Pulchra Guide and Best Builds for Zenless Zone Zero (ZZZ)

Pulchra is an A-Rank Physical Stun Agent in Zenless Zone Zero. Originally introduced as an enemy to Phaethon and the Sons Of Calydon during the Tour de Inferno, Pulchra is a hired mercenary who holds no loyalty to anyone except herself. After the Tour de Inferno and an interesting encounter with Burnice White, Pulchra decides to join the Sons Of Calydon faction.

"Sure, we've had our beef before, but that's all water under the bridge now. An Overlord should... beat swords into plush hares!" — Caesar King
"Fine, you can come with us, furball. But if you even think about touching my shampoo... oh, wait. I almost forgot, you cat Thirens aren't exactly fans of bathing, tsk." — Luciana Auxesis Theodoro de Montefio
"Watch out for Pulchra! She's ungrateful, conniving, and just plain shady! Unless I absolutely have to, I'm staying far, far away from her." — Bellum
"Minor Burns. Doctor's advice: No more BBQ for the big tail." — A crumpled medical record from a dingy Outer Ring Clinic

Pulchra is an A-Rank agent available to be pulled from all Character and W-Engine Banners in Zenless Zone Zero.

Strengths

• Accessible Support for Aftershock DMG.
• Off-Field Stunner who does not take significant uptime away from DPS Agents.
• High Mindscape Cinema investment allows her to buff all damage types.

Weaknesses

• May require a complete Mindscape Cinema without an Aftershock DMG squad.
• Incompatible with squads that require her to be On-Field or switch in often.
• Not many Gearing Options tailored for Off-Field Stun Agents.
• Struggles with Squad Compositions that favour Non-Physical Attributes or Anomaly-focused.

Pulchra's gameplay goal, in summary, is to activate and sustain both Hunter's Gait and Binding Trap as much as possible. The most effective way to do this is to keep Pulchra off-field until she runs out of Hunter's Gait damage stacks. As Pulchra can still attack while off-field, she can benefit from increased damage on any enemies affected by her Binding Trap. When her Hunter's Gait runs out, players should switch Pulchra back on-field to re-enter the state.

As the on-field Agent, Pulchra can only stay in the Hunter's Gait state for 6 seconds at a time. However, thanks to her Core Passive, if Pulchra switches to off-field while the state is active, Hunter's Gait remains active indefinitely until Pulchra switches back on-field.

While on-field, Pulchra can activate or refresh Hunter's Gait by using any of the following:

• EX Special Attack
• Assist Follow-Up
• Chain Attack
• Ultimate

This state gives Pulchra an increased Daze amount per attack, depending on her Core Skill enhancements. So when in Hunter's Gait, every attack she does will make her a more effective Stunner temporarily. In addition, if Pulchra does a heavy attack, she can trigger a Quick Assist from the previous Agent in the squad. For all Agents, a heavy attack counts as either of the following:

• Special Attack
• EX Special Attack

So if Pulchra is the active on-field Agent, she can activate a Quick Assist for other Agents. If another on-field Agent uses their heavy attack instead, and Hunter's Gait is still active, Pulchra will do a Special Attack: Rending Claw - Nightmare Shadow, up to 5 additional times (or 7 if you have M6: Behind the Mask).

Players can keep track of Pulchra's Hunter's Gait status and the remaining additional attacks through the on-screen gauge.

In Pulchra's kit, the only instance of Aftershock DMG is her Special Attack: Rending Claw - Nightmare Shadow. Because this skill can only be activated when other Agents are active, and how Hunter's Gait is only active for a short on-field period, Pulchra should be played primarily as an Off-Field Stunner.

This ensures Pulchra's Hunter's Gait state remains active indefinitely, and it can be refreshed whenever she has enough Energy for an EX Special, or is switched in through an Assist Follow-Up.

Pulchra's Binding Trap is a temporary effect that increases the Aftershock DMG all Agents deal to enemies. At M6: Behind the Mask, Binding Trap will increase all damage types, not just Aftershock DMG. Pulchra can apply the effect through the following methods:

• Special Attack
• EX Special Attack
• Assist Follow-Up
• Chain Attack
• Ultimate

Except for Pulchra's Special Attack, other skills listed above will also activate the Hunter's Gait state.

If players have Pulchra's M1: Self-Interest, this effect will also increase Pulchra's CRIT Rate when attacking enemies affected by Binding Trap. Therefore, players should aim to have Binding Trap applied to all enemies whenever possible, so that Pulchra will have increased off-field damage whenever she attacks through Special Attack: Rending Claw - Nightmare Shadow.

Pulchra's best Bangboo options are Red Moccus and Sumoboo. Pulchra has decent Sons Of Calydon Agents she can pair with in squads, and Red Moccus can do decent damage thanks to the Active Skill's cooldown reduction. If players are not using Bangboo based on other Agents in Pulchra's squad, Sumoboo will be a suitable alternative, as it is not reliant on other Agents to activate its Additional Ability.

Keep in mind there are better alternatives in general, such as Faction-based Bangboo or Bangboo for Support Agents. However, Pulchra herself cannot activate the Additional Abilities for these Bangboo types, and the suggestion will largely depend on what her squad composition looks like. It is recommended to review the guides for other Agents to see suggestions beyond Red Moccus and Sumoboo.

As a special note, Bangvolver is also a Physical DMG Bangboo that Pulchra can possibly use. However, this Bangboo's most significant issue is that its Active Skill has a 33.3% chance to fail, and it only activates every 18s with no cooldown reduction. As a result, this Bangboo is not recommend over the other alternatives mentioned above.

Depending on a player's investment in Pulchra's Mindscape Cinema, they may find her easy to use in many team compositions. Otherwise, any Pulchra who does not have her M6: Behind the Mask should primarily be in squads that can benefit from Aftershock DMG increases.

Pulchra's best squad composition will revolve around Aftershock attacks. At the moment, the only other Agents who can deal Aftershock damage are Soldier 0 - Anby and Trigger. As Pulchra and Trigger are both Stun Agents not in the same Faction, they are inherently incompatible and should not be placed in the same squad.

On the other hand, Soldier 0 - Anby can activate Pulchra's Additional Ability thanks to being an Attack Agent, and Anby can also deal Aftershock DMG through her Special Attack. As an Attack Agent, Soldier 0 - Anby will greatly prefer having as much on-field time as possible, which Pulchra can enable as an Off-Field Stunner.

As Pulchra does not have significant squad buffing beyond Aftershock DMG, her squad should also include a Support Agent who can provide additional damage increases. For example, Astra Yao is a compatible Support Agent who enables regular Quick Assists, which Pulchra likes. In addition, both Lucy and Caesar King also work, as they enable the squad to use Red Moccus and benefit from what each Agent can offer.

If players do not plan to use Pulchra in an Aftershock DMG squad, for example if they have Pulchra's M6: Behind the Mask or want a Mono Physical DMG squad, they have a couple of alternatives they can consider:

For a primary DPS, while Pulchra will greatly prefer an Attack Agent for her Additional Ability, she can equally run with a Sons Of Calydon Agent instead. This allows for squad compositions with Jane Doe, whose Core Skills will enjoy having another Anomaly (like Burnice White) or another Physical DMG Agent (such as Pulchra).

However, if players want to use an Attack Agent and do not have access to other Sons Of Calydon Agents, they can consider either Nekomata or Corin Wickes as possible main DPS Agents. Both Attack Agents will benefit from what Pulchra has to offer as a Physical DMG Off-Field Stunner.

Keep in mind that Pulchra's Aftershock DMG and Daze benefits are not exclusive to Physical DMG alone. She works perfectly fine in squads featuring multiple attributes, such as those with Soldier 11, Hoshimi Miyabi, and Evelyn Chevalier.

However, keep in mind that for Pulchra's Hunter's Gait to be effective, she has to stay off-field until the state ends. If Pulchra switches on-field too soon, such as in a squad with Evelyn Chevalier (whose gameplay focuses on Quick Assists and Chain Attacks), Pulchra will lose her remaining Hunter's Gait stacks and will need to refresh before returning off-field.

Therefore, if players want to consider DPS alternatives, it should be an Agent who greatly prefers to stay On-Field as long as possible, to offset Pulchra's preference for the Off-Field.