Zenless Zone Zero – Zhu Yuan build and promotion guide

Check out the best W-Engines and Drive Discs for Zhu Yuan in ZZZ

HoYoverse

Uphold the law and punish those who break it with the best Zenless Zone Zero Zhu Yuan build. This Ether Attack Agent comes with devastating burst damage abilities that can melt down entire groups of enemies at once, making her an offensive powerhouse.

Table of Contents

1. ZZZ – Zhu Yuan: best W-Engines
2. ZZZ – Zhu Yuan: best Drive Discs
3. ZZZ – Zhu Yuan: best team comps
4. ZZZ – Zhu Yuan: promotion materials

• Role: Attack
• Damage Type: Ether
• Faction: Criminal Investigation Special Response Team
• Rarity: S-Rank

Zhu Yuan’s gameplay revolves around gaining and consuming Enhanced Shotshells. There is no shortage of sources for these: Basic Attack, Dodge Counter, Quick Assist, Assist Follow-Up, EX Special Attack, Chain Attack, and Ultimate all provide Enhanced Shotshells.

Zhu Yuan can use these Enhanced Shotshells to deal extra Ether DMG with her Dash Attack and Basic Attack – for the latter, you need to hold the attack button to unleash them. Holding Basic Attack has a second purpose: It allows Zhu Yuan to enter Suppressive Mode, which improves the damage dealt by Enhanced Shotshells – a bonus that’s even greater against stunned targets.

Putting Zhu Yuan into a team with fellow Public Security or Support Agents – both are a very limited commodity at launch – increases her CRIT Rate after she uses EX Special Attack, Chain Attack, or Ultimate.

Completing Zhu Yuan’s Mindscape Cinema by obtaining duplicates further bolsters her prowess. Level 1 grants Zhu Yuan Quick Reload after using Chain Attack or Ultimate, restoring Enhanced Shotshells immediately the next time she’s using them all up. Level 2 boosts Suppressive Mode with DMG Reduction and Anti-Interruption effects, simultaneously making Zhu Yuan’s skills deal more damage to targets hit by Enhanced Shotshells. 

In a similar vein, Level 4 allows some of her attacks to ignore a portion of the enemy’s Ether DMG RES after being hit by Enhanced Shotshells. Finally, Level 6 reduces the Energy cost of Zhu Yuan’s next EX Special Attack after she’s consumed a dozen Enhanced Shotshells and add several shots to the move, which deal Ether DMG based on her ATK.

ZZZ – Zhu Yuan: best W-Engines

Zhu Yuan’s trusty – though suspiciously named – Riot Suppressor Mark VI is the best tool for her line of duty. It comes with buffs for both CRIT DMG and CRIT Rate. In addition, using EX Special Attacks creates stacks of Charge, which can be consumed to enhance the Ether DMG dealt by Basic Attacks.

Best W-Engines for Zhu Yuan:

• Riot Suppressor Mark VI (S-Rank)
• The Brimstone (S-Rank)
• Cannon Rotor (A-Rank)
• Street Superstar (A-Rank)
• Starlight Engine (A-Rank)
• [Lunar] Noviluna (B-Rank)

Zhu Yuan is licensed to bring out the big guns. / HoYoverse

ZZZ – Zhu Yuan: best Drive Discs

Naturally, Zhu Yuan greatly benefits from the usual array of damage-bolstering stats such as CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, ATK, and PEN. If you have her signature W-Engine and find that you can’t consistently use EX Special Attacks to generate Charge, you can always invest into an Energy Regen main stat on Partition 6 of your Disc Drive set.

Best Drive Disc sets for Zhu Yuan:

• Chaotic Metal (4) + Woodpecker Electro (2): +10% Ether DMG, +20% CRIT DMG, +5.5% Corruption DMG for 8 seconds after the effect’s extra damage is triggered by any squad member (can stack up to six times), +8% CRIT Rate.
• Chaotic Metal (4) + Puffer Electro (2): +10% Ether DMG, +20% CRIT DMG, +5.5% Corruption DMG for 8 seconds after the effect’s extra damage is triggered by any squad member (can stack up to six times), +8% PEN Ratio.

Best Drive Disc stats for Zhu Yuan:

• Partition 1 – HP (Primary), CRIT Rate %, CRIT DMG %, ATK %, PEN
• Partition 2 – ATK (Primary), CRIT Rate %, CRIT DMG %, ATK %, PEN
• Partition 3 – DEF (Primary), CRIT Rate %, CRIT DMG %, ATK %, PEN
• Partition 4 – CRIT Rate % or CRIT DMG % (Primary), CRIT Rate % or CRIT DMG %, ATK %, PEN, Anomaly Proficiency
• Partition 5 – Ether DMG % (Primary), CRIT Rate %, CRIT DMG %, ATK %, PEN
• Partition 6 – ATK % (Primary), CRIT Rate %, CRIT DMG %, PEN, Anomaly Proficiency

"Vacation" is something the hard-working Zhu Yuan has no need for. / HoYoverse

ZZZ – Zhu Yuan: best team comps

Zhu Yuan is an excellent damage dealer, though solid team compositions for her are quite limited at launch due to the low number of Support Agents and the complete lack of fellow Public Security faction members.

• Zhu Yuan (Main DPS), Anby (Sub DPS), Nicole (Support)
• Bangboo: Resonaboo

Nicole is the best choice as Zhu Yuan’s Support at the moment, as she’s one of only two Agents who can activate Zhu Yuan’s teamwork buff – and what a great duo those two are: Not only can Nicole reduce the DEF of enemies, she makes debuffed targets a lot more vulnerable to Ether DMG. Thanks to her crowd control ability, she’s basically leaving everything presented on a silver platter for Zhu Yuan, who merely needs to pull the trigger to cause devastation. 

A Stun Agent is a good choice to complete the trio, as Zhu Yuan deals additional damage to stunned targets – we’ve chosen Anby in this example, as she benefits from having Nicole around, but feel free to use whatever Stun character you have.

Lucy and Koleda are another strong duo to accompany Zhu Yuan.

Zhu Yuan's possible team options will expand over time, but remain limited for now. / HoYoverse

ZZZ – Zhu Yuan: promotion materials

After obtaining Zhu Yuan, you’ll want to level her up as quickly as possible to make use of her talents in combat. Here are the materials required to upgrade her to Level 60:

• Basic Offense Certification Seal x4
• Advanced Offense Certification Seal x32
• Pioneer Certification Seal x30
• Dennies x800,000

You can obtain Certification Seals from the VR Combat Simulation. Advanced materials may be crafted using lower-level materials as well. Dennies can be earned in the VR Combat Simulation as well as through operating the Random Play video store.

Leveling Zhu Yuan up is only half the game, though – you’ll want to upgrade all of her skills as well to get the most out of her performance in battle. Here are the materials required to max out her Basic Attack, Dodge, Assist, Special Attack, and Chain Attack – we’re giving you the total you need, so just divide everything by five to get the materials needed for a single skill:

• Basic Ether Chip x25
• Advanced Ether Chip x75
• Specialized Ether Chip x250
• Hamster Cage Pass x5
• Dennies x2,500,000

Chips can be farmed in the VR Combat Simulation with Advanced and Specialized Chips also being available through crafting. Hamster Cage Passes are a rare material that can be grabbed from time-limited events as well as the New Eridu City Fund.

Finally, you can upgrade her Core Skill six times to make Zhu Yuan stronger, for which you need the following materials:

• Higher Dimensional Data: Ethereal Pursuit x60
• Living Drive x9
• Dennies x405,000

Higher Dimensional Data: Ethereal Pursuit is available from the Expert Challenge: Notorious – Armored Hati, while Ferocious Grip must be acquired through Notorious Hunt: Unknown Corruption Complex.