Yanagi, the first five-star premium Agent inZenless Zone Zero’sSection 8, has made quite a splash in the community thanks to her highly unique gameplay. As a character, Yanagi is a lot more complex than most of the roster, but if you’re interested in playing her at her highest potential, here’s everything you need to know.
Best Yanagi Build in Zenless Zone Zero
Jumping right in, Yanagi is anElectric Anomalycharacter with a significant focus onShock DoT (Damage over Time)andOn-field damage.Thanks to her combo-heavy nature, Yanagi wants to be on the field as long as possible, while you still cycle through the rest of your team to apply buffs and debuffs as applicable. While she does play your standard main DPS role, her kit is highly flexible thanks to the non-static nature of it.Compared to all other characters inZenless Zone Zero,she is a complex character, but proper play allows her to exceed in any of the game’s content.
Yanagi’s Gameplan
The complexity of Yanagi’s kit shows itself when enacting her ideal game plan, which has several moving parts and features. Rather than explain this in one big paragraph, I’ll break it up for your clarity. The following is inpriority orderfor Yanagi’s goals while she is in play.
Polar Disorder
When Yanagi uses her EX-Special, she is able to apply a special version of the standard Discord mechanic calledPolar Disorderto any enemies suffering from an Anomaly. When Polar Disorder is activated, it will deal 15% of the active Anomaly’s total damage plus an additional percentage amount (based on Yanagi’s Anomaly Proficiency), to targets struck.
Unlike standard Disorder, Polar Disorder does not remove the Anomaly on the enemy, allowing Yanagi to apply this effect in rapid succession provided she has enough Energy. Polar Disorder will also activate on any Anomaly, including Shock, meaning Yanagi canapply Shock to an enemy and trigger Polar Disorder all on her own–a contrast to the standard Anomaly team playstyle.
You want to land as many Polar Disorders as possible during Anomaly windows to make the most of Yanagi’s damage. Polar Disorder is entirely unique to Yanagi, and it is the source of a majority of her damage, hence its importance on this priority list.
Stance Swapping: Jougen and Kagen
Yanagi has two special Stances she uses to dish out damage outside of Polar Disorder. These stances areJougenandKagen.
Yanagi has different attack strings while in Jougen or Kagen, and you can swap which stance she’s in by pressing the Special button at any time. You can always tell which Stance Yanagi is in by thecolor of her hair braid. More importantly, when Yanagi swaps stances, she willretain the effects of the inactive Stance for an additional eight seconds. The idea here is to swap stances frequently enough to maintainbothstance buffs at all times.
Additionally, when Yanagi switches stances during thethird, fourth, or fifthportion of her basic attack string, her following attack will be sped up, allowing Yanagi to attack faster than normal while also skipping the start-up of her string. This also ensures that Yanagi is only dealing Electric damage and not Physical, which happens during thefirstandsecondportions of the basic string. Additionally, during this swap, Yanagi canparryany attack that hits her during the animation.
I know this is a lot to take in, but it’s much easier to get the hang of when you play her yourself. If anything’s unclear, I really recommend taking Yanagi into the Training Room to practice her moves and get comfortable with her gameplan.
Best Drive Disks for Yanagi in Zenless Zone Zero
Yanagi is ananomaly character who thrives on inflicting shock on her enemies, so she valuesATK%andanomaly proficiency(AP) above all other stats. That said, PEN Ratio % becomes a highly valuable stat for her if you have other sources of it already.
Yanagi two main Drive Discs areChaos JazzandThunder Metal, and the one you should use on her depends on the type of team you’re playing her in.
Disorder
If you’re playing Yanagi with a focus on applying standard Disorder, then useChaos Jazzas that will provide her with the most damage. Just make sure you’re running a second, different element Anomaly character with her.
Mono-Electric
Since Yanagi has access to Polar Disorder, she is not strictly tied to running in a pure Disorder team setup and can, instead, be the headliner in an all-electric team composition. In this case,Thunder Metalpulls ahead as it allows Yanagi topermanently have a 28% ATK boost through Shocked enemies.
Best W-Engines for Yanagi in Zenless Zone Zero
Yanagi has a solid selection of W-Engines she can effectively make use of. Without question her own signature W-Engine,Timeweaveris her best option. However, if her signature is out of reach, here are some strong alternatives.
If you don’t have access to any of these three W-Engines, then I highly recommend you reconsider pulling Yanagi until you do. These are by far her most viable options.
Best Mindscapes for Yanagi in Zenless Zone Zero
At M0, Yanagi is a serious powerhouse in theZenless Zone Zerometa thanks to her ability to use the Disorder mechanic via her own Polar Disorder. This means that her Mindscapes are largely unnecessary to pull for. That said, if you really enjoy Yanagi’s gameplay and want to vertically invest in her Mindscapes, know that the best stopping point would beM2. For your clarity, though, here are all six, detailed.
Best Team Comps for Yanagi in Zenless Zone Zero
Yanagi has a few team compositions because of her required on-field time.
Yanagi/Burnice/Caeser
This is Yanagi’s strongest team composition, and it functions like your standard Disorder team. Yanagi is the main damage dealer withBurnicebeing the sub-DPS via Burn and Afterburn off-field damage. Caeser provides a flat 1000 ATK to the on-field character (which is Yanagi for a majority of the time), while also supporting with her shielding mechanic.
Yanagi/Caeser/Rina
This is Yanagi’s strongest Mono-Electric team comp, and it focuses on having Yanagi on-field almost all the time. In this team, Yanagi will be delivering constant Polar Disorders by hitting the Shock status that she triggers herself. Caeser is here to provide her large ATK boost and shielding. Rina is present to activate Yanagi’s Passive while also activating her own and providing additional PEN Ratio %.
