Zenless Zone Zero: Nicole Character And Build Guide

Nicole is one of the first characters players get in Zenless Zone Zero. As a Support unit, her job is to improve the combat effectiveness of everyone in the squad. She isn’t quite as flashy as the rest of the Cunning Hares, but it’s hard to deny how valuable she can be.

Support units are excellent in every gacha game, and they’re no exception here. If you play according to your characters’ specialties in Zenless Zone Zero, you’ll be able to steamroll through even the most difficult content the game has to offer. Here’s a guide for Nicole that covers her best build and general tips on how to use her.

How To Play Nicole In Zenless Zone Zero

Nicole has three main roles: shred the enemy’s DEF, pull enemies together, and buff the squad’s Ether DMG. The first two are universally useful, while the third one only really benefits herself as she is the only Ether unit so far. With that said, Nicole will be even more valuable once more factions and characters in Zenless Zone Zero are released.

As long as Nicole has enhanced bullets (marked by a bullet counter below her status bar), her abilities will shred up to 40% of an enemy’s DEF for 3.5 seconds. Players should prioritize leveling up her passive and Special Attack, as these are where most of her value comes from.

When using Nicole, you should be constantly swapping characters around to maximize the uptime of her DEF shred. Build her Energy up, and use her EX Special whenever it’s available to artificially increase the duration of her passive shred effect.

Nicole’s EX Special Attack always enables Quick Assists for the next character in the queue. When choosing your team, make sure to put her
before your main DPS
, especially if that DPS is Billy or anyone else who benefits from Quick Assists.

Nicole Best W-Engines in Zenless Zone Zero

The best W-Engine for Nicole is Weeping Cradle, an S-rank engine that increases the energy regeneration of the user while they’re off-field. Dealing attacks with Weeping Cradle equipped also increases the damage output of everyone in the squad. Energy management in Zenless Zone Zero is especially important for Support characters, so taking Weeping Cradle for Nicole should be a no-brainer.

Nicole’s second best W-Engine is The Vault, which boosts the damage of all members whenever the user deals Ether damage with their Ultimate, EX Special Attack, or Chain Attack. It also buffs the wearer’s energy regen on top of providing a nice energy regen stat by default. If you have neither of these, then the B-rank Reverb W-Engines will suffice.

Nicole Best Drive Discs in Zenless Zone Zero

Drive Discs are the equivalent of Relics and Artifacts in ZZZ. For Nicole, you’ll want to prioritize getting the following stats in order:

• Energy Regen
• Anomaly Proficiency
• Ether DMG
• ATK

Nicole doesn’t need damage as much as other characters to be effective, but it doesn’t hurt to have the extra offensive stats. With that said, you’ll want to use the Swing Jazz set plus either Freedom Blues or Chaotic Metal for your off-set two-piece bonus. Swing Jazz boosts energy regen and the damage of all squad members. Meanwhile, you can get extra Anomaly Proficiency or Ether DMG from Freedom Blues and Chaotic Metal respectively.

Bangboos in Zenless Zone Zero provide a variety of benefits. If you really want to double-down on energy regen for Nicole and your other characters, we highly suggest grabbing a Butlerboo. If you don’t have one, any other Bangboo that synergizes with your team will have to do.

Nicole’s Mindset Cinema Bonuses in Zenless Zone Zero