The Potential system in Anime Zero introduces an innovative way to enhance your units, replacing the old Skill Tree with new upgrade paths. Reaching the level cap of 200 means that players need to thoughtfully select paths and enhancements to maximize their damage output. The specialization of weapons into Echo, Burn, or Swap paths allows for tailored playstyles based on the weapon’s role.
This article focuses on the best Potential upgrade paths for weapons like Y Zero and Astral Blossom. The primary setup involves using Echo Trigger for Y Zero’s main damage output, while Power Rush is recommended for secondary units, and Burn Blast suits weapons centered around Burn damage.
Important Rules Before Upgrading Potential
Two crucial restrictions must be understood before allocating your Potential points. Firstly, each weapon is limited to one specialization at a time; you cannot mix specialties on the same weapon. However, your primary and secondary weapons can have different specializations, allowing for synergistic combinations that enhance your total damage.
The second point to note is regarding nodes labeled as Pick One. These choices are exclusive, implying that selecting one will permanently eliminate the other option within that specialization. Your selections can impact the availability of future upgrades, so strategize carefully about your path before committing points.
Here are the recommended setups for optimal combinations:
- Y Zero: Utilize Echo alongside Echo Trigger for effective damage rotations.
- Astral Blossom: Employ Swap with Power Rush to boost secondary weapon damage for main unit support.
- Burn-oriented weapons: Focus on Burn with Burn Blast to ensure ongoing damage detonations.
Best Echo Potential Path for Y Zero
Y Zero benefits greatly from the Echo path, which rewards players who diversify their skills during fights. The core ability enables storage of a portion of the damage inflicted by qualifying skills, releasing this damage shortly after. Note that Echo does not factor into ultimate abilities, so it’s pivotal to build your skill rotation around regular attacks to trigger its effects effectively.
1. Echo and Loud Echo
Begin by unlocking the Echo ability and investing in Loud Echo immediately. The base Echo effect retains 15% of damage from applicable skills on the target. After the final strike, this stored damage activates after 1.2 seconds, providing an additional damage source without requiring an extra attack.
Upgrading Loud Echo boosts the stored damage percentage to 18% upon full enhancement. Prioritizing this upgrade is vital, as it amplifies the effectiveness of subsequent Echo rotations significantly.
2. Echo Trigger and Early Echo
When navigating the Pick One choice, choose Echo Trigger instead of Double Echo. This decision influences how your stored damage activates and enhances the overall effectiveness of your attacks. After this choice, invest in Early Echo to augment the damage of triggered Echoes by up to 70%.
This combination is beneficial for the following reasons:
- Loud Echo keeps 18% of applicable skill damage.
- Echo Trigger escalates the damage output by 70%.
- The resulting triggered Echo is capable of dealing an amount equal to 30.6% of the original skill damage.
- In contrast, Double Echo would yield only 23.4% damage.
For instance, if Y Zero uses a skill that inflicts 10,000 damage, a completely upgraded Echo Trigger setup will add 3,060 damage. Conversely, without this configuration, Double Echo would provide just 2,340 damage.
Timing is essential with Echo Trigger, enabling stored Echoes to wait up to three seconds. The first hit from another skill will activate these waiting Echoes on the target. Note that each target has a cooldown of three seconds, encouraging a fast sequence of skills to avoid Echoes expiring.
3. Mix It Up and Quick Echo
After finishing the primary Echo nodes, focus on Mix It Up and Quick Echo. These enhancements not only streamline your skill rotation but also promote faster cooldown recovery. They’re crucial for effectively managing Y Zero as your lead damage dealer.
The benefits of these upgrades include:
- Mix It Up: Grants an extra 7% damage to skills that hit enemies with existing Echo from different skills.
- Quick Echo: Reduces the cooldown of the matching skill by as much as 0.9 seconds upon Echo activation with a six-second cooldown.
These upgrades complement Echo Trigger perfectly, as they encourage the player to alternate skills rather than relying on a singular ability.
4. Echo Storm
Once the criteria are satisfied, add Echo Storm to your Echo upgrades. This ability activates when the same target is hit with two different skills within a four-second window, marking that enemy for five seconds. The next basic attack against this marked enemy releases the remaining Echoes and cuts down the cooldown of your last skill by 0.5 seconds.
Echo Storm can be activated every eight seconds, serving as a strategic addition to your build and allowing for another outlet to trigger stored damage while minimizing cooldown times.
Recommended Echo path:
- Unlock Echo.
- Max out Loud Echo.
- Select Echo Trigger.
- Max out Early Echo.
- Upgrade Mix It Up and Quick Echo.
- Unlock Echo Storm when the requirements are met.
This route is the optimal approach for Y Zero, focusing on maximizing Echo damage through frequent skill activation.
Best Burn Potential Path for Damage Weapons
The Burn specialization is potent, especially for weapons designed to inflict damage repeatedly. Its key feature applies damage over time, allowing continual damage after initial strikes. For this approach, focus on Burn Blast, as it will enable your skills to detonate existing Burn damage prior to its expiration.
1. Burn and Hotter Burn
Begin by unlocking the Burn skill and fully enhancing Hotter Burn. Each hit causes Burn damage that persists for three seconds. This upgrade boosts base Burn damage from 8% to 11% of the original hit’s damage upon full upgrade.
Securing this upgrade is vital because consistent Burn application is essential for this specialization. A higher base damage provides more power when using Burn Blast later in your setup.
2. Burn Blast and Mega Blast
In the Pick One phase, choose Burn Blast instead of Burn Stack. This option allows your skill hits to explode any remaining Burn damage on an enemy, with a limit of one detonation every 0.5 seconds per target. This approach is excellent for skills that frequently apply Burn.
Following the selection of Burn Blast, concentrate on maximizing Mega Blast. Upon reaching maximum level, this enhancement yields an additional 100% damage based on remaining Burn damage still present on the target.
If an enemy has 1,000 pending Burn damage, a fully maxed Mega Blast can convert it into a 2,000-damage explosion. Note that this bonus is calculated only on the remaining Burn damage, so the end result will rely on the amount already dealt through normal Burn ticks.
This synergy explains why Burn Blast excels with aggressive skill rotations. You continuously apply Burn and then utilize another skill to detonate the left-over damage before it fades.
3. Inferno
After completing the primary upgrades for Burn Blast, proceed to unlock Inferno. This enhancement rewards players for maintaining Burn on a target over an extended time. You must keep the enemy burning for six seconds while ensuring no interval exceeds three seconds without new Burn applications.
On activation, Inferno increases the damage of your attacks on the target by 4% while it remains affected by Burn and for four seconds after the effect concludes. It’s particularly useful during prolonged combat encounters where Burn can be consistently maintained.
Prolonged Burn duration also keeps damage bonuses active, making frequent skill usage pivotal to gain from Inferno throughout engagements.
4. Longer Burn and Burn Jump
Once the main damage upgrades are secured, invest in Longer Burn and Burn Jump. These abilities enhance the lifespan of Burn effects and facilitate spreading damage to nearby foes.
Burn Jump is particularly effective in mob situations—at max rank, if an enemy dies while burning, 50% of its remaining Burn damage transfers to up to three nearby targets within eight studs, dealt over 1.5 seconds.
Recommended Burn path:
- Unlock Burn.
- Max Hotter Burn.
- Opt for Burn Blast.
- Max out Mega Blast.
- Unlock Inferno when requirements are achieved.
- Invest in Longer Burn and Burn Jump.
This combat style emphasizes the importance of consistently applying Burn and regularly using skills to cause detonation before the remaining effects lapse, which is particularly impactful against tougher opponents.
Best Swap Potential Path for Astral Blossom
Swap suits players who often transition between primary and secondary units during engagements. Rather than keeping the secondary weapon active for the duration of combat, players can activate it to unleash temporary damage spikes and then revert to their primary damage dealer. This build involves Astral Blossom utilizing Power Rush while Y Zero acts as the primary weapon.
For this strategy, having at least two different units equipped is essential. Activating the secondary unit preps the Swap In effect, though remember that the damage bonus doesn’t activate instantly; you need to score a hit within the activation window.
The default Swap In effect grants a 22% damage increase for six seconds, capable of triggering every 10 seconds.
1. Swap In and Quick Reset
Begin by unlocking Swap In and upgrading Quick Reset. This enhancement ensures that when the Swap In boost triggers, the longest cooldown of the character you shifted from is reduced by three seconds.
For instance, switching from Y Zero to Astral Blossom will drop the longest cooldown on Y Zero, facilitating quicker recovery of a vital skill while you manage the secondary unit.
Quick Reset is crucial for rotations involving a fast swap back to Y Zero after deploying Astral Blossom’s effects.
2. Power Rush and Bigger Rush
In the Pick One phase, pick Power Rush over Long Rush. Power Rush zeroes in on amplifying your damage output over a brief duration, making it more beneficial for quick switches back to your main weapon.
Once Power Rush is selected, maximize Bigger Rush to enhance the damage boost to 55% for a span of four seconds.
Here’s how the options compare:
- Power Rush: Boosts damage by up to 55% for four seconds with Bigger Rush.
- Long Rush: Grants a 20% bonus lasting up to 15 seconds with upgrades.
Power Rush becomes the preferred choice for the Astral Blossom strategy since the goal is to hit hard, make use of the secondary unit, and then swiftly revert to Y Zero.
3. Ready Up and Safe Entry
After enhancing Quick Reset and Bigger Rush, procure Ready Up and Safe Entry, while moving towards the final Swap node. These improvements facilitate easier activations of your temp damage boost and offer increased protection as you switch characters.
Details of their effects are as follows:
- Ready Up: Extends the window to strike and activate Swap In by up to seven seconds.
- Safe Entry: Grants a 16% damage reduction for three seconds following trigger activation.
Ready Up is essential if your secondary unit needs additional time to align before striking, while Safe Entry provides a brief defensive boon when switching amidst battle.
4. Pass It On
Pass It On serves as the central goal of this Swap setup. To make it accessible, you need to opt for a Pick One specialization and allocate 15 points into Swap. This node grants your character entering after the current Swap boost activates a transferred damage bonus.
To successfully trigger Pass It On, adhere to these steps:
- Enable your Swap In damage boost.
- Hit a target during the boost.
- Switch to another character before the boost’s expiration or within two seconds after it concludes.
- Your new character acquires an additional 12% damage for three seconds.
Keep in mind that the 55% Power Rush incentive and the 12% Pass It On bonus are distinct. While Power Rush impacts the character benefiting from the active boost, Pass It On offers a separate bonus to the subsequent unit.
For this recommended setup, Y Zero should serve as the main weapon while Astral Blossom is utilized as the secondary. Perform the swap to Astral Blossom, land a skill hit to proc the swap bonus, and revert to Y Zero in the required timeframe, allowing the main weapon to capitalize on the extra damage.
Recommended Swap path:
- Unlock Swap In.
- Max Quick Reset.
- Opt for Power Rush.
- Max Bigger Rush.
- Enhance Ready Up and Safe Entry.
- Allocate 15 points in Swap.
- Unlock Pass It On.
This classification endows Astral Blossom with a robust temporary damage increase while simultaneously aiding Y Zero in cooldown recovery and imparting extra damage on re-engagement.
Additional Potential Upgrade: Combo Power
If additional Potential points are available, Combo Power should be considered. This upgrade rewards players for executing a complete basic attack combo prior to skill utilization, progressively increasing the damage of the next ability. The initial bonus is set at 8%, providing a useful boost for builds that frequently integrate basic attacks with skills.
Leverage the completion of your basic attack combo before launching larger damage abilities. This allows you to reap benefits from Combo Power without altering your existing Echo, Burn, or Swap skill rotations significantly.
Best Anime Zero Potential Build Summary
To achieve peak damage potential with the proposed Y Zero and Astral Blossom synergies, it’s crucial to adopt distinct Potential specializations for each weapon. For Y Zero, Echo Trigger should be your primary focus, while Astral Blossom gains from Power Rush and Pass It On, and a Burn-centric weapon is optimal for applying and detonating Burn effects effectively.
Consider this recommended configuration:
- Y Zero: Echo, Loud Echo, Echo Trigger, Early Echo, Mix It Up, Quick Echo, and Echo Storm.
- Astral Blossom: Swap In, Quick Reset, Power Rush, Bigger Rush, Ready Up, Safe Entry, and Pass It On.
- Burn-oriented weapon: Burn, Hotter Burn, Burn Blast, Mega Blast, Inferno, Longer Burn, and Burn Jump.
- Extra damage upgrade: Combo Power, especially advisable if you consistently execute basic attack combos.
Keep in mind that these builds demand precise execution of activity conditions. For Echo, alternate your skills to trigger damage storage effectively. For Burn, remember to maintain the status and detonate it before damage runs its course. For Swap, it’s vital to land a skill hit before quickly toggling back to your primary weapon. Employing the right paths is only a part of the plan; mastering the appropriate combat rotation is equally important to unlocking the full potential of each upgrade.