Zenless Zone Zero – Astra build and promotion guide

Step onto the stage and deliver the performance of a lifetime with the best Zenless Zone Zero Astra Yao build. This Ether Support Agent comes with fantastic off-field abilities and buffs that catapult your team’s DPS into the stratosphere — and she’s the game’s first healer.

Astra Yao’s most important mechanic is called Idyllic Cadenza. In the Idyllic Cadenza state, she boosts the DMG and CRIT DMG of all allies, but is unable to move – she can only use her Basic Attack and Dodge, having a higher Interrupt RES and DMG RES. Astra Yao can enter this state regardless of her current Energy by using Special Attack. However, holding Special Attack while having a lot of Energy to enter Idyllic Cadenza creates Chord, which can be consumed to trigger Quick Assists and allow Astra to execute Tremolo attacks. During Idyllic Cadenza, Astra remains on the field, even if you switch to another Agent.

Astra additionally increases her own ATK as well as the ATK of Agents switched in via any Quick Assist, Chain Attack, Defensive Assist, or Evasive Assist based on her own ATK when Energy is expended to enter the Idyllic Cadenza state.

If an Attack or Anomaly Agent is on her team, Astra’s supporting attacks gain additional shots if she’s consuming Energy to trigger a Precise Assist or Basic Attack: Finale – for the latter, hold Basic Attack while in the Idyllic Cadenza state and Astra will use up Energy for a strong attack.

• Full Name: Astra Yao
• Role: Support
• Damage Type: Ether
• Faction: Stars of Lyra
• Rarity: S-Rank

Holding Special Attack to enter Idyllic Cadenza also draws in enemies, giving you a degree of crowd control. Astra Yao’s Ultimate deals Ether DMG and heals all squad members. She also enters the Idyllic Cadenza state afterwards and changes the next two Quick Assists into Chain Attacks.

You basically want to collect Energy, enter Idyllic Cadenza, and then keep cycling through your team as much as possible, keeping up Astra’s buffs and allowing her to support her allies with off-field attacks.

Pulling duplicates allows you to raise Astra Yao’s Mindscape Cinema Level and unlock additional power-ups. Level 1 enables her to reduce her targets’ All-Attribute RES and gain Decibels when she enters the field. Furthermore, her Ultimate grants all allies the Song of Protection status for a short time, negating one instance of damage. Level 2 bolsters her ATK buff and allows her to get off an attack whenever a character switch happens during Idyllic Cadenza. Level 4 makes her a bit less dependent on Chords and grants buffs to Agents swapped in during Idyllic Cadenza that depend on their role. Finally, Level 6 increases Astra Yao’s own damage potential.

ZZZ – Astra Yao: best W-Engines

Astra Yao’s only way of bolstering the buffs she provides to her allies is to increase her ATK, so any W-Engine you pick for her should fit that description. Naturally, her signature equipment – Elegant Vanity – is the perfect example. It comes with a substantial ATK buff and provides Astra with Energy whenever a Quick Assist, Chain Attack, Defensive Assist, or Evasive Assist, brings a character onto the field. Furthermore, consuming a certain amount of Energy buffs the team’s DMG.

Best W-Engines for Astra Yao in ZZZ:

• Elegant Vanity (S-Rank)
• The Vault (A-Rank)
• Kaboom the Cannon (A-Rank)
• Bashful Demon (A-Rank)

ZZZ – Astra Yao: best Drive Discs

Aside from ATK, Energy Regeneration is the only other concern for Astra Yao — the rest of her stats more or less depend on your playstyle. If you prefer survivability, go for more defensive options, and if you want to squeeze all the DPS you can from her, go for CRIT DMG and CRIT Rate.

Best Drive Disc sets for Astra Yao in ZZZ:

• Astral Voice (4) + Swing Jazz (2): +10% ATK, whenever a squad member enters the field via Quick Assist, every ally gains one stack of Astral for 15 seconds (up to three stacks), which increases the DMG of characters entering the field via Quick Assist by 8%; +20% Energy Regeneration.
• Astral Voice (4) + Hormone Punk (2): +10% ATK, whenever a squad member enters the field via Quick Assist, every ally gains one stack of Astral for 15 seconds (up to three stacks), which increases the DMG of characters entering the field via Quick Assist by 8%; +10% ATK.

Best Drive Disc stats for Astra Yao in ZZZ:

• Partition 1 – HP (Primary), ATK %, CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, ATK
• Partition 2 – ATK (Primary), ATK %, CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, Anomaly Proficiency
• Partition 3 – DEF (Primary), ATK %, CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, ATK
• Partition 4 – ATK % (Primary), CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, ATK, Anomaly Proficiency
• Partition 5 – ATK % (Primary), CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, ATK, Anomaly Proficiency
• Partition 6 – Energy Regeneration (Primary), ATK %, CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, ATK

ZZZ – Astra Yao: best teams

Astra Yao is a fantastic Support Agent for all manner of teams, providing a variety of services – crowd control, damage buffs, and healing are all part of the package.

• Miyabi (Main DPS), Yanagi (Sub DPS), Astra Yao (Support)
• Bangboo: Agent Gulliver

Miyabi and Yanagi make for a powerful team all on their own, destroying enemies with Anomaly and Disorder infliction. Astra Yao perfectly harmonizes with them, boosting their ATK, grouping up enemies for easier hits, and easing character switches – not to mention the healing and her own attacks, which will over time bring Ether Anomalies into the mix as well.

• Zhu Yuan (Main DPS), Qingyi (Sub DPS), Astra Yao (Support)
• Bangboo: Officer Cui

Astra Yao takes on a similar role in this N.E.P.S. composition with Zhu Yuan and Qingyi at the core. Both benefit from the offensive bonuses the Support Agent provides and are very happy about the crowd control — speaking of which: If you don’t have Qingyi, adding Nicole or Vivian gives you very powerful Ether-based teams, making Zhu Yuan into a hyper-carry. Use Resonaboo as a Bangboo in that case.

Evelyn is another fantastic fit for Astra, since she benefits massively from the frequent swaps.

ZZZ – Astra Yao: promotion materials

After obtaining Astra Yao, you’ll want to level her up as quickly as possible to make use of her talents in combat. Here are the materials required to upgrade her to Level 60:

• Basic Support Certification Seal x4
• Advanced Support Certification Seal x32
• Ruler Certification Seal x30
• Dennies x800,000

You can obtain Certification Seals from the VR Combat Simulation. Advanced materials may be crafted using lower-level materials as well. Dennies can be earned in the VR Combat Simulation as well as through operating the Random Play video store.

Leveling Astra Yao up is only half the game, though — you’ll want to upgrade all of her skills as well to get the most out of her performance in battle. Here are the materials required to max out her Basic Attack, Dodge, Assist, Special Attack, and Chain Attack — we’re giving you the total you need, so just divide everything by five to get the materials needed for a single skill:

• Basic Ether Chip x25
• Advanced Ether Chip x75
• Specialized Ether Chip x250
• Hamster Cage Pass x5
• Dennies x2,500,000

Chips can be farmed in the VR Combat Simulation with Advanced and Specialized Chips also being available through crafting. Hamster Cage Passes are a rare material that can be grabbed from time-limited events as well as the New Eridu City Fund.

Finally, you can upgrade her Core Skill six times to make Astra Yao stronger, for which you need the following materials:

• Higher Dimensional Data: Thunderous Dragon x60
• Finale Dance Shoes x9
• Dennies x405,000

Higher Dimensional Data: Thunderous Dragon is available from the Expert Challenge: Thracian, while Finale Dance Shoes must be acquired through Notorious Hunt: Twin Marionette.