Zahhak Review – High Damage, Low Crit Rate!
How many people have already built Zahhak? Ever since his release about a couple of weeks ago, Zahhak has ended up producing some great results against Violet, who’s our current “cancer unit” in this particular meta. To be honest, there are a lot of units that need a counter or a nerf, and Violet is definitely one of them. Thankfully, that’s where Zahhak comes in! Boasting high damage, way easier build requirements than most DPS, and even 50% extra Hit Chance, he’s definitely become one of our most top-tier single-target units!
Let’s begin!
Table of Contents
Introduction
“A high-ranking official who has been serving the emperors of Theranhad for generations. He is often addressed as the imperial guardian as he only appears when something that might affect the empire’s future occurs. A being shrouded in mystery, he has recently emerged once again from his long silence.”
Class: Warrior
Element: Earth
In a nutshell, Zahhak’s skillset is:
- S1: Hits the enemy, with an extra 50% Crit Chance. His damage increases if he’s attacking a buffed enemy.
- S2: Dispels two debuffs from a chosen ally and the caster, before he grants a barrier for 2 turns, and increases his Combat Readiness by 50%. His barrier strength increases proportional to the caster’s max HP.
- S3: Attacks an enemy, inflicting injuries before he grants himself 1-turn invincibility. He’ll increase his Hit Chance and his Crit Rate by 50% during his attack, and the injuries that he inflicts will stack up to 35% of the enemy’s max HP every time he uses it.
Analysis
As you can see, Zahhak is really good! He’s much less stat-hungry than other DPS units who specialize in the same thing he does, which means that he’ll have more resources added into his ATK and Crit DMG%.
Zahhak’s biggest selling point is that not only does he just need 50% Crit Rate to succeed (thanks to the boosted 50% Crit Rate on both his s1 and his s3), but his s3 also has a 50% Hit Chance increase. As of this writing, Violet is one of the most prevalent units in the meta, due to Evading enemy attacks almost every time once you get him going a bit; this is especially so if Violet is on a Moonlight Dreamblade artifact as well.
Zahhak has a much higher chance to hit Violet and hit him hard with his s3. It’s not guaranteed to always hit (there are screenshots floating around of Violet evading Zahhak’s s3 with a lucky Moonlight Dreamblade shot), but he’ll have a much higher chance to actually hit and kill Violet than most other DPS units will. Of course, we can’t forget that, because he’s a counter to Violet, Zahhak has just become another bullet point on the list of units that completely beat Remnant Violet up.
Where to Use Zahhak?
Zahhak’s best spot is in Arena and RTA. I don’t think he has much use in PvE? I’ve seen people use him in B13 before, but frankly the most use that’s come out of him is busting Violet and other high-Evasion units. His damage potential is insane, and as mentioned you don’t need nearly as much Crit Rate as other DPS units.
If you’re like me, you struggle to keep a decent amount of Crit Rate on your units without sacrificing any other stats that are important for them. Zahhak will make this far easier for you, with his high damage multipliers and 50% extra Crit Rate. As such, I’d probably say that Arena and RTA are the best places to use him in. That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have any use in PvE; it’s just that, as of this writing, his main use is PVP.
Builds
There’s only one build for Zahhak that works, and it’s Speed/Penetration. A lot of units being released as of late can take great advantage of the sets in Caides, and Zahhak is one of them. The Penetration set will increase his damage even more so, as it’ll bypass some of the defense of his enemy’s Defense. The Boots main stat should be Speed, Necklace main stat Crit Damage%, and Ring main stat should be ATK%.
A general goalpost for how your Zahhak build should look is around:
- 4,100 ATK
- 900~ DEF
- 8,800 HP
- 250 Speed
- 50% Crit Rate
- 300% Crit Damage
The only stat of Zahhak’s that you don’t need more of is his Crit Rate. Anything else can always improve with more stacked on top, especially his ATK and Crit Damage.
Artifacts
Contrary to his builds, there are multiple artifacts that you can use on Zahhak. Here’s a few of the best ones on him:
A Symbol of Unity – [Acquired in Guild Shop] A Symbol of Unity is one of the best choices for Zahhak, due to the increased Hit Chance and the damage that he’ll deal with this artifact. If you don’t have A Symbol of Unity open for him (as you can only get one fully Limit Broken copy), then Oath Key can work just fine; it increases his Hit Chance, but not his damage.
Border Coin – Border Coin is a bit of a strange choice on him, but I’ve seen some people use it on him. It’s mostly because of his s2, which is a nonattack skill; Border Coin will increase his ATK and SPD up to 3 times in the battle; this can help ease up the gear requirements a lot on him.
Portrait of the Saviors – [LIMITED ARTIFACT] Portrait of the Saviors is just a great artifact all-around if what you’re looking for is raw damage on your enemy. You’d probably have the best luck with A Symbol of Unity if what you’re aiming for is damage and Hit Chance, but for just pure damage than Portrait can work super well on him. Zahhak is meant to hit hard with all you’ve got, after all.
Merciless Glutton – This one’s a bit of an unorthodox choice, but post-buff Merciless Glutton actually does mesh really well with Zahhak’s kit. Due to increasing damage on single-target attacks, Zahhak will have a nice little boost of damage; on top of that, if he kills someone, he’ll increase the Combat Readiness of all his allies.
What About Pure White Trust?
Pure White Trust is Zahhak’s own artifact; it’s an interesting one, to say the least. If he uses a non-attack skill, he’ll increase his Speed for two turns and then increase the Crit Damage of his next attack. This is pretty interesting, as it’s similar enough to Border Coin with the condition about non-attacks.
I do think Pure White Trust is a good artifact; there’s a bunch of Warrior units who could benefit from it. For what it’s worth, I think Zahhak can benefit as well; his Crit Damage is one of his most important stats to work on. It might not be one of his most recommended artifacts, but Zahhak can work well on it.
Should You Build Him?
I think you should! Zahhak is reliable as a DPS unit. He’s high damage, needs far less Crit Rate than most other DPS units, has a far higher Hit Chance than other DPS units, and more. The only problems with his kit are that he can’t guarantee to hit on Fire units, and because he needs less Crit Rate, his other stat requirements go up greatly.
With that said, it’s all up to you whether or not you should build him! If you like him as a character, that’s a completely valid reason right there! I’m Sara Ann, and I’ll see you in the next article!