Anomaly damage quickly became one of the most effective strategies to beat the endgame in Zenless Zone Zero, and Tsukishiro Yanagi brought another S-tier Anomaly main-DPS to the party. Yanagi is fast, fun, oddly complex, and incredibly powerful, and if you absolutely must have one of the highest Electric damage characters in the game, accept no substitute.
She’s also reasonably straightforward to build, with solid premium and free-to-play friendly W-Engines and Drive Discs. Playing her takes a bit of additional finesse, as she’s more than a “hit attack and win” character, adding more nuance and requirements to use well. As an Anomaly character, her specialty is Anomaly buildup and Disorder activation, and as a more technically complex character, getting the right rotations down might take some practice.
Best Builds For Tsukishiro Yanagi
As an Electric element Anomaly DPS with a kit that mainly revolves around the Disorder effect, Yanagi follows a more particular build strategy than, say, Ellen Joe. She’s quite a bit closer to Jane Doe, as their gear priorities are similar: maximize their Anomaly and Disorder damage by any means necessary.
Yanagi is one of the fastest characters in the Zenless Zone Zero roster, and while she lacks Jane’s extra dodge mobility, she makes up for it with near-teleportation level speed within her optimal attack range, and the quickness and invulnerability of her EX Special. Anomaly damage is paramount in building Yanagi, and you’ll need to start by choosing from her best W-Engine options.
Best W-Engines For Tsukishiro Yanagi
|
Rank |
Name |
Synergy with Tsukishiro Yanagi |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Timeweaver |
As Yanagi’s signature W-Engine, it’s explicitly built with her kit in mind. Not only does it increase the Electric Anomaly buildup rate by a flat 30%, Special and EX Specials increase the wearer’s Anomaly Proficiency by 75, and once that stat reaches 375 or higher, any Disorder damage they deal increases by 25%. If another Electric Anomaly character comes out that power creeps Yanagi, this W-Engine has even more value. |
|
2 |
Fusion Compiler |
Grace’s signature W-Engine is a fantastic option for Yanagi if you don’t want to spend the Polychromes and Master Tapes on the Timeweaver. The ATK% bonus is larger, being an S-rank, and it gives additional Anomaly Proficiency stacks. It’s mainly held back by the PEN Ratio main stat, but because the bonuses come from using Special and EX Special abilities, Yanagi can use it to its fullest most of the time. |
|
3 |
Electro-Lip Gloss |
If you pay for the New Eridu City Fund battle pass, the Electro-Lip Gloss W-Engine is a fantastic A-Rank alternative to Fusion Compiler thanks largely to its Anomaly Proficiency main stat and flat damage bonus. Which you choose between this W-Engine and Grace’s signature is up to your spending habits and availability. |
|
4 |
Weeping Gemini |
A completely free-to-play W-Engine, Weeping Gemini is still worthwhile for Yanagi should you lack any of her top three choices. It’s especially useful against bosses and other beefy enemies, as the solid Anomaly Proficiency stacking buff only disappears once a Stun window ends. |
|
5 |
Roaring Ride |
Randomness is the enemy of consistent damage, but in the absence of other choices, you can use Roaring Ride on Yanagi and see acceptable results. Yanagi uses enough Special and EX Special attacks that you can likely have all of this W-Engine’s effects active simultaneously, though the window for doing so is relatively small. |
|
6 |
Rainforest Gourmet |
Yanagi is already technical enough, and needing to carefully ration her Energy for Ex Specials to activate Rainforest Gourmet’s ATK% stacking buff isn’t worth it from a practical or statistical standpoint. |
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Best Drive Discs For Tsukishiro Yanagi
|
Set |
Synergy with Tsukishiro Yanagi |
|---|---|
|
Chaos Jazz |
Chaos Jazz’s four-piece set bonus is almost too good to pass up for Yanagi, as it grants a flat 15% damage buff to her Electric damage, and she gains EX Special buffs when swapping on-field, which she’ll do a lot. The additional 30 Anomaly Proficiency from its 2-piece bonus is nice as well. |
|
Thunder Metal |
Four pieces of the classic Electric set are another strong choice for Yanagi, providing a strong ATK% boost whenever an enemy is Shocked and a flat 10% Electric Damage bonus as a two-set. |
|
Freedom Blues |
As a four-piece set, Freedom Blues falls far behind Chaos Jazz and Thunder Metal, but the additional Anomaly Proficiency from its two-piece set bonus makes a tantalizing way to round our Yanagi’s Drive Disc selection. |
Best Bangboo For Tsukishiro Yanagi
There are several Bangboo you could pair with Yanagi, even without the Section 6-specific version; you’ll want a Bangboo that synergizes well with Yanagi’s kit, so anything Anomaly or Electric-focused is ideal, as is anything that can group enemies. Better yet if they can do both.
The shortlist of optimal Bangboo for Yanagi follows, ranked in order of usefulness:
|
Electroboo |
Electroboo’s main benefit is in how it supplements Yanagi’s Shock Anomaly buildup every 18 seconds, and its Chain Attack adds an even larger amount of buildup, provided you’re fighting an enemy beefy enough to allow its use. |
|
Cryboo |
If you’re lucky enough to have both Yanagi and Burnice on the same team, Cryboo takes Burnice’s already absurd Fire Anomaly buildup to yet another new level. |
|
Baddieboo |
Baddieboo is good for Yanagi for two reasons. First off, you don’t need two characters of the same element to activate all its abilities, and second, its raw damage output increases on an Anomaly team. |
|
Magnetiboo |
Magnetiboo’s enemy grouping power magnifies by 45% when paired with an Anomaly character like Yanagi. While it doesn’t provide any additional damage like the other choices, grouping is incredibly important in fights with tons of trash mobs. |
Tsukishiro Yanagi Skill Overview And Priority
Yanagi’s kit revolves around a stance system, and she switches stances by using her Special and EX Special.
- Jougen stance is noted by the blue diamond below her health bar, her Electric damage increases by 10%.
- Kagen stance increases her PEN Ratio by 10%.
Yanagi maintains the buff from a swapped stance for eight seconds, meaning she can have both active constantly with smart stance swapping.
You can also switch stances following the third, fourth, or fifth hit of her Basic combo by using her Special mid-combo, which also causes Yanagi to put out additional damage through a set of faster-than-the-eye slashes. Yanagi’s EX Special is another bread and butter part of her kit, making her invulnerable during its animation, increasing overall Disorder damage by up to 250% for 15 seconds, and activating Polarity Disorder.
This separate Disorder damage instance doesn’t remove Anomaly buildup and can deal more than 2,500% of her Anomaly Proficiency.
As for the order and priority of upgrading her skills, here is the descending order of importance:
- EX Special
- Basic Attack
- Ultimate
- Assist
- Dodge
Tips For Playing Tsukishiro Yanagi
The order of operations for playing Yanagi can follow these steps:
- Build up Shock Anomaly with Yanagi until it’s almost ready to activate.
- Use other characters (like Burnice, Piper, or Lucy) to build up other Anomaly types.
- Swap back to Yanagi and cause Disorder, supplementing with her EX Special’s Polarity Disorder once the main effect goes off.
- Use Yanagi’s Ultimate as it’s available for additional damage.
You’ll be doing a lot of stance swapping as you play Yanagi, and you should take some time to build up the rhythm you like with her on-field and when to switch to the rest of your roster.
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