AlanDood
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10 Min read Welcome to our Zenless Zone Zero Nicole guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about how to play her.
Nicole Demara is an A Rank Agent from the Cunning Hares Faction with the Ether Attribute and Support Fighting Style. She is also one of the free characters you obtain early on in the game. You can obtain more copies of Nicole on any character banner through the Gacha System.
Nicole is one of the few characters in the game with the Support Style. This makes her a valuable addition to many teams, as she can effectively buff up just about any team in the game. While other Support Agents from our Zenless Zone Zero tier list may be better in specific scenarios, you can’t go wrong with Nicole since you get her for free.
She also provides extra utility by grouping small enemies, making her even more valuable.
Nicole |
Cunning Hares |
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A Rank |
Ether |
Support |
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Press Basic Attack to activate. Unleashes up to 3 strikes, dealing Physical DMG.
After using a Special Attack, EX Special Attack, Chain Attack, or Ultimate, Nicole can reload, and her Basic Attack and Dash Attack are enhanced, increasing the power of her bullets.
Press Dodge to activate. A rapid dodge. Character is invulnerable while using this skill. Move the joystick to dodge, then hold Dodge to reload while dodging, enhancing Basic Attacks and Dash Attacks up to 8 times.
When moving the joystick during a dodge, press Basic Attack:
Dashes in the target direction and strikes nearby enemies, dealing Physical DMG.
When not moving the joystick during a dodge, press Basic Attack:
Vaults backward and launches a ranged strike against enemies in front, dealing Physical DMG.
Automatically reloads after the attack to enhance her Basic Attack and Dash Attack, up to 8 times.
Press Basic Attack during a Perfect Dodge to activate. Dodge backwards and send a ranged strike at enemies in front, dealing Ether DMG. Character is invulnerable while using this skill. Automatically reloads after the attack to enhance Basic Attack and Dash Attack up to 8 times.
Press to Special Attack activate. Unleashes a ranged strike against enemies in front, dealing Ether DMG. Anti-Interrupt level is increased while using this skill. Automatically reloads after the attack to enhance Basic Attack and Dash Attack up to 8 times.
When Nicole has enough Energy, press EX Special Attack to activate. A powerful ranged strike, generating an energy field that pulls enemies towards its center to deal Ether DMG.
Hold down EX Special Attack to charge up this attack, during which a small energy field is generated at the muzzle as Energy is consumed, dealing bonus DMG to enemies nearby.
Character is invulnerable while using this skill. A Reactive Assist is triggered when this skill hits an enemy. Automatically reloads after the attack to enhance Basic Attack and Dash Attack up to 8 times.
When a Chain Attack is triggered, select the character to activate. Unleashes a powerful ranged strike at enemies in a small area, generating an energy field that pulls enemies towards its center to deal Ether DMG.
Character is invulnerable while using this skill. A Reactive Assist is triggered when this skill hits an enemy. Automatically reloads after the attack to enhance Basic Attack and Dash Attack up to 8 times.
When Decibel Rating is at Maximum, press Chain Attack to activate. Unleashes a powerful ranged strike at enemies in a small area, generating an energy field that pulls enemies towards its center to deal Ether DMG.
Character is invulnerable while using this skill. A Reactive Assist is triggered when this skill hits an enemy. Automatically reloads after the attack to enhance Basic Attack and Dash Attack up to 8 times.
After hitting an enemy with a Special Attack, EX Special Attack, Chain Attack, or Ultimate, Nicole can reload, enhancing her Basic Attack and Dash Attack. When her enhanced bullets or Energy Field hits an enemy, the target’s DEF is reduced by 20% for 2s.
When another character in your squad shares the same Attribute or Faction:
When Nicole’s Core Passive: Mechanical Case applies a debuff, the target additionally takes 25% more Ether DMG.
When the on-field character is launched, press to Perfect Assist activate. Dodge backwards and send a ranged strike at enemies in front, dealing Ether DMG. Character is invulnerable while using this skill. Automatically reloads after the attack to enhance Basic Attack and Dash Attack up to 8 times.
When the character on field is about to be attacked, press Perfect Assist to activate. Parries the enemy’s attack, dealing massive Daze. Character is invulnerable while using this skill.
Press Chain Attack after a Defensive Assist to activate. Charge forward and bombard enemies, dealing Ether DMG. Character is invulnerable while using this skill.
| A | Supercharged Bomb: The DMG and the Anomaly Buildup inflicted by Nicole’s EX Special Attack increases by 16%. For each additional 0.1s of charging when Nicole activates her EX Special Attack, the duration of the energy field created at the target location increases by 0.15s. |
| B | Charging Device: When Nicole hits an enemy with her Basic Attack or Dash Attack, the attack’s Energy Generation Rate is increased by 15%. |
| C | A Hare’s Cunning: Basic Attack, Dodge, Special Attack, and Chain Attack Lv. +2 |
| D | Field Expansion: When Nicole uses her EX Special Attack, Chain Attack, or Ultimate, the diameter of the energy field generated is increased by 3m. |
| E | Industry Star: Basic Attack, Dodge, Special Attack, and Chain Attack Lv. +2 |
| F | Corrupting Energy Field: When Nicole’s energy fields deal DMG to an enemy, the target’s Anomaly Buildup RES is reduced by 2.2%, stacking up to 20 times, and lasting 12s. The duration of each stack is calculated separately. |
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| W-Engine | Drive Disc | ||
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| Main Stat | Substats | ||
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Since Nicole is a supportive character, you don’t need to worry too much about her personal damage. Those stats are simply a nice bonus to have.
The main priority is getting a strong 4-piece set with a support effect, and increasing her Energy Regen to EX Special more often.
The Vault |
ATK: 42/624 | Energy Regen: 20%/50% When equipped, dealing Ether DMG using an EX Special Attack, Chain Attack, or Ultimate increases all squad members’ DMG against the target by 15/17.5/20/22/24% and increases the equipper’s Energy Regen by 0.5/0.58/0.65/0.72/0.8 per second for 2s. Passive effects of the same name do not stack. |
Slice of Time |
ATK: 40/594 | ATK%: 10%/25% Any squad members’ Dodge Counter, EX Special Attack, Assist Attack, or Chain Attack respectively generates 20/23/26/29/32 (Dodge) | 25/28.5/32/35.5/40 (Special) | 30/34.5/39/43.5/48 (Assist) | 35/40/45/50/55 (Chain) more Decibels and generates 0.7/0.8/0.9/1/1.1 Energy for the equipper. This effect can trigger once every 12s. The cooldown for each type of attack is independent of others. Passive effects of the same name do not stack. |
When it comes to W-Engines in ZZZ, every Agent has a signature weapon. You can definitely tell as one W-Engine will match the aesthetic and kit of every character.
For Nicole, her signature W-Engine is The Vault. This gives solid base ATK, high Energy Regen, and a support passive that works with her Ether DMG kit. Since there aren’t any other Ether Support Agents in the game, Nicole is the only Agent that can fully utilize this W-Engine.
For our second recommendation, we have Slice of Time, which is a strong generic Support W-Engine that can go on just about any Support Agent. If you don’t have either of these two, you can use whatever you have that has high base stats or an applicable passive effect.
Tip: You can get a copy of Slice of Time for free by participating in the Web Event.
Chaotic Metal |
(2): Increases Ether DMG by 10%. (4): Whenever a squad member inflicts Corruption on an enemy, that enemy takes 18% more damage for 12s. Passive effects of the same name do not stack. |
Swing Jazz |
(2): Energy Regen increases by 20%. (4): Launching a Chain Attack or Ultimate increases all squad members’ DMG by 15% for 12s. Passive effects of the same name do not stack. |
When it comes to Drive Discs for Nicole, there are two sets to highlight: Chaotic Metal and Swing Jazz.
Chaotic Metal is the Ether DMG set, and in the CBT, it had an enemy debuff on the (4) piece. With release, the 4 piece bonus is now a personal damage buff, which isn’t ideal for Nicole.
The Swing Jazz set is now the go to set for Supports. The 4 piece bonus once again buffs the entire squad, triggering when launching a Chain Attack or Ultimate. When launching Chain Attacks, you move through your entire team already, so this is easy to activate.
There is some potential for Nicole to run the Freedom Blues set if you happen to have another Agent already running Swing Jazz. However, with the current meta, having 1 DPS, 1 Stun (Impact Set), and 1 Support (Swing Jazz) seems to be the way to go.
When it comes to Main Stats, the only important piece is Partition VI. This gives Nicole more Energy Regen, which is the most valuable part of her kit.
As a Support, you don’t want to spend too much time on Nicole, and having more Energy for EX Special Attacks is great for dealing more Ether DMG. This can be important if you’re trying to build a Anomaly based team or just want to use her EX Special more often.
Partition IV and V can be used to increase her personal damage, but it won’t be a priority compared to your other Agents.
When it comes to Substats, things are mostly the same. Most things will increase her personal damage, which is a nice bonus to have. Just not a priority.
Once the game releases, we’ll update this section. In general, leveling up an Agent’s Core Passive is the most effective, as this levels up their Core Passive, Additional Ability, and Assist Moves.
As with all characters, Nicole pairs best with other Agents that are either the same Attribute or Faction. This activates her Additional Ability, which provides strong passive buffs.
However, since Nicole is a flexible Support Agent, you can run her on just about any team. There also aren’t that many Cunning Hares/Ether Agents in the game, so the Faction/Attribute synergies are quite limited.
Billy, Anby, Nicole
This first team is the free Cunning Hares team you get upon starting the game. It’s a nice start because it has the complete team breakdown you would need. Billy is an Attack Agent, Anby is Stun, and Nicole is Support.
This gives you a balanced team to start out with, and gives you an idea of how to team build. For the purposes of our guides, we will call this type of team “Hyper Carry.” This is because you focus on the damage of the Attack character (Billy), with the Stun and Support character buffing them up with their kits.
You can replace Billy with Nekomata and have a similar team setup as well.
Zhu Yuan, Anby, Nicole
Zhu Yuan is a playable character from the CBT, but we don’t know exactly when she will release. There’s speculation that she will come in the second half of Version 1.0, but nothing has been confirmed.
Zhu Yuan is from the CISRT Faction, which has no other Agents. She is also the only other Ether Agent in the game. This makes Nicole the only way to activate her Additional Ability.
As a result, Anby is a decent unit to slot in as your Stun Agent. As more Agents release, we may see this team become better, but as of right now, the flexibility is limited.
Grace, Rina, Nicole
Lastly, we have a team featuring Grace (Electric/Anomaly), Rina (Electric/Support), and Nicole. Grace and Rina form a powerful duo that can deal a lot of damage through the Electric Attribute Anomaly.
This is a speculative team that builds Nicole into a Corruption applicator (Ether Anomaly). This team looked stronger in the CBT with the old Chaotic Metal set, but it’s still a possibility to try out.
This wraps up our guide for Nicole in Zenless Zone Zero. Nicole is one of the free characters you get upon starting the game, but she’s a powerhouse unit that will be relevant for a good amount of time.
If you don’t have the right roster of Agents to make use of Faction/Attribute buffs, you can easily slot Nicole into any team. She will shine more if you synergize with other Ether/Cunning Hares Agents, but the roster is quite limited at the start.
Overall, Nicole is a strong 3rd Agent for just about any team, and will be an ideal option for specific teams. Feel free to invest levels/skills into Nicole early on, as she will be a useful Agent for a good amount of time.
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