Pyrois is one of the best DPS options in Zenless Zone Zero, but getting the agent and building out their Drive Discs isn’t easy.
Free characters are generally a mixed bag in HoYoverse games, with Aloy in Genshin Impact being notoriously awful while high-tier characters like Kafka and Archer get given away for free in Honkai: Star Rail. Pyrois squarely falls into the latter category, and is one of the best attackers available in ZZZ.
New players might have trouble getting them though, and older players might not know how to build them. Here’s the full breakdown of how to make the most of the character.
Table of contents
How to unlock Pyrois in Zenless Zone Zero
Pyrois is unlocked while playing through the events of Zenless Zone Zero Chapter 3. Without spoiling things, players just need to complete the initial walkthrough of Roscaelifer. From there, a story event will result in Pyrois being unlocked.
While players quickly get access to the agent, powering them up isn’t quite as easy.
How to unlock Pyrois mindscapes
Pyrois mindscapes are unlocked through the Interboo Expansion Plan’s Pixel Fairy Tale section. The Pixel Fairy Tale is a series of missions. As players complete missions, they unlock more and more mindscapes. This system is largely borrowed from Honkai: Star Rail, which had separate currencies for planets featured in the second, third, and fourth seasons.
Pyrois mindscapes can be unlocked quickly and easily by launching missions through the Pixel Fairy Tale section of the Interboo Expansion Plan. These missions are unlocked as players advance through the Season 3 story.
Not all Pyrois mindscapes are immediately available after unlocking them. Players will not be able to obtain M6 Pyrois in Zenless Zone Zero 3.0, and will need to wait for future updates to make these mindscapes available.
How to get and upgrade Pyrois’ signature W-Engine, Sol Exuvia
Pyrois’ signature W-Engine is unlocked by earning currency for the Interboo Expansion Plan. As players level up in the Interboo Expansion Plan, they unlock Sol Exuvia and items that can be used to upgrade it.
Players earn a new currency by interacting with NPCs and completing missions in Roscaelifer, which they can then use to level up. Sol Exuvia is unlocked at level 10.
Similar to the agent, Pyrois’ signature W-Engine cannot be fully upgraded in version 3.0. Only the basic version of the W-Engine is initially available, with overclocking items set to be released in future updates.
Is Pyrois good?
Pyrois is one of Zenless Zone Zero’s best attack DPS characters and has a unique kit that should hold up well over time.
In the past, HoYoverse has released some truly awful free-to-play characters, most notably Aloy from Genshin Impact. That’s not the case here.
Pyrois is a must-build character for all Zenless Zone Zero players, new or old. The agent is very powerful and versatile in terms of which teammates work around them. Players who are starting after ZZZ 3.0 should jump forward in the story just to unlock Pyrois, as this character will likely become a mainstay for them going forward. Returning players who dipped out and came back for 3.0 will also be pleasantly surprised to find agents like Ju Fufu and Caesar enjoying some renewed relevance.
How to play Pyrois
Pyrois’ strength lies in their held basic attack and ability to use four different ultimates.
Almost all Zenless Zone Zero characters are made overly confusing by the in-game descriptions of their skills, and Pyrois is probably the greatest offender on this front. Thankfully, the actual process of playing them isn’t actually that difficult, but there is a high skill ceiling on the character.
Pyrois has a unique resource displayed by the meter under their HP bar which is filled by dealing damage or using EX special attack parries.. Filling this meter lets Pyrois do a massive attack that deals heavy ether damage. This move is incredibly powerful and has a number of unique mechanics.
Unlike a standard EX attack, this move drains the meter rather than consuming it, allowing players to cancel charging it to conserve resources. The move can also be chained into by almost everything in Pyrois’ kit including ultimates, EX special attacks, basic attack strings, and chain attacks.
Most interestingly, another agent can be brought in at any point while holding basic attack for the move. Pyrois will complete the attack regardless, allowing for reliable debuff application. For example, players can start charging Pyrois’ move, immediately swap to Nicole, and hit them with Nicole’s EX Special to drop the enemy’s defense.
This makes Pyrois fairly easy to play, once players get the timing down.
All of Pyrois’ ultimates, and the best order to use them
As stated, Pyrois has four different ultimates. When Pyrois has 2,000 decibels and the player hits the ultimate button, the battle pauses to let the player select which ultimate they want to use. Here is what each one does:
- Up- Deals damage and refills Pyrois’ unique resource meter
- Left- Deals a burst of damage against enemies that have been afflicted by contamination; the wind-ether vortex effect
- Right- Deals damage and pauses the stun meter on enemies before dealing totalized damage
- Down- Increases damage by 40% and increases energy regeneration by 15% for 200 seconds
In terms of the proper order for them, players should always use the downward ultimate first. This boosts Pyrois’ damage and energy generation for 200 seconds, which is likely to last until the end of any fight.
Pyrois’ up and right ultimates will be the go-to during stun windows. The up ultimate gives a boost of energy for a guaranteed held basic attack, while the right ultimate does a totalize effect that ends the stun window and deals damage based on the stun window’s remaining time.
Ideally, a stun window for Pyrois will allow the agent to get in one or more up ultimates followed by a held basic attack. This can then be closed by a rightward ultimate to deal totalize burst damage.
The left ultimate is highly situational, as it requires Pyrois to be on a team with a wind agent. It’s only valuable against contaminated enemies, meaning players shouldn’t bother with it in most situations.
Pyrois’ best W-Engines in Zenless Zone Zero
Pyrois has an extremely powerful signature W-Engine in Sol Exuvia that can be obtained for free. While Sol Exuvia is a solid stat stick for attack agents thanks to its attack and crit rate buffs, there’s a significant drop-off for Pyrois even when opting for versatile five-star alternatives. Still, if players must look elsewhere, there are some options.
Sol Exuvia
Pyrois’ signature W-Engine is a strong stat stick with ether resistance penetration. This is an ideal combination for Pyrois and few other attack agents benefit from all its additional effects.
Cordis Germina
There are a few good five-star W-Engines that can work reasonably well, with Seed’s Cordis Germina being the best. Zhu Yuan’s Riot Suppressor Mark VI and Evelyn’s Heartstring can also work. Still, all of these are a downgrade from Sol Exuvia.
Starlight Engine
Starlight Engine is the best true free-to-play option for almost all attack agents. Or at least, it was, until Sol Exuvia came out.
Best Drive Disc Build for Pyrois
Pyrois has two powerful Drive Disc builds that are fairly comparable in power. This might be a bit surprising, given how Pyrois has their own signature set in The Sky Ablaze, but there is a solid alternative.
Here are the best combinations for Pyrois:
- Four-piece The Sky Ablaze, two-piece Branch & Blade Song
- Four-piece Puffer Electro, two-piece Branch & Blade Song
The Sky Ablaze gives an ether damage boost at two pieces, with increased crit damage and attack boosts on ether agents. While this is very good, Puffer Electro makes a surprise comeback as an alternative. Its four-piece effect gives a 20% damage boost to ultimates and a 15% attack boost for 12 seconds upon doing so. This actually synergizes well with Pyrois, making them even more devastating in the stun window.
The actual damage output afforded by these Drive Disc builds are basically identical on Pyrois. Players who farmed Puffer Electro back in the day can sift through their discs to see if they have something that works for Pyrois.
On that front, here are the best main stat options for each Drive Disc slot:
- HP
- Attack
- Defense
- Crit Rate% / Crit Damage%
- PEN Ratio / Ether Damage%
- ATK%
Pyrois’ preferred substats are no surprise. As an attack agent, Pyrois wants ATK%, Crit Rate%, and Crit Damage%. PEN is actually somewhat useful on Pyrois, but the standard trifecta of stats are the priority.
Best Pyrois teams in ZZZ
Pyrois is an attack agent that desperately wants field time and amplification to their ultimates. This lets them work with a number of different agents, with a few offering unique synergies with Pyrois’ ability to reliably chain multiple ultimates together within a single stun window. Here are the best options overall:
Pyrois Whale Team: Pyrois, Dialyn / Ju Fufu, Astra Yao / Sunna (Devilboo)
Pyrois benefits greatly from being able to perform more ultimates, and both Ju Fufu and Dialyn help on that front.
Ju Fufu lets Pyrois retain up to 4,000 decibels, allowing them to get off more ultimates during stun windows while taking up very little field time. Dialyn requires a bit more field time, but can increase stun durations, increase the stun damage multiplier, and give Pyrois free ultimates. Both are extremely potent with Pyrois.
The third slot can be filled with any given S-rank support agent. Sunna is very good and gives a variety of buffs, while Astra Yao offers slightly weaker buffs, but without cutting into field time at all.
Best Pyrois free-to-play team: Pyrois, Pulchra, Nicole (Devilboo)
When it comes to supporting Pyrois, a properly built Nicole compares very favorably to S-rank agents both mechanically and in terms of damage output. She’s also just plain fun to play alongside Pyrois. Anby takes a backseat here to Pulchra on this team, though, as Pulchra’s off-field daze application just works better with Pyrois.
