Ahead of Zenless Zone Zero version 1.4 shipping, fans got their first good look at Astra Yao that includes her full lineup of ascension and skill materials.
The 1.4 update was hotly anticipated after a relatively light version 1.3. Alongside the double banners of Hoshimi Miyabi and free character Asaba Harumasa were a long list of mechanical updates and huge shakeups to the Scott Outpost missions. That doesn’t means fans aren’t still looking toward version 1.5 and beyond, though.
Drip marketing kicked off for two new characters and early builds of the characters also popped up. This confirmed some facets of their moves, but also confirmed all the ascension and skill materials for Evelyn and Astra Yao.
All Astra Yao ascension materials in ZZZ
Astra Yao is a support agent, who ascends off Support Certification Seals.
Here’s the full breakdown of what she needs to reach max level:
- Level 20: 4 Basic Support Certification Seal and 24,000 Dennies
- Level 30: 12 Advanced Support Certification Seal and 56,000 Dennies
- Level 40: 20 Advanced Support Certification Seal and 120,000 Dennies
- Level 50: 10 Ruler Certification Seal and 200,000 Dennies
- Level 60: 20 Ruler Certification Seal and 400,000 Dennies
Zenless Zone Zero players will need to pick up an assortment of Support Certification Seals in order to raise Astra Yao to her max level. As ever, this requires grinding over at the HIA using Battery Charge. The HIA makes players expend 20 charge at a time for a batch of seals, getting up to 320 battery charge every 24 hours. Ether Battery items can also be used to get some extra charge for those looking to raise characters quickly.
The Agent Record experience items are also available from the HIA, but are also obtainable through missions and the various in-game shops.
Astra Yao skill upgrade materials
As an ether agent, Astra Yao’s skills are upgraded using the standard lineup of Ether Chips, and a heaping load of Dennies. There are no real surprises to speak of.
Here’s the progression for raising Astra Yao’s skills, assuming she doesn’t have any Mindscapes activated:
- Level 2: 2 Basic Ether Chips, 2,000 Dennies
- Level 3: 3 Basic Ether Chips, 3,000 Dennies
- Level 4: 2 Advanced Ether Chips and 6,000 Dennies
- Level 5: 3 Advanced Ether Chips and 9,000 Dennies
- Level 6: 4 Advanced Ether Chips and 12,000 Dennies
- Level 7: 6 Advanced Ether Chips and 18,000 Dennies
- Level 8: 5 Specialized Ether Chips and 45,000 Dennies
- Level 9: 8 Specialized Ether Chips and 67,500 Dennies
- Level 10: 10 Specialized Ether Chips and 90,000 Dennies
- Level 11: 12 Specialized Ether Chips and 112,500 Dennies
- Level 12: 15 Specialized Ether Chips, 1 Hamster Cage Pass, and 135,000 Dennies
Getting Ether Chips is deceptively tricky. Video store promoters give players upgrade chips passively, with A-rank agents giving two basic chips of their attribute per day while S-rank agents offer five. Unfortunately, dating all the way back to version 1.0 there have only been two ether agents in the game; Nicole and Zhu Yuan. Players who didn’t happen to pull Zhu Yuan don’t have that opportunity to get extra Basic Ether Chips.
This means players will have to start grinding at the HIA in order to obtain any number of Ether Chips when it comes to pre-farming. This means that players looking to pre-farm materials are best served by focusing on Ether Chips and Support Certification Seals.
Astra Yao core skill materials
Maxing out Astra Yao’s core skills requires Thunderous Dragons and Finale Dance Shoes.
While Harumasa and Miyabi’s upgrade materials tasked players to beat new bosses introduced as part of their stories, that’s not entirely the case with Astra. In fact, players could’ve unintentionally pre-farmed materials for her before version 1.4 even arrived.
Here’s the full progression for Astra Yao’s core skills:
- A: 5,000 Dennies
- B: 2 Higher Dimensional Data: Thunderous Dragon and 12,000 Dennies
- C: 4 Higher Dimensional Data: Thunderous Dragon and 28,000 Dennies
- D: 9 Higher Dimensional Data: Thunderous Dragon, 2 Finale Dance Shoes, and 60,000 Dennies
- E: 15 Higher Dimensional Data: Thunderous Dragon, 3 Finale Dance Shoes, and 100,000 Dennies
- F: 30 Higher Dimensional Data: Thunderous Dragon, 4 Finale Dance Shoes, and 200,000 Dennies
Thunderous Dragons are obtained from the newest addition to the ZZZ boss roster; Thracian. This monster was added unceremoniously during version 1.3, but has become quite familiar to players who defeated him repeatedly to build up Miyabi and Harumasa.
As for Finale Dance Shoes, these are the same items used to upgrade the Victoria Housekeeping crew, as well as Piper and Soldier 11. Players can farm them in the Scott Outpost, either by taking on Notorious Hunts or purchasing Hidden Treasure boxes from the logistics shop.
