Table of Contents
Potential upgrades:
- +25% damage amplification
- +25% damage amplification
- -1 SP cost
https://dotgg.gg/brown-dust-2/october-25th-utc-routine-maintenance-and-update
Overview
Pros:
- Very good at stacking chains and amplifying single target damage.
- Skill only costs 1 SP at +5 (and costs 0 SP after potential upgrade) and has no cooldown.
- Very high HP
- One of the most useful units for fiend hunts
Cons:
- Offensive stats are very poor
- Damage multiplier is poor, even after taking into account the damage amplification and chain stacking
- No AOE
- Really needs all 3 potential skill upgrades to shine
Zenith for PVE
Deep dive on damage and stats
When I say Zenith has poor offensive stats, I mean really poor. Her art makes her look like a hard hitting archer, like a 5-star upgraded version from 3-star Rigenette. Strangely, she is in fact built with high tanking stats but low damage stats.
Zenith has 321 base attack, which is very low. To make things worse and add insult to injury, the exclusive ability Zenith's unique gear gives a HP% stat instead of damage:
Furthermore, her bonding stats only increase her defense (+62.4% HP, +13.4% DEF).
To illustrate how low Zenith's attack is, let's compare to other units in the game:
| Unit | Base ATK at max level (ignoring potential stats) |
| Alec (highest ATK) | 418 (+45% ATK exclusive gear stat) |
| Gray | 330 (+90% crit rate exclusive gear stat) |
| Kry (4-star) | 252 (+11.99 crit rate exclusive gear stat) |
| Gynt (3-star) | 210 (+27% ATK exclusive gear stat) |
| Zenith | 198 (+54% HP exclusive gear stat) |
| Rigenette | 175 (+40 ATK exclusive gear stat) |
Yes I'm serious. Zenith has less ATK than 3-star Gynt. In fact, Zenith also has less ATK than Rigenette equipped with her unique UR gear.
When it comes to skill damage, after taking into account chain damage and damage amplification, Zenith's skill does 281.25% at +5, or 375% at +5 full potential. This is comparable to 3-star Rigenette, who deals 231% at +5 and 336% at +5 full potential. Needless to say, being comparable to a 3-star unit means that Zenith's own damage is pretty poor for a 5-star unit.
So why is Zenith still considered an S-Tier unit? We'll answer that below.
Damage amplification and chain stacking
Zenith is one the best sources of single-target damage amplification via her skill and her chain stacking.
At +5 full potential, Zenith effectively gives the next attacker 3.2x damage (1.6x from chain and 2x from skill).
Chain stacking is especially important against fiend bosses (to get the "critical lock" effect) and in Last Night.
Focus fire
Zenith is very useful for helping "Front" targeting units get to the hard-to-reach tiles in the "Skip" position. This is especially important in fiend battles, where it is absolutely essential to get full AOE on the fiend's weak points to score well.
Zenith for PVP
Before her potential upgrades, Zenith was one of the worst PVP characters, who could make barely any impact in a PVP team. With her upgrades however, that has completely changed, and Zenith is now one of the best PVP units.
Firstly, she now costs zero SP. Even though her own damage is pretty low, for zero SP, you can't complain at all! Zenith can therefore easily be slotted into any attacking team for an easy damage boost.
Secondly, Zenith is a strong counter to some popular meta costumes, including Void Granhildr, White Cat Rou and Pool Party Justia. Zenith is also good at taking out Schera (another very popular character) with her inherent elemental advantage.
Thirdly, in terms of survivability, Zenith is decently tanky with 6315 base HP and an exclusive gear that gives bonus +54% HP. She cannot be a "true tank" because she has no defensive skills and her HP is not quite as high as dedicated tanks, but she's enough to put up a decent wall.
Fourthly, Zenith effectively turns any ally into a "skip" targeting attacker, which grants your team the ability to easily hit enemy units hiding in hard-to-reach places. For example, Zenith + Blood Glutton Justia makes a skip targeting 3x3 AOE attack for a total of only 2 SP.
Conclusion
Zenith's potential upgrades have been a complete gamechanger for Zenith, especially in PVP. A highly recommended costume to have in your roster. Getting at least +3 with her potential upgrades significantly improves her utility, so that she can activate her skill for 0 SP.
