4 cost
CRIT Rate / CRIT DMG
3 cost
Spectro DMG
3 cost
Spectro DMG > ATK%
1 cost
ATK%
1 cost
ATK%
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Last updated: 15/September/2026
Best guide and build for Zani from WW (Wuthering Waves). Zani is a 5★ rarity character from the 
Spectro element who uses the Gauntlets type weapon.
A member of Averardo Vault's security team and holder of "Best Employee" for longer than she cares to count. She has made plenty of plans for her free time, but for now, her biggest mission is simple: clocking out on time.
Zani has at least one video guide available:
Last review update
Patch 3.6
Last major build/calcs update
Patch 3.6
Last profile update*
15/September/2026
*Profile update means smaller edits to echoes, stats, synergies or teams that don't require new calculations.
To learn more about Zani check the sections below. Use the tabs to quickly switch to the kind of information you're looking for.
Profile
Routine Negotiation
Basic Attack
Perform up to 4 consecutive attacks to deal Spectro DMG.
After performing Basic Attack Stage 3, Press Normal Attack at the right time to perform Basic Attack Breakthrough, which can be followed by Basic Attack Stage 4 by pressing Normal Attack again.
Following Basic Attack Stage 3, Basic Attack Stage 4 can also be triggered by dodging and pressing Normal Attack within a certain time after Basic Attack Stage 3.
Heavy Attack
Consume STA to attack the target, dealing Spectro DMG. Press Normal Attack within a certain time to perform Basic Attack Stage 3.
Mid-air Attack
Consume STA to perform a plunging attack, dealing Spectro DMG. Press Normal Attack within a certain time to perform Basic Attack Stage 3.
Dodge Counter
Press successful Dodge to attack the target, dealing Spectro DMG. Then press Normal Attack at the right time to cast Basic Attack Breakthrough.
If Dodge Counter is not followed by Basic Attack Stage 4, press Normal Attack on the ground within a certain time to cast Basic Attack Stage 4.
Restless Watch
Standard Defense Protocol
Attack the target to deal Spectro DMG and enter a block stance. This state ends early if Zani is switched off the field. Press Normal Attack within a certain time to perform Basic Attack Stage 3, recovering 10 points of Redundant Energy and Stagnating the target on hit.
When attacked by the enemy in the block stance, reduce this instance of damage by 100% and Stagnate nearby targets, then cast Resonance Skill Pinpoint Strike, dealing Spectro DMG and additionally reducing their Vibration Strength by 5%. The DMG taken by Zani is reduced by 30% within the next 2s.
Crisis Response Protocol
When Zani is not in Inferno Mode and has full Redundant Energy, her Resonance Skill is replaced with Resonance Skill Crisis Response Protocol.
Hold Resonance Skill to enter Ready Stance. While in Ready Stance, Zani is immune to interruption. This state ends early if Zani is switched off the field. After releasing Resonance Skill button or when the stance duration ends, consume all Redundant Energy to cast Targeted Action, dealing Spectro DMG.
When attacked by the enemy in Ready Stance, reduce this instance of damage by 100% and consume all Redundant Energy to cast Forcible Riposte, dealing Spectro DMG, Stagnating the target, and further reducing their Vibration Strength by 5%. The DMG taken by Zani is reduced by 30% within the next 2s.
Casting Targeted Action or Forcible Riposte inflicts a stack of Heliacal Ember upon the target on hit and recovers Blaze before entering Sunburst mode.
Sunburst
The Spectro Frazzle DMG dealt by Zani to the target is Amplified by 20%.
Between Dawn and Dusk
Rekindle
Deal Spectro DMG and enter Inferno Mode, increasing Max Blaze from 100 to 150 and granting 50 Blazes. When in Inferno Mode, the DMG Multiplier of Basic Attack is increased.
The Last Stand
When in Inferno Mode, Resonance Liberation The Last Stand becomes available when Blaze is lower than 30 or after 8s in Inferno Mode.
Casting Resonance Liberation The Last Stand deals Spectro DMG and ends the Inferno Mode.
There Will Be A Light
Heliacal Ember
When Zani is in the team and a nearby Resonator inflicts Spectro Frazzle upon a target, immediately consume all Spectro Frazzle stacks and trigger the corresponding DMG, then convert Spectro Frazzle into an equal number of Heliacal Embers. Every time the conversion happens, Zani obtains Blaze based on the stacks of Heliacal Ember inflicted. Heliacal Ember is capped at 60 stacks, with each stack lasting for 6s. Heliacal Ember stacks are counted toward the Spectro Frazzle stacks for the Eternal Radiance Sonata Effect.
Scorching Light
When Zani is in Inferno Mode, Heavy Slash - Daybreak, Heavy Slash - Dawning, Heavy Slash - Nightfall, and Heavy Slash - Lightsmash become available, which deal Spectro DMG that is considered both Heavy Attack DMG and Spectro Frazzle DMG.
When Blaze is higher than 30, Resonance Skill Standard Defense Protocol is replaced with Resonance Skill Scorching Light.
Hold Resonance Skill to enter Ready Stance, during which Zani is immune to interruption. This state ends early when Zani is switched off the field. Release Resonance Skill button to consume Blaze and perform Heavy Slash - Daybreak.
When attacked in a certain time after entering Ready Stance, reduce this instance of damage by 100% and Stagnate nearby targets, then perform Heavy Slash - Lightsmash, consuming Blazes and further reducing their Vibration Strength by 10%. The DMG taken within the next 2s is reduced by 30%.
After casting Heavy Slash - Lightsmash, Basic Attack is replaced with Heavy Slash - Nightfall, consuming up to 40 Blazes on hit, with each Blaze increasing the DMG Multiplier of Heavy Slash - Nightfall.
When Ready Stance ends, immediately perform Heavy Slash - Nightfall.
When Blaze is higher than 30, Basic Attack is replaced with Heavy Slash - Daybreak. After entering Inferno Mode, casting Basic Attack immediately replaces the current Basic Attack with Resonance Skill Scorching Light. Hold Basic Attack to enter Ready Stance.
After performing Heavy Slash - Daybreak, Basic Attack is replaced with Heavy Slash - Dawning when Zani has more than 30 Blazes. Heavy Slash - Dawning consumes Blazes. After performing Heavy Slash - Dawning, Basic Attack is replaced with Heavy Slash - Nightfall.
If Basic Attack is not replaced with Heavy Slash - Nightfall after a successful Dodge, press Normal Attack within a certain time to perform Heavy Slash - Lightsmash at the cost of Blazes.
Redundant Energy
Zani can hold up to 100 Redundant Energy.
Obtain Redundant Energy when Normal Attacks hit a target.
Obtain Redundant Energy when Intro Skill Immediate Execution hits a target.
Obtain Redundant Energy when casting Resonance Skill Standard Defense Protocol.
Obtain Redundant Energy when casting Pinpoint Strike.
Cannot obtain Redundant Energy while in Inferno Mode.
Blaze
Blaze is capped at 100 when not in Inferno Mode.
Blaze is capped at 150 in Inferno Mode.
Casting Targeted Action or Forcible Riposte grants 10 Blazes.
Every stack of Heliacal Ember converted from Spectro Frazzle grants 5 Blazes.
Casting Resonance Liberation Rekindle grants 50 Blazes.
Quick Response
Casting Intro Skill Immediate Execution gives 12% Spectro DMG Bonus for 14s.
Fear No Pain
When in Ready Stance, all DMG taken is reduced by 40%.
Immediate Execution
Attack the target, dealing Spectro DMG.
Beacon For the Future
Attack the target, dealing Spectro DMG equal to 150% of Zani's ATK and removing all stacks of Heliacal Ember inflicted upon the target. Each stack increases the DMG dealt by 10%. This DMG is considered Spectro Frazzle DMG. The Spectro DMG dealt by other Resonators in the team to the target marked by Heliacal Ember is Amplified by 20% for 20s.
Sequence Node 1
Casting Targeted Action or Forcible Riposte gives 50% Spectro DMG Bonus for 14s.
Immune to interruptions while casting Resonance Skill Heavy Slash - Nightfall.
Sequence Node 2
Crit. Rate is increased by 20%.
The DMG Multiplier of Targeted Action and Forcible Riposte is increased by 80%.
Sequence Node 3
When in Inferno Mode, every 1 Blaze consumed increases the DMG Multiplier of Resonance Liberation The Last Stand by 8%, maxed at 1200%.
Sequence Node 4
When Intro Skill Immediate Execution is cast, ATK of all Resonators in the team is increased by 20% for 30s.
Sequence Node 5
The DMG Multiplier of Resonance Liberation Rekindle is increased by 120%.
Sequence Node 6
The DMG Multipliers of Heavy Slash - Daybreak, Heavy Slash- Dawning, Heavy Slash - Nightfall, and Heavy Slash - Lightsmash are increased by 40%. Every Blaze consumed increases the DMG Multiplier of Heavy Slash - Nightfall by 40% on hit.
Gain following effects when in Inferno Mode:
When Blaze is lower than 70, restore 70 Blazes immediately. This effect is triggered once in Inferno Mode.
Within 8s after entering Inferno Mode, Zani will remain standing with at least 1 HP if hit by a fatal blow.
CRIT Rate
ATK%
HPATK
DEF
Max EnergyCRIT Rate
CRIT DMG
Healing Bonus
Spectro DMGWhile the source of the materials can be quickly found in the game, when it comes Sword Acorus you will have to gather them from the map. Check our Interactive map to find them quickly:
Review
Please keep in mind Wuthering Waves is a skill-based game and each character has a different playstyle, difficulty level and even special tricks and combos. Wuthering Waves is also a team based game and it's only by combining both these factors to the highest level a character can reach optimal performance.
Much higher damage ceiling than her baseline performance, thanks to her very high affinity for Quickswap;
Looks REALLY cool in her Ultimate stance (factually speaking);
Has some of the most resistant shirt buttons known to mankind. I want to know who made that shirt, might be THE brand to buy from.
Without Quickswap, her damage ceiling is the lowest of any 2.x character, her teams have seen no improvements since release and are very unlikely to receive any upgrades in the future;
So overly reliant on Phoebe to perform it’s comical, baseline damage without Phoebe is lower than any limited 1.x DPS, Signature weapons for both her and Phoebe are also good damage increases that she nowadays needs to compete with the rest of the cast in Quickswap (even still modern teams played at a baseline level outperform the best Zani Quickswap you can do);
In order to truly draw out her full potential, she needs to take away Rover from more modern teams to use as a Support. Her overly restrictive teambuilding restricts other characters’ on your account, too.
Zani is a 5-star Spectro Gauntlets DPS who specializes in dealing high damage during the stance she enters in her Ultimate called “Inferno Mode”. Her kit is centered around certain key elements, the most important one being Spectro Frazzle which she passively and instantly converts into “Heliacal Ember” in order to charge her Ultimate Forte points, called “Blaze” which she needs in order to execute her combos to access her damage.
As said earlier, Zani’s main focus will be to build up Blaze for her to use during her Inferno Mode stance. It stacks up to 150 points, so the goal with Zani will be to reach that threshold. There are a few ways to do this:
Entering Inferno Mode (via her Ultimate, 50 points);
Using her Enhanced Skill “Crisis Response Protocol” (10 points);
Converting Spectro Frazzle into Heliacal Ember (5 points per stack).
Heliacal Ember works as a variant to Spectro Frazzle which stacks up to 60 times, but it does not count as Spectro Frazzle, so it does not benefit from any buffs related to it, and as a matter of fact it does not even count as a Negative Status. The only exception is they serve as a way to activate the Eternal Radiance set effects. However, the damage granted by Heliacal Ember is instantaneous and equivalent to the damage Spectro Frazzle would’ve normally dealt.
Zani has another Forte Gauge called “Redundant Energy” that allows her to cast an Enhanced Skill when fully replenished, which restores some Blaze. As Zani cannot apply any Spectro Frazzle by herself, it is important to restore some blaze, and give Zani an extra Heliacal Ember to activate Eternal Radiance Echo bonuses as well as a 20% Spectro Frazzle DMG Amplify effect for 14s to further increase her Inferno Mode damage potential, making it especially important to build before using her Ultimate. There are a few ways to do this:
Using her Basic Attacks;
Using her skill “Standard Defense Protocol” and its parry variant “Pinpoint Strike”;
Using her Intro Skill.
Zani’s Resonance Skill indeed allows her to first do a small hit of damage (Standard Defense Protocol) and then enter a parry stance that she can hold for up to 2 seconds, during which she takes no damage for 1 attack (and 30% reduced DMG in the 2 seconds that follow). If an attack is successfully parried, she will execute Pinpoint Strike for extra damage and Redundant Energy, which is enough to cast her Enhanced Skill after an Intro. To get all 100 Redundant Energy points without a parry, following or preceding an Intro Skill with Standard Defense Protocol into Basic Attack 3 should be all that’s needed for quick access to her Enhanced Skill. Once this is achieved, Zani is ready to activate her Ultimate and enter Inferno Mode.
During Inferno Mode, Zani gets a new kit featuring new Basic Attacks, a new parry Skill with a new counter (which also doubles as a Dodge Counter), and she utilizes her other Forte bar to execute all of these actions. She gets 50 Blaze points which she’ll consume to execute her combos in Inferno Mode (with the cap extended from 100 to 150 and her Ultimate filling those missing 50 points). All of the damage she can deal during this stance is considered Heavy Attack DMG and Spectro Frazzle DMG simultaneously, so all related buffs apply.
To get into the details of her Ultimate, once Zani enters Inferno Mode, she gains new Basic Attacks called “Daybreak”, “Dawning”, and “Nightfall”. These are the center of her kit in general. The simplest possible rotation only requires you to perform her Basic Attack string 2 times, which casts each of these skills twice. Simple and effective. Daybreak consumes 10 Blaze, Dawning consumes 20 Blaze and Nightfall consumes up to 40 Blaze, with each Blaze consumed giving an extra multiplier increase to Nightfall specifically (other attacks do not benefit from this). That’s 140 Blaze consumed at maximum in total.
However, other options are available. Her Skill allows you to immediately enter a parry stance for up to 2 seconds during which she will take up to 70% reduced damage. Parrying any attack triggers an equivalent to Dawning called “Lightsmash” which consumes 20 Blaze, after which Zani can immediately follow with Nightfall. This combo therefore only costs 60 Blaze. The exact same thing occurs if a Dodge Counter is executed. This can be important to factor in to preserve Blaze for lengthier rotations.
Finally, once Zani has consumed enough Blaze and has 30 left or less (the threshold is indicated on her Forte bar), then she can cast another Ultimate called “The Last Stand” which deals some damage, stops in-game timers and prevents you from switching out during it like any regular Ultimate would. This also ends her rotation as it ends Inferno Mode at the same time.
Once all of this is done, she may cast her Outro. It deals a final burst of damage dependent on the stacks of Heliacal Ember present on enemies, consumes all Heliacal Ember stacks present on targets, and also amplifies the Spectro DMG of all characters except Zani by 20% if they have Heliacal Ember applied, which is a small DMG boost for your Supports.
Zani’s position in the meta is… interesting, to say the least. Her and her teammates are fully compatible with Quickswap, and her damage can be taken to a much higher ceiling than her baseline performance. The issues arise when discussing her teammates, and her baseline performance.
Without a doubt, for a character as old as Zani, her ceiling in Quickswap is satisfactory and has withstood the test of time as she is still considered meta-viable when fully optimized. However, this performance is completely dependent on 2 very specific characters: Phoebe and Spectro Rover.
Phoebe is a necessary inclusion to her teams, no matter how you put it. Spectro Rover is not sufficient as a Frazzle applier and a buffer. Phoebe doubles Zani’s damage, simply put, and that’s not something Rover alone can compensate for. She applies more Frazzle, her buffs are so much better and tailored towards Zani specifically. Zani was simply balanced around Phoebe, a fact that makes Zani’s teambuilding restrictive, and her team options have indeed stagnated so badly that they have not changed at all since her release. Without Phoebe, Zani is quite literally worse than any Limited DPS that came out before her.
Zani, Phoebe and Spectro Rover are the prime Spectro Frazzle team, and it hasn’t changed since version 2.3, Zani’s own release date. The Frazzle application of all of these team members together is high enough that, since none of their buffs expire upon swapping, Zani can utilize her excellent Swap Cancel windows on her Nightfall attacks and preserve some Blaze in order to cast 3 or even 4 Nightfalls per full team rotation. This leads to huge DPS increases if it can be pulled off fast enough via Quickswap.
Without Quickswap, Zani and Phoebe are best used with Shorekeeper, and the performance of that team is… questionable at best. The lowest of any 2.x team, falling behind Carlotta by a noticeable margin. Not to mention, the Energy Regen requirements on that team are huge and near-impossible to meet which makes building the team very difficult, and to rub salt into the wound, that’s a full premium team, so it’s crazy expensive to pull together.
In conclusion, Zani is in one of the most unfortunate meta positions in Wuthering Waves. Only functional in a single team using Quickswap, for casual players she’ll be a struggle to get any noticeable results with, her teams are expensive to get up and running, and they take a lot of effort to pull off. Calling Zani one of the worst current investments you could make in Wuthering Waves, particularly as a new player, is a safe claim to make.
Build
The percentages show the performance of the weapon based on calculations, but in some cases, some weapons might provide additional QOL that can't be quantified and it would push that weapon ahead of others in the priority (and in those cases, we would put that weapon higher).
Zani calculations were done using added buffs from the following teammates:
Phoebe + Luminous Hymn + 
Moonlit Clouds
Rover (Spectro) + Blazing Brilliance + 
Rejuvenating Glow
100.00%
93.70%
85.00%
82.40%
80.50%
77.20%
72.60%
69.30%
67.70%
66.10%
62.90%
100.00%
Offers a 10% unconditional Spectro DMG% boost, a 20% CRIT RATE buff for 15 seconds after inflicting Spectro Frazzle and further 15% Spectro DMG% boost for 15 seconds after attacking an enemy that has 10 Spectro Frazzle Stacks. For characters that have the capability to inflict Spectro Frazzle in their kit the 20% CRIT RATE boost is close to permanent, while the 15% Spectro DMG boost should maintain decent uptime in Spectro Frazzle focused teams. Generally the best in slot set for all DPS characters capable of inflicting Spectro Frazzle.
Below you can find Main Echo options:
Substats: Energy Regen (Until Satisfied) > CRIT Rate = CRIT DMG > ATK% > ATK
All recommended endgame stats portray a fairly good quality endgame build as a goal to aim for on most characters. However, don’t treat this as an end-all-be-all, and more of a suggestion.
All stat recommendations are given at S0 for 5-stars, S6 for 4-stars, and free characters (unless specified otherwise), based on total stats in the in-game stat-screen with the character out of combat but also active in the party (and hence some buffs may or may not apply). Any other precision may be directly specified. If not specified, Energy Regen requirements are estimated in the character’s best team.
HP: 15000+
DEF: 1100+
ATK: 1800-2300+
CRIT Rate: 65%+ (before Echo set bonuses)
CRIT DMG: 210-260%+
Energy Regen: 115%+
Energy requirements may be lowered in a Quickswap-heavy playstyle.
Spectro DMG Bonus: 50-80%+
Below you can find the order of leveling the abilities for Zani.
Forte Circuit
Res. Liberation
Res. Skill
Intro Skill
Basic Attack
Skill, Intro and Basic can be skipped when levelling to save on resources at a minimal damage loss.
Gameplay and teams
Zani’s rotation goal is to get off as many Nightfall attacks as possible, as quickly as possible, while getting all of her self-buffs up and running. To do this, other teammates must apply Spectro Frazzle either before or during her Inferno Mode, and she must fill her first Forte gauge. Below are some of the ways you can do this.
Summon Capitaneus at any point in her rotation.
This is the rotation that doesn’t require any Quickswap. It’s quite weak by modern standards, but may be enough to land you clearing scores in Matrix with Phoebe by Zani’s side. In the Opener, make sure to do the Skill + Basic 3 after Zani’s Intro as well to get her Forte Skill ready.
Intro
Skill: Targeted Action
Ultimate: Rekindle
Basic: Daybreak
Basic: Dawning
Basic: Nightfall
Basic: Daybreak
Basic: Dawning
Basic: Nightfall (Cancel animation endlag via Ultimate)
Ultimate: The Last Stand
Skill
Basic 3 (Swap)
Outro
This rotation either works at S6 or with Phoebe+Spectro Rover, by replenishing Blaze in the middle of Zani’s rotation, thanks to this team applying more Spectro Frazzle than Zani can build in advance. At S6, the following rotation requires no Quickswap, as it restores Blaze for Zani mid-rotation. Make sure to cast Skill + Basic 3 before this rotation starts in the Opener to save time. Targeted Action can also be pre-built and cast in Quickswap if you want to take this rotation to the next level.
Intro
Skill: Targeted Action (Cancel animation endlag via Ultimate)
Ultimate: Rekindle
Basic: Daybreak
Basic: Dawning
Basic: Nightfall (Swap)
→ Replenish Spectro Frazzle here
Basic: Daybreak
Basic: Dawning
Basic: Nightfall (Swap)
→ If needed, replenish some more Spectro Frazzle here
Basic: Daybreak
Basic: Dawning
Basic: Nightfall (Cancel animation endlag via Ultimate)
Ultimate: The Last Stand
Skill
Basic 3 (Swap)
Outro
This rotation takes an extensive amount of time, but if enough time can be saved via Quickswap, then this is always worth it to execute and quite simple compared to other Quickswap rotations in the game.
As mentioned in the 3 Nightfall rotation, Zani has many Swap Cancel windows. Her Basic 3, her Dawning and Nightfall attacks, and her Targeted Action Skill all make for great windows to save time and execute her rotation while other teammates execute their own. The more time you save, the likelier you are to gain big DPS increases from doing the 3 Nightfall rotation. In other words: more time saves, more Nightfalls, more damage. Since none of the buffs on her team are lost on swap, you can swap to your heart’s content in the middle of everybody’s rotation.
Keep in mind that a lot of this can be utilized in even the Phoebe + Scorekeeper team composition, just that you’ll only be able to squeeze in some minor Phoebe and Shorekeeper attacks to make your loop faster and deal slightly more damage. If you push this team the furthest you can, you may find the time to cast 3 Nightfalls per rotation as well, if you save a lot of time through Quickswap that you can spend holding down Zani’s Skill twice in her Ultimate rotation, or if you get lucky with parries.
Zani can even execute up to 4 Nightfalls in the Phoebe + Spectro Rover team if Phoebe saves her Ultimate to do it in the middle of Zani’s rotation and Spectro Rover cycles them quickly thanks to their slightly shorter Ultimate cooldown of 20s. However, making this worth it over 3 Nightfall requires some very advanced Quickswap that most Zani players, even Zani mains, won’t be able to pull off without it coming at a DPS loss over a full run’s worth of rotations. Ultimately, sticking to a 25s-long 3 Nightfall loop with a fast Opener rotation to cycle more Zani Ultimates over a full run is how far we recommend to optimize Zani to make her still have a viable spot in the meta.
Phoebe - Phoebe in her Confession mode is the perfect Zani teammate. Providing 100% DMG Amplification, able to run a supportive set like Moonlit Clouds for extra damage and also being able to fully fill Zani's Blaze bar by applying lots of Spectro Frazzle, no teammate choice Zani has can compare to Phoebe, making her the best Zani team choice by huge amounts.Rover (Spectro) 
Ciaccona - These two are the other Spectro Frazzle appliers Zani has to try to fill her Blaze bar. While neither compare to Phoebe, having 2 Frazzle appliers in the team they can allow Zani to execute 3 Nightfalls per rotation (with some quickswap if Phoebe + Spectro Rover is used) for extra damage, making Phoebe + Spectro Rover the best Zani team when fully optimized (with Ciaccona as a worse alternative if need be).
Iuno 
Phrolova 
Mortefi - All 3 of these characters can Amplify Zani's Heavy Attack DMG via their Outros to buff her damage further. While none of them quite compete with Phoebe's 100% Amplification, Phrolova has a lot of personal damage to her name and Mortefi is F2P-accessible with higher buffing. Iuno is an in-between of the two with extra sustain.
The Shorekeeper 
Verina - As the best generalist Support, it's no surprise Shorekeeper can slot in any team in the game as she provides high team-wide ATK%, 15% DMG Amplification, CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG buffs making her the best option for Zani teams without quickswap (she also has much higher sustain than Spectro Rover if that's desired!)Team #1: Best Team
Team #2: Premium Alternatives
Team #3: F2P Team
Calculations