Deciding whether to pull for a new Zenless Zone Zero character or save for the next one to come along is always tough. While ZZZ 1.5 is giving us a lot of free Polychrome, it also marks the first time we’re seeing returning banners, meaning you’ll have the option to try and get both Qingyi and Ellen Joe again alongside newcomers Astra Yao and Evelyn. Fortunately, HoYoverse has now detailed the superstar support’s kit, and she’s shaping up to be the most valuable and flexible addition to your squad since Caesar.
As the first S-rank support to join the Zenless Zone Zero roster, there’s been a lot of curiosity about exactly what Astra Yao brings to the table. She’s also an Ether character, meaning she represents the least-used element so far and might well be exactly what Zhu Yuan has been waiting for. She joins her assistant Evelyn on the new ZZZ banners for patch 1.5, and if you’ve not spent all your Polychrome hunting down Miyabi in the gacha game, then you’ll almost certainly be considering if you want to pick her up.
In its latest update, HoYoverse gives us a closer look at exactly how Astra Yao’s move set works. Her speciality is going to be dramatically boosting the damage output of your main DPS unit, which should be ideal if you’re looking to bring in a burst damage dealer such as Zhu Yuan or recent free agent Harumasa, or even if you just want to further buff the sheer might of Miyabi.
This all revolves around her special, Windchimes and Oaths, which dashes her in a direction and places her into a stationary ‘performance’ state called Idyllic Cadenza. This provides a big buff to both the damage and crit damage stats of all your squad members, and converts Astra’s energy into Chords, which are used to spam quick assists in rapid succession. These quick assists apply a further damage buff based on Astra’s attack stat – initial testing suggests this could be as high as the attack boost given by Caesar’s shield.
Once she’s singing, you can keep using these quick assists as long as Astra’s energy is available. If you use her signature Drive Discs, Astral Voice, you’ll also earn Astral stacks with each quick assist that further boost the incoming character’s damage by up to 24%. To amplify her flexibility even more, Astra’s bonus effect, Moonlit Frenzy, only requires her to be in a team with an attack or an anomaly character, meaning that she’ll be able to use it in pretty much any squad you fancy, as you’ll almost always have one or the other present.
Rounding out Astra’s kit is her ultimate attack, Fantasian Sonata. This deals a heavy blast of Ether damage, and also heals your full squad – the first time we’ve had a healing ability on an agent rather than a bangboo, and something that will come in very handy during those long Battle Tower grinds or to compensate for chip damage during Shiyu Defense speedruns. Even better, the move puts her into the Idyllic Cadenza state and also replaces the next two quick assists you use with chain attacks, making them even more powerful.
Astra Yao arrives with the Zenless Zone Zero 1.5 release date on Wednesday January 22. As someone who skipped out on Zhu Yuan at the time, I’ve been pondering whether Astra is going to be worth picking up. With all this new information at our fingertips, I’m now sold – Caesar still feels like the most valuable character I’ve had so far, able to slot into basically any lineup and make it stronger both offensively and defensively, and Astra Yao looks ready to follow right in her footsteps.
Be sure to take a look at our ZZZ tier list before you decide who to pull for, and don’t miss out on all the latest active ZZZ codes to make sure you get as many Dennies and crafting materials as possible.
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