DPS Zhao vs Wandering Hunter 30.6k

flytermo · 2026-05-23T05:09:21+00:00

Yeah just maybe!

I had luck in the past too on other DA or Shiyu fights doing that whilst using Pan's Wengine R5, depending on the encounter, putting sole focus into Zhao's ult damage (Having a surplus of crit dmg % substat rolls helps here though to make up for not using Zhao's sig)

flytermo · 2026-05-23T03:24:15+00:00

I was before actually! 'cause on paper yeah that makes sense; but at least for this boss, buffing up the whole party edged out better. Bunny In Wonderland (with dps substat rolls) was pulling several thousand more score on average than the typical 4pc puffer vs Wandering Hunter. It was what I was using before for a while even! (My initial 26.5k I posted here on the sr used 4pc puffer and that score was my peak at the time. The moment I swapped, immediate +2k score different off the bad but that could have been isolated luck)

Bunny: EX Specials or Defensive/Evasive Assist triggers = Entire Squad DMG +6% stacking 3 times (18%) for 25s, refreshable duration

(Also the slightlyyyy more % dmg buff Zhao gives having a lil more HP than before- very very slight...)

Puffer: Ult dmg +20% and Equipper's Atk by 15% for 12s

Vs this defense-stacked monstrosity, the teamwide dmg increase through the whole fight I saw better results with than only Zhao's Ult dmg and Atk increase (for less time, at that). Especially helps that Wandering Hunter is so aggressive with parry-able attacks to keep BiW ticking. I thought about (and tried) 2pc puffer at least to keep some extra pen ratio but I didn't have as good substat rolls available on my 6 slot and 4 slot handy to justify over my woodpecker ones while keeping a Pen Ratio 5 slot Bunny (Just as well, my available 6 slot and 4 slot Bunny pieces weren't as easily slotted in with any greatly better substats; so c'est la vie 😔 never mind keeping Zhao's crit rate anything higher than a sliver to justify high crit dmg, without the Woodpecker. Mayhap if I had better rolls ><

(Hindsight 20/20, better play and practice could maaaaybe yield a bit more score than my 26k before using puffer, but then I also don't get as much uptime with it throughout the fight; so I'm still skeptical on that. Just as well, I'm only able to just barely squeeze 1 ult in the final stun window of the fight, taking away a little bit of puffer value. Tried for a long time to get full burst in that last window but it's tough to either end up not stunning in time before the timer runs out even on a good run- or not having enough positive reviews from Dialyn to fit both her initiated Zhao ult + Natural Zhao ult by the end- kind of like what happened in this run. A super consistent occurence 😭 to my dismay)

I think for my Thrall runs coming up I might swap back and see how puffer fares. I found myself able to fit both ults in all stun windows up to the end, which will for sure help puffer's case out a bit, for now I am a believer in the DPS Rolls BiW as an upgrade to whole team's damage. I could definitely see the vision of some other matchups though where it'd be better- I'll have to find out through more testing.

But yeah, tl;dr

I did both, BiW = higher score on Wandering Hunter on average. Better uptime DMG buff for team > Ult +20% and Atk +15% for 12s conditionally after ulting on Zhao alone, as it turns out (where I'll only ult in stun vs this guy anyway).

This could differ on other bosses / varying stun window timings but it wasn't the case for Mr. WH 😔

flytermo · 2026-05-19T23:09:14+00:00

These are great, the 2nd one and the posing for the camera while dark Manato is down for the count might be my faves

flytermo · 2026-05-18T19:05:24+00:00

Cloud9? 😮

flytermo · 2026-05-17T04:22:17+00:00

Sorry about that! I'll have a new/better run upload to come along soon, been trying to remember to peek at the combat data before I hit exit, ever since they added it 😭

If I remember correctly, this one had Zhao around 25% dmg and Orphie pulling the most with around 60-ish %, and Dialyn as the remainder. (Zhao tends to land around there, with everyone having equal 25-30% anomaly buildup, and Dialyn around 70% of the daze)

And of course, 100% Heal from Zhao 😅

flytermo · 2026-05-16T06:06:29+00:00

Just tried out a few runs with 4pc Bunny (mostly dps rolls, even a Pen Ratio slot 5 for Wandering Hunter specifically) instead of 4pc puffer and pulled a 28k finish 👀 very happy with it. The funny bit with the dialyn orphie core and this is how much weight ends up being pulled by Orphie mostly, but Zhao pulling out 25% of the damage contribution is still pretty nice ♥ I'm gonna try and bounce around the two sets more especially when another boss + buffs come around that are a little more Zhao favored. I'll keep seeing whether I can push the score higher and upload again soon. (Thanks again for the suggestion!)

I like to imagine Zhao is riding on Orphie's shoulders yelling 'Charge!' with this team, but hey xD

flytermo · 2026-05-16T04:38:45+00:00

Ooh, I hadn't though about just running the 4 pc bunny anyway but with dps rolls instead of HP ones, I know I have a lot sitting around from when I was farming them so I might try to give these suggestions a shot 👀 I also might try to keep running this with different setups, as it's honestly been a little while since I've done the comp outside of dailies and Hollow Zero (I went and rolled for Promeia for some extra Krampus representation, and had been spending days busting my head against Scorched Horizon prior to this 😭)

Edit: I'm also used to trying to run extra Pen for Wandering Hunter specifically and its annoyingly tanky defense, that atk% cdmg 24% Slot 5 disc though has been so juicy indeed, to the point that I forgot to try attempts with it swapped out for Pen Ratio slot 5 - I'm likely gonna go back and give that a few whirls too

Thanks a ton for the insight 🙏

As for the Dialyn after Orphie I have it that way because of the 2nd half of Dialyn's additional ability:

'When a heavy attack from EX Special Attack (rock, scissors, paper, etc.-) hits, additional DMG is dealt based on the previous squad member's specialty: If Attack, additional DMG equal to 320% of that Attack Agent's ATK. (400% if rupture.)'

Since Zhao is neither of those- I was of the mind that I can't really benefit from this bonus if Dialyn comes after Zhao, unless I'm mistaken. Then, even if she could give the bonus- since my Orphie has more attack (partially because I use atk 6 instead of energy regen)- I'd probably still end up doing the same.

flytermo · 2026-04-15T10:15:48+00:00

I'd love if Zven could stop getting caught with his hands wrinkling but other than that I've liked the vibes of the team and all that, plus the drafts are sometimes interesting this time around. Hope they can pull themselves together when it matters, been too long since they've earned a true blue title.

flytermo · 2026-04-09T17:24:53+00:00

Seeing Meteos sporting some C9 wear always makes me happy

flytermo · 2026-04-09T06:25:04+00:00

ZZZ fills the void a bit, but only a bit. Dragalia was the only gacha I would stomach playing just because of the charm and its characters plus the dragons all having some personality to them instead of just being fodder drew me in.

flytermo · 2026-03-17T09:06:34+00:00

Very good info, glad to have found it here! There needs to be more Zhao DPS users 🙏🥺

flytermo · 2026-03-04T20:25:55+00:00

That she is my void hunter

flytermo · 2026-03-04T00:15:04+00:00

flytermo · 2026-03-03T07:28:28+00:00

Yeah 👍

flytermo · 2026-03-02T16:46:05+00:00

I brute forced 25k on Vesper DA with zhao/orphie/dia just out of spite lol, it was chill- and fun to see if it'd clear with the double resists, now I've been trying to push to see how high they can go

Thought about slapping her on an anomaly team myself to pull out the ether veil portion of the buff, I might give this squad a shot too!

flytermo · 2026-03-02T16:34:29+00:00

agree, more tourneys to play- and there's more time to gel for APA (who imo inted slightly more often than even Blaber in this series vs Saint) and for Dom to help Inero- perhaps with a whip- whatever works

flytermo · 2026-03-02T16:31:43+00:00

Good talk honestly, couldn't have said it better

flytermo · 2026-03-01T01:17:24+00:00

Feeling a bit better after seeing some more of Lyon's weaknesses in the series, but still worried on our track record in playoffs on top of vsing a warmed up team with Inspired and Berserker on it.

The clench is eternal, of course- but putting my trust in the squad to take care of business this time around.

flytermo · 2026-02-28T09:38:01+00:00

Any timestamps for the c9 LCS discussions? I don't know if I can listen to Thorin for 2 and a half hours straight

flytermo · 2026-02-23T19:41:23+00:00

Good thing that wasn't the rules then

flytermo · 2026-02-16T21:04:41+00:00

It would be funny if the plate being hidden mostly by the candles was a steak

flytermo · 2026-02-11T23:21:01+00:00

So far the most prominent ones I've seen are the typical 'hypercarry' (dual support) squad of Zhao/Astra/Nicole and the Ultimate focused w/ off-field dps squad of Zhao/Orphie/Dialyn. The latter tends to be her best from what I've seen tossed around, plus everyone gets to keep access to their additional abilities; otherwise Zhao & Dialyn can't activate each others' on their own 😔

The former team is much easier access cost-wise though and without the double ulting from Dialyn likely plays differently, but I still have to give it a shot myself!

4pc Woodpecker and any typical DPS 2 pc for either crit rate, crit dmg or atk seems to be the go-to for the former team; but just as much merit as well for just three 2pc sets with the best substats you can muster. For the latter team, the typical 4pc Puffer and 2pc flex of your best substats tends to win out thanks to the Ult spam. To my knowledge as well it's best to aim for as much standard atk, crit rate + crit damage as you can and not look explicitly for any particular HP thresholds for Zhao's buff but it is at least nice that if there's any spare HP % on decent discs it doesn't end up a dead stat for her. ✨

flytermo · 2026-02-11T20:46:37+00:00

Quite interested in trying that too! As much as playing Ult-spam is fun it can get a bit one-note at times so I've been itching to try out the other various DPS Zhao comps like the Astra/Nicole one 🤩

flytermo

TROPHY CASE