Table of Contents
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
S - Deep Sea Visitor
⭐ Crit Rate
- Increases Ice DMG by 25/31.5/38/44.5/50%
- Upon hitting an enemy with a Basic Attack, the equipper's CRIT Rate increases by 10/12.5.15/17.5/20% for 8s. When dealing Ice DMG with a Dash Attack, the equipper's CRIT Rate increases by an additional 10/12.5.15/17.5/20% for 15s. The duration of each effect is calculated separately.
- 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 a huge boost to 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.
S - The Brimstone
⭐ Attack
- Upon hitting an enemy with a Basic Attack, Dash Attack, or Dodge Counter, the equipper's ATK increases by 3.5/4.4/5.2/6/7% for 8s, stacking up to 8 times. This effect can trigger once every 0.5s. The duration of each stack is calculated separately.
- As Ellen will be on the field a lot, and thanks to her many multiple hits on her basic attacks, you will constantly have the max amount of stacks at all time, making this a very good fit for Ellen to boost her damage considerably.
A - Canon Rotor
⭐ Crit Rate
- Increases ATK by 7.5/8.6/9.7/10.8/12%.
- Attacks that land a CRIT on an enemy will inflict an additional 200% of ATK as DMG. This effect can only be triggered once every 8/7.5/7/6.5/6s.
- Ideal for a heavy rotation team, rotating roughly every 8 seconds in order to proc this damage boost.
- 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.
A - Street Superstar
⭐ Attack
- Whenever a squad member launches a Chain Attack, the equipper gains a Charge stack, stacking up to 3 times. Upon activating their own Ultimate, the equipper consumes all Charge stacks, and each stack increases the skill's DMG by 15/17.2/19.5/21.7/24%.
- W-Engine suited for a team with high daze, so for example, if you have Lycaon to proc more chain attacks, this in turn will boost this W-Engine for Ellen in order to deal huge damage from her ultimate.
Disc Drives + Stats
Option 1 - "Icy Jaws"
4 Piece Polar Metal
(2) Increases Ice DMG by 10%.
(4) Increases the DMG of Basic Attack and Dash Attack by 20%. When any squad member inflicts Freeze or Shatter, this effect increases by an additional 20% for 12s.
2 Piece Woodpecker Electro
(2) Increases CRIT Rate by 8%
Main stats: IV. CRIT Rate% or CRIT DMG | V. Ice DMG | VI. ATK
Sub stats in order of priority:
1. CRIT Rate% or CRIT DMG | 2. ATK% | 3. Anomaly Proficiency
This build is to maximize Ellen's Ice Damage, and as you will be using Ellen's Basic attack a lot, you will get a lot of return on your investment with this build.
Option 2 - "No Overtime..."
4 Piece Puffer Electro
(2) Increases PEN Ratio by 8%.
(4) Ultimate DMG increases by 20%. Launching an Ultimate increases the equippers ATK by 15% for 12s.
2 Piece Woodpecker Electro
(2) Increases CRIT Rate by 8%
Main stats: IV. CRIT Rate% or CRIT DMG | V. Ice DMG | VI. ATK
Sub stats in order of priority:
1. CRIT Rate% or CRIT DMG | 2. ATK% | 3. Anomaly Proficiency | 4. Pen
This build focuses on Ellen using her ultimate in order to deal the most damage, and it makes sense, as her ultimate offers the best scaling overall for her, thus this build making it even more effective. Not to mention you get PEN Ratio, meaning you can deal even more damage overall from all of her attacks, albeit you have some Pen invested. This build is meant for ending battles quickly with Ellen getting most of the ultimate usage.
Skill Priority
ALWAYS PRIOIRITZE CORE SKILL FIRST!!!
1. As Ellen is a main, hyper carry DPS, you will want to raise her basic alongside her special, as they are both will be tools she uses the most in order to dish out the most overall damage.
2. As Ellen is a main, hyper carry DPS, you will want to raise her special alongside her basic, as they are both will be tools she uses the most in order to dish out the most overall damage.
3. Ellen has great scaling on her ultimate, and if you are using Puffer Electro, even more so. This should be high priority after levelling up her basic and special.
4. Ellen is a dash centric character, as you will need to dash constantly in order to enter her roaming state. This should be priority after her ultimate.
5. In terms of priority compared to the others, this would be like a 10, not a 5. Focus on every other skill before this one if your resources are limited.
Bangboo
S - Sharkboo
Key Trait - When there are 2 or more Ice Attribute characters in your squad: Bangboo Chain Attack inflicts 100% more Anomaly Buildup.
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 very high up time on Freeze, allowing you to CC the enemy more often to deal more damage.
S - Butler
Key Trait - Increases Energy Regen Rate of Victoria Housekeeping Co. Agents by extra 20% if you have at least 2 Victoria Housekeeping agents in the squad.
As Ellen Joe is a member of Victoria Housekeeping Co, Butler gives her and her team an additional 20% energy regen if you have at least one other Victoria Housekeeping agent with her. This is extremely helpful, with the combination of Butler, W-Engine bonuses and stats, you should easily be able to get Ellen to reach peak energy regen for faster ultimate rotation.
A - Penguinboo
Key Trait - When there are 2 or more Ice Attribute characters in your squad: Bangboo Chain Attack inflicts 60% more Anomaly Buildup.
A weaker version of Sharkboo, but still functions greatly as a way to help your team apply Freeze more consistently.
Optimal Team Comp
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 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.
