Burnice (ZZZ) Build

M1 – Increases the upper limit of “Heat” from 100 to 140 and grants 40 “Heat” at the start of the battle. The damage multiplier of “Afterburn” is increased from 350% to 450%, and its duration is extended by 25%. The first effect significantly extends Burnice’s initial rotation. When Burnice starts with Charged Attack, the remaining 120 “Heat” is enough to trigger “Afterburn” 15 times, lasting a total of 22.5 seconds. This way, even without the Signature W-engine, Burnice’s energy will overflow during the last two attacks. If we adjust the strategy and use Ex-Special when energy approaches 120, we can further optimize the rotation, making the first three rounds of “Heat” accumulation more stable and slowing down the system’s energy drain.

Compared to the old strategy of using Ex-Special after depleting “Heat”, this new strategy offers better stability. The second effect of M1 is a pure damage boost. “Afterburn” is crucial in the Fire Anomaly team, and this effect strengthens it, further enhancing Burnice’s backline output.

In the direct damage team, since Fire Anomaly is less prominent, M1’s bonus to “Afterburn”‘s accumulation isn’t very noticeable, only becoming relevant in Chaotic teams. Overall, M1 increases damage by only 10%, it primarily optimize Burnice’s rotation.

M2 – This is purely a damage boost MC. “Afterburn” can apply up to 5 stacks of debuffs on the enemy, lasting 6 seconds. When the debuffed target is attacked, the PEN Ratio of the attack increases, up to 20%. Notably, this 20% PEN Ratio is a team-wide bonus, meaning all teammates can benefit from it once the M2 debuff is applied. For Burnice herself, the 20% PEN Ratio from M2 doesn’t significantly impact the choice of Slot 5. In fact, selecting PEN Ratio as the main stat for Slot 5 may decrease damage by 1% to 2%, as Burnice’s own PEN Ratio scaling is low. Even when fully stacked, the PEN Ratio in Slot 5 only matches attribute damage and attack power. Moreover, M2 requires stacking, meaning its practical benefit in combat is even lower.

It’s important to note that Slot 5 choices remain the same for Burnice, but teammates should choose their gear based on attribute benefits. Although M2’s boost is affected by stack duration, it remains clear overall. When targeting elite enemies, M2 offers a 12.38% damage boost. The longer the battle, the higher the benefit, and vice versa.

M4 – Increases the critical rate of Ex-Special and Assist Follow-up by 30%, while increasing the duration of Ex Special II by 1 second. “Afterburn” is classified as an Assist Follow-up, so three skills benefit from the first effect: Ex Special I, Ex Special II, and “Afterburn”. The second effect synergizes with M1. Originally, Ex Special II had a maximum duration of 2 seconds, consuming 50 “Heat”, and the final fire blast consumed a total of 60 “Heat” while recovering 84 “Heat”. After the M4 upgrade, Ex Special II’s maximum duration extends to 3 seconds, energy consumption increases to 75, and final consumption becomes 85, with a maximum recovery of 119 “Heat”. M4’s main value lies in improving overall smoothness and reducing the number of times Burnice needs to be on-field.

M6 – First, it allows Ex Special II to trigger a special “Afterburn” when hitting an enemy. This special “Afterburn” has a fixed 60% Attack multiplier and deals Fire damage, though no Fire Anomaly accumulation was observed during tests. The special “Afterburn” has a built-in cooldown of 0.5 seconds and does not consume “Heat”. Secondly, during Ex Special II, the Ex Special itself, the coordinated attacks, and the Burnt effect from Fire Anomaly can ignore 25% of the target’s Fire RES. Finally, if the final hit of Ex Special II lands on an enemy currently in the Burnt state, it triggers an additional Burnt damage calculation, with damage equal to 180% of the original Burnt damage, on a 20-second cooldown.

The second effect is the most important. The first effect’s multiplier is low and doesn’t provide significant Fire Anomaly Build-up, offering very little improvement. Although the third effect’s 180% Burnt damage sounds impressive, the single instance of Burnt damage is quite low, resulting in minimal actual boost. In contrast, the second effect’s 25% Fire RES reduction offers a more solid damage boost. However, this 25% Fire RES reduction only applies during Ex Special II’s Burnt state and doesn’t carry over to Disorder effects, which is somewhat disappointing. The overall boost from M6 is 19.73%.