Zenless Zone Zero (ZZZ)HugoBuild and Guide

Hugo is an S-Rank Ice Attack Agent who introduces a new spin on the general Attack DPS formula: the Totalize effect. This unique mechanic grants massive additional damage to some of Hugo’s abilities depending on how early it is activated in an enemy’s Stun window — the sooner, the better. However, it instantly ends the Stun window while building some Daze back up. From these characteristics alone, Hugo’s playstyle is crystal clear: he acts as a Burst DPS Agent, who specializes in dealing lots of damage via specific abilities in short time spans, with opportunities arising upon every Stun inflicted.

Hugo’s kit is very synergistic with this concept: it’s built around specific stats and specific team compositions in mind. His Core Passive should spell things out properly, but it has several parts, so we’ll break things down individually.

Firstly, on every Chain Attack or Stun inflicted by Hugo, he gains an extra 12% CRIT Rate and 25% CRIT DMG. This is referred to as the “Dark Abyss Reverb” state, but aside from his Mindscapes this information can be put aside — all you need to remember is extra CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG during every Stun.

The Totalize mechanic is detailed as follows: his Ultimate and EX Specials both have Finishing Moves. When these Finishing Moves deal damage to a Stunned enemy, it enhances the DMG Multiplier of that Finishing Move for up to 1000% by default! But that isn’t all: triggering this Totalize effect instantly ends the Stun window. However, the DMG Multiplier increase is enhanced depending on how early that Stun window is ended: for every second between 0 and 5s, the multiplier is increased by 280%. For every second between 5 and 15s, the multiplier is increased by 100%. This increase can add up to 3400% (counting the 1000% baseline). This means the maximum effect is triggered if the enemy has 14 seconds of Stun remaining (this is impossible on most enemies; generally speaking you can expect a 3000%-3200% increase in total if triggered as soon as possible).

We haven’t exactly emphasized how huge the potential damage a Totalize effect can trigger — but you can trust us when we say that this gives Hugo massive burst damage potential. To add onto this, when Hugo triggers Totalize, he instantly fills the enemy’s Daze gauge by up to 25% (5% for every second of Stun remaining, so up to 5s). This makes accessing the next Stun window much easier, not to mention his EX Special inflicts an extra 20% Daze if the enemy hit is not Stunned which can also contribute to this.

However, that isn’t all. Hugo gains additional ATK based on the amount of Stun Agents present in his team: he gains 300 ATK if there is 1 Stun Agent, and 900 ATK if there are 2. This heavily incentivizes Double Stun team compositions. His Additional Ability complements this, as it makes his Chain Attack DMG increase by 15% (with an extra 35% on normal enemies), and a further 40% DMG increase on any Totalize effects. Plus, if EX Specials trigger this Totalize effect, he gets 20 Energy refunded (once every 30s at most).

If this lengthy Core Passive didn’t clear things up for you completely, this means his playstyle amounts to the following steps:

• Activate Stun windows as quickly as possible (in team compositions with 2 Stun Agents if possible);

• Perform Chain Attacks for extra damage;

• Trigger Totalize off of EX Special or Ultimate immediately;

• Profit;

• Build up the next Stun window and repeat this process.

While this summary is accurate, we didn’t fully explain his kit yet — he has mechanics on other attacks that shouldn’t be ignored, so let’s detail them:

The most important mechanic he has outside of the details in his Core Passive is his Slash & Shot mechanic, accessed via several attacks. After performing certain attacks, Hugo can perform a Slash and a Shot which he can charge up by holding Basic Attack to deal additional damage to enemies. This is accessed in the following ways:

• Via Quick Assist or Dodge Counter (Dodge Counter is unused);

• Via Basic Attack Part 4 (quickly accessed following EX Special and Ultimate).

Following any of these shots, Hugo can follow up with “Dark Abyss Concerto” which is simply an extra Slash & Shot attack that he can charge, much like the other attacks listed prior. It is worth noting that while charging a shot, Hugo’s DMG Taken is reduced by 40%.

For the most part, his Dodge can be entirely disregarded — generally speaking, Hugo is barely ever on the field and it is often better to dedicate your field time to Stun Agents to inflict Daze quicker. Besides, even if Hugo is on the field, parrying enemy attacks with Defensive Assists from your Stun Agent is a better idea to inflict massive amounts of Daze. In a similar fashion, Hugo’s Defensive Assist can be ignored — once again, you won’t see him on field much outside of Stun windows. The only real reason to do this is if an extra EX Special is available as that does inflict noteworthy Daze.

Other than the Dark Abyss Concerto and Core Passive mechanics detailed prior, his Ultimate and EX Specials constitute simple hits of damage; note that they aren’t counted as heavy attacks, which means they can’t activate Stun. This is useful specifically pertaining to his Chain Attacks.

Hugo’s Chain Attacks constitute a lot of his damage, via its high multiplier enhanced by his Additional Ability. However, he is able to do more than one Chain Attack per Stun, via a trick called a Chain Cancel, or a Double Chain. Indeed, by using a Chain Attack with Hugo, cancelling that Chain Attack and triggering a Chain Attack once again on another character, you are able to execute Chain Attacks twice with Hugo, enhancing his damage by a big amount (step-by-step details for this technique can be found in our Rotation page). This is his most important technique to learn to improve his damage significantly.

In regards to his current place in the meta, Hugo mostly serves as a Burst damage dealer, as mentioned prior, where his gameplay is very simplistic as it revolves around building Daze from other Stun Agents in order to activate Chain Attacks, and Totalize via EX Specials and Ultimates. In this niche however, even against bosses he is especially powerful, matching contenders for the highest damage in the game such as Evelyn. This is further improved against common enemies, where activating Stun is much easier due to a reduced Daze bar and his kit’s inherent buffs are further enhanced. 

With that being said, he finds little use for his Dark Abyss Concerto mechanic, as these attacks are mostly relegated to rotation extensions that only get used out of necessity to do something productive with your field time, in specific team compositions where constantly using Stun Agents outside of Stun windows is not effective. This is intrinsically linked to one of his biggest issues: the lack of teammate options. Unfortunately, as Hugo doesn’t rely on Support units to improve his damage, he needs to find damage buffs in specific Stun Agents such as Lighter, Lycaon and Trigger, all being characters who improve his damage by significant amounts. The reliance on certain limited teammates is not to be understated, but this doesn’t mean Hugo is unable to perform without them. As a matter of fact, even with a Support-type Agent involved such as Soukaku, and a permanent banner S-rank character in the form of Lycaon, which directly goes against his Core Passive mechanics, he is very much able to perform sufficiently which is a testament to his baseline power level. However, it is undeniable that to keep his damage competitive with the top meta DPS Agents, certain limited Stun Agents will need to be considered.

To summarize, Hugo is an Agent who may be expensive to build around, but also will perform very, very well under the right conditions. Proposing a unique spin on the generic DPS Attack Agent trend via his Totalize mechanic, he offers a unique playstyle where lots of players may appreciate a change of pace. At his best, his performance lives up to the other top contenders of the meta, proving his burst damage definitely won’t disappoint.