Ellen Joe in Zenless Zone Zero is the first limited five-star character you can get. But is she worth pulling for or should you save your currency for someone better? Here is a quick breakdown of Ellen and her viability.
How does Ellen work in Zenless Zone Zero?
Ellen in Zenless Zone Zero fulfills the DPS role (as in she’s literally an Attacker in game). She is an Ice character, which means she can freeze and Shatter enemies in battle. You can spice up her combos by spamming her Skill, which will cause her to use Sharknami and strike the enemy multiple times with her tail. You can also increase the speed of her dash when you press down or double-click the dash button. While she’s in this state, you can long-press the attack button to make Ellen lunge forwards with her spear and deal massive Ice DMG. Then, you can go directly back into her basic attack combo.
To summarize, Ellen is a character who wants to be in the thick of the fray at all times. Whenever you get distance after dodging, you can circle around before dashing back in for the offensive. This makes her fighting style reminiscent of some shark species’ attack patterns.
Why should you pull for Ellen?
As a five-star, Ellen naturally has much higher stats than other four-star attackers. Like Seele in Honkai: Star Rail and Diluc in Genshin Impact, the early five-star attackers can usually remain viable on a team for several patches at least, making it easier for you to clear content until stronger hitters appear in the game.
Zenless Zone Zero also has a system in which the more characters from the same faction you have, the more bonuses each character can get. As of launch, there are four characters from Victoria Housekeeping, with Ellen as one of them. Granted, three of them (again, including Ellen) are 5-stars. But in the future, you’ll be able to quickly put together a team of Victoria Housekeeping characters to reap the benefits of that bonus. Zhu Yuan, who will be the second 5-star character, will not have any characters from her faction at launch, meaning she won’t be able to take advantage of those extra stats and buffs.
Why shouldn’t you pull Ellen?
Earlier, I compared Ellen to Diluc and Seele. People who play those games and are familiar with the meta know that those two have not really been viable for a while. Diluc comes back now and again depending on what new characters show up (Xianyun, for example, made Diluc popular again due to his ridiculous Plunge Attack scaling). Seele, however, has yet to bounce back. While Ellen may be good now, who’s to say that she won’t be outmuscled within the year? Like stocks, there’s always a measure of risks when you’re playing a gacha game. I recommend playing through the story a bit more to see if a future playable character strikes your fancy.
Compounding on that point, Ellen’s personality and design might not be for everyone. Some players pull on banners for personal taste rather than who’s the strongest. If you don’t like Ellen and don’t want to use her because of that, there’s no need to force yourself to do so. Lots of characters in Zenless Zone Zero work perfectly fine even if they’re a standard 5-star or a 4-star.
In conclusion
Ellen is a great five-star attacker in Zenless Zone Zero who is an excellent starter character for the early patches in the game. Her kit is simple to use, meaning that you can use her to get in practice before HoYoVerse undoubtedly starts introducing more complicated mechanics and characters. As Victoria Housekeeping as a whole consists of useful and strong characters, Ellen doesn’t hurt.
But if you really don’t like her or how she handles, there will always be better characters in the future and Zenless Zone Zero is fairly forgiving when it comes to who you want to use in battle. So while I personally recommend pulling for her, the decision ultimately rests in your hands.
Zenless Zone Zero is available on the PS5, Windows PC, and mobile devices. You can only pull for Ellen during her banner.
