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Videos playable in 720px HD.
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Zero's skill tree build is focused between 2 major Stance modes, Offense (O.S) and Defense (D.S), plus a compulsory intermediate mode, Sword Stance (S.S). As any Zero player, choosing to major in one of the stances is ideal and choosing the skills to go with it. Between these modes, Zero can then function as a defensive attacker or a wholly aggressive one meant to destroy his enemies in quick order.
However with such a great number of skills to choose from, it is difficult to determine what to place in those 5 slots available. The key here is to choose what suits your fighting style best. AP characters are all about management, as they are not able to gain additional MP through attacks anymore and neither can they charge-cast skills, meaning a good combination of skills can mean the difference between death & survival.
In Zero's case, his Stance modes will mean while he can dish out the hurt, he will be reciprocated the same way against him. Keeping his HP up or at least surviving long enough to recover some HP to sustain battle time becomes important. To this theory, the combination of Loss & Orchid becomes crucial to sustaining his HP & AP.
Dodge:
- Type: Ground Roll
- Zero WAS a tank yes - Not anymore in Season V. With the increased damage that enemies deal, a poorly equipped Zero will fall in no time, outliving his usefulness as a tank. Dodging is as critical as it is important to his survival now.
- !!! Dodging in any of the 3 Stance Mode will double the consumption of his Dodge meter, limiting him to only 2 maneuvers while others can perform up to 4 when used judiciously.
- Wanderer is going to need this a lot, since his primary source of damage comes from Sword Stance and his few other skills. (Which unfortunately as mentioned above, will quickly drain his Dodge meter in that mode)
Stance Mode:
- Stance Mode renders him immune to the effects of Freezing, Petrify and Shock (the stun effect only), but he will still take damage from Curse, Burn and the periodic damage from Shock.
- Any attack received will only cause Zero to bounce into the air. Varies by the degree of attack impact.
- "Jump" attacks will simply throw Zero up in the air, taking no damage whatsoever from impact.
- One-Hit KO attacks and attacks that bring his HP to or below 0, will regress Zero to his combat mode. Stance mode becomes unusable until he recovers at least 1 HP.
- ^ At least 1 HP is required to reactivate Stance Mode if already in Fatal status.
- Zero is practically invincible as long as he can find a window of opportunity to recover HP and reactivate Stance Mode to take another lethal hit.
- Zero can now engage Stance mode after dash attacks and in a jump. Does not work after a jump attack however.
- Activating S.S in advance will shorten the casting time of a skill. In reverse, if you wish to lengthen the delay, let the skill activate by itself from combat mode.
- Using a technique will put Zero in S.S. Using a skill will put Zero back into combat mode.
- When adding skill points - look carefully at the requirements- some skills require max levels before you can progress to the next skill, some do not. You can save skill points this way to make the most of his Skill Tree.
- Tech cancelling is no longer possible. This applies entirely to Dio and other AP characters alike. Skills however, can be used to interrupt another skill.
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Skill Tree Setup: Passives
Sword Stance:
While in this mode, damage dealt is generally greater than combat mode attacks. Mobility is also reduced, slowing his walking speed, reducing jump distance and removing his dash in this Stance. A variety of techniques can also be used in tandem with the Stances, which becoming increasingly available as Zero advances classes (This general idea applies to all 3 Stances including Defense and Offense) *See character summary for more details regarding Stances*
- Spin Slice: A spinning backswing, hits twice.
- Thrust: Jabs Grandark forward for multi-hit damage
- Jump Slice: Zero leaps at a height and slams Grandark onto the ground. May leap over low-bodied enemies.
- Dash Speed: Simply increases his default walking speed, does not actually provide dashing.
Defensive Stance:
While in this mode, the key focus is based on defensive counterattacks which primarily reduces the damage Zero takes by a maximum of 30% while still being able to do small attacks. The attacks in general are meant to sweep out enemies around Zero and do not give much closing distance nor high damage. Also in Defensive Stance, movement speed is even further reduced to a crawl and no dashing is allowed, heck, you can't even jump nor drop off platforms. *The direction in which Zero faces does not affect the damage reduction, only the direction in which he attacks.*
- Defensive Stance: Enables the use of Defensive Stance. Increasing levels improve the damage reduction %.
- Change Direction: Zero takes a wide overhead swing and faces the other direction while retaining the stance.
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Skill Tree Setup: Actives
Loss (6 AP)
- Type: One-Shot, Melee
- Range: Short
- Thrusts Grandark forward to deal low damage, property changes depending on chosen augment.
- HP Absorption increases HP drain depending on the number of targets hit.
- AP Absorption increases AP drain, but does not increase exponentially by the number of targets hit.
- Timing is important as Zero can easily be countered out of position before Grandark can strike.
Rude Pressure (6 AP)
- Type: Melee Combo
- Range: Short
- Zero places Grandark in a defensive stance and rams into the enemy, knocking them back a short distance.
Classical Force (23 AP)
- Type: Projectile, One Shot
- Range: Short
- Delay: Short
- Fires a non-elemental energy projectile ahead. Damage is mildly increased by levels
- "Hit" adds another hit to the projectile. Although damage is very much reduced for that hit.
- "Range" gives the projectile "Medium" range, about half the screen.
- *You may only select one type of Force at any given time. This restriction is also applies to Seeker's Gran Force.
Ice Force (23 AP)
- Type: Projectile, Status Inflict: Freeze
- Range: Short
- Delay: Short
- Fires an ice energy projectile ahead. Damage is mildly increased by levels.
- "Time" increases the duration of the freeze on monsters.
- "Range" gives the projectile "Medium" range, about half the screen.
- While effective for lesser monsters, it's Freeze property is useless on bosses.
Fire Force (23 AP)
- Type: Projectile, Status Inflict: Burn
- Range: Short
- Delay: Short
- Fires a fire energy projectile ahead. Damage is mildly increased by levels.
- "Time" increases the duration of the burn inflicted.
- "Range" gives the projectile "Medium" range, about half the screen.
- Quickly overshadowed by Seeker's Gran Force. They deal the same core damage but Gran Force's side effect lasts shorter while dealing heavier periodic damage.
Triple Bash (23 AP)
- Type: Melee Combo, Close-In
- Range: Short
- Delay: Long
- Sword combo using Grandark, with full effect achieved at Lv3.
- Lv1 is a single high impact blow, Lv2 deals two hits with no special traits, and Lv3 actually hits 4 times with the last blow bouncing the enemy into the air.
- Grandark's Domination: The final smash attack releases a mid-distance shockwave similar to Knight's Bravery combo.
- Cheap cost and good for buying time with it's lengthy delay.
Gran X (46 AP)
- Type: Splash
- Range: Short
- Delay: Medium
- Brings a double energy burst with Grandark's swing and finishes with a downward blast of Grandark's energy. Lv2 adds 1 more hit to the double energy burst.
- Grandark's Domination: The blast attack becomes a splash of Grandark's energy balls similar to Knight's Meteor Slash.
Bleeding Gash (76 AP)
- Type: Splash, AoE: Small
- Range: Short
- Delay: Short
- Zero leaps into the air and rams Grandark into the ground, releasing an array of it's spikes onto both sides and a giant one where Zero is.
- Grandark's Domination: An extra spike appears on both ends of the formation, extending it's strike range.
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