Zhu Yuan Build Guide - Zenless Zone Zero Guide - IGN (2024)

As Zenless Zone Zero enters the second half of its 1st update, Zhu Yuan, a powerful Attack specialty Ether Agent from the Criminal Investigation Special Response team has released. Zhu Yuan comes with simple but enjoyable gameplay, capable of easily clearing through the game’s current content. This guide will explain how to play Zhu Yuan, her best W-Engines, Drive Discs and team compositions.

Build TLDR

Want to know how to build Zhu Yuan immediately? Check out the build TLDR created by CatalystOnline and Leifa. For more information, feel free to continue reading.

Zhu Yuan Quick Tips

• Zhu Yuan gains large amounts of CRIT Rate after using an EX Special, Chain Attack or Ultimate if paired with a Support Agent or Agent of the same Faction. Try to focus more on CRIT DMG stats to avoid overcapping on CRIT Rate.
• Zhu Yuan deals increased DMG when attacking Stunned enemies, making Stun specialty Agents important teammates for her.
• Her main source of damage comes from Enhanced Shotshells, which can be used by holding the Basic Attack button. Using Enhanced Shotshells will deal Ether DMG rather than Physical.
• 1 Enhanced Shotshell can be generated from Zhu Yuan’s 4th or 5th Basic Attack, Dodge Counter and Quick Assist, whereas 3 are generated by her EX Special, Chain Attack, Ultimate and Assist Follow-up. Due to their lack of damage and long animations for 1 Shotshell, the former attacks are generally not used.
• Zhu Yuan doesn’t require any advanced combos for her damage. Instead, players can just hold the Basic Attack button and focus on dodging when needsbe.

Zhu Yuan Stats

Character Overview

Zhu Yuan is an S-Rank Ether Agent of the Attack specialty, whose gameplay revolves around generating Enhanced Shotshells to deal large amounts of damage with her Basic Attacks. By attacking, Zhu Yuan will generate Enhanced Shotshells, which can be expended by holding the Basic Attack button to deal large amounts of Ether DMG. Her EX Special, Chain Attack, Ultimate and Assist Follow-up generate several Enhanced Shotshells whilst dealing significant damage, further extending her damage windows. She also doesn’t require any hard combos to master, only relying on holding Basic Attack to consume her Shotshells.

As stated by her specialty, Zhu Yuan will primarily be played as a main carry in a team, using her Ultimate after Stunning bosses and dealing large amounts of damage with her EX Special and Basic Attacks. Zhu Yuan’s Core Passive grants her 6 Enhanced Shotshells at the start of combat and lets her deal increased damage with her Enhanced Shotshell attacks, doubling in potency against Stunned enemies. Her Additional Ability grants her large amounts of CRIT Rate after using an EX Special, Chain Attack or Ultimate, improving her damage consistency.

A large amount of Zhu Yuan’s damage comes from her Basic Attacks, making those recommended to level first. Her Ultimate and Special Skills come next, also dealing a noticeable amount of damage. Zhu Yuan tends to either cancel or not use her Dodge and Assist attacks, making these Skills not required to level but Dodge can be nice if using her Dash Attack to consume Enhanced Shotshells.

Zhu Yuan Skills and Combos

Skill Levelling Priority: Core > Basic > Chain >= Special > Dodge > Assist

• Basic Attack
  Zhu Yuan has two sets of Basic Attacks performed based on if she is in Assault Mode or Suppressive Mode. By repeatedly pressing the Basic Attack Button, Zhu Yuan will attack the target in Assault Mode with a mix of kicks and gunshots, generating 1 Enhanced Shotshell when the 4th or 5th Basic Attack hits an enemy.
  Upon holding the Basic Attack Button, Zhu Yuan will transition to Suppressive Mode, consuming her Enhanced Shotshells to deal large amounts of Ether DMG. If Zhu Yuan is out of Enhanced Shotshells, these attacks will instead deal reduced Physical DMG. These Shotshell attacks can pierce through enemies, allowing Zhu Yuan to efficienctly deal with hordes of enemies. Releasing Basic Attack will cause Zhu Yuan to return to Assault Mode. Due to the lower multipliers of her non-Enhanced Shotshell attacks, they will rarely be used, meaning Zhu Yuan only needs to worry about holding Basic Attack when she has Enhanced Shotshells.

• Special
  Zhu Yuan's Special shoots a simple Ether Buckshot at the enemy, and can be repeatedly input to fire up to 3 shots. However, these do very little damage and should rarely be used.
  On the other hand, her EX Special shoots a large amount of Ether Buckshots, dealing large amounts of Ether DMG and generating 3 Enhanced Shotshells.

• Dodge
  Although Zhu Yuan's default Dash Attack is nothing special, during both her Assault and Suppressive Mode attacks, inputting a direction on the joystick will cause her to dodge in that direction and shoot a Shotshell, consuming an Enhanced Shotshell to empower her attack if available. Dodging in this way can trigger a Perfect Dodge, granting her flexible movement and safety whilst attacking.
  Zhu Yuan's Dodge Counter additionally deals Ether DMG and generates 1 Enhanced Shotshell upon unleashing the attack, some nice utility to reward her for dodging attacks successfully.

• Chain
  Both Zhu Yuan's Chain Attack and Ultimate deal high amounts of Ether DMG ahead and generate 3 Enhanced Shotshells each. Although a simple ability, they generate the majority of Zhu Yuan's Enhanced Shotshells and deal great damage on top, making it a powerful Skill to level.

• Assist
  Unlike most other Agents, Zhu Yuan has an Evasive Assist, allowing her to trigger Vital View upon switching at the right time, rather than parry the enemy attack. Vital View slows down time on the battlefield, granting ample opportunity to reposition and attack the enemy. After an Evasive Assist, Zhu Yuan can use her Assist Follow-Up to deal damage and generate 3 Enhanced Shotshells.
  Zhu Yuan's Quick Assist also deals some minor Ether DMG and generates 1 Enhanced Shotshell.

• Core
  Zhu Yuan's Core Passive grants her up to 40% DMG to her Enhanced Shotshell attacks during Suppressive Mode, greatly increasing the damage of her most potent attacks. When attacking Stunned enemies, this effect doubles in potency, granting up to 80% DMG Bonus to Zhu Yuan's Enhanced Shotshell attacks. Upgrading her Core Skill to Rank F will additionally give Zhu Yuan an extra 75 Base ATK and 28.8% CRIT DMG, further increasing her damage.
  This CRIT DMG increase pairs well with her Additional Ability, increasing Zhu Yuan's CRIT Rate by 30% for 10s after using an EX Special, Chain Attack or Ultimate, as long as there's either a Support Agent or another Criminal Investigation Special Response Team Agent in the team.

Preferred Combo

Once a boss has been Stunned, Zhu Yuan will take the field, using her Ultimate first if she hasnt capped out on Enhanced Shotshells. From here, her combo consists of holding the Basic Attack Button to initiate her Suppressive Mode attacks. If running low on Shotshells, Zhu Yuan can weave in EX Specials to increase her damage uptime. If you have a teammate that can trigger a Quick Assist after their Chain Attack, make sure to use their Chain Attack last and Quick Assist into Zhu Yuan to maximise buff uptime. Zhu Yuan can also cancel her Quick Assist attack by holding Basic Attack, allowing her to immediately start shooting her Enhanced Shotshells.

Mindscape Cinema

Zhu Yuan’s kit is fully functional at M0, and does not need additional Mindscapes to clear the current content in the game. For players interested in investing in her vertically, her M1 is a large increase to her overall damage and comfort, granting additional Enhanced Shotshells. Since Zhu Yuan can expend her Shotshells rather quickly, she tends to have periods where the enemy is still Stunned with no more Shotshells to attack. These additional Shotshells increase her total damage during this period and allow her to make better use of the Stun’s DMG Multiplier buff.

Preferred Stats and Drive Discs

Both Chaotic Metal and Woodpecker Electro perform similarly on Zhu Yuan, with Chaotic Metal being preferred thanks to the second Drive Disc set it’s paired with, Freedom Blues. The increased CRIT DMG from Chaotic Metal pairs well with the large CRIT Rate buff Zhu Yuan receives from her Additional Ability, and Woodpecker Electro’s In-Combat ATK buff is universally a strong option.
If players have it from farming for Fire characters, Puffer Electro can be used in bossing scenarios thanks to the 15% Combat ATK buff it provides. However, Zhu Yuan may waste Enhanced Shotshells using her Ultimate at the start of her uptime if her Shotshell gauge is already full. If it is, then expending these Shotshells will reduce the uptime on other buffs whilst waiting to use her Ultimate. As a result, this Drive Disc set is generally not recommended, however can be used if owned.
For 2pc Effects, use any of the three listed here:

Preferred W-Engines

Zhu Yuan generally wants to find ATK and CRIT stats wherever possible, with CRIT DMG being preferred due to the large CRIT Rate buff she receives from her Additional Ability. Due to the large amounts of DMG Bonus Zhu Yuan has when attacking Stunned enemies, both Ether DMG and ATK% main stats are viable. Sources of Combat ATK% are also extremely valuable and allow weapons such as The Brimstone and Starlight Engine to perform similarly to her signature W-Engine.

Although her signature W-Engine Riot Suppressor Mark VI is her best W-Engine, she is perfectly viable without it and has other close options as mentioned previously, making it not recommended to pull for unless you want to activate her glowing hair cosmetic effect.

Despite not being listed below, other A-Rank W-Engines are viable and will still perform better than any B-Rank W-Engine.

Best Team Compositions

Ideally, Zhu Yaun wants to play with at least 1 Support or Public Security teammate to activate her Additional Ability. Her Core Passive also heavily incentivises Stun characters even more than other teams for the increased DMG Bonus. Thankfully, her current go-to team consists of only free characters, consisting of Anby and Nicole. Nicole provides DEF Down, Ether DMG Bonus and even CRIT Rate once her 6th Mindscape is unlocked, making her an ideal teammate for Zhu Yuan. Although Anby can activate her Additional Ability here, any Stun Agent can be used due to Anby’s lack of buffing, making Koleda and Von Lycaon viable alternatives.

Go-to Team

As mentioned previously, Zhu Yuan’s current team consists of two Cunning Hares members, Anby and Nicole. Nicole provides large amounts of buffs for Zhu Yuan, as well as high Ether Anomaly Buildup, allowing for high uptime on Chaotic Metal’s 4pc Set Bonus. Resonaboo can be used in the Bangboo slot to provide additional Ether Buildup if needsbe. Anby synergises with Nicole to activate her Additional Ability, but doesnt provide much to the team outside of Daze DMG, making her easily replaceable with other Stun characters. As a result, she may be replaced in this team in the future but will still serve as a viable alternative.

Premium Alternative

An alternative team consisting of two Victoria Housekeeping members, Von Lycaon and Rina. Thanks to Lycaon’s high Daze DMG and Stun DMG Multiplier buff, as well as Rina’s strong PEN Ratio buff, they can also allow Zhu Yuan to deal large amounts of damage. Keep in mind, Zhu Yuan’s Additional Ability is fulfilled by either a Support Agent or Agent of the same Faction, allowing Rina to grant Zhu Yuan’s Additional Ability.