Pay-to-Win is a Trap! Why Focusing on Strategy Over Damage Makes You Stronger in Zenless Zone Zero

[@tuhcyj]

it's kinda wild that everyone put billy at the bottom of any tierlist and essentially called him bad and now he's the talk of the town, but my boy deserved the recognition

[@toxicabyzz]

The starlight knight is no joke, I just never thought to invest in a non-limited

[@ooga69booga]

It's not everyone. It's just thst dumb tierlist site prydwen always dishing out misinfo.

[@brodericksiz625]

I never called him bad, I just don't like his moveset and don't find it fun

[@plvto1]

​@@ooga69booga prydwen constantly gets things wrong i have no idea why people still rely on that site.

[@TON._.N]

It annoys me when new characters drop and ppl go “Oh (old characters name) is cooked” Yea, have fun spending weeks or months building a new character so you could clear Shiyu 15 seconds faster

[@toxicabyzz]

@TON._.N yeah and the hype always makes us think. This time will be different! Having said that, the one character I'm def going for regardless of what they do is that Berserk looking voidhunter, I just hope he will be playable.

[@ironheart1803]

Like... 2 second faster

[@GrapeSoda1515]

I started playing ZZZ on launch and wasn't a huge fan of Ellen or ZY. When I saw Miyabi I knew I wanted to save to M6 her which I've never done in a gacha. I'm currently at 630 pulls because I've been fully clearing everything with Neko/Piper/Lucy & Anton/Anby/Nicole, all of which are really good in their own right. So I completely agree that when all this meta talk happens like you need this character or this one is now being replaced. Hell no it doesn't matter who your characters are, they just need to be invested in to get the most out of them, my anby can stun just as fast as any Qingyi, sure she doesn't get the DMG multiplier but its not NECESSARY to clear content. Great video!

[@toxicabyzz]

Thanks! and good luck with your m6 pulls saving all the mats is next level patience

[@nagichwaan]

My younger bro's like you too. He never pulled in the limited and standard banner. He's just using all the free A ranks to clear everything up until now. His mains were Billy and Soukaku. He's not a highly skilled gamer tbh and his clears in SD was mostly As bc of the time but he doesn't really care about that. As long as he enjoys the game, the rating of his clears doesn't matter. So yeah. It doesn't matter who the characters are, the one that really matters was the one who uses them and how they will maximize their potentials. Skill issues are a big issue in this kinds of games especially those who are obsessed with meta (not all tho). I think his no pull account will end soon. He's super interested in Astra Yao and the loli group. I ask him why not Miyabi he just answered me she's too flashy for him and he doesn't like cats (tho he knows Miyabi is a fox).

[@GrapeSoda1515]

@@nagichwaan congrats to him! We all gotta just enjoy the game how we want and I’m glad he’s doing so. Sounds like he’ll be able to guarantee the characters he really likes so fingers crossed he has good pulls so he can enjoy the game even more!

[@spark9_]

Love Billy. Only benched him to build my Soldier 11, only pulled on Caesar so far. It's been fun!

[@davidcassidy602]

Zenless has only released one 4⭐️ character post launch. I don’t think we can count on overtuned 4⭐️s. That being said, I agree with your point that Billy and Jane are powerful because they deal damage in a very safe way. I’m gonna call it the Dodge Meta, because Jane has more, better Dodges, and Billy deals damage while staying outta Dodge in the first place 😂

[@toxicabyzz]

Dodge meta is a good name for it

[@pezgomez]

Corin is actually worth discussion in investable 4 stars as well. Like Billy and Jane, her dodge counter is extremely good. She also has amazing i-frames on her ex special for both startup and once you release, with damage reduction in the middle if your timing sucks. Several of her attacks also hit stun light characters such as Shadow Jane. This makes her one of the most relaxing characters to play in an otherwise somewhat annoying fight. For example, when Shadow Jane is jumping toward you, a normal character needs decent timing to dodge counter, swap counter, etc. Corin meanwhile uses her massive ex s to ignore the initial hit, or tank it with damage reduction if you boomer the timing, and then the chainsaw hold actually hitstuns jane for the duration of the hold while dealing massive damage. Most people just dont notice these things because they look at her stun damage boost passive and seemingly slow moveset, then reasonably conclude she is a stun use only character. This is a shame because they miss out on so much. She may not be the greatest on fielder but she is more than serviceable. Using corin solo, I can reliably get ~3 min clear times on first half of current shiyu defense. You may not think that's all that impressive, but it's true solo and competitive with my invested m2 s11 solo times. If you add two supports to her or a stunner+support standard combo, this number drops immediately to very serviceable times. Tl:dr; Corin is great if you have boomer reflexes. Billy is great if you zoomer.

[@toxicabyzz]

I'm going to try this! ty

[@ELVIStheDotA]

I always thought Billy was an extremely strong and easy to learn character that was amazing they gave as f2p. Your damage uptime is basically 100% since you just hold the button and he shoots. Also all the aoe for killing groups of enemies whether the dash attack, chain attack or ultimate. That being said I haven't invested in him in awhile because well while I find him strong I also find his playstyle boring.

[@toxicabyzz]

Yeah I stopped leveling him when I found out his damage drops at range. But turns out doesn't matter

[@XiaZ]

Pro tip: Disable damage number make life so much easier. You can S ranked S7 with all R team if you don't show the damage number.

[@ZtotheMills]

Zenless' core mechanics are very defensive. Dodge and Parry are universal across the whole roster, and while I hate the 'git gud' mentality, as players learn the game these mechanics will start to become the thing that carries them. Damage gets you clear times, while learning gets you confidence. And at the end of the day, its a Gacha game. The meta is designed to change over time. The characters you put your all into are going to become "Bad" eventually. So its best to focus on characters who feel reliable, or who you just have fun playing. Cuz you can still beat anything with anyone.

[@olyhrias5410]

Why are people saying Billy is boring? Maintaining all his different bonuses active while being careful of not being too far or too close and dodging is so satisfying to me.

[@toxicabyzz]

@olyhrias5410 it's probably just a preference difference. But i bet if Billy turns out to be a mech robot driven by Firefly's sister... Billy would become real interesting

[@plvto1]

yeah i seriously don't get it either.

[@crazyblazeX]

I think people miss the point that ZZZ has 3 characters per team, instead of 4 in genshin and HSR. Because of this vertical investiment is more valuable. If you are thinking just about power levels, you will only want to pull if it improves significantly your team. I'm F2P since day one, I just pulled a bit and got lucky with Ellen, then I saved everything until Jane came out. Got Jane M1 and signature, eventually got lycaon... build 2 teams, Ellen+Lycaon+Soukaku and Jane + Anby + Nicole... I've been saving pulls and investing in those characters, maxed out skills and focusing on getting better disks. I can clear quite comfortably the shiyu defense and I think it is fine.. Got to the 25 floor and it was ok... Recently got burnice and now I'm saving to get either the idols faction, or waiting for jane and burnice rerun, to get their m2...I'm sure I can clean any content that will come in the next 6 months, but with their m2 I think my account will be pretty much futureproof

[@toxicabyzz]

@crazyblazeX Jane will go brrr at m2. Burnice i think will get style crept she's kind of too static

[@SlimeyZockt]

I just came here to say that I finally maxxed out Corin and that she was the reason why I cleared Shiyu Defense 7 on S rank. This game is so fun

[@toxicabyzz]

@@SlimeyZockt oh nice!

[@tinoozuna8247]

You just gained a sub, your videos are amazing, please keep uploading!!

[@toxicabyzz]

@tinoozuna8247 thanks tino good to have you on board

[@lrdalucardart]

As some one who pays a bit (somewhere around goldfish and dolphin), nah, you don't need to pay anything at all. Like there is no online variant to the game anyway(4now) so really there is no need for it, unless you want to pull on all banners at least once. And yeah I still use Zhu and S11 on the tower mode and both are M1 with their respective W-Engines.

[@weylyn080]

My billy m4 climbing the tower level 50 he made it in 9.11 minutes that make me crazy 😂

[@mordakie3805]

billy is amazing...the limited characters dont synergies yet ...kinda how hoyo released all these natlan units in genshin and none of them work well together

[@lrdalucardart]

3:38 Actually, someone.... alredy beat and reach the tower 1001 floor on day 2 of the patch, in Korea.

[@toxicabyzz]

@@lrdalucardart yeah but they were like fully m6 lol

[@lexmats6709]

I'm not particularly good at ZZZ but I do love it. I am also a mobile only player, so the controls arent so great. I did try plowing through the Battle Tower, but my meager skills can only get me to the 14th floor. The 15th keeps handing my ass back to me on a silver platter. I'm using Caesar-Lucy-Piper and Biker dude keeps making roadkill of me. But after watching this video... maybe Billy is the solution to my skill issue.

[@toxicabyzz]

@lexmats6709 Billy, caesar a support and avocadoboo, resetting level or waiting for the bangaboo heal whenever you mess up or take too much damage. Zhu Yuan can sort of work too but kind of slow. Mobile touchscreen is way harder than a controller or mouse.

[@azureknight729]

Buy a controller if you play on tablet, best way to play.

[@realmellomoka]

Logistically everything you've said is sound. You're absolutely right, especially on game release Hoyo sometimes doesn't quite predict how the characters they make with affect their game balance. Half of genshin's 4*s are still broken. But man...playing as Billy is so boring and the way his guns "pop" after every shot makes his playstyle so staccato. I wish the "feeling" of his gameplay was smoothed out a tad more. An overwhelming majority of enemies in this game have poor ranged options to approach/attack the player.

[@toxicabyzz]

@realmellomoka I'm wondering now if Bow Guy is gonna be ranged. He might replace Billy 🤔

[@realmellomoka]

@@toxicabyzz You don't even know how much I have my eye on him.

[@DeathXtremeHaseo]

Pretty much, he's boring af to play and I normally stick with ranged characters...

[@mimo5383]

I'm F2P (Free 2 Pay) so have every banner (bar Rina) and otherwise every wengine. I take banners to L60 E9 W60 across the board, but I don't try and min max disks. I see the argument of stuffing all your eggs into the one basket, but just because you can, doesn't mean you should. The counter argument is (at least for me) I'd get bored of using the same hand full of banners all the time. Its also worth considering that you don't need to 100% all the content either and can leave parts to nibble and work on during mid patch lulls.

[@toxicabyzz]

@@mimo5383 E9? Alert alert unidentified trailblazer alert alert ⚠️ 📢 🚨

[@toxicabyzz]

@mimo5383 on a serious note I was going to try to 100% the game but turns out my snake game just isn't what it used to be

[@Yves23-23]

The Guy is very skill player,but hé didn t climb only with Billy, got César in his team. But i can tell by far than his Billy does more damage than most of main dps of many players

[@toxicabyzz]

@Yves23-23 His Billy been training in 100x gravity while we all been drinking coffee and eating noodles

[@VladPsyche]

Nice video. I want to say some things about Billy from my experience. He is a very interesting charcter, he can be very weak and very strong at the same time. Billy is very easy to learn but very hard to master character and depending of your "understanding of Billy" your damage may varie a lot. He has a lot of strong sides (insane AOE, great burst damage, nice damage outside of a stun, mobility, ideal dodge counters and very flexible playstyle) but you need to learn how to use all of his strong sides. Billy is ranged charcter but he wants to be as close as possible to enemy to deal most of his damage because damage will drop with the distance and his dodge counters deal a very good amount of damage, but when needed he can play at safer distance and still deal good damage. His burst damage is in his Ultimate, so you need to learn how to gain all decibles needed before the stun. Billy may seem like immobile and very vulnerable character, but when you learn and understand his dodge cancels he is one of the most mobile characters in the game. And there is more things about him or his teams to learn and master. No wonder at release many though he is an Amber of Zenless. Billy is hard to master but rewarding character, so without proper understanding he can be very underwelming. Also about his mindscapes, he is good at base but he is kinda dependant on M2 and M6 to be strong. I think there is more than just "we need to invest our time in Characters like Billy" because this game is easy to pick up, but there is much more going on than we can thought and Billy is a great example of that. Zenless have a lot of little things that can make a big difference and i think its important not only invest time and resources in a good characters, but also invest time to understand the game, team or a character.

[@toxicabyzz]

@VladPsyche this is a perfect representation of what makes him so special gg

[@cyramiko6601]

With good strats you can reach Endless stage 25-26 easily as a F2P. P2W might get you to stage 30 but it's not worth it tho - only 4 stages diff.

[@toxicabyzz]

@cyramiko6601 but finishing level 30 gets you a cool shiny logo that you can add to your life achievements!

[@Ari_Levin]

Even as a f2p its possible to reach stage 30 though

[@cyramiko6601]

@@Ari_Levin Yes but for casual players it's pretty tough. Especially mobile players.

[@cyramiko6601]

@@toxicabyzz well, true!

[@hogroad]

money

[@toxicabyzz]

Somebody mod this guy

[@TC102]

Corin M6R5 > Nekomata M0

[@thefearturkey6944]

Depends i do prefer neko as her damage is more consistent but depends on boss. I will say one benefit with corrin is that shes easy to fit in with lycaon .

[@toxicabyzz]

@@TC102 it'll be interesting to see how they both grow once we get a physical related support

[@TC102]

My team includes. Corin, Caesar and Piper with anomaly bangboo

[@toxicabyzz]

@@TC102 mine is usually neko, caesar and a flex spot

[@MaximumCarnage-]

On the whole I agree with you but disagree with some stuff. ZZZ is great for letting you try characters you don't own. It's a game, so pull based on fun and synergy. I like Billy but hate his playstyle so I will never spend resources on him personally. I've NEVER grinded Disc once except when double drops and I S rank Shiyu no problem. I only use the music store and even some 4* Disc. My resources have been spent on maxing important skills instead. This is guaranteed power and I think its worth more than you insinuate. I'll only grind rng disc after every character I used is maxed. You really have to look at it from a team perspective and I think you are focusing too much on the individual. You say QY was a waste but for me she made the end game trivial with a craftable weapon. Zhu was my first limited 5* and her 5* weapon is also unnecessary. One of her best teammates is free so she's cheap to build. Her power is 90% in abusing stun multipliers. Koleda was good (my first 5*) but QY makes Zhu broken during stun. I brute force everything in Shiyu with Zhu, Nicole and QY even when ether isn't favored. I am not pressed at all for new characters or struggling so I skipped Jane and will only pull on the next interesting character (Miyabi as long as she's fun). I got Caesar because she was cool/fun and she's definitely helped as she offers something unique. Piper and Lucy are cracked. Piper was already taking massive chunks off bosses and now I have her M6. Why would I ever need Jane? Don't need Yanagi either. So ya I agree that you don't need pay to win. So many great 4*s and standard 5*s that can still clear easy as long as you learn how to play them and exploit their strengths while looking for synergies. You get enough pull currency to fill holes in your team but I still prefer focusing on fun first. A limited that has great f2p weapon options or teams helps you save too. A versatile one like Caesar can be all you need for a long time.

[@toxicabyzz]

@MaximumCarnage- that also fair too after all, games are made so we can have fun 👍