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

In summary, most of Trigger's Mindscape Cinema are concerned with improving her personal damage output. If players are able to build Trigger's CRIT Rate high enough, she can become a very strong Stun and DPS Agent without depending on any Mindscape Cinema upgrades.

However, if players want to invest in Trigger's Mindscape Cinema, they should ideally go for at least M1: Sharpened Senses or M2: "Ether Vision". Both will provide the most notable damage upgrades for Trigger and her squad, as her M1 increases her Aftershock DMG, and her M2 can increase everyone's CRIT DMG, including her own, whenever she deals damage off-field.

This does not discount either her M4: Concealment or M6: Beyond the River of the Dead, as both will equally help Trigger deal significantly more damage not tied to having high base stats. As Trigger's build may not be able to focus on getting a balanced spread of stats, both Mindscape Cinema upgrades can help support any Trigger built to her greatest potential.

If players are looking for Trigger's best W-Engine available, they may want to consider her Signature W-Engine, the Spectral Gaze. This W-Engine not only has a compatible W-Engine Effect with Trigger's kit, but it also has an Advanced Stat of CRIT Rate as well. This is the only Stun Agent compatible W-Engine currently available that gives an unconditional CRIT Rate.

When built to Lv.60, Spectral Gaze gives 24% CRIT Rate. Considering Trigger's Additional Ability, this leaves only 61% CRIT Rate from other sources, such as her Drive Discs or Team Compositions. For more information on Trigger's optimal CRIT Rate, see the Additional Notes section.

The Spectral Gaze's Effect, Wind Seeker, provides DEF reduction upon landing Aftershock DMG, which Trigger's kit is tailored around. In addition, if Trigger is off-field while landing Aftershock DMG, the W-Engine will provide Spirit Lock stacks that increase her Impact. This allows her to be a better Stun Agent by increasing the Daze buildup on enemies, and is very compatible with her general playstyle (stunning while off-field).

If players do not have the Spectral Gaze, please note that there are no other Stun W-Engines alternatives for CRIT Rate. For example, though Blazing Laurel's CRIT DMG bonus seems appealing, Trigger's Additional Ability is only affected by CRIT Rate, and she also deals neither Ice nor Fire DMG.

For non-CRIT Rate alternatives, Stun Agents like Trigger should focus on building Impact, as it directly affects the rate of Daze buildup on enemies. Of the S-Rank options available, do not consider Ice-Jade Teapot, as Trigger will not be able to make full use of the W-Engine's effect nor gain the most Impact either.

Most of the alternatives will perform about the same, as they all give a standard 18% Impact at Lv.60. The most effective one Trigger can use is The Restrained, as her Aftershock DMG is considered as Basic Attacks.

However, for the most Impact value, players can also consider Blazing Laurel (for the Quick Assist conditional) or Hellfire Gears (for the EX Special conditional). As Trigger does not need multiple EX Special attacks to stun effectively, Hellfire Gears will likely have the least Impact value of the alternatives given.

In comparison, while Trigger does trigger Quick Assists via her EX Special, Ultimate, and the Finishing Move of her Basic Attack: Silenced Shot, she will not benefit from the CRIT DMG portion of Blazing Laurel's Effects, as mentioned previously.

As there are no CRIT Rate alternatives for Trigger currently available, if players choose to use an A-Rank W-Engine, they should look for one that gives the most Impact possible. Most Stun W-Engines will have this as their unconditional Advanced Stat, but players can consult the following recommendations as well:

1. Precious Fossilized Core can provide the most Impact at the start of combat, but it will decrease over time as the enemies lose HP. It will still be better than any Lv.60 W-Engine that provides no Effect Trigger can use, especially with Refinements.
2. Demara Battery Mark II provides the base Impact of an A-Rank, but it increases Electric DMG as well. Good for Trigger's personal damage output primarily, but does not do much otherwise.
3. Box Cutter provides the base amount of Impact for an A-Rank, and also increases Daze following Aftershock DMG, which Trigger uses to build Daze on enemies. However, Trigger will not benefit much from the Physical DMG increase.
4. Steam Oven will not provide the most Impact, but for an Agent who is mostly off-field (and thus, will generate a lot of Energy), players will likely find it comparable to any S-Rank W-Engine and functional until Trigger has better alternatives.
5. Six Shooter has a decent amount of Daze it can deal when the effect is fully utilized. However, Trigger is not expected to be on-field much to deal many EX Special Attacks, so this is more of a mediocre effect than beneficial: she can accumulate enough Charge stacks, but the Daze will not be as significant as staying off-field to stun via Aftershock DMG. It is a functional alternative if nothing else.

The most important stat for Trigger is CRIT Rate. See the Additional Notes for more information.

Based on the above, players should understand that Trigger's main objective for Drive Discs is whether they give the appropriate stats she wants. Due to the random distribution for substats, it means players should prioritize getting the full value out of the Disc Main Stats on certain Partitions. Notably, Disc 4 can have a CRIT Rate main stat, and Disc 6 can have Impact; both of these stats are valuable to improving Trigger's performance.

Her Disc 5's Main Stat does not particularly matter, as players can go with Electric DMG, ATK %, or PEN Ratio; both will increase Trigger's damage output well. However, players should try to ensure all of Trigger's Drive Discs have decent CRIT Rate Substat distributions on them, except for Disc 4: CRIT Rate. If the Disc 4 has CRIT Rate as its Main Stat, it will never have CRIT Rate as its Substat.

Though substat distribution is random, it is possible to achieve 90% CRIT Rate through Trigger's W-Engine and Drive Discs' stats alone. However, players should also consider the following Set Effects:

1. 2-Piece Woodpecker Electro: Provides an unconditional +8% CRIT Rate.
2. 4-Piece Shadow Harmony: Provides +4% CRIT Rate per stack (or up to +12% CRIT Rate at 3 stacks). Stacks are obtained via Aftershock skills that deal Electric DMG, which Trigger can do.

If players are struggling to reach a higher CRIT Rate (up to 90%), they should strongly consider using the above Drive Disc sets for their effects. By combining both Set Effects together, players can reduce the remaining CRIT Rate required by 12-20%. The total amount depends on the number of Shadow Harmony stacks Trigger has, as it decreases over time. Since Trigger's general gameplay can cause repeated triggers (which resets the duration of each stack), she should not be severely affected by this in most content.

However, if players already have a decent amount of CRIT Rate, or prefer to build Trigger differently, they can also consider the following instead:

1. 2-Piece or 4-Piece Shockstar Electro: Provides the best Impact and Daze available of all Drive Discs, making it well-tailored to any Stun Agent. Both 2-Piece and 4-Piece effects will benefit Trigger.
2. 2-Piece Shadow Harmony: This effect comes with building for the 4-Piece option, which is one of the best 4-Piece sets Trigger can use. Notably, the 2-Piece will increase the damage Trigger deals via Aftershock, which helps, as Trigger primarily deals damage off-field via Aftershock.
3. 2-Piece Thunder Metal: Increases Electric DMG, which is good for Trigger's personal damage. If players do not have other options available, this is a decent alternative.
4. 2-Piece Branch & Blade Song: If you do not have a reason to build either CRIT Rate or Impact for Trigger, this is an alternative to go for. However, keep in mind that this only affects Trigger's personal damage, and does not influence how much Daze she can build.

If players are struggling to determine which 4-Piece set to pick (Shadow Harmony or Shockstar Electro), we suggest viewing the Additional Notes: CRIT Rate Distribution section for the recommended values per Drive Disc.

Trigger's Additional Ability: Silver Lantern's Gaze increases her Daze dealt by Aftershocks by 1.5%, up to a maximum increase of 75%. The increasing amount is determined by how much additional CRIT Rate Trigger has beyond the baseline of 40%. So Trigger with 41% CRIT Rate will see a 1.5% increase to her Aftershock Daze dealt; at 42% CRIT Rate, the Daze dealt will be increased by 3.0% instead, and so on.

Building towards the given CRIT Rate target will not only make Trigger's overall damage more consistent, but it will also increase the amount that she will stun enemies by. So while Trigger's Additional Ability will make her a stronger Stun Agent, it is by no means easy to achieve its full potential.

Based on the given conditions, to achieve "a maximum increase of Daze dealt by 75%," players should expect to build Trigger's CRIT Rate to a maximum of 90%. This is based on every 1% CRIT Rate providing a 1.5% increase, so the maximum effective amount requires fifty 1.5% Daze increases, or 50% additional CRIT Rate. As the Additional Ability's threshold begins at 40%, the most effective CRIT Rate for Trigger should be 40% Base + 50% Increase = 90% Total.

Here are a few, but not all, notable challenges with building for high CRIT Rate on Trigger:

1. As a Stun Agent, Trigger's Base CRIT Rate starts at 5%
2. Trigger's kit, including Skills and Mindscape Cinema, provides no additional CRIT Rate
3. Only her Signature W-Engine has CRIT Rate as an Advanced Stat for Stun W-Engines (up to 24%)
4. There is only one Drive Disc type (Partition 4) with a CRIT Rate Main Stat available; Others can only obtain CRIT Rate through Substats
5. Of the Drive Disc Set Bonuses available, only one (Woodpecker Electro 2-Piece) is unconditional; This limits which Disc Sets to Farm

Regardless of Agent Promotions and Levels, Trigger will always start on a base CRIT Rate of 5%. From other sources, including her BiS and Team Compositions, she will require 85% additional CRIT Rate total to output the maximum Daze dealt from her Additional Ability.

For an example of what Trigger's CRIT Rate might look like, see the Additional Notes on CRIT Rate Distribution.

Please Note: The following does not take into any consideration for the Bangboo or Team Composition for Trigger. This is based on building her CRIT Rate exclusively from her Best-in-Slot options alone.

If players are looking to hit 90% CRIT Rate on Trigger, or cannot decide between 4-Piece Shadow Harmony or Shockstar Disco, they can consider the following table as an example:

Based on the conditions given in the table, with no substat or team composition variables, Trigger with a Spectral Gaze only needs, at most, an extra 17-29% CRIT Rate. 17% if you are dependent on Trigger sustaining all 3 Stacks of Shadow Harmony, or 29% if you do not want to rely on the Drive Disc set effect.

If Trigger exclusively gets 17-29% CRIT Rate from Drive Discs substats alone, this will significantly increase her flexibility with available Team Compositions. This is very possible, as long as each Drive Disc has an average of 5.8% CRIT Rate each.

For every S-Rank Drive Disc, each CRIT Rate substat begins at 2.4% CRIT Rate. It will increase by the same amount with each distribution, up to a maximum of five distributions available per Disc. If the Disc started with only three substats, one of the distributions will give a different substat altogether (rather than increasing a current value).

Essentially, every Drive Disc that starts with CRIT Rate+0 can build up to CRIT Rate+5. If the Drive Disc did not have CRIT Rate to begin with, the maximum possible substat value will only be CRIT Rate+4.

The only Drive Disc not considered is Disc 4, as CRIT Rate should be prioritized as its Main Stat. Partition 4 Discs with a CRIT Rate Main Stat cannot have CRIT Rate Substats.

The theoretical highest substat distribution, at CRIT Rate+5, would mean you can supplement a total of 72% CRIT Rate from substats alone. This value does not include the Main Stat of 24% on Disc 4. However, not only is this difficult to achieve (due to the random distribution system), it is also inefficient compared to getting the minimum required.

If the Drive Disc started with CRIT Rate, it would ideally have at least two substat distributions into CRIT Rate (ending at CRIT Rate+2, or 7.2% each). If you only have CRIT Rate+1, the CRIT Rate value (4.8%) would be less than the average required per Disc (5.8%). Because 5.8% CRIT Rate is impossible to achieve on a Substat, players will have to get more than the Disc average to hit 90% CRIT Rate total.

At minimum, players should expect to see 4(7.2%) + 1(2.4%) + 1(24%) = 55.2% CRIT Rate from Drive Discs alone. You can get 31.2% total from the suggested Substat Distributions, and 24% from the Main Stat on Disc 4. The actual formula will look different from the example, as Distribution per Substat is variable in-game, but players should hit a total of 55.2% from their Drive Discs to achieve the 90% CRIT Rate goal.

Plugging the value back into the Example Table, you will find that:

• 31.2% is more than the remaining CRIT Rate required (17-29%)
• Before Factoring in Shadow Harmony, 31.2% + 61% = 92.2% (Higher than 90% Maximum)
• At 2-3 Stacks with Shadow Harmony, Trigger will have a capped CRIT Rate of 100%
• Therefore, players should use 4-Piece Shadow Harmony if they do not have enough CRIT Rate from Substats
• Otherwise, if players have enough CRIT Rate and do not like Shadow Harmony's Set Effect, they should use 4-Piece Shockstar Disco instead

Keep in mind that the above findings assume you have Spectral Gaze as Trigger's W-Engine, or a W-Engine that provides at least 24% CRIT Rate. Without it, you will require between 41-53% CRIT Rate from Disc Substats, which suggests you have an average of 10.6% (or CRIT Rate+4) on each Drive Disc.

Because a CRIT Rate+4 Drive Disc provides 12% CRIT Rate, not 10.6%, players will find the minimum CRIT Rate to be 3(12%) + 2(9.6%) = 55.2% CRIT Rate from substats instead. Going any lower assumes players will be using Shadow Harmony, and going any higher will be inefficient (excess of CRIT Rate).

In conclusion, any CRIT Rate above 50% means that Trigger will, quite literally, be doing double or higher of her base damage every other hit. The base damage value depends on how much ATK and CRIT DMG she has; the frequency raises with her CRIT Rate respectively. However, in the long run, any value greater than a frequency threshold (such as 80-90% CRIT Rate) will cause CRIT attacks to happen about the same number of times. So essentially, building too much CRIT Rate can have negative impacts on your Build.

As an important note, CRIT Rate does very little on its own; every other stat also affects the Agent's DMG output, including the DMG formula and enemy resistances. So while CRIT Rate is important for Trigger, and it is both possible and realistic to achieve this goal, it is equally as important to build other stats too.

As such, Trigger's Best in Slot section aims to consider both players who build for CRIT Rate, as well as those who want to build other general stats that are good for Stun Agents too. For more information on her Bangboo and Team Composition options, see the relevant sections below.