Bilawal Bashir 
Ellen is one of the best DPSs in ZZZ and with the right build, W-Engines, Drive Discs, and team composition, she can shine in any situation.
The S-Rank character uses ice attributes in attacks, making her an ideal damage dealer in teams built around the ice. She is from Victoria Housekeeping Co and can be an excellent fit for a team that boosts ice damage or increases physical attacks.
But of course, without the right itemization and pieces around her, she’s not going to be able to do much. With that in mind, here’s how to play Ellen in ZZZ, the right W-Engine, and Drive Disc builds, and the optimal team composition to make her shine.
Table of contents
How to Play Ellen in ZZZ
Infusing basic attacks with ice is the best way to deal damage with Ellen in ZZZ.
Holding or double-pressing the dodge button lets Ellen enter the Roaming State. In the Roaming State, pressing and holding down the primary attack will accrue Flash Freeze Charges. The charges infuse her basic attacks with ice damage. This combo is her bread and butter, and can result in extraordinary damage.
Roaming State also offers different attacks for tapping or holding the primary attack. Tap it against a single target and hold it against multiple enemies for an AOE attack. Lastly, her Ultimate straight-up deals a lot of ice damage. Use it on a stunned enemy to maximize its potential.
Perfect dodging with Ellen is essential, as it’ll grant a buff that shortens her cooldown for the charged dash attack. So perfect dodge, enter roaming state, use dash attack, and rinse and repeat.
Ellen also has a Special Attack combo, which can be triggered when the EX Special attack is up. Press and hold it twice to inflict a barrage of attacks on the enemies. After the second EX attack, pressing down the basic attack can lead to the third basic attack for maximum damage.
With an optimized buid that includes optimal Drive Discs and W-Engines, Ellen is the definitive best DPS character of ZZZ’s early roster. While her kit is excellent on its own, she’s doesn’t stand out quite as much without proper optimization.
Best Ellen W-Engines builds in ZZZ
Deep Sea Visitor is the best W-Engine for Ellen in ZZZ as it increases her ice damage and critical rate. That said, she she can make use of a few different options if the player can’t source one.
While characters like Rina can fit into a couple of different niches, those who aren’t using Ellen as a DPS aren’t playing the game properly.
Deep Sea Visitor – S Rank
The Deep Sea Visitor W-Engine increases ice damage by a whopping 25%, making Ellen deal even more damage—the crit rate increases by 10% for 8 seconds whenever you use a basic attack. Use a Dash Attack to increase the CRIT rate by 10% further. Ellen needs more ice damage because she is an S Rank ice character. The Deep Sea Visitor W-Engine is doubly significant as it gives a boost to the ice damage as well as critical rate, leading to higher damage output with Ellen.
Brimstone – S Rank
The Brimstone is the second-best W-Engine for Ellen. While it doesn’t give any ice damage increase, it increases the ATK specialty. A basic attack, Dodge Counter, or Dash Attack can increase ATK by 3.5% for 8 seconds. The effect can stack up to 8 times, increasing the damage output. As Ellen can attack in rapid succession, she can keep the stacks up during the fight, resulting in some great damage numbers.
Cannon Rotor – A Rank
Another great W-Engine for Ellen is the Cannon Rotor, which increases ATK by 7.5%. Land a critical hit on an enemy and gain 200% of ATK as damage. The powerful effect can only be triggered once every 8s, balancing out the W-Engine. Ellen is currently the best DPS in the game and can benefit most from Cannon Rotor. The W-Engine is nice if you don’t have a Deep Sea Visitor and are just grinding the character.
Starlight Engine – A Rank
Starlight Engine gives the Knight’s Combo effect, which increases ATK by 12% for 12 seconds when launching a Dodge Counter or Quick Assist. The Dodge Counter and QUick Assist mechanics are critical in keeping the team healthy through lengthy fights, so this W-Engine would be helpful. Ellen needs anything that can keep her damage up, and the buff increment, while small, is great to have for 12 seconds.
Street Superstar – A Rank
Ellen has a devastating Ultimate attack, so anything that can buff it further is gold for her. The Street Superstar W-Engine does just that, granted the player can pull off Chain Attacks. Whenever a character on the team launches a Chain Attack, Ellen will gain a Charge stack that can stack up to 3 times. Using the ultimate will consume all Charge stacks but give a damage increase of 15% for each stack.
Best Ellen Drive Disc sets in ZZZ
The 4-pc Polar Metal and 2-pc Woodpecker Electro sets are the best Drive Disc sets for Ellen in ZZZ. As with Ellen’s best W-Engine builds, the Drive Disc sets that cement her as ZZZ’s best DPS are those that increase her damage, with increased ice damage being prefered. She still gets a lot out of any boosts to ice damage, critical hits, attack damage, or armor penetration. With that in mind, here are the best options for her:
Polar Metal Drive Disc Set
The Polar Metal Drive Disc 2-piece set can increase the ice damage by 10%. Ellen would benefit significantly from the set as an Ice character, mainly if she regularly uses the Flash Freeze charges. The four-piece set increases Ellen’s primary attack damage and Dash Attack by 20%. If any team member inflicts a Shatter or Freeze status effect on enemies, the damage is further increased by 20% for 12 seconds.
Woodpecker Electro Drive Disc Set
The Woodpecker Electro increases the character’s CRIT rate by 8%. If you are focusing on increasing Ellen’s physical attack power, then the Woodpecker Electro Drive Disc set would be a great fit. The two-piece set simply increases the CRIT rate by a flat 8%, with no strings attached. The four-piece set requires landing a critical hit on an enemy using a basic attack, dodge counter, or EX Special attack. Once achieved, ATK is increased by 9% for 6 seconds.
Puffer Electro Drive Disc Set
The two-piece set increases the PEN ratio by 8%, which is excellent for damage-dealing armored enemies. The PEN allows attacks to bypass armor and directly hit the health pool, making Ellen’s attacks more effective. The four-piece set increases the Ultimate damage by 20%, a considerable number for Ellen, who already has a devastating ultimate. Use the Ultimate and gain 15% more ATK for 12 seconds.
Hormone Punk
Hormone Punk increases ATK by 10%; however, its 4-piece set effect makes for one of the best Drive Disc builds for Ellen. Entering combat or switching characters grants the player a 25% ATK increase for 10 seconds. Unfortunately, this effect can only trigger every 20 seconds, reducing effectiveness. Still, this significantly affects Ellen, especially when starting combat.
All of these Drive Disc sets are viable on Ellen. You can mix and match these to make a custom set. However, the best set would be the 4-piece Polar Metal and 2-piece Woodpecker Electro on Ellen, as it maximizes her damage potential.
Best Ellen team composition in ZZZ
The best team compositions for Ellen with a DPS build sees her paired with ZZZ’s very own tiefling, Soukaku.
Ellen is an ice-based damage dealer and one of the best DPS dealers in Zenless Zone Zero. She plays best as the main damage unit in a team, but her abilities can be augmented with a stun or an ice support unit.
Ellen-Lycaon-Soukaku is the best team composition for Ellen
Going with a mono-ice team composition can’t go wrong if when building a team around Ellen. Ellen would be in the primary damage-dealing slot. Put Lycaon in second place to have another solid DPS with stun effects. The only supporting ice character in the game is Soukaku, and she is coincidently the best one for Ellen. Soukaku increases the entire team’s ice damage and ATK, which is a win-win situation.
Ellen-Rina-Lycaon
The second best team for Ellen would be the units from Victoria Housekeeping. You can keep Lycaon as the secondary DPS but switch Soukaku with Rina. Rina is a S Rank character with electric powers. While you’ll lose out on the extra ice damage, Rina is great at dishing damage from a far.
Ellen-Soukaku-Anby
If you are playing ZZZ completely free, then a free-to-play team is in order. Get Ellen as the attacker with Anby as the secondary stun unit. Add Soukaku to the team, and you have a well-rounded squad capable of dealing with any threat. Anby is a free agent, so any player can use her on the team.
