Zenless Zone Zero Ellen Joe Best Builds

Ellen Joe in Zenless Zone Zero is an S rank Agent who deals Ice anomaly and slashing damage. She specializes in AOE and single target ice damage and relies heavily on her dodge to maximize damage potential.

Below, you will find the best DPS builds for Ellen as of the ZZZ 1.0 release. Rather you are a F2P player or a spender, this guide is for you! *Note that these builds assume base talent level.

Overview

Available on a limited time banner as of the 1.0 release, Ellen Joe, a shark themed maid employed with Victoria Housekeeping, is an agent with a wide breadth of attacks that all rely on her unique dodge and sprint mechanic, "Roaming State" granting her the ability to constantly apply ice elemental damage to her foes and surrounding foes thanks to her large AOE slash range. Albeit a bit more complex to use effectively than other agents, she is, in my opinion, one of the more fun units to use and eventually master. Thanks to the innate ability of ice to freeze enemies causing CC, she is one of the stronger attackers as she can constantly wail on enemies without needing to worry about them fighting back.

She can and should only be built one way, as a main DPS, due to the fact that she has to constantly activate roaming state in order to maximize her damage output. With all that said, let's discuss the best W-Engines, Disc Drives, Stats, Skills, Bangboo, and Teams for Ellen Joe!

W-Engines

⭐ ATK%

Lord of Seas (level 1 stats)

• ATK is increased by 20%.
• CRIT Rate is increased by 27% for 6s after applying Freeze to an enemy.
• The "canon" W-Engine. As Ellen is able to consistently apply ice damage upon entering Roaming State, Freeze will be applied at a reliable pace, therefore, in practice, she will constantly have an extra 27% crit rate, and you would be able to roll for other sub / main stats on your disc drives.
• ATK% Advanced Stat + 20% at base level gives a massive ATK% bonus, allowing you to roll for other stats on disc drives. if you so choose.

⭐ Impact

Binding Chains (level 1 stats)

• Ice DMG is increased by 25% in combat.
• When a Basic Attack deals Ice DMG, the skill deals an additional 15% damage and Daze.
• This W-Engine will further improve upon how much damage Ellen's ice attacks deal, which, if you use her effectively by making use of her unique Roaming State mechanic, will be a consistent boost to ice damage, not to mention the bonus 15% damage at level 1 when ice is applied to her basic attack.
• Impact Advanced Stat + 15% bonus Daze at level 1 means that Ellen will be more effective at stunning enemies, allowing for your team to come in for chain attacks, or for Ellen to further attack and build up ice anomaly damage for a chance to freeze an enemy.

⭐ Attribute Mastery

Oversized Barrel (level 1 stats)

• Crit Rate is increased by 16%.
• Attacks that deal a CRIT on an enemy will deal an additional 275% ATK as damage. This effect can only trigger once every 5 seconds.
• Attribute Mastery advanced stat, while not ideal for Ellen, will increase the amount of damage caused by Shatter.
• Overall, if you want additional crit and damage overall, but do not have Deep Sea Visitor, this will be the second-best option for crit-build Ellen.

⭐ Attribute Mastery

Kiss of Death (level 1 stats)

• Deal 40% more Attribute Anomaly Damage
• 40% more shatter damage could be very effective if you are to consistently apply the Freeze effect to enemies by making use of her Flash Freeze stacks.
• More Attribute Mastery = even more shatter damage.

Disc Drives + Stats

4-Pieces Woodpecker Electro

2-Pieces Polar Metal

Main stats: IV. CRIT Rate% or CRIT DMG | V. PEN% or ATK% | VI. Anomaly Rate%.

Sub stats in order of priority:

1.  CRIT Rate% or CRIT DMG | 2. Pen | 3. ATK% | 4. Attribute Mastery

This build is for if you want Ellen to become a critical hit master. If you combine this with Deep Sea Visitor or The Restrained, you will deal consistent and heavy critical hit damage, especially if you manage to get lucky with your Crit DMG and or Crit Rate stat rolls. For this build to truly shine, you want to land a crit at least once every 5 seconds you're on the field, which with Ellen, should not be an issue with how fast and how wide her attacks are.

With her ability to Freeze, Ellen will be able to CC enemies in order to potentially land even more critical hits within that 5 second time restraint, hence why you want to go for Anomaly Rate% to boost her rate of freeze.

4-Pieces Polar Metal

2-Pieces Puffer Electro

Main stats: IV. CRIT Rate% or CRIT DMG | V. PEN% or ATK% | VI. Anomaly Rate%.

Sub stats in order of priority:

1. CRIT Rate% or CRIT DMG | 2. Pen | 3. ATK% | 4. Attribute Mastery

While the stat recommendations remain the same, this build is for if you want Ellen to penetrate the defenses of tough foes (ex. bosses), especially if the enemy has high ice resistance. Ellen has a base 15% PEN Ratio at level 60, so with this, it'll be pushed to 25%, not counting any bonuses from main stats. This build, while good at helping you deal more damage, will require more luck in getting good rolls on Crit DMG or Crit Rate to make up the difference from Option 1.

For this build to be the most effective it can be, you want to aim for freezing whatever it is you're attacking once every 8 seconds, hence why you absolutely need anomaly rate% on not only Ellen, but on a support ice DPS as well. Overall, this build, while tougher to optimize and more "niche" than option 1, has very high potential for specific situations.

Skill Priority

ALWAYS PRIORITIZE CORE SKILL FIRST!!!

1. As a main DPS agent, Ellen will be on the field for the bulk of the expeditions, therefore you want to prioritize raising her basic attack. Not to mention, her Basic Attack: Flash Freeze Trimming (hold basic attack during the 3rd attack) has very high damage multipliers, higher than her specials!
2. Ellen's Dodge is her unique mechanic that enables her to enter "Roaming State', and every attack based off her dodge, which there are 4, are boosted by levelling up the Dodge skill.
3. While the damage multipliers are fine, you get the most damage out of Sharknami, which is only available at 80 energy, therefore this is not a main priority as you'll be spending most of your time roaming and basic attacking.
4. If you take advantage of her roaming state and appropriate basic attacks, you will dish out much more damage than her ultimate could ever do, leaving this at bottom priority, but it's still a good finishing move for a big burst of damage.

Bangboo

Key Trait - Increases damage of all Ice Agents by 25%.

Much like the Deep Sea Visitor W-Engine, this is a shark theme banbgoo befitting of Ellen. As Ellen is an Ice agent and she pairs best with other ice agents (see team comp), this gives the entire team a straightforward damage buff, which will help you in all your endeavors.

Key Trait - Increases CRIT Rate of all Agents by 14%, and the CRIT Rate of Victoria Housekeeping Co. Agents by an extra 14%

As Ellen Joe is a member of Victoria Housekeeping Co, Butler gives her an additional 28% crit rate. This is extremely helpful, with the combination of Butler, W-Engine bonuses and stats, you should easily be able to get Ellen to near or 100% crit rate, and then you'd only need to pump crit damage to as high as your luck allows. Last but not least, Lycaon is also part of Victoria Housekeeping, meaning your daze unit will also receive a strong 28% crit rate bonus!

If your gacha luck fails you, Paperboo and Luckyboo are also viable A rank options.

Optimal Team Comp

This team consisting of Ellen Joe, Soukaku, and Lycaon gives you perfect ice synergy between all involved by checking off all the requirements for her Core Skill Additional Ability. For Ellen, when there are at least 2 ice or Victoria Housekeeping agents, when Ellen deals Ice DMG, subsequent Ice DMG increases by 3% for 10s, which can stack up to 10 times, making her an ice DPS queen. Equip all 3 with Anomaly Rate% on their VI-disc drive for constant freeze CC.

Overall Thoughts

I believe that in the right hands, Ellen is one of the strongest S rank in the game as of 1.0. She has a high skill ceiling, as you have to constantly go in and out of Roaming State and know when to charge and when not to charge her attack in order to maximize her damage potential as that is where the high damage multipliers lie. If you attempt to abuse her charge attack, you will find yourself getting hit out of it.

Since Ellen is the first limited unit in 1.0, I 100% recommend that you save or re-roll for her, although you won't have much time, our Reroll guide could help.