Zhiming - Ethereal Enigma

Overview:

Zhiming is a A Water element main DPS. Her damage output at low investment is not particularly remarkable and she feels very clunky to play. Only at high investment does her damage become fierce.

Her support capability is currently only perfectly compatible with Gengchen and Poseidon, so she is also not recommended for use as a support.

Her Exclusive Functor is essential, without it, gameplay feels clunky and various rotations fail to connect.

For Global players, Water Heimdall is Zhiming’s indispensable partner and greatly improves her low-investment performance. She effectively raises Zhiming’s baseline damage and overall consistency, making the character feel much more complete. As a result, players interested in Zhiming are strongly encouraged to consider obtaining both her Exclusive Functor and Water Heimdall.

On the CN server, Zhiming’s newly introduced Ultimate Skillchain with Lingguang (CN 5.1) is currently considered her strongest setup. The preferred third slot is Gengchen, though Water Heimdall or Skuld remain viable alternatives depending on investment level. This new Skillchain significantly boosts Zhiming’s performance, particularly at lower investment, bringing her much closer to Water Hel. and at high investment/whale levels, she directly exceeds the strength of Water Hel. However, in stages lasting over 1 minute, Water Hel’s damage capability is still slightly stronger than Zhiming’s. (Mainly because Water Heimdall’s Yellow Aether Code line takes a long time to fully stack its buffs).

Overall, Zhiming is a DPS with a very high ceiling but also a relatively low floor. Her gameplay can feel heavy and somewhat clunky, and she relies heavily on both her Exclusive Functor and key teammates to reach her full potential. On Global, it is recommended to start with her at SS rank and her Exclusive Functor, along with a single S-Rank Heimdall. Otherwise, you won’t be able to utilize most of Zhiming’s capabilities.

Her AI performance is decent; it knows how to play her but is not as fast as manual control.

Sigil Recommendations:

• Slots 1, 3, 5: [Undercurrent of the Depths].
  • [Ferryman of the Dead] (CN 4.6) Can also be used on long duration/Cross element stages.
• Slots 2, 4, 6: [Acheron's Obol].
• Omega Sigils:
  • Slot 5 6: Replace with [Sword of Roland] or in some situations, [Ruler of the Heavens]. For Cross-element you can replace with [Ferryman of the Dead] (CN 4.6).

Sigil Enchants:

• Prioritize [Fierce Assault] and [Berserk], followed by [Enraged]. Because her Aether Codes and Sigils already provide a large amount of Crit DMG and Zhiming has a very high number of damage instances, the priority of [Berserk] is higher than [Enraged]. If you feel her Ultimate Skillchain is not recharging fast enough, you can consider getting about two [Loopback] enchants.

  Since S-Rank Water Heimdall provides a large amount of Water attribute bonus to the entire team, the benefit of [Water Blessing] will be greatly diluted. It is recommended to roll for more [Tactics Enhance].

Aether Code Recommendations:

• Standard DPS Build: Use Red 3 Aether Code (Deity Zhenwu).

• Support: Use Blue 3 Aether Code (Water Guardian). If the Water-element damage dealer you are supporting doesn’t do enough damage, it’s better to just use the Red line yourself.

  The Yellow line is for specific short-term burst dps, which is generally not used much and is not recommended.

Warp Recommendations:

• Slots 1 & 2: [Power UP: Melee], [The Executioner], and [The Judge].
  • If your teammates are highly invested, you won’t need [The Judge]; you can use two [The Executioner] instead
• Slots 3 & 4: [EM Flux] and [Telepathize Forcefield I].
• Slots 5 & 6:
  • [Evolution Particle III] is mandatory.
  • For the remaining two slots, you can choose [Kinetic Mod] or [Armor Breaker] based on the situation.
  • At SSS or above, you can replace one [Evolution Particle III] with a level 3 [Divine Sense] to speed up her start.

Signature Functor (Otherworlder - Xuangui):

• Essential: The exclusive functor is basically mandatory. It provides high stats and optimizes her mechanics. Without the exclusive functor, playing her is awkward, and she struggles to recover Divine Grace.

Stat Boost Priority:

• It is recommended to only upgrade Skill 3. The other skills are mostly useless and can be upgraded or not.

Team Recommendations:

• Global: Currently, she is locked in a team with S-Rank Heimdall for their Ultimate Skillchain.
  • Third Member:
    • Priority: Skuld for optimal support.
    • Suboptimal replacement: Gengchen or Water Hel, Teams that originally used Gengchen can generally switch to Skuld, and with Skuld, Zhiming’s strength is even higher.
• CN 5.1: Currently, the optimal Ultimate Skillchain is Zhiming and Lingguang. With Gengchen as the third member to fully trigger the Skillchain’s Independent DMG buff.

Tips:

• Both Skill 1 and Skill 2 can have their ending animation canceled with a dodge.

• Normal attacks recover Divine Grace during their startup animation, so you can use a skill after a normal attack to cancel its ending animation to instantly recover and consume Divine Grace.

• During her Calculation state, do not, under any circumstances, dodge. Wait until you have used her skills before dodging, or you will lose the entire Calculation state.