In this article, we'll craft a wind physical DPS build for Zack. We'll start off with a free-to-play build and gradually improve it as we go while keeping the investments to a minimum. Let's get into it!
Zack is one of the units in the game who wields a wind weapon, the Falchion. This weapon provides a physical attack and wind potency boost, making it the perfect choice to start the build. Unfortunately, he doesn't have an outfit that boosts wind damage like Aerith and Sephiroth, so we'll make use of his event outfit, the Tropical Beach outfit.
Falchion isn't very efficient at dealing wind damage to a single target since its skill is AoE, and it comes with a low modifier. To remedy this, simply equip it with an Aerora Blow materia in the third slot. This will add 20% more damage to the Aerora Blow and make it more efficient in terms of damage per ATB cost.
For his off-hand weapon, we'll go with his Beach Parasol. While this weapon may not provide a lot of stats, it can be overboosted to its maximum potential and serves as a free maxed weapon. There aren't many other good options for the secondary weapon slot unless you also want him to debuff physical defense. You can switch to his Cutlass, but this will lower his damage output, as he'll spend some time debuffing the enemy before dealing any damage when set to auto. If you're controlling him manually, it might be a good idea.
As for sub weapons, we'll use two physical attack-boosting weapons, namely the Bald Eagle and Motor Drive. These weapons grant 32 points of physical attack bonus, which is just enough to reach the level 7 threshold for physical attack. The last slot can be filled with the Torn Wing or Lefko Kypseli. These weapons are from recent events and can be maxed out for free. They offer better stats than Zack's Beach Parasol, with the Torn Wing providing a slightly higher physical attack boost compared to the Lefko.
This is what Zack's stats look like with this build, assuming he is at level 55 and the weapons are at level 90.
And here's what the bonuses look like:
It's actually good, considering we are limited in our overboost levels. This build maximizes physical attack and provides good survivability with HP, PDEF, and MDEF boosts. However, the wind potency boost is on the low side, at just 15%. This is understandable, though, because Zack doesn't have a wind damage-boosting outfit (yet).
To enhance this build, you can invest an overboost point in Falchion to increase the wind potency bonus to 25% and gain a bit more physical attack. The next threshold for wind potency is reached when Falchion is overboosted to 4, which will provide him with a 40% wind potency boost. You can also change his outfit into the Valiant Suit which gives a bit of attack and physical defense. I wouldn't spend the gear ticket on this though since there are better gear to use it on.
If you don't have Motor Drive or Bald Eagle, you can simply use any 24-point physical attack-boosting weapon, such as Murasame, Maritime Sword, or Black Rifle. However, please note that you'll need to remove the Torn Wing or Lefko from the third slot, which will significantly impact his stats.
This concludes the guide on transforming Zack into a Wind Physical Damage Dealer. I hope you found it useful!
