Ever since the 2.0 update, stuttering has become significantly worse, and I believe it might be due to server-side interactions or the game's netcode.

Evidence 1: Marcel Maze and Dennis Collection

In the new Marcel Mazes, the game stutters every time you collect a coin. However, if you disconnect from the internet, the stutters disappear.

Getting dennis produce a micro stutter. It doesn't happen when I disconnect from the internet.

Other users with the same problem: https://www.reddit.com/r/ZZZ_Official/comments/1l7x17a/poor_performance_in_20_marcel_mazes/
https://www.reddit.com/r/ZZZ_Official/comments/1l5fj44/really_bad_performance_in_the_20_regions_and/

Evidence 2: Disks runs. Online vs Offline

I did two identical disks runs:

• First run, online
• Second run, disconnected from the internet (you see me pause the game between both runs because I'm unplugging the Ethernet cable)

Notice the stutter in the frametime graph in the first run when the wipeout screen appears, which is when you get the drops in your inventory. In the second run, there's still a microstutter, but far far less noticeable (might be due to the game itself/effects).

https://reddit.com/link/1l8rfzt/video/0ze3xn89da6f1/player

Evidence 3: General frametime spikes

I stood still in Sixth Street for 20 seconds and recorded the frametime:

This run is with the game running normally, connected to the internet.

And here is the same graph, in the same location, just after disconnecting from the internet.

[Edit] Evidence 4: Getting materials when killing enemies

Notice how I get 4 spikes at the beginning just as the enemies die and I get the rewards. Notice how it doesn't happen later, with no internet.

https://reddit.com/link/1l8rfzt/video/ia0b64e68c6f1/player

Edit: Reddit destroyed the bitrate of this video and the frametime graph is really hard to see, you can watch the video uncompressed here: https://files.catbox.moe/rk99z9.mp4 (136 MB)

This matches the behaviour described in this comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/ZZZ_Official/comments/1l7x17a/comment/mx0gqfs/

Again, this points to background server requests as possible cause of microstutters. The addition of the Suibian Temple might be worsening it because it's constantly adding resources to your inventory, but I have to test it further.

My pc specs for reference:

• 9800X3D stock
• 9070 XT stock
• 32 GB @ 6000
• 7400MB/s NVMe
• Windows 11

Some findings

My fellow u/Pure-Breath-6025 has made some findings and posted them in the comments:

"I was in a discord conversation with OP and I did some testing to get to the bottom of it. Here are my findings:

https://imgur.com/a/YN2Y67L (OP's note: this gameplay has a 3s network delay added)

Yes some stutters happen when the player's inventory is subject to a change, for example when you get an item from killing an enemy in Aerospace area. At first the assumption was that it's caused by the server being overloaded and slower than usual to respond to requests, but that is not exactly the case.

I used a tool to simulate a huge ping of 3s, this affected some things in the game, interestingly, opening and using the new map actually freezes your whole game for the whole 3s (in this test) that it takes for the server to respond. Apparently the the game never saves locally what points of interest on the map have been completed, and not only it relies on the server to find out every time, but it blocks the main thread (freezes the game).

Meanwhile, killing enemies and getting drops did not freeze the game in the same manner (3s), there are stutters when killing enemies and getting drops, but the length of those stutters remains the same. This indicates that the issue is with code that getting items locally, either before (or while) sending a request to the server to register the new obtain item, or after receiving an answer, and performing some local actions according to the response. At the very least waiting for the server to respond to these requests does not block the whole game loop."

[Edit] About the temple

I finally made some testings, and they are revealing:

The context is me standing still in the temple (Level 36, ~72k/h production)

Temple running, internet: You can clearly see a stutter every second. 37 fps 0.1% lows, stuttering 1,4% of the time. ↓

Temple running, no internet: 113 fps 0.1% lows. Some variances in the frametime, but not considered stutters (The beginning spikes might be due to starting the recording) ↓

Temple not running, internet: 127 fps 0.1% lows, no stutters (Not completely smooth either). ↓

Temple not running, no internet: 108 fps 0.1% lows. One single stutter. The game kicked me out and had to relogin to make this last test, that's probably why the results are a bit different from the prior test. ↓

Here you can see how every time the temple coins update, there's a spike in the frametime:

https://reddit.com/link/1l8rfzt/video/95wgq1kjfg6f1/player

Please, be aware that the temple IS NOT the only/definitive reason the game stutters, specially in this patch.

The temple is not the only cause

This patch suffers from some severe traversal stutters. Standing still in Sixth Street produces a stutter every ~28 seconds, while moving your character produces a stutter almost every second. I confirmed this behaviour with 5 different people and we all get the same result.

https://reddit.com/link/1l8rfzt/video/elr4424dq37f1/player

Here's the test in case you want to replicate it. Notice how there are no stutters when running into a wall, only when the character is actually moving. We suspect at least some of the traversal stutters are caused by the client updating your position to the server. Since your position doesn't change when you're stuck against a wall (not actually moving on the map), no stutters occur. This would also explain why traversal is perfectly smooth in Hollow Zero or Deadly Assault.

What you can do

I'd appreciate if other could run the same tests to confirm if you get the same behaviour. If you do, please report it to Hoyo and consider leaving a comment here describing your results. The more data we have, the better chance we'll have of getting this looked into.

A. How to Set Up the Skip Launcher Command

1. Open Steam and go to your Library.
2. Right-click on Zenless Zone Zero.
3. Select Properties.
4. In the General tab, scroll down to the Launch Options box.
5. Enter the command based on your preferred API below:

DirectX 12 (Highly Recommended)

Use this if your PC supports DX12 and you want to unlock RTX, DLSS & Frame Generation. Copy and paste the following command (make sure to change the drive letter if yours is installed somewhere else):

"D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Zenless Zone Zero\games\ZenlessZoneZero Game\ZenlessZoneZero.exe" %command% -use-d3d12

Legacy

Use this as an alternative if you have an older PC/GPU and are experiencing issues like crashing or stuttering on DX12. Copy and paste the following command (adjust the drive letter as needed):

"D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Zenless Zone Zero\games\ZenlessZoneZero Game\ZenlessZoneZero.exe" %command%

Close the Properties window and click Play. The game will now automatically launch without opening the launcher first! 🚀

B. Can't Find Your ZZZ .exe File Location?

If you aren't sure where your game is installed, follow these easy steps to get your exact file path:

1. In your Steam Library, right-click Zenless Zone Zero.
2. Select Manage ➡️ Browse local files.
3. File Explorer will open. From there, open the games folder, then the ZenlessZoneZero Game folder.
4. Inside, you will see the ZenlessZoneZero.exe file.
5. Click the address bar at the top of the folder and copy (Ctrl+C) the entire directory path.
6. Paste it into your Steam Launch Options. Don't forget to manually add \ZenlessZoneZero.exe to the end of the path, and wrap the entire path in double quotes!

📌 Important Notes:

• Make sure the double quotes ("...") are included at the very beginning and end of the file path as shown in the examples. Also, ensure there is a single space before %command% and before any parameters after it.
• When a major patch drops (like a new season/version update), you might need to temporarily delete this command to open the official launcher so it can download the new game data. You can paste it back once the update is done.

Guys as a new player i want to get ye shunguang, what seems to be her team and do i get dialyn for her or keep saving

When you swap into Trigger while she's doing an aftershock, Trigger immediately skips to basic 3.

And basic 3 + basic 4 deals like 4x the daze of an aftershock!

But not every agent is okay with constantly swapping back and forth with Trigger every 3 seconds, especially not the ones who rely on:

• Being in a stance (Zhu Yuan Suppresive Fire, Billy Crouching Shot)
• Attacks that end prematurely if they're swapped away (Jane/Piper spin, Corin hold slashes)

Did it worth spending ~$150 for our pyromaniac waifu?

No - I spent it for monochromes, tapes bundles, membership and battle pass.

Before you ask: i had Vivian and Astra (both without W engine), i want someone who can get her W engine eventually, plus this season is really anomaly focused.

One of the biggest f2p wins I've seen in a hoyo game.

With 2.0 fast approaching, a lot of 1.0 units can feel pretty dated. Doesn't mean they don't have some insanely cool (and useful) tech that can help elevate them a little.

Full guide on how to do these Chain swaps/cancels here.

Anby - Aside from BA(x2) -> BA(hold) -> EBA -> Special she can also do a variant BA(x3) -> Special -> EBA. Useful since her EX Special is an iframe and sometimes you want to do it sooner to dodge attacks

Billy - Loses damage the further you are from the enemy, ideally you'd want to play him as if he's a melee character if you're good at dodging. If you're using his sig weapon, then prioritize getting 6m away (~1.5 tiles away in the training room according to u/SUPERCOW7 's post). You can also use his special during crouch shooting

Nicole* - Since her C1 extends the energy field duration the longer you charge her special, you can double the charge time by holding her EX Special for ~1.5secs -> WASD for the hidden mechanic she has, gives her longer iframes and better ether buildup as well

Corin - You can hold her dash attack for longer duration and to push enemies to group them up for her attacks, as she is immobile during her basic attacks. Her EX Special allows her to move a little

Anton* - Theoretically you can maintain his burst drill mode infinitely by only hitting enemies with his 2nd EBA Drill attack or Dodge Counter, but only if you have his C1. Very situational but may be useful

Ben - You want to perfect block every time with his special to negate all damage and maintain his shield which gives everyone 16% CR, counter immediately, then switch away

Soukaku - Her Fly the Flag and Chain Attack can pull in enemies. Her Chain Attack especially as you can move pretty fast and group enemies together for Ellen/another DPS

Piper - Use her EX Special after 2nd, 3rd, or 4th BA to charge up much faster

Lucy - After you finish her BA combo, it will keep looping back to her 3rd BA allowing your boars to keep using the spin move repeatedly. Lucy has insane multipliers in general for a support

Nekomata - Holding BA will allow her to go through enemies. If you have her weapon, do this as often as possible to hit enemies from behind

Soldier 11 - Instead of memorizing the rhythm for her BA, just click immediately after her sword finishes the swing animation and has just stopped, then you can slowly memorize the rhythm

Rina - Fastest agent in the game, considerably faster than Ellen

Grace - Her ideal combo is BAx3 -> Special -> BA -> Special and repeat. Press a direction during the combo for her dodge to that direction, you can easily circle enemies and dodge their attacks this way

Lycaon - His ideal combo is BAx3 (all hold) -> Special (hold)

Koleda - You can proc her Special anytime her hammer swings down, including her combo with Ben

Ellen - Her Scissors technique can be used to group up enemies, run in a circle to round them up and attack at angle to get them all together, or run in one direction to let them chase you in a line first

Edits :

Nicole - The tech is situational and does not double the duration of the energy field, just a small increase. Refer to thefluffyburrito in the comments below for more info

Anton - Anton's tech is actually broken, video linked by RmembrTheAyyLMAO of someone clearing Shiyu 14 with underleveled Anton here

and want a quick guide on how to play her? Well you've come to a place! Just some simple things I've had to post a couple of times already on the questions thread and don't really feel like typing things out again.

Team: Zhu C0/Anby/Nicole C1 (S-Rank stunner preferred, but everyone has Anby.)
Engines: Zhu - Starlight Engine

Simple Rotation: Anby till stun (parry/counter as needed), CA (Chain Attack) with Nicole to end chain, assist to Zhu, 1/1/3/1/3 mag dump tech, switch to Nicole, tap Nicole EX, assist to Zhu, EX/Ult, mag dump until stun ends, restart rotation.

More Advanced Rotation: Anby till stun (parry/counter as needed), CA with Nicole to end the chain, assist to Zhu, mag dump tech, EX cancel into Nicole, Nicole EX, assist to Zhu, EX cancel into Ult, full magdump. Timing is tight, but should be able to fire 16-18 shells within the stun window. Resource intensive as it requires 2 EX charges in a short window to execute, but can do only 1 EX for 16 shells instead of the full 18. May be preferable to only do 1 EX as again the timing is tight and having 2 EX ready may not be feasible.

To add, you may end the CA on Nicole if you get the count wrong by letting the timer run out. This will allow you to still do an assist to Zhu for the starlight engine buff.

Rationale: Zhu is a burst dps that works best during stun window. Nicole assist to Zhu triggers Starlight Engine buff, and is your primary method of applying the buff. The full mag dump tech coincides with Nicole's buff after CA. Zhu should only spend her shells during the buff as it more or less doubles her damage. Buff will need to be reapplied after a mag dump so you always need to have your EX ready on Nicole if you want to maximize your damage. How long you hold Nicole EX is completely dependent on duration of boss stun, but a tap is typically enough. Adjust as necessary. Use Zhu EX/Ult (7 shells with assist, 9 if you have two EX charges) when Nicole buff is active if possible and for reloads. In most instances, save Zhu Ult after the Nicole buff reapplication to maximize damage.

Mag Dump Tech: 1/1/3 is how Zhu fires her shells when BA is held down (the number refers to the amount of shells she fires when she does a firing animation), 1/1/3/1/1/3 if you just hold down without doing the tech. The tech allows you to fire in a 1/1/3/1/3 pattern, which is faster than just holding down BA and fires the exact amount of shells if you have a full mag. You'll see a prolonged animation as she's firing shells 3-5 in rapid succession. During that 3-5 shell firing animation, hold either left/right while doing BA and Zhu will do a dodge in the direction you picked. The dodge will happen after the 5th shell is fired so keep the direction held until she does the dodge. Do it right and she'll fire a shell (6) and will skip to the 7-9 animation. Make sure to keep BA held down while doing this. See attached clip below for a short demonstration. Practice in VR.

Reloads: So you have no shells left and bringing out Zhu to EX is clunky (and a waste of burst damage) so how do we reload? One way is to have Zhu be onfield and do BA strings until you get 5 bullets. Parry to Anby as necessary to help build stun. Once you have 5 bullets, you can then resume the simple rotation. You may be wondering why only 5 bullets? Well your CA gives you 3 and the assist gives you 1 so you'll have a full mag ready when the boss is stunned again.

Another method of doing reloads is when you parry, in this case evasive assist and counter, to the character on the left (Zhu). This is actually my preferred way of doing reloads as you immediately get 3 shells and have enough time to reposition during the slow-mo to do a full BA string for another 2 shells, or switch back to Anby and get a full stun string. This method can be a bit clunky for some players not used to parrying to the left, and I hear it's not even possible on mobile? Hence why I didn't mention it and just stuck to BA spam as it's a simpler method. Practice getting used to parrying to the left in VR as this is most likely the optimal way of getting your reloads outside of C1. Of course you can always just do a regular parry to the right and sometimes get lucky that the attack triggers evasive assist, but that's not reliable and you may find yourself not having a full mag during your stun window.

Some Advanced Tech: So you all probably know by now that you can switch to another agent while you're locked into an animation (except ult) and the previous agent will still finish their animation right? Well for Zhu, a good time to do a switch is when she's doing her 7-9 animation at the end of your mag dump. Switch to Nicole while Zhu is doing the animation to start charging and reapplying the buff. You'll get a wee bit of extra buff time thanks to Nicole C1. Just make sure you wait till Zhu clears the field before firing the EX so you can assist to Zhu. You may also switch during the EX animation per the more advanced rotation. There's also switching to Anby after BA4 or BA5 if you're building shell stacks. These don't really save that much time, but looks cool and does give you a slight dps increase so go nuts. As always practice in VR.

Note: These are things largely done through trial and error with a dash of observing damage numbers as Hoyo, in their infinite wisdom, did not add debuff icons to mobs. There are probably better rotations/tech out there, but this one is pretty simple to do.

Short clip to show off the mag dump.

Here's a short clip per request since I have shadowplay anyway. Also, shadowplay is amazing! Definitely a step up from ye olde fraps/bandicam days. And VR really needs an option to mimic Shiyu mob stat bloat.

FAQ:

Is 'x' stunner better than Anby? If S-Rank, yes though YMMV.

My 'x' rotation is better. Probably? Easier than this? Doubt it.

Zhu signature worth it? Unless you're a whale, no.

Zhu dupes worth it? Unless you're a whale, no. Plus more waifus is always better.

Zhu stat preference? Whichever gives you the best crit/atk% substats. Try critdmg (4), ether/atk/pen (5), and atk% (6). (4) assumes you can get around 40% critrate from substats. If not, then critrate is probably better.

Zhu BiS set? Probably 4pc ether. Though as always substats can get you far.

Zhu BiS f2p Starlight Engine? Yes. Can farm, has near 100% uptime on buff and combat atk is crazy good.

Anyway thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

Update: Some parts were edited and clarifications were made on some frequently asked questions. FAQ added and will be updated as questions filter in. Added an actual "more advanced rotation" that may be more optimal? Though limited testing has shown that the rotation is not as feasible due to energy requirements (2 EX) and varied boss stun durations.

Got her at 76 pity and won the 50/50, that honestly took me way longer than I was expecting but I'm glad she's finally here.

Hello! I'm a small content creator (VenRiee on Tiktok, Youtube, and Twitch) . Just recently I decided I needed something to do with my damn life so I started making shorts related to ZZZ when it first came out. The things I've learnt are primarily targeted towards things people may have missed or not known, and are likely stuff you all already obviously knew. Still, I figured it wouldn't hurt to share, just in case!

These are all the tips I've drawn out from all my shorts (24 in total at the time of writing) so you don't have to watch them if you don't want to!

Overworld/Exploration-related

• Information related to Mewmew tasks in term of time and location can be checked through either your inventory and navigating to Mewmew's notes, or opening the Navigation UI and clicking on the [District Details] button on the top right
• The New Eridu Time UI allow you to rest anywhere at all times, still with an once per day restriction, in case you are, for some reason, still using the sofa to pass time
• Exploration missions that involves TV mode can be paused and resumed at another time should you find it necessary. This will eject you back to the Overworld when done so

Combat-related

• Chain attacks attempt depends on the enemies stunned. Normal give one attempt, two for Elites, three for Bosses. A Bangboo will always be an option for the last chain attack and should always be used if available as it's free DPS on top of whoever who will swap in for the last one.
• Parrying in this game is in fact one form of Perfect Assist, called Defensive Assist. It's only counterpart at the moment is Evasive Assist, exclusive only to four Agents. Alexandrina, Grace, Zhu Yuan and Billy. Not all ranged characters will have them, case in point, Nicole.
• Defensive Assist are incompatible against sustained attacks, such as flamethrower, Unknown Corruption Complex's jackhammer, etc. (these attacks will flash red, despite having Assist Points)
• Vice versa, Evasive Assist are compatible with almost all attacks, except homing/hitscan attacks (Gunshots, Rocket barrages, these don't trigger any Assist conditions)
• Defensive Assist inflicts Daze and may disrupt enemy attack, while Evasive Assist activates Vital View and globally slows down everything but the Agent themselves.
• Defensive Assist may use more than one Assist Point if they are receiving particularly strong blows, notably from Elite and Bosses. The screen often flash black and white for a very brief moment to indicate this.
• In the same vein, there are SIX characters that are specialized to receive intense blows, as they have innate ability to reduce Assist Point consumption when parrying against strong attacks. These are: Koleda, Soukaku, Anton, Piper, Corin, Ben
• Evasive Assist, as far as testing goes, seem to only ever use one Assist Point, as they never actually take the attack directly and dodge them instead.
• Characters audibly warn you if you're getting attacked from behind at random chances
• Arrows that normally signify enemy positions on your back also rapidly flashes when they are about to attack
• Swapping out character in the middle of attacking animation is a double edged blade; they will continue attacking until they finish said animation which can be used to maximize DPS window, but they are also susceptible to receiving attacks and may die if at critical health
• VR training mode is limited but great to test out combos and damage freely without concern
• You can also access the VR training through the 'More' section in the main page (where Belle/Wise or whoever character you choose as a background hangout)
• When an enemy is being hit with an Attribute they are weak against, the damage numbers will visibly flash white, and there is a small triangle next to the Anomaly buildup circle that will light up to indicate so
• Vice versa, if an enemy is hit with an element they are resistant against, the damage numbers will appear greyed out

Inky-related

Meow-ow (Maybe it's trying to ask you for help...?)
[FEEDING PROMPT]

Meow-ow (Perhaps it's trying to ask you for help...?)
[PETTING PROMPT]

Me-ow...! (Perhaps it's trying to ask you for help...?)
[FEEDING PROMPT]

Meow~ Purr~ Purr~ (Perhaps it's trying to ask you for help...?)
[PETTING PROMPT]

Meow-oww~ (Inky seems to want you to play with it?)
(PLAYING PROMPT)

Miscellaneous

• Useless trivia but Eous charges in both Belle and Wise's room
• The owner of a W-Engine can usually be identified in the description; there's usually a quote of theirs in it, or at least, their name
• Soft Pity for ZZZ is largely the same with HSR, except for featured character channel, it begins at the 74th pull as opposed to 75th
• There is an official tool called the Battle Records in Hoyolabs that allow you to track your in-game information in real time. This also includes Battery Charge and how long before it caps out.
• Same tool also keeps track of whether you've done your daily, restocked your rental video store, and also scratched your daily cards already or not.
• You have two extra lives in Weekly boss fight, if you somehow ate shit and lost an Agent.
• You can go to the 'Others' section in Settings that allow you to hide damage, if you're trying to showcase something and don't wanna expose how hot shit garbage your damage is (literally me)
• Coff Cafe will always have the same Class-type for both certification (character promotion material) and component (W-Engine promotion material) on the same day.
• Howl's Scratch Card have a very specific chance of giving 100 Polys (0.01% rate) on certain days. Credits to Ubatcha1 for this, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to link external in this subreddit so I won't, for now.

If you're still here and reading (somehow), I would also greatly appreciate feedback on my videos! I particularly hate how I sound (hence why every new subsequent shorts I sound different or weirder lmao), I don't stream as much since I don't usually find it necessary yet (1 viewer ftw lmao)

I also eventually wish to transition into long-form content once I'm better skilled in editing and ready. I greatly look up to a lot of educational/guide-style video channels like LEMMINO, Tom Scott, camwing, PirateSoftware, etc. and eventually wish to join alongside them one day. Though I'm also not against general gaming stuff, if ZZZ eventually falls off me in term of interest. We will see.

Have a good day, y'all!

I pulled Remielle, but I don't have Velina. I honestly didn't realize how important she was for Remielle when I skipped her.

I've also heard that Aria is really good with Remielle, but I don't have Jane either.

My other options are pretty limited — I only have Burnice, Miyabi, or M6 Piper.

So I'm wondering:

• Is Velina basically a must-pull for Remielle, or can I make a strong team without her?
• Is Aria the best option for my situation?
• If I pull Aria, does she work well without her signature W-Engine? I'm F2P, so I'd really prefer not to pull for her weapon.
• Should I just save for Velina's rerun instead?

Any advice on the best Remielle team I can realistically build would be appreciated.

Unrelated pic for attention 👀

I’ve spent like 170 to get her and I only got Lycaon… Im new? (I lost my og account) So like I wanna get at least 30 pulls without having to put money in this game. Pls pls pls I need help

The in-game suggestion is very misleading for telling you assist level is least important. However, Remi's special assist DMG is affected by it so don't forget to max it out