With the introduction of Zenless Zone Zero Version update 2.5, many players might be excited to know that we finally got a brand new cyber-based character in the game in the form of Banyue. In this guide, we will go over how players can best build Banyue to maximize his damage output in Zenless Zone Zero.
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Banyue Skill Kit & Playstyle Analysis
General Introduction
Banyue is an S Rank Rupture Specialty Agent introduced in Zenless Zone Zero Version update 2.4. He specializes in dealing massive amounts of Fire Elemental and Fire Sheer damage to enemies based on his normal attacks and charge attack combos, allowing him to constantly deal damage to enemies at the cost of his HP.
Skill Analysis & Leveling Priority
 | Normal Basic Attack: Deal 4 instances of Fire Damage to enemies. Normal Hold Basic Attack: Deal fire damage to enemies in an area, then enters the Visage of Wrath state if having at least 120 Wrathful Fires. Special Hold Basic Attack: If Banyue have less than 120 Wrathful Fires and more than 50% HP, hold Basic Attack to consume his HP to recover Wrathful Fires. Upon reaching 120 Wrathful Fire, automatically enters the Visage of Wrath State. Enhanced Basic Attack: If Banyue is in Visage of Wrath state, hold Basic Attack to consume 120 points of Wrathful Fires and deal a big damage of Fire Damage, exiting the Visage of Wrath Stage. Combo Basic Attack: If Banyue is in Visage of Wrath State and has used EX Special Attack twice in a combo string, hold Basic Attack to deal an instance of Fire damage to enemies, followed up by Enhanced Basic Attack. |
| Leveling Priority: High | |
| Basic Attack | |
| Reason: The ability that accounts for a large portion of Banyue’s damage, therefore, to optimize his damage output, you need to prioritize leveling this ability up | |
 | Depending on the combo Banyue is in, he can use the special attack button to do different EX Special Attacks based on the combo string: – During the 1st and 2nd hit of Basic Attack, press EX Special Attack to throw a mountain, dealing Fire DMG. This can also be triggered by combo input: EX – EX – Basic in a sequence to activate. – During the 3rd and 4th hit of Basic Attack, press EX Special Attack to slam the ground repeatedly, dealing Fire DMG. This can also be triggered by combo input: Basic – EX – Basic in a sequence to activate. – During the 1st and 2nd hit of Basic Attack, press EX Special Attack to send out a sonic wave forward, dealing Fire DMG. This can also be triggered by combo input: Basic – Basic – EX in a sequence to activate. – During the 3rd and 4th hit of Basic Attack, press EX Special Attack to throw out beads, dealing Fire DMG. This can also be triggered by combo input: EX – Basic – EX in a sequence to activate. During each combo, there will be a cancel window for each combo, allowing players to perform a perfect cancel and retain EX Special Gauge. |
| Leveling Priority: Highest | |
| Special Attack | |
| Reason: Banyue’s main gimmick that allows him to do combo attacks after using normal attacks and is his main damage mode. Prioritize leveling this up as quickly as possible to maximize Banyue’s damage. | |
 | Chain Attack: Launches a large area attack in front, dealing massive Fire DMG.If Banyue has more than 120 Wrathful Fires, he automatically enters the Visage of Wrath state after the attack. Ultimate: Launches a large area attack in front, dealing massive Fire DMG.If Banyue has more than 120 Wrathful Fires, he automatically enters the Visage of Wrath state after the attack. |
| Leveling Priority: Medium | |
| Chain Attack & Ultimate | |
| Reason: A big burst damage instance for Banyue, should only be leveled up if you want to optimize all of Banyue’s damaging abilities. | |
 | Block: Banyue enters a defensive stance. If attacked during this time, he parries the enemy’s attack and accumulates Daze.If attacked at the exact moment the skill is activated, a Perfect Block occurs. Dodge Counter: Launches a forward attack that deals Fire DMG. After using this skill, it can be chained into the 3rd hit of Basic Attack. |
| Leveling Priority: Low | |
| Dodge | |
| Reason: This ability doesn’t influence Banyue’s damage output overall too much, so only level this up if you have the materials. | |
 | Quick Assist: Executes a series of attacks against enemies in front, dealing Fire DMG. Defensive Assist: Parries the enemy’s attack, dealing massive Daze. Assist Follow Up: Quickly dash forward and attack, dealing Fire DMG |
| Leveling Priority: Low | |
| Assist | |
| Reason: This ability doesn’t influence Banyue’s damage output overall too much, so only level this up if you have the materials. | |
 | Core Skill: Banyue gains Sheer based on his Max HP. All Fire DMG Banyue deals is Sheer DMG, ignoring enemy DEF and using his Sheer Force stat as the DMG Multiplier.When Banyue enters the battlefield, he immediately recovers 60 Adrenaline.Banyue can recover Wrathful Fires through the various methods. At 120 Wrathful Fires, Banyue can enter the Visage of Wrath state by using Basic Attack. While in the Visage of Wrath state, Banyue can no longer gain Wrathful Fires. When entering the Visage of Wrath state, Banyue gains 4 Mountain’s Might. If Banyue has Mountain’s Might, launching an EX Special Attack no longer consumes Adrenaline, instead consuming 1 Mountain’s Might and restoring 10 Adrenaline. Upon exiting the Visage of Wrath state, remove all Mountain’s Might.When Banyue uses an EX Special Attack or Assist Follow-Up, he increases his Sheer Force by 300, Fire DMG by 36%, and CRIT DMG by 36% for 30s. Repeated triggers reset the duration. Additional Ability: When another Support or Stun character is in your squad:When Banyue uses an Ultimate while not in the Wrath state, Banyue recovers 60 points of Wrathful Fires.When Banyue uses an EX Special Attack or Assist Follow-Up: Assist Follow-Up, his CRIT DMG is increased by 40% for 30 seconds. Repeated triggers reset the duration. |
| Unlock Priority: High | |
| Core Skill & Additional Ability | |
| Reason: Banyue’s core skill and his class gimmick, leveling this up helps to optimize the amount of stats he gains through various means and boost his buff numbers, so level this up as soon as you can to get Banyue stats up. | |
Playstyle Guide & Rotation
Banyue’s playstyle is extremely simple in theory but is very confusing and difficult to execute in battle if you don’t have much practice, making him one of the characters in the game with the highest damage ceiling but also extremely high skill ceiling for players.
Banyue’s playstyle rotation is simple: Accumulates as much Wrathful Fires as possible by consuming his own HP upon entering the battle, then holds his basic attack to enter his Visage of Wrath stage. Upon entering Visage of Wrath, all of his basic attacks and EX Special Attacks will be enhanced. Then during each basic attack string, you can combo using his EX Special Attack in different sequences to unleash different types of attacks against the enemies, dealing Fire Sheer Damage.
Finally, finishes off with his Ultimate and special hold Basic Attack to do 2 last big combo big attacks before exiting the Visage of Wrath state. Afterwards, you will need to manually gain back Wrathful Fires back through various means to activate his combo again.
Banyue Best In Slot W-Engines
As a main DPS, Banyue’s preferred W-Engines are those that provide him with as much critical stats and damage boosting passive as possible in addition to boosting his HP to maximize his Sheer damage.
Banyue Best W-Engines Choices
Some of Banyue’s Best W-Engine Choices are:
 |  |  |
| Wrathful Vajra | Grill O’Wisp | Radiowave Journey |
| Limited 5* W-Engine | Gacha 4* W-Engine | Battle Pass 4* W-Engine |
| Main Stat: 713 Attack |
| Sub Stat: 30% HP | |
| Wrathful Vajra | W-Engine Rating: Best Premium W-Engine |
| Effect: CRIT Rate increases by 20%. When the equipper uses an EX Special Attack or Assist Follow-Up, their Fire Sheer DMG increases by 12%, stacking up to 2 times and lasting for 20s. Repeated triggers reset the duration. | |
| Explanation: Banyue’s signature and best in slot W-Engine that offers him a big boost in HP, critical rate and massively increases his Fire Sheer damage output. | |
| Main Stat: 624 Attack |
| Sub Stat: 25% HP | |
| Grill O’Wisp | W-Engine Rating: Best Alternative |
| Effect: The equipper’s Fire DMG increases by 15%. When the equipper’s HP decreases, their CRIT Rate increases by 15% for 5s. | |
| Explanation: Banyue’s best alternative W-Engine as it provides him with both a good HP boost, critical rate boost when his HP decreases and a straight Fire damage boost. | |
| Main Stat: 594 Attack |
| Sub Stat: 25% HP | |
| Radiowave Journey | W-Engine Rating: BP Alternative |
| Effect: When launching a Chain Attack or Ultimate, the equipper gains 1 stack of a buff effect. Each stack increases the equipper’s Sheer Force by 80, stacking up to 3 times, and lasting 12s. The duration of each stack is calculated separately. | |
| Explanation: A generically good BP Alternative for Banyue which offers him a boost in his Sheer damage. | |
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Banyue Best Drive Discs Builds & Stats
Banyue Best Drive Discs Set
The best drive disc sets for Banyue are the 4pcs Yunkui Tales set, which boost his Max HP and Sheer damage output and the 2pcs Branch & Blade Song set for extra critical damage boost.
 | Yunkui Tales |
| 2-pc: HP +10% | |
| 4-pc: When using EX Special Attack, Chain Attack, or Ultimate, CRIT Rate increases by 4%, stacking up to 3 times and lasting 15s. Repeated triggers reset the duration. When having 3 stacks of this effect, Sheer DMG increases by 10%. | |
 | Branch & Blade Song |
| 2-pc: CRIT DMG +16% | |
| 4-pc: When Anomaly Mastery exceeds or equals 115 points, the equipper’s CRIT DMG increases by 30%. When any squad member applies Freeze or triggers the Shatter effect on an enemy, the equipper’s CRIT Rate increases by 12%, lasting 15s. | |
Banyue Best Main Stats & Sub Stats
As a Rupture Specialty DPS character, Banyue relies heavily on his Max HP and Critical Stats to maximize his damage output.
His preferred stats are as followed:
| Drive Disc | Main Stats |
| #4 | Critical Damage% of Critical Rate% |
| #5 | Fire Damage Bonus% |
| #6 | HP% |
| Priority | Sub Stats |
| 1st | Critical Damage% |
| 2nd | Critical Rate% |
| 3rd | HP% |
| 4th | Attack% |
Important Stat Threshold:
– Players should aim to boost Banyue’s damage output as much as possible by boosting his Max HP as high as possible.
– Aims for a 1:2 critical ratio for Banyue to optimize his damage output, with a heavier emphasis on Critical Damage if you have his signature W-Engine
Banyue Best Teams
Banyue’s best team consists of him as the main DPS and characters that either boost his critical stats or Max HP while he is on the field. Banyue should be run alongside characters that maximize the damage output of Sheer damage as much as possible.
Banyue Hypercarry Team
 |  |  |
| Banyue | Dialyn | Lucia |
| Main DPS | Stunner/ Support | Support |
| Essential | Essential | Flexible |
Main DPS: Banyue serves as the team’s main DPS, with his ability to deal massive amounts of Fire Sheer damage to enemies upon switching onto the field and while he stays on the field.
Stunner/Support: Dialyn is a strong stunner support character that can be used alongside Banyue to supplement his damage output with her amazing Critical Damage boosting ability and her special effect to allow him to use his Ultimate without consuming Decibels. Dialyn also helps to stun the enemies to allow Banyue to switch onto the field to deal as much damage as possible during the Stun duration.
Stunner/Support: Lucia is the best support for any Sheer Damage oriented characters with her skill kit that increases the max HP of the team in addition to boosting the Sheer damage output of the team, making her the perfect support for Banyue.
Conclusion
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