at Lvl 60.

Flash Freeze charges are unique UI elements that enhance basic attack strings and dash attacks.

Ellen's basic attack combo has increasingly high multipliers, with the third attack being crucial for burst damage.

EX Specials, Tail Swipe and Sharknami, provide Flash Freeze Charges and can be strategically used for combos.

Roaming Mode allows Ellen to move faster and access new attacks, including a charged scissor attack for Flash Freeze charges.

Perfect dodging or Quick Assists can reduce the charge time of certain attacks, optimizing Ellen's combos.

Ellen's Chain Attack and Ultimate are significant damage nukes with impressive animations.

A full burst combo on a boss involves stunning the enemy, chaining attacks, and utilizing Ellen's ultimate and specials.

Versus weaker enemies, Ellen can utilize Quick Assists and Charged Attacks for area-of-effect damage.

Ellen's Core Passive and Additional Ability significantly boost her CRIT DMG and Ice DMG, enhancing her damage output.

Mindscapes improve Ellen's performance, especially in non-burst rotations and against non-boss enemies.

Gear slots and disk drives play a crucial role in optimizing Ellen's stats for maximum damage.

Puffer Electro and Woodpecker Electro are top disk sets for Ellen, offering CRIT Rate and ATK% Buffs.

Substats should prioritize CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, and ATK% for optimal damage efficiency.

W-Engines like Brimstone and Starlight Engine provide significant combat ATK% multipliers, boosting Ellen's on-field presence.

Team composition with Soukaku, Ellen, and Von Lycaon is recommended for maximizing damage and utility.

Strategic use of Stun units and Supports can enhance Ellen's damage potential and combo efficiency.

The video concludes with a recommendation to aim for Lycaon on a reroll for players intending to main Ellen.

Transcripts

Hey, Guoben here. It’s time to look  at our very first limited unit, Ellen,  

an extraordinarily strong DPS. Whether you’re  on your way to pull her or already have,  

I hope this guide shows you just how cool  Ellen is. She has a very fluid playstyle  

with very flashy and high damaging attacks and  she is definitely our best DPS on release. So we  

will go through her abilities and combos and how  to play her. We’ll look at her best disk drives,  

or relics or artifacts from other games, as well  as her best weapons, known as W-Engines, and  

teams. If you liked this video make sure to like  and sub to catch more guides, and let’s begin.

Ellen is an S Rank Ice Attack type Character,  meaning she is a unit designed as a main carry. 

With the highest base attack in the game, Ellen  starts off strong, and her core stat is CRIT Rate,  

allowing you to have a base 19.4% at  Lvl 60. Now let’s check her out in-game.

For unique UI elements in the top left  we see 6 charges, these are known as  

Flash Freeze charges. She can spend them  to enhance her basic attack strings,  

using 1 Flash Freeze per basic attack  that you want to enhance. Here is an  

enhanced basic attack combo, and here  is a regular one, side by side. It can  

also be used to enhance her dash attack,  and here are both of those side by side.

Her basic attack combo is a series of 3 attacks  with increasingly high multipliers. The third  

basic attack is around 65% of the whole  basic attack string’s multiplier value.  

So looking to finish it or get to the third  basic attack through other means is essential  

for burst damage. So our first beginner  combo here is Basic 1, Basic 2, Basic 3.

Her enhanced combo not only  has way higher multipliers,  

but also does Ice DMG, contributing  to Anomaly, which is a big burst of  

damage for Ice characters. It also  will be buffed by Ice DMG Sources,  

which is important for her weapon and disk drive  stats. It also gets big self buffs from her kit.

So Guoben, how do we get these Flash Freeze  charges to perform our enhanced basics? 

The first way is to use her EX Special,  and she has two variants. Tail Swipe is  

her normal EX Special, and Sharknami is her  second one. Sharknami can only be accessed  

through using her EX Special just after Tail  Swipe, so you’d want to have enough energy  

stored if you want to use both of them. Each of these specials will give 1 Flash  

Freeze Charge. We’d have to therefore use  3 Specials to get the 3 Charges we want,  

which is a bit too much. However Ellen can  in fact go straight to her enhanced basic  

3 after using an EX Special. She can do it  after Tail Swipe or Sharknami. So your new  

combo is EX Special into Enhanced Basic 3.  But remember we want both Special attacks,  

so ideally our full combo is EX Special  1, EX Special 2, Enhanced Basic 3. 

Note that using EX Special 1 into Enhanced Basic  3 isn’t too bad if you don’t have the energy and  

can delete the boss with this quick sequence,  it’s also very good into weak enemies considering  

they’ll probably die in the quicker combo rather  than needing you to spend even more energy.

The other way and in fact the quickest way to get  3 Charges ASAP is through her Roaming Mode. When  

holding the dash key instead of tapping it,  she will go into this cool looking mode where  

she moves much faster. It also grants her brand  new attacks. If you use a basic attack you get  

Arctic Ambush, granting you 1 Flash Freeze. If you  hold the basic attack, you get a longer animation  

but this charged scissor attack grants 3 Charges.  This long animation is a bit annoying, but we have  

a way to counteract it. If you perfect dodge or  perform a quick assist on Ellen, its charge time  

is greatly reduced for a short period. Perfect  Dodging is dodging when an enemy is just about  

to attack you. A Quick Assist can be performed  when you fail a Dodge on another unit and swap  

in. You can also get one if you use a Support’s  EX Special or their Chain Attack, and these two  

are the most common and accessible Quick Assist  triggers, and we don’t want to fail Dodges anyway.

So a recap, we want to hold a dash  then hold basic attack for 3 Charges.  

The Roaming State is achieved very  quickly so we can transition into  

this charged attack ASAP. And ideally  we get this after dodging an attack  

or swapping in with a Quick Assist.  This gives us the following sequence.

Her Chain Attack and Ultimate  are big damage nukes,  

no special quality to them  though the animation is stellar.

A full burst combo on a boss enemy would be 1,  stunning the enemy with your Stun Unit. 2, you  

unleash your chain attacks. You can end on Lycaon  or on Soukaku, but if you end on Lycaon, make sure  

to have Soukaku chain before Ellen and then swap  to Ellen after Lycaon acts. Then you unleash your  

combo. You first pop her ultimate if you have it. The next part is dependent on your energy. At  

max energy, two EX Special into Enhanced  Basic 3, EX Special into Enhanced Basic 3. 

If you only have enough energy  for two EX Specials, go for an  

EX Enhanced Basic 3 EX Enhanced Basic 3 combo. If you have no energy at all for whatever reason,  

use the Quick Assist to perform a Charged  Scissor Attack in the Roaming State to  

gain 3 Flash Freezes, then go for  the full Enhanced Basic String.

This is all versus bosses. When versus many  weaker enemies, opt to do Quick Assist into  

your Charged Attack for an easy 3 Flash Freezes,  allowing you to unleash many giant aoe Enhanced  

Basic attacks onto your foes. You could  even opt for her enhanced Dash Attacks.

A full combo with Ellen on field versus trash  enemies would be Quick Assist or Perfect Dodge  

into your Roaming Charged Attack into a 3 Enhanced  Basic combo. You’d then be able to mix in smaller  

combos like EX 1 into Enhanced Basic 3, or  EX 1 EX 2 instead. You’ll be generating a lot  

of Daze with your team in general, allowing  for tons of Chain Attacks from your Support,  

that will then lead into a Quick Assist  for those easy 3 Flash Freeze combos.

Finally her Core Passive and Additional Ability.  Her Core Passive greatly buffs the CRIT DMG of  

her enhanced basic attacks. It also buffs her  Charged Scissor Strike, which is what we use  

when trying to get 3 Charges. So this heavily  benefits our rotation’s damage in both parts,  

the acquisition of the Flash Freezes, and the  consumption of them. This further reinforces the  

playstyle of aiming for Enhanced Basic attacks, as  the standard ones are very weak in comparison now.

Her Additional Ability will let her stack up 3%  Ice DMG bonus up to 10 times whenever she deals  

Ice DMG, and dealing Ice DMG keeps refreshing  the duration. So essentially during her burst  

rotation, she maxes this out insanely quickly  and keeps it up permanently. You’ll need either  

another Ice type Agent in your team to activate  this, or a unit from Victoria Housekeeping.  

Conveniently, Von Lycaon is both, but having both  conditions fulfilled will not double the buff.

So Ellen is a very high damaging unit with some  awesome combos. You’ll look to generate Charges  

and then consume them. She takes some effort to  get the combos down right but isn’t complex once  

you’ve figured out what to do. Versus weak waves  of enemies you can even go no brain mode and spam  

out EX Specials and Enhanced Basics. She’s very  fun and fast paced and a very strong DPS. So if  

you want a great headstart to Zenless Zone  Zero, she could be a great pickup for you.

Let’s check out her Mindscapes, which  are the unit copy system in ZZZ. 

Her Mindscape 1 gives her CRIT Rate and much  stronger Flash Freeze generation. In a burst  

rotation on a stunned enemy this doesn’t do  all too much, but this is very nice quality of  

life otherwise. You can now get 3 Charges  on an uncharged Roaming scissor strike,  

and 6 from a Charged one. This lets you get  your normal 3 without any Quick Assist or Dodge,  

or now lets you get double the usual amount  if you are minmaxing her Charged attacks.  

This makes her on field presence  much stronger versus non bosses.

Her second one gives her a large CRIT DMG  buff to her EX Special attacks. It also lets  

you get her second EX Special variant after an  enhanced basic attack 3. Meaning you now have  

two ways of getting to it. As it is the stronger  EX variant, it means your new Combo is EX 1 EX 2,  

Enhanced Basic 3, EX 2, where this last EX 2  used to be an EX 1. Basically, more damage.

Her fourth doesn’t benefit either  of our rotations at all and doesn’t  

seem necessary thanks to her M1. It’s  good for energy generation I guess.

Her final one grants her 20% PEN ratio, which  lets you ignore Defense of the enemy. It also  

gives you a massive DMG% buff to your  charged scissor strike. Implementing this  

charged scissor strike at the start of our  rotation and we see a sizable DPS increase,  

and on the standard rotation it’s very powerful.

Let’s talk about builds. You will have 6 gear  slots on your character. You can equip your  

character thus with a 4 Piece of a Disk Set,  and a 2 Piece of another. In my calculations  

using a burst window with maximum Ellen damage,  Puffer Electro comes out ahead as her ultimate  

is a huge portion of damage, and the subsequent  buff is major. Woodpecker Electro is also very  

great for its CRIT Rate and ATK% Buffs. The ATK%  Buffs from Puffer Electro and Woodpecker Electro  

4 Piece are in fact secondary ATK% Multipliers,  so they multiply your total calculated ATK when  

entering combat, which is why they are insane.  However when you consider a standard rotation  

where the DPS is on field and not ulting,  which is very normal for a lot of fights,  

the disk drive ranking completely flips. Polar  Metal ends up now being her best as it's designed  

for her on field playstyle. Woodpecker still  comes out very strong and puffer electro drops  

a lot. So combining the rankings of both of  these rotations, and Woodpecker is my pick  

for farming. It’s also incredibly universal so  you can plop any other pieces on your other DPS.

For 2 Pieces just go whatever; ATK% with  Hormone Punk, which is regular ATK%,  

CRIT Rate with Woodpecker, or Ice DMG% with Polar.  Just run whichever pieces have the best substats.

And so onto the main stats. For a quick recap  we have 6 main stat slots. The first 3 slots  

are all fixed, with the 4th to 6th slots  all having different possible main stats.  

On our fourth disk slot we want CRIT DMG  or CRIT Rate depending on your CRIT Ratio. 

For the fifth slot opt for Ice DMG% or ATK%,  ideally DMG%, but ATK% is competitive in some  

disk drive setups. And finally for her  sixth slot, go for an ATK% main stat.

For substats you’ll prioritize CRIT Rate, CRIT  DMG, and ATK%. And you should know that in ZZZ  

you can roll the same substat as a main stat,  allowing for crazy disk drives like this one.

Onto W-Engines. In a burst rotation the w-engine  situation is very rough and everything is weak  

in comparison. However when calculating for a  standard on field rotation The Brimstone creeps  

very close in power. And it makes sense. Her  signature is extremely synergistic for herself  

with a whopping 44% CRIT Rate and 25% Ice DMG,  and the other ones fall off because they don’t  

buff her massive boss combo as much. But when  considering her on field presence and lack of  

burst, the Brimstone’s on field massive combat  ATK% multipliers go ham. Starlight Engine again  

pops off in both situations thanks to this  combat ATK%, so I definitely recommend picking  

this up in the w-engine shop for a lot of attack  units. Her signature is still way ahead of other  

options though and is definitely a great  pickup. Though we are in 1.0 so it won’t  

be the end of the world if you don’t start the  game with an S rank and their signature weapon.

For teams her absolute best is Soukaku,  Ellen, Von Lycaon. Von Lycaon’s damage  

amping power is unmatched. His ability  to Stun the enemy is insane and you can  

on-field him easily versus bosses thanks to his  charged basic attacks. He also is Ice Element,  

allowing for some very frequent Freezes, giving  you even better damage windows for Ellen. 

As for Soukaku, she brings some massive ATK buffs,  

as well as Ice DMG% and even RES PEN at  Mindscape 4. Furthermore, as a Support,  

Soukaku allows you to easily proc Quick  Assists with her EX or Chain Attacks,  

thus reducing Ellen’s Charge Attack duration.  Her Daze contribution is also pretty nice.

Replacing Soukaku for Rina is possible if  you just don’t want to bother with Soukaku,  

but it will be a damage loss when  considering the full potential of  

Soukaku. You also don’t get as much  Daze or Ice Anomaly accumulation.

I would not replace Lycaon ever for a Support,  and instead if you don’t have Lycaon, you can  

run Koleda as another Stun bot. She is not as  powerful as Lycaon, especially in this team,  

but she works. And you’d definitely want  to run Soukaku if you do run Koleda.

So for a final tip, you probably want  to aim for Lycaon on a reroll if you’re  

aiming to main Ellen, or you can pray  he comes on the Standard Pity or wait  

for the 300 selector. Anyways I hope  this video helped, and if it did,  

please consider liking and subscribing.  Thanks for watching, and have a guoba day!