Best Evelyn build in Zenless Zone Zero – Best Drive Discs, W-Engine, and team compositions

The game's new meta Fire DPS, Evelyn arrived to bring all to heel in Zenless Zone Zero, the latter given her ability to group and then nuke enemies through her unique Burning Seal and Chain Attack combos.

But given the intricacies of her kit, she can also be considered one of the hardest and most demanding Attackers to build in the game. To help you awaken her full potential, here's the best Evelyn build in ZZZ.

• Table of Contents:
  • How to Play Evelyn
  • Best W-Engines for Evelyn
  • Best F2P W-Engine
  • Best Drive Discs and stats
  • Best Teams for Evelyn

How to play Evelyn

A combo-focused DPS, Evelyn's game plan revolves around building up enough Burning Tether Points stacks to activate and spam Chain Attacks —aka her biggest tool. Burning Tether stacks can be generated by performing both Garrote and her Ultimate. Once the latter is ready, she can enter Dance of Awakened Fire and unlock her Lunalux Garrote - Shadow Ultimate variant. Her ability to perfect dodge through her EX Special also allows her to stage an overwhelming and non-stop offense.

True to that, Evelyn's optimal rotation will entail applying your team's buffs, switching her in, building up enough stacks via her basic and Special combos, and then calling a sub-DPS to stun your target before spamming her Chain Attack and repeating the process. That will not change even after entering Dance of Awakened Fire, although its permanent Burning Tether stack will allow you to use her Chain Attacks more frequently.

Best W-Engines for Evelyn

Like all other featured S-Rank Agents, the best W-Engine for Evelyn is her signature, Heartstring Nocturne. Apart from offering 713 ATK, 24% Crit Rate, and a 50% boost in CRIT DMG via its passive, the engine will allow her to gain Heartstring stacks per Chain Attack or Ultimate performed. Up to two stacks can be gained, with each allowing the moves to ignore 12.5% of a target's Fire Defense.

If you don't have the resources to pull for her signature or had to overspend after losing your pity on Koleda like me, Harumasa's Zanshin Herb Case would be my main pick for Eveylin given its permanent 10% Crit Rate and 48% Crit DMG bonuses. Steel Cushion's 24% Crit Rate value and situational DMG boost also make it a fair pick, although the engine will still lag behind our FP2 choice.

Best F2P W-Engine

To no one's surprise, the best F2P W-Engine for Evelyn is the event-exclusive Marcato Desire. As the engine is the only non-BP-exclusive A-Ranker to feature a Crit Rate substat, its overclock level won't matter much here. Keep in mind, however, that the pick will only be able to compete with our S-Rank alternatives when above R3.

Best Drive Discs for Evelyn in Zenless Zone Zero

As she must reach 80% Crit Rate to trigger the full effect of her Additional Ability and add a 125% damage boost to her biggest tools, the best drive disc composition for Evelyn in Zenless Zone Zero is a 4-piece Woodpecker Electro paired with a 2-piece Inferno Metal. When equipped, the composition will boost her Crit Rate by 9%, her Fire DMG by 15%, and allow her to get a 9% ATK boost after performing her Basic Attacks, Dodge Counter, and EX Special Attack. If you are still working on getting the Inferno Metal discs, its 16% CRIT DMG boost makes Branch & Blade Song the ideal placeholder.

If you want, pairing up a 2-piece Woodpecker Electro with a 4-pice Puffer Electro can also work here, given the latter's 9% increase in PEN Ratio, situational 12% ATk boost, and huge 20% DMG buff to Evelyn's Ultimates.

Best stats and substats

Since Evelyn's Core Passive will provide her with a more than welcome 25% Crit Rate boost when under Binding Seal, focus on Crit DMG, Fire DMG Bonus, and ATK when looking at your disc's main stats. Substat-wise, we will then focus on Crit Rate and DMG. So that Evelyn can reach her stat goal, you want to have at least 55% Crit Rate once your build is done. Make sure to also aim for 150+% (200+% if using Heartstring Nocturne) Crit DMG for optimal damage.

The best Evelyn teams in Zenless Zone Zero

As Evelyn shines the most when in compositions capable of leaving enemies stun-locked, her best team features Lighter as its daze-focused sub-DPS and, of course, Astra as her support. If you wish, using Caesar in the supporting slot can also work, as she will offer both an ATK buff on par with Astra's and the game's strongest shield. Lighter, on the other hand, does not have a single replacement capable of matching his impact, with Caesar being the closest pick in situational encounters.

To recap, here are the best Evelyn teams in Zenless Zone Zero. We also added a few alternatives for those who either have yet to get or skipped any of the S-Rankers above:

• Evelyn + Lighter + Astra/Caesar: The premier Evelyn team. Has in Astra (or Caesar) huge buffs and in Lighter both a massive amount of daze and a set of unmatched Fire DMG-related buffs and debuffs.
• Evelyn + Koleda + Caesar/Astra: A more F2P-friendly variation of her BIS team. This composition has in Koleda both a huge source of daze and a Chain Attack buff that feels perfect for Evelyn.
• Evelyn + Caesar + Astra/Lucy: A situational variant for those who don't have Lighter, Caesar's ability to dish out massive amounts of daze when facing highly aggressive targets allows you to still stun frequently. She also brings to the table both a 1,000 ATK buff and the game's best shield.
• Evelyn + Burnice + Astra/Lucy: An anomaly-focused variant that excels in dealing damage both on and off the field. A support is a must-have here, given their ability to enable Evelyn's Additional Ability.

Best F2P Evelyn team in ZZZ

If you don't have any of the S-Rankers above, the best FP2 team for Evelyn in Zenless Zone Zero will have Lucy as its focused support and Anby (or any stun agent) as its stun sub-DPS. When on the field, this team will work like our BIS composition and focus on using Lucy to provide a constant attack buff. Our chosen stun agent will then enable Evelyn's Binding Sunder - First Form coordinated attack and dish out large amounts of daze to support her onslaught.

The best Bangboo for all Evelyn teams

When using Astra and Evelyn, Snap will be by far the best Bangboo for the job, given their great DMG boost and healing. If you don't have Astra, Rocketboo's Fire Anomaly Buildup output will make it my main pick, followed by Cryboo.

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