Yanagi has a very technical moveset compared to other characters in Zenless Zone Zero, and players won’t get far if they resort to simple button mashing when using her. While her moves aren’t terribly complicated, they do require a bit more finesse.

Using Yanagi is a little confusing at first, but once you get her moves and combos down, she becomes incredibly fun to play, and her combat performance makes her worthy of a spot as one of the best characters in ZZZ so far. The following is a short guide covering the nuances of her kit, from basic combos to little details players might have overlooked while using her.

Keeping track of attack names in
ZZZ
can be pretty confusing if we use their official names, so instead of that, we’ll simply be referring to attacks and skills via general names (Basic Attack, EX Special, Ultimate, etc)

Yanagi Stances and Basic Attack Combos in ZZZ

Yanagi has a stance switching mechanic that also gives her two different basic attack combos. Her blue Jougen Stance makes Yanagi attack more quickly while giving her bonus Electric DMG and stronger interrupt resistance. Meanwhile, attacks made in the orange Kagen Stance are heavier, deal more damage, and have a better probability of interrupting enemies. It also increases Yanagi’s PEN stat.

These two stances complicate Yanagi’s basic attack combos a little bit. If she’s your main on-field character, then you’ll want to be in Jougen Stance as much as possible since it applies Anomaly faster. The problem here is that in Yanagi’s 5-hit Basic Attack chain, the first two hits only deal Physical damage. You can skip these two hits by switching stances (tap Yanagi’s Skill to do so). As such, her basic combo is:

• (BA1 + BA2) + (BA3 + BA4 + BA5) + Skill + (BA3 + BA4+ BA5)

If you use Yanagi’s skill to switch stances after the third, fourth, or fifth hit of her basic attack string, your next attack will start on the third move of the other stance’s basic attack combo. This means that if you constantly switch stances after the last hit of a combo, you’ll always be dealing Electric DMG and building up Electric Anomaly.

You can tell what stance Yanagi is in by the color of the ornament on her hair. Additionaly, switching from Jougen to Kagen will
block
any incoming attacks, while going from Kagen to Jougen will
dodge
them. The timing is a bit tight, though.

Bypassing the First Two Hits

There are a few ways to skip the first two hits of Yanagi’s combo.

1. Perform a Quick Assist
2. Parry an enemy with Yanagi and perform an Assist Follow-up
3. Perform a Dodge Counter

Support units like Soukaku and Defense characters like Seth in ZZZ can let their teammates perform Quick Assists after hitting them with EX Specials or other parts of their kit. If Yanagi triggers this, she’ll do her Quick Assist Attack, and her next Basic Attack after that will start on the third hit of her current stance. The same goes for when Yanagi parries an enemy and uses her Assist Follow-Up.

Shinrabanshou State

Whenever uses her EX Special attack, she enters the Shinrabanshou State, which lets her loop the third, fourth, and fifth hits of her Basic Attack combos without switching stances or doing anything else mentioned above.

If you want to deal more damage, make sure to use Jougen Stance while the Shinrabanshou state is active. If you want to interrupt and stagger enemies, use Kagen Stance. Shinrabanshou is only active for 15 seconds unless you have Yanagi’s second Mindscape Cinema bonus.

Swap Cancel Combo

Like many other characters, Yanagi can smoothly tag herself in and out of combat. The best way to do this is to swap while she’s doing the last hit of her Kagen Stance combo. This attack’s animation is so long that it gives you enough time to switch to someone else, do an EX Special, and swap back to Yanagi without wasting time.

This technique is best used together with characters like Seth or Rina, who can prime Yanagi for a Quick Assist and allow her to continue her Basic Attack combo starting for the third hit. However, you can also use this technique with another Anomaly character like Burnice to setup a Disorder chain.

When to Use EX Specials and Ultimate

Yanagi’s EX Special is used when you hold down her Skill button, and it’s best used when an enemy is already affected by an Anomaly effect. The thrust part of the EX Special changes Yanagi’s stance, while the downward thrust triggers Polarity Disorder, an effect unique to Yanagi that deals a modified form of Disorder damage without getting rid of the Anomaly effect affecting the target. This can be triggered even when on a mono-electric team. Also, using Yanagi’s EX Special on an enemy without an Anomaly effect will not trigger Polarity Disorder.

As of writing, Anomaly character Ultimates are best used to apply Anomaly effects quickly in ZZZ, and this is true for Yanagi as well. At 192 Anomaly Mastery, Yanagi can inflict ~75% Shock Anomaly against a level 70 Dullahan with a single Ultimate cast. Use her Ultimate to quickly trigger Shock right after the enemy is afflicted with another Anomaly effect. Additionally, Yanagi’s Ultimate triggers Polarity Disorder.