Zankou Best Build Guide

Zankou is an Incantation DPS who plays around switching between two combat states via her Redirect Skill. These two kits are called Reality and Illusion. You start in Reality, switch to Illusion with Redirect, then return to Reality once the time limit runs out or you press Redirect again.

Before getting into her two states, Zankou has an insane passive that lets her start every battle with 100 Cycle Energy while also increasing her Cycle Intensity by 100. This effect has a 30-second cooldown and can only activate once per battle. This is an extremely strong passive to have, comparable to Lacrimosa’s Awakening, except this is part of Zankou’s base kit. You can instantly form an Esper Cycle the moment she’s in battle.

While in Reality, Zankou has the Hunt buff, which increases her DMG. This is her more straightforward state, and you enter Illusion by using Redirect. Hunt remains active for 8 seconds after switching into Illusion, giving her some overlap between the two states.

Illusion is where a lot of her kit gets interesting. All of her attacks during this state count as follow-up attacks. Using Redirect Skill right after the 4th or 5th Basic Attack hit, a held Basic Attack, or a Dodge Counter applies Heartwrench (a type of DoT) to the target and triggers Disarray, dealing AoE Break DMG. Her Basic Attacks also apply Heartwrench and spread it to nearby enemies with every hit. She also gains Delusion, which increases DoT Crit DMG by 25%.

The important part is using her Redirect Skill within the final 3 seconds of Illusion. When you cast it during this window, you perform an enhanced version that deals AoE DMG, inflicts Heartwrench on targets hit, and triggers Oblivion, activating Bloodfeast Reverie, one of her two Ultimates, with the other being Inferno Flamenco.

Bloodfeast Reverie inflicts Vile Ash on the target, which is another DoT effect, and allows one Inferno Flamenco to be cast without consuming any Energy after using Bloodfeast Reverie.

After returning to Reality with Redirect, Delusion remains active for 8 seconds. Since Hunt also remains active for 8 seconds after entering Illusion, Zankou gets a window where she can benefit from both Hunt and Delusion at the same time.

Her Scorch Enhancement allows Scorch to become stackable (up to 3 times). Whenever anyone on the team applies a DoT effect to a target under Scorch, each stack of DoT applied lets Zankou add 1 Scorch stack of her own.

Outside of combat, Zankou can turn invisible and become undetectable by enemies in the open world. The effect lasts 20 seconds and increases her movement speed by 50%. This also works in the Pink Paw Heist.

So Zankou is a two-state character who is built around timing her Redirect Skill correctly. She starts in Reality and then enters Illusion, a state in which all attacks count as Follow-Up Damage and she's constantly applying and spreading DoT with every hit. This matters if you’re planning to build your team around Follow-Up Damage when the inevitable additional Hexed characters arrive, like Linko.

From there, you just attack in her Illusion form and make sure to use her Redirect Skill during the final few seconds of Illusion to trigger Oblivion and activate Bloodfeat Reverie, stacking even more DoT onto the target in the process. The main thing you need to watch out for is getting interrupted, since she can be interrupted during the switch. She’s also amazing for early Esper Cycle bursts thanks to her passive, and she fits perfectly into a Scorch team since she can constantly keep feeding DoT. That’s basically what she was made for.