Introduction
There are a lot of Agents that can kill everything in Zenless Zone Zero, but there is only one that can survive everything. If you are being overwhelmed by the enemy, Ben Bigger is your answer. This guide is a lot more words than images as I explain some things in depth. And because I don't know how to make those cool infographics. That said, let us take a look at the juggernaut of Belobog Heavy Industries...
Not that kind of look, miss.
Mindscape Cinema
A summary of Ben's mindscapes. I'll highlight the good ones.
- M1: Reduces enemy DMG.
- M2: When you trigger a Block Counter (explained in Skills), you inflict an additional 300% of Ben's DEF as DMG.
- M3: Your standard M3. It gives certain skills 2 extra levels.
- M4: When blocking DMG with Ben's invulnerable effect during his Special, the counter deals 30% more DMG.
- M5: Same as M3.
- M6: After you launch an attack or follow-up during Ben's EX Special, increase the Daze inflicted by Basic and Dash Attacks, and that of Dodge Counters, by 20% for 12s.
Skills Explanation
-> -> Skill Priority -> ->
My favored skill priority is Special Attack ► Assist ► Chain/Ultimate ► Dodge ► Attack. I'll elaborate a bit on each to show you why I ordered them like that, so that you can make your own decisions.
Core (Passives Skills)
Ben's first passive increases ATK with a X% of his DEF. This passive is the reason you build his DEF up, as it will translate directly into bigger attack as well. The second effect is: if you launch a follow-up attack during his EX Special, all squad members will gain a Shield based of a X% of his DEF for 30 seconds.
His second passive is activated only when another Fire Agent or a Belobog Heavy Industries Agent is in the squad. If his first passive —the Shield— is up, then every's character's CRIT Rate is increased by 16%.
Basic Attack
Ben swings three times doing Physical DMG. It lacks Fire FMG, meaning that these hits do not contribute towards the Fire Anomaly. Arguably, the fact that his attacks are so slow allows to switch another character with more ease while Ben is still attacking to ramp up some damage, this being part of the nuance of using him. Still, in most teams the bigger part of his damage is not going to come from here, so we leave it for last.
Dodge
We upgrade this over Basic Attack because Perfect Dodge follow-ups will deal Fire DMG. His Dash Atttack also has some utility for enemy grouping: Ben is left advancing and pushing enemies back while you switch to your next unit and close in from whichever angle is best for you. This sounds trivial. It isn't. Grouping is important for some Critical Nodes in Shiyu Defense.
Assist
What primarly intereses us about his Assist skills is the Defensive Assist, i.e., the one that triggers when you parry. It inflicts a decent amount of Daze, and the follow-up attack deals Fire DMG. Ben is normally not a character that will be out a lot except for certain situations to fit some purposes, upgrading this is helpful because a good part of the time you'll be seeing him is after you use his Defensive Assist.
Something important to mention: Ben's Defensive Assist uses only one Assist Point even if it parries multiple attacks. This makes him particularly good at parrying attacks as you can do it more often and lead into the enemy getting stunned, initiating a chain attack and restoring your assists points again.
Special Attack
This is Ben's character-defining skill. Ben's Special Attack, has him slam his pillar down to block an enemy attack. If you just throw the skill and it doesn't block anything, it'll do negillible Physical DMG. In EX, the the slam of the pillar will do some Fire DMG, but you are still missing out.
By holding down the Special you remain in a blocking stance that grants him a Shield that depletes as you hold the stance. Getting hit while you're blocking will trigger what the game calls a Block Counter for massive damage - Physical (for the normal version of this skill), and Fire (for the EX version). Both follow-ups can be comboed into basic attacks, Ben will respectively do the 2nd and 3rd hits of his basic attack string. If you used the EX Special, you can press Special again to follow-up with another attack that deals Fire DMG and covers a wide area. Ben is invulnerable during this follow-up and this will trigger his Core Passive: Guardian.
Now you know you are supposed to hold the Block to trigger Counter. But what if we could go even further? What if we didn't have to take damage on the Shield... but no damage at all? [In Anton's voice] We can, bros. For his Special and EX are not only shields, bros. They are parries, BROS!
It sounds very unasumming, but Ben's Special is virtually a form of Defensive Assist that uses no points, and in EX, it can outdo some Defensive Assists in terms of Daze buildup. You see, both the normal and EX versions of his Special can be timed like Dodges and Assists can, even against red enemy flashes. When you do so the attack hits you for no damage and you trigger Block Counter plus W-Engine effects that read like "After being attacked" or "When attacked", as those need you to take a hit (dodging doesn't work). Did that hit damage you? Doesn't matter, you got hit, you fulfill the condition to activate the W-Engine's effect.
This block that nullifies damage has no official name in the skill description, so for the sake of knowing we're talking about it, we will call it Perfect Block. The EX version of Perfect Block have twice the DMG and Daze multipliers (500.5% DMG and 376.6% Daze at Level 1) that Ben's Defensive Assist has. Double that again if you do the follow-up for an extra 551% DMG and 367.6% Daze.
For comparison, *my 165 Impact Anby inflicts 37 out of 100 Daze to a Lvl 40 Wanted Enforcer with her 1-2-Delay 3 Basic Attack string, with said skill upgraded to level 5. Ben inflicts the same 37 Daze with his EX Perfect Block + follow-up his Special Skill is still at level 1, and he can inflict more if you combo into the Basic Attack. Does this mean he's a better stunner? Not at all, and that's the idea, he's not here to compete against other stunners, he's here to complement and help with it. And he can do that.
*... I hope that sentence didn't leave you like this!
In simpler terms: Ben's Perfect Block can parry any physical attack; this skill plus its follow-up builds very decent daze while having one of the longest invulnerability attack windows of the game. Outside EX, using the skill is free and he can still nullify all physical damage coming his way.
Yes, it requires either reacting to the enemy attack or knowledge to use effectively, but it's nothing new. If you can Perfect Dodge or use a Defensive Assist, you can Perfect Block. The difference is that if you mistime too much either of the first two, you get hit. If you mistime a Perfect Block, Ben gets hit. And Ben does not fear pain.
Ultimate/Chain
We upgrade this for the same reasons we level Assist. It's more about his Chain Attack than his Ultimate, as those are best left for the DPS.
Build
W-Engines Recommendations
Top to bottom, best to worst:
Big Cylinder
Ben's best engine. It provides DEF, reduces DMG and, after you are attacked, the next hit to an enemy triggers a critical hit that deals 600% of Ben's DEF as DMG. It's also THE most adorable W-Engine design, and I will accept no discussion on this point. Hopefully you'll get it soon.
If you don't have this Engine, you should be mainly deciding between the next two:
Spring Embrace
A paid Engine that you can obtain only from New Eridu's fund. It reduces DMG taken and, when attacked, increases the equipper's Energy Generation. If you switch to another character, the Energy Generation buff is passed to them with the timer refreshed. This can reinforce Ben's role as a sort support for the team. Sadly the stat this Engine provides is ATK%, which is not useful for Ben.
Bunny Band
Another Engine that provides DEF. It will also increase Ben's HP% and his ATK% while Shielded. Use this one over Spring Embrace if you want the DEF%.
[Identity] Base
In case you don't have any engine, this B-Rank one will do. You can buy it in the gadget store, but I don't recommend doing that. It provides DEF% both as the extra stat of the Engine and as part of its ability. This engine is unoptimal and you should look to switch it for other of the recommended ones.
Disc Drives Recommendations
Main Stats and Substats for Disc Drives
The depends is there because if you want to run Ben as a stunner, the favored stat after DEF would be Impact. If you are running him more as a support, you should prioritize Energy Regen as your Main Stat in the 6th DD Slot to get your EX more often. Stressing about the 4th substat doesn't seem worthwhile to me when it comes to Ben, as none of the other possible substats will make a gigantic difference for him. You can also use DEF% for the main stat of the sitxh Disc Drive.
Let's look at the proper discs now:
Swing Jazz
The 2-piece Energy Regen increase from Swing can grants us access to EX Special more often. At 4-pieces it'll increase all teammates's DMG by 15% for 12s after launching a Chain or Ultimate, giving further support to your DPS.
Soul Rock
2-pieces increases DEF by 16%. I don't consider the 4-piece effect good, the buff lasts for too little and it has a cooldown that takes far too long. Besides, if you learn to Perfect Block consistently, you don't need damage reduction.
Freedom Blues
All around burn enabler. 2-pieces benefits Ben alone and 4-pieces will reduce the opponent's resistance to Fire Anomaly after an EX hits the enemy. You can make the connection: you Perfect Block and hit back, and their Fire RES has gone down for some seconds.
What combination of discs you use? Depends. The standard practice should be to run 4 of Swing Jazz and 2 of Soul Rock or Freedom Blues depending on your composition and your W-Engine. If you have Big Cylinder, run Soul Rock, if you don't, use Freedom Blues.
You can also experiment with other discs like Shockstar Disco if you want to try to use Ben as a stunner. For Shockstar, I'd run 2-pieces and not 4, as the proposed gameplan isn't to throw out Basic Attacks too much. You may run 4 of Shockstar, for example, if another unit in your team has already covering the Swing Jazz 4-piece buff. Zenless is a team game, so your decisions around disc drives for characters sometimes are not made on an individual basis.
Role in Teams
The weakest point Ben has is that despite his role as a Defender, there isn't much place for someone whose main focus is surviving. In most team comps that Ben is part of, he's going to be in the blurry line of a sub-stunner, sub-support – undecided on what to do, he doesn't excel at anything. This does mean he's useless, but recognizing someone's shortcomings is a part of loving them. This guide is not intent on making you believe "oh wow, he's secretly broken", the intention is to show you that if you like Ben, he can put in work, and he can put in a lot more than what an initial observation says.
Whether he's there supporting the team (as in, buffing it somehow), dealing some extra damage, or stunning depends on your build and the way you play him. For rotations, I recommend switching to Ben when the stunner has used their Energy and Ben has enough to EX and follow-up. Such an opportunity presents itself often when he's out in the field after a Defensive Assist or Chain Attack. A Perfect Block into follow-up will serve all the following purposes: build up Daze and Fire Anomaly, ram up total DPS, and setplay the Shield to give your team +16% CRIT Rate, all while he is invulnerable to damage.
You can continue that rotation by using Basic Attacks, but at that point your invulnerability has run out. Keep that in mind, and remember that if Ben is not in the field he's a switch-in option for parrying. Look out for the attacks that give multiple hits, and have Ben ready at the back to punish that.
Last but not least, I think having Ben in a party is relaxing. The less life you have when you get to a point where enemies hit you once but that single time took half your HP makes the presence of a unit that gives you a Shield is important. The idea of "oh, I have this dude with all this HP in the squad, I am fine" will lessen any anxiety that may make you make more mistakes. You can even forgo perfect blocking for a moment, hold the block stance, and observe how the enemy attacks work without feeling bad for getting hit. After all, if you are holding the stance, you are not getting hit, you are blocking.
Team Compositions
Koleda (Stunner) - Ben (Defensive Support) - Suitable DPS.
The P2W-ish composition. The DPS position of this comp can be occupied by either Anton, Soldier 11, or any future Fire DPS. In this composition the DPS always serves the same purpose: come out after the enemy is stunned to deal damage.
The reason Koleda specifically is in there is because she forms a core duo with Ben. This mostly happens from Koleda's end, as she benefits from Ben enhancing her attacks, and because both of their Defensive Assists are the kind that use only Assist Points even for multiple attacks. If you are playing in a medium that lets you switch units backwards as well as forward, you can cycle from Koleda to Ben and back again to get the most of your Assists Points and Daze.
The most important thing would be to keep in mind that if you have Koleda and Ben in the same team, Koleda is the de facto stunner, so Ben would be better running Disc Drives that support the team in other ways that are not stunning.
Ben (Stunner) - Lucy (Support) - Soldier 11 (DPS)
A ragtag comp I am running myself as I lack Koleda. Ben is functionally the stunner of the team here. He also sets up the Shield for the burst period of Soldier 11, that walks in buffed and under the cover of explosions Lucy EX's or Chain Attack creates. The way Ben operates in this comp is not any different of what I said in the previous section: Perfect Block, do follow-up, sneak in the basic attacks if you can, then you either switch to your next character as Ben is attacking to deal more damage, or you can keep him on the field if you need to for any reason.
The Bangboo choice for both of these comps (and any other) depends. If you are running a Mono Fire comp (that is to say, only Fire agents), use Rocketboo or Cryboo, as both help to build up Fire Anomaly. If you're using a Belobog comp, you can go for Safety. In the case that there are 2 Fire Agents in your Belobog team, I'd still consider Rocketboo the superior choice, but the truth is that I do not have a Safety to run tests, so go with your personal preference or gut here.
Conclusion
Ben is a real bro. That's it for the Ben guide, thank you for reading.
I wanted to run more tests and provide more numbers, but I lack certain units like Lycaon and I play on a small phone, so seeing numbers on non-bosses is difficult. It's also not a good enough device that I can film to make a video for the guide. I apologize about some of the quality of the images as well. In the future, I may check Hollow Zero's Shield type Resonia to see if there's anything that benefits Ben and the guide will receive an update with that, but that's not going to be happening any soon.
There is two things I want to mention:
(1) I claimed that Engines that read "After being attacked" / "When attacked" activate their effects only when you take a hit. This claim was made from my observations of Big Cylinder's 600% DEF critical hit triggering after Perfect Blocks. I attempted to trigger the effect on Perfect Dodges to no avail, which led to me believing the requeriment is to take a hit. I didn't test every single engine with this phrasing to see if it holds true, so If this is false and someone knows how it actually works, please post about it so that I can correct the guide. I'll properly credit you for it as well. Thank you.
(2) There is a tech —not my own and I do not know who was the first person to discover this, so if you know, please tell me to properly credit them— that involves doing Dodge Counter and Defensive Assist at once. To achieve this you do a quick sequence of Perfect Dodge + Attack + Assist button, then Attack again.
The result is that the Defensive Assist happens, all while the other unit stays on field executing their Dodge Counter and your current unit goes in with their follow-up attack. I inform you of this to say you can do the same with Ben's Perfect Block. As I was writing I remembered it and went to try, and indeed, you can do Perfect Block + Assist at once for even more Daze buildup. Sadly, Perfect Block + follow-up + Defensive Assist doesn't seem possible. I may be mistaken because it is quite annoying to pull it off on phone, my thumb is just not fast enough. If someone skilled tries and manages to do this, please inform me to add it to the guide as possible, thank you.
Credits
All images in this guide are screenshots or edited renders of screenshots taken in-game and as such they are the property of HoYoverse. The yapping is my own.
