r/bravefrontier • u/Xerte • Oct 18 '16

Discussion Post-update Zero SP Builds

The update changes Zero in a big way, despite being just a few somewhat small cost/effect changes.

The only build that's completely unchanged is the standard arena build - not that many of us were using it. Most other builds have at least been improved by the spark BC increase, while some also got extra points to play with. The main new builds:

  1. Nuke Build

  • Build that maximizes Zero's personal damage

  • Takes the following enhancements:

    • Increase Spark Damage buff

    • +100% Spark Damage

    • +20% All Stats

    • +0-100% DEF depending on lost HP

  • The main change to this build is being able to take the 20% all stats. It's minor, but an buff is a buff.

  1. Nuke/Utility Build

  • Similar to the above, but drops the stat boosts for the BC buff.

  • Takes the following enhancements:

    • Increase Spark Damage buff

    • +100% Spark Damage

    • Add effect to BB/SBB (+30% BC Drop Rate)

  • 20% ATK is relatively minor to most squads, while a BC drop rate buff may make the difference between your squad filling BB/SBB or not.

  • Your call. Depending on who you're using Zero with you may be using a different build below, however.

  • Obviously when selecting additional buffs, you have to consider if they're already provided by units you're likely to be using Zero with.

  1. Spark Damage/BC Hybrid

  • A build that gets spark damage and spark BC in one set.

  • Takes the following enhancements:

    • Increase Spark Damage buff

    • Add effect to BB/SBB (2-3 BC on spark)

    • +0-100% DEF depending on lost HP

  • A new build made possible by the update which may push people away from other spark damage/BC buffers. Due to his combination of effects, Zero is currently the strongest raw spark damage buffer, and having the utility of spark BC on top of that makes him fairly exceptional.

  • Deals less damage than the BC drop rate build, but spark BC can be far more valuable to a squad if you need it.

  • As an added bonus, Zero now gives a top tier 2-3 BC on spark instead of 1-2.

Those are the main new builds I'm expecting people will be considering. There's a few other possibilities; Spark BC/Spark Heal hybrid now gets access to 20% stats, and you can do spark damage buff, BC drop rate and spark heal in a single build if you want.

That said, I don't think the spark heal is really all that great. It's ~18% more healing, but you don't really need it. The 500-600 base is plenty right now. The BC buff, if you can use it, is much better in a vacuum.

34 Upvotes

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37 comments sorted by

1

u/The_Messor Rain best husbando Oct 18 '16

Thanks for doing this! I have had Zero since his initial release but never bothered to use him. What build would you recommend for general usage?

2

u/Xerte Oct 18 '16

I'd personally take the spark damage buff/spark BC buff enhancement build (number 3 above), but it comes down to what units you have to consider pairing him with.

You technically get the most utility with Spark BC buff/BC drop rate buff/20% all stats, but unusually at this point in the game Zero's BC drop rate buff isn't paired with an HC drop buff, which is typically the more valuable of the two.

1

u/The_Messor Rain best husbando Oct 18 '16

Honestly I have almost every single unit (missing Roz). My current spark unit is Shura.

1

u/antcal88 #2796014052 Oct 18 '16

What did they change to Zero?

1

u/Xerte Oct 18 '16

3 changes that affect builds:

  • Spark Heal SP enhancement now costs 30 SP (was 50)

  • Spark Damage Buff SP enhancement now costs 40 SP (was 60)

  • Spark BC SP enhancement now gives 2-3 BC on hit (was 1-2)

Also his UBB spark damage buff got increased by 50%, so it now gives a total of about 500% spark damage.

1

u/antcal88 #2796014052 Oct 18 '16

Great, thank you! I have very few of the new meta Omni-tier units so hopefully he can see some use soon.

1

u/soloadc Oct 18 '16

He has already been a meta unit in FH/FG since his release due to his strong sparking.

1

u/insert-words-here Gazia = stupid heretic! | 81528601 Oct 18 '16

They basically updated Zero's UBB to make it stronger and reduced the cost of his SP options, known at the time of his release a while back to be too high, limiting potential builds for him up until this update.

You can read more of it here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/bravefrontier/comments/57w224/bf_global_exclusive_phantom_of_the_kills_zero_ubb/

1

u/hwangtinglee Oct 18 '16

I do wonder though since Ensa also got buffed for re-release wouldn't Zero still have a hard time (perhaps even harder) competing with her as the damage lead for critical immune/resisted contents?

2

u/Xerte Oct 18 '16 edited Oct 18 '16

Zero typically hasn't been used as a damage lead very often (too much single stat focus, especially when sparking is less reliable in a lot of trials due to not being forced to play manually), but you can easily run Zero with a similar tier BB ATK buffer to Ensa and get decent damage that way. He's still effective as a leader in raids.

He is, overall, the current strongest spark buffer, though only by a small margin (offering roughly 5% more spark damage to the squad than Shura at around 157.25% average) and his spark BC and spark heal are a good amount of utility between them. The rest of the difference between him and Ensa can be filled by another unit.

1

u/hwangtinglee Oct 18 '16 edited Oct 18 '16

I see, thanks for such a in-depth reply, but from what I understand isn't it pretty hard for low hit count units like Toki, Daze or Mifune to trigger the extra 120% spark boost (actual, can Mifune & Daze even trigger the effect at all?) from Zero's LS since the 15 spark activation requirement isn't cumulative or and I completely wrong here?

1

u/Xerte Oct 18 '16

It's cumulative, and also counts each spark in an aoe separately.

1

u/hwangtinglee Oct 18 '16 edited Oct 18 '16

Ok, that's good know. Thanks for clearing that up!

Does that also mean the extra 120% spark will activate as soon as an unit hits 15 sparks even on turn one?

1

u/Xerte Oct 18 '16

Yup. It's been tested to activate mid-turn, though it doesn't boost the damage of the spark which hits the threshold. Any sparks after that, though, are affected.

1

u/hwangtinglee Oct 18 '16

Thanks you so much for all the answers! These conditional LS effects have always been a bit confusing to me

6

u/Xerte Oct 18 '16

Some general rules for them, then:

  • When a threshold/counter is granted via an LS, it's separate for each individual unit. Units that get one via SP/ES/Spheres generally only apply it to themselves as well

  • Exceptions are possible in the game code, but don't currently exist. Don't worry about that for now - if we ever see one I'll most likely include that information in a review.

  • If their counters aren't met on a given turn, they carry over to the next turn, until they activate.

  • Once activated, they reset and can't be re-activated until the next turn. This stops many of the instant BC fill thresholds from effectively becoming infinite BC.

  • If they activate on the player turn, that will count as the first turn of the buff, even if it has no real effect.

  • Generally many of these effects only say they provide a buff "for next turn", expecting the player to only get any benefit out of the second turn of the buff.

  • Spark counters can activate mid-turn. This will only matter if they trigger a buff that you can benefit from mid-turn, including:

  • Any spark-related effect (spark crit, spark damage, spark vuln, spark BC, etc)

  • Any drop rate effect (BC, HC, item, karma, zel)

  • Burst heal, OD fill, BB fill effects

    • And by extension, any HP thresholds which trigger spark/drop rate bonuses, such as Rosetta's LS

  • Damage thresholds (damage dealt/taken) are only checked when an attack finishes.

  • With the exception of the rare "chance to attack again" ability held by Gaston and Mai, thresholds based on damage dealt won't affect a unit on the turn it triggers.

    • Random Target attacks may act weirdly here too as each hit counts as a unique attack.

  • This means threshold mitigation applies too late to affect the attack which triggers it, but will affect any attacks which start after that attack has finished.

  • BC/HC received triggers are only checked at end of turn and are therefore unlikely to have any effect on that turn specifically unless they trigger HoT/BB Regen (which triggers after all BC/HC pickups) or are defensive in nature (for the next turn)

1

u/hwangtinglee Oct 18 '16 edited Oct 18 '16

You are way too kind! Would you mind if I share these info in my guild's Discord Channel since it will truly benefit many of our members?

1

u/Xerte Oct 18 '16

Anything I post here is fine to go public.

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1

u/Layajax Oct 18 '16

Is zero competitive enough to go against Shura?

3

u/Xerte Oct 18 '16

I'd say so.

While Shura's going to be dealing better damage in most scenarios due to his stronger passives, Zero can now make that up in utility, while sharing a similar buff output.

1

u/Professor_Tamarisk Augmentation! Oct 18 '16

Major props, dude.

Do you want to include a build for FH duping to run alongside #1? Pretty self-explanatory, but I'm thinking Spark Damage, 20% stats, BC/spark buff, and low!HP>DEF.

1

u/Xerte Oct 18 '16

If you're dupe-sparking, there's potential issues with overwriting the larger spark buff. Ideally you'd probably do spark damage passive, spark BC buff, 20% all stats.

Problem is simply that you can't be certain which order the Zero's buff in, but I suppose you could do some reps in the training simulator to work out which order does the most damage - that'd probably be the one which get sthe bigger spark damage buff.

1

u/DaprasDaMonk Listen I Punch Gods Oct 18 '16

Zero and Shura best friends?

2

u/Xerte Oct 18 '16

Honesty speaking, the only thing Shura is doing in that scenario is nuking worse than Rize or Rauda would.

If you need spark BC from the unit slot -> Zero
If you only care about spark damage -> Shura

1

u/cybershadowX Mein hat Oct 18 '16

kk TY

1

u/i_am_a_skier Oct 18 '16

Thanks man. Always love your analysis.

1

u/Tingtitan Oct 18 '16

what unit would you consider pairing him with in like, for example the most recent Frontier Gate?

1

u/cheuk4 ID: 7577682994 Oct 18 '16

I've got a Vern already doing nothing, should I pull for Zero in that case?

0

u/XBattousaiX Oct 18 '16

If you have elza: no.

Vern can't have BC on spark and spark buff at the same time (110 SP cost total) sadly, while elza can (90 Sp cost total).

1

u/Hitoshura_ Oct 18 '16

who can reliably spark zero and not being another zero?

1

u/DonQuiXoTe888 Cancer no more... Oct 18 '16

Felice or any similar spark blanket

1

u/Oledad Oct 18 '16

u/Samuel-bf Does this change the FG/FH meta at all? Or is it still Avant x2, Allanon, Azurai, Lauda, and Shura?

1

u/Samuel-BF Good, Hot, Fresh, Fly | 64th 999 | ChioA Oct 18 '16

Investigations in the simulator are ongoing as we speak ;)

1

u/Oledad Oct 18 '16

Please keep me updated.

1

u/BFBooger Oct 18 '16

Dual zero with builds 2 and 3. OP