Grace Howard Guide and Best Builds

Grace Howard Guide & Best Builds

Welcome to our Grace build guide for Zenless Zone Zero. Grace Howard is an S-Rank Electric Anomaly DPS Agent who deals primarily Electric DMG. Thanks to Pulse, you can also use her in Disorder teams, though her personal DMG output may be weaker compared to mono Electric teams. In our guide, we will cover everything you need to know to get the most out of your Grace, from building the best Drive Discs and W-Engines, to important stat priorities and combos.

Grace Howard's Best W-Engines

Listed below are Grace's best W-Engines. While W-Engines are listed in a priority order, what is best to build can vary slightly depending on your team composition or account funding.

Timeweaver

Time-Devouring Stratagem
The equipper's Electric Anomaly Buildup Rate increases by 30/35/40/45/50%. When Special Attacks or EX Special Attacks hit enemies suffering an Attribute Anomaly, the equipper's Anomaly Proficiency increases by 75/85/95/105/115 for 15s.
When the equipper's Anomaly Proficiency is greater than or equal to 375, Disorder DMG inflicted by the equipper increases by 25/27.5/30/32.5/35%.

Fusion Compiler

Data Flood
Increases ATK by 12/15/18/21/24%.
When using a Special Attack or EX Special Attack, the equipper's Anomaly Proficiency is increased by 25/31/37/43/50 for 8s, stacking up to 3 times. The duration of each stack is calculated separately.

Sharpened Stinger

Indulge in the Hunt
Upon activating a Dash Attack, gain 1 stack of Predatory Instinct. Each stack of Predatory Instinct increases the equipper's Physical DMG by 12/15/18/21/24% for 10s, stacking up to 3 times. This effect can trigger once every 0.5s and repeated triggers reset the duration. When entering combat or triggering Perfect Dodge, gain 3 stacks of Predatory Instinct. While Predatory Instinct is at maximum stacks, the equipper's Anomaly Buildup Rate increases by 40/50/60/70/80%.

Flight of Fancy

Silver Spiked Feathers
Increases Anomaly Buildup Rate by 40/46/52/58/64%. When the equipper deals Ether DMG, their Anomaly Proficiency increases by 20/23/26/29/32 for 5s, stacking up to 6 times. This effect can trigger once every 0.5s, and repeated triggers reset the duration.

Weeping Gemini

Lingering Cries
Whenever a squad member inflicts an Attribute Anomaly on an enemy, the equipper gains a buff that increases Anomaly Proficiency by 30/34/38/42/48, stacking up to 4 times. This effect expires when the target recovers from Stun or is defeated. The duration of each stack is calculated separately.

Electro-Lip Gloss

Kiss of Death
When there are enemies inflicted with Attribute Anomaly on the field, the equipper's ATK increases by 10/11.5/13/14.5/16% and they deal an additional 15/17.5/20/22.5/25% more DMG to the target.

Rainforest Gourmet

Dinner's Ready!
For every 10 Energy consumed, the equipper gains a buff that increases ATK by 2.5/2.8/3.2/3.6/4% for 10s, stacking up to 10 times. The duration of each stack is calculated separately.

Roaring Ride

Collision Potential
When EX Special Attack hits an enemy, one of three possible effects is randomly triggered for 5 seconds. This effect can trigger once every 0.3s. The same types of effects cannot stack. Repeated triggers reset the duration, allowing several effects to be active at once:
Increases the equipper's ATK by 8/9.2/10.4/11.6/12.8%, increases the equipper's Anomaly Proficiency by 40/46/52/58/64, or increases the equipper's Anomaly Buildup Rate by 25/28/32/36/40%.

Flamemaker Shaker

Fuel on the Rocks
While off-field, the equipper's Energy Regen increases by 0.6/0.75/0.9/1.05/1.2/s. When hitting an enemy with an EX Special Attack or Assist Attack, the equipper's DMG increases by 3.5/4.4/5.2/6.1/7%, stacking up to 10 times and lasting for 6s. This effect can trigger once every 0.3s. While off-field, the stack effect is doubled. Repeated triggers reset the duration. Upon obtaining the DMG increase effect, if the number of current stacks is greater than or equal to 5, then the equipper's Anomaly Proficiency increases by 50/62/75/87/100. This Anomaly Proficiency increase does not stack and lasts for 6s.

Best Drive Discs for Grace Howard

Thunder Metal

2-Piece Set: Electric DMG +10%
4-Piece Set: As long as an enemy in combat is Shocked, the equipper's ATK is increased by 28%.

Chaos Jazz

2-Piece Set: Anomaly Proficiency +30
4-Piece Set: Fire DMG and Electric DMG increases by 15%. While off-field, EX Special Attack and Assist Attack DMG increases by 20%. When switching on-field, this buff continues for 5s, and this continuation effect can trigger once every 7.5s.

Grace Howard's Stat Priority

When building Grace, prioritize Anomaly Proficiency first. Anomaly Mastery is also great, but if you find Grace needs more Energy to execute EX Special Attacks, consider Energy Regen for your Disc 6 instead.

Grace Howard's Skill Priority

Grace's most important skill to level by far is her Core skill since it increases the Electric Anomaly Buildup from her Special and EX Special Attacks. In addition, due to her required on-field time, it is important to build all her attacks: Basic Attacks, Special Attacks, and her Chain Attacks.

How to Play Grace Howard

Grace Howard's core gameplay revolves around generating Energy for herself, as well as building Electric Anomaly to deal more Electric DMG or cause Anomaly Disorders. She does this by accumulating Zap stacks, which activates her Core Passive: Pre-Driven Needle.

She can obtain Zaps through the following methods:

• Basic Attack: High-Pressure Spike: Gain 1 Zap each time you press Basic Attack
• Dash Attack: Quick Inspection: As you dodge with Dodge, press to gain 1 Zap
• Ultimate: Demolition Blast - Beware: Gain 8 stacks of Zap and enter the Pulse state
• Special Attack: Obstruction Removal - Cycle: Hold to gain 1 Zap per thrown grenade

Grace can hold up to a maximum of 8 Zap stacks. Pressing will consume all accumulated Zaps. For every Zap consumed, her increases the amount of accumulated Electric Anomaly Buildup on her targets; more gets built if she uses instead.

In addition to the Electric Anomaly Buildup, Grace's can also increase the Shock DMG enemies receive, stackable up to 2 times per target. However, Additional Ability: Tech Support Dept. must be active.

Grace and Energy Regen

At Grace's base Energy Regen stat, she does not have enough to keep up with her Energy requirement for an EX Special Attack every Basic Attack combo or every other combo. If you have Recharge Chamber, cancelling her Basic Attack combo early also means you do not benefit from the Energy Regen bonus, despite executing more attacks faster.
This does not impact teams where regular switching is viable, but if Grace is your primary DPS Agent, you will want her on-field often to make use of her Zaps.

Grace's best use for her Zaps is with EX Special Attack: Supercharged Obstruction Removal, as it has much better damage scaling than Special Attack: Obstruction Removal. In addition, it is not difficult to meet the Energy requirement, so long as she has some Energy Regen in her build. Grace thankfully does not need a lot, as her EX Special Attack's Energy Cost is only 40.

In theory, she can achieve 40 Energy every 3-5 full Basic Attack combos (depending on your latency and build). In practice, however, players are likely to meet Grace's Energy requirement just by executing Assists and using other Agents in their squad effectively.

This means that Grace does not necessarily require an Energy Regen-focused build, and in fact, will benefit more from building her other stats, such as: Anomaly Proficiency, ATK %, PEN Ratio, and etc. Having another Anomaly Agent in the squad also enables her to contribute to Anomaly Disorders.

In an optimized setting, Grace should be able to meet her Energy Regen needs through either a team composition with good synergy, or through her Best in Slot build.

Grace's Combos

Grace's bread-and-butter combo can be any of the following:

• (8x) > ...
• + > Repeat until 8 Zaps > ...

You effectively build up to 8 Zaps on Grace via her Basic Attack: High-Pressure Spike, then consume all Zaps through EX Special Attack: Supercharged Obstruction Removal or Special Attack: Obstruction Removal (depending on available Energy).

Even if Grace does not have enough Energy, it is better to spend your Zaps when capped at 8 stacks, than to worry about building for EX Special Attack: Supercharged Obstruction Removal.

After using Ultimate: Demolition Blast - Beware, execute Special Attack: Obstruction Removal - Cycle to both consume Zaps and re-build stacks per grenade thrown.

After Grace enters the Pulse state, she can trigger Abloom upon executing Special Attack: Obstruction Removal - Cycle. Following the basic combo will ensure she can throw the extra Pulse Grenade to deal additional Anomaly DMG. The amount depends on the corresponding attack's Attribute.

Grace Howard's Best Mindscapes

Most, if not all, of Grace's Mindscape levels are beneficial to her in some way. For example, Recharge Chamber gives additional Energy to both her and the squad, while Burst Capacitor further increases the Energy Generation for Grace herself. If players want to increase Grace's personal damage output, they can look into either building up to Lightning Piercer or Detonation Trigger.

Grace Howard's Best Teams

To learn all about Grace's synergies and best team compositions, check our dedicated Grace team page below:

Changelog