Bernice in ZZZ: Best Build Guide

In Zenless Zone Zero (ZZZ), Bernice is a 5-star character belonging to the Anomaly type and using the Fire attribute. In a team, she is able to play the role of a secondary damage dealer, dealing damage from the pocket by accumulating anomaly on enemies. In this guide, you will learn about her best build, amplifiers and drive disks, as well as recommended squads with her

Bernice's main features

How to get Bernice

In the second phase of version 1.2 (October 16), this hot lady from the Sons of Calydon appeared in the banner, which increased her drop rate. In the future, this character can only be obtained via Signal Search. Unfortunately, HoYoverse has never held an event that rewards a 5-star fighter, so you definitely won't be able to get the hot blonde for free.

Bernis's Key Stats

Bernice's Abilities and Their Upgrade Priority

You can read about the heroine's abilities in the game itself, so we decided to add it under the spoiler so as not to increase the size of the article. We also recommend that you study our combat system guide to better understand it.

Basic Attacks

Fire Blend

Press the Basic Attack button (LMB) to launch. Bernice performs up to 5 strikes in front of her, dealing physical and fire damage.

Fire Blend (Mixture)

When Bernice enters the Nitro Cocktail state, hold down the Basic Attack button (LMB) to perform this attack. Bernice spins around, spraying flames, and then performs a finishing move that deals Fire damage. Continue holding the button to extend the spray phase. When activated, this attack consumes 20 Heat. While using this skill, Interrupt Defense is increased. After performing this move, press the Special Attack button (E) to immediately transition to the enhanced Special Attack, High-Temperature Mixture – Double Shot.

Dodges

Dodge: Flame Phantom

Press the Dodge button (RMB or L Shift) to quickly dodge while dashing. The agent is invulnerable while using this skill.

Dash Attack: Dangerous Fermentation

Press Basic Attack (LMB) while dodging to activate. Bernice lunges forward with her flamethrower, dealing fire damage.

Post-Dodge Counter: Fidget

Press Basic Attack (LMB) after performing a Perfect Dodge to activate. Launches a series of attacks in front of her, spraying flames and dealing physical and fire damage. The agent is invulnerable while using this skill.

Assistance

Quick Aid: Signature Energy

To activate, press the Aid button (Space) while the active character is knocked up. Bernice slashes at enemies in front of her, spraying flames and dealing physical and fire damage. While using this skill, the agent is invulnerable.

Defensive Aid: Smoked Oil Can

To activate, press the Assist button (Space) when the active character is about to be attacked. Bernice parries enemy attacks, accumulating a lot of stun points on them. While using this skill, the agent is invulnerable.

Additional Attack Assist: Burning Dew

To activate, press the Basic Attack button (LMB) after using Defense Assist. Bernice jumps and spins quickly, spraying flames and dealing Fire damage. After using this skill, press the Special Attack button (E) to immediately perform the enhanced special attack “High-Temperature Mixing – Double Portion”. While using this skill, the agent is invulnerable.

Special Attacks

Special Attack: High Temperature Hold

Press the Special Attack (E) button to activate. Fires a projectile in front of you that deals fire damage. Hold down the Special Attack button to charge the attack and increase its power. While using this skill, your Interrupt Defense will increase.

Enhanced Special Attack: High Temperature Mix

To activate, press the Special Attack button (E) when Bernice has enough energy. The agent fires a stream of flame from her one-handed flamethrower, then fires a blast of fire in a line in front of her, dealing massive fire damage. Continue holding the button to further expend energy and extend the blast's duration.

While the Flame Jet is active, pull the joystick (or use AD keys) to dodge to the side and move in the corresponding direction. While the Flame Jet is active, Interrupt Defense is increased and the agent takes 40% less damage. The agent is invulnerable while the Flame Jet is active.

Enhanced Special: High-Temperature Mixture – Double Shot

To activate, press the Special (E) button when Bernice has enough energy and she casts High-Temperature Mixture. The agent fires a jet of flame from her dual-wielding flamethrower, then fires a bolt of fire in a line in front of her, dealing massive Fire damage. Continue holding the button to further expend energy and extend the duration of the jet.

While the Flame Jet is active, the agent's interrupt protection is increased and the agent takes 40% less damage. The agent is invulnerable while the Flame Jet is active.

Attack Chains

Attack Chain: Fuel Burn

To activate, select an agent while a chain attack is in progress. The agent dashes forward, spraying flames, and then releases a fire blast in a cone in front of them, dealing massive fire damage. After using this skill, press the Special Attack (E) button to immediately perform the enhanced special attack “High Temperature Mixing – Double Shot”. The character is invulnerable while using this skill.

Ultimate Ability: Fire Rampage

To activate, press the Ultimate (Q) button at maximum decibel level. The agent dashes forward, then jumps up and sprays flames in a wide area in front of them, dealing massive fire damage.

Quick Aid can be used while jumping. If Quick Aid is used, Bernice will spray flames longer. The character is invulnerable while using this skill.

Proficiencies

Main Passive Skill: Nitro Cocktail

When Bernice spends energy, she accumulates Heat (maximum 100 units), receiving 1.4 units of Heat for each unit of energy spent. After accumulating 50 units of Heat, she enters the Nitro Cocktail state and remains in it until all the Heat is spent. Bernice enters the battle with 100 units of Heat at once.

When Bernice in the Nitro Cocktail state hits an enemy with a basic attack, Fire Blend (Mixture), or a special attack, chain attack, or super ability, she applies the Scorch debuff to them until Bernice exits the Nitro Cocktail state. When other party members hit enemies with Scorch, they activate the Char debuff, consuming 8 Heat and dealing Fire damage equal to 175-350% of Bernice's attack power, as well as causing a stack of Fire Anomaly. This effect cannot occur more than once every 1.5 seconds.

Every 10 Anomaly Knowledge increases the damage of Char by 1% (maximum bonus is 30%). Char damage is considered attack assist damage.

Extra Ability: Dangerous Spark

Activates if there are other agents in the squad with the Anomaly specialty or from the same faction. When Bernice hits an enemy with the basic attack “Fire Blend (Mixture)”, the enhanced special attack “High-Temperature Blend” or the enhanced special attack “High-Temperature Blend – Double Portion”, and when the “Charring” effect is triggered, the cumulative fire anomaly accumulation rate of this attack increases by 65%. When any squad member applies Burn to an enemy, it lasts 3 seconds longer.

As for pumping up the heroine's talents, the priority should be inclinations, as they are her main source of damage. Next in importance are her special attacks, as you will use them most often to activate her special mode and deal significant damage to enemies.

Once you've maxed out these abilities, you can move on to upgrading your chain attacks (ultimate), increasing Bernice's overall damage output. Upgrade Assist, Basic Attacks, and Dodges last, as they're not very useful compared to other abilities.

Bernice's Mental Picture

To open it, you need to save up Agent Profiles, which are given out when you drop duplicates of the heroine, which is, of course, random. Considering the low chance of getting 5-star characters, you'll need to spend a lot of time and money to unlock all the mental ones. However, even without them, Bernice can easily play the role of a sub-DD.

The table below lists all the mental ones, their descriptions, and their benefits for the heroine.

If you still decide to try your luck, you can stop at M1 and M2, thanks to which you can significantly increase the usefulness of Bernice as a sub-DD, since the damage from Charring will increase significantly. If you have a choice between a starting mental weapon and a signature weapon, then everything depends on the situation. If you have a suitable alternative, then it is better to knock out M1, and if you don’t, then take the signature.

How to play as Bernice

Basic combinations

The heroine's main feature is her main passive, which allows her to inflict Burn on enemies (using a held basic attack, chain attack, ult, and enhanced special attack), which turns into Charring (when they are attacked by another agent) and deals them fire damage, depending on Bernice's attack power. Thus, she deals most of her damage outside the battlefield, and she can even inflict Burning while being an inactive character.

Before she can do all that, however, you'll need to build up her Heat meter, which hangs underneath her icon, to activate the Nitro Cocktail state. The maximum you can get is 100 units, which is enough to trigger 13 Chars (each activation costs 8 units), meaning the mark will be able to hang on the enemy for at least 19.5 seconds.

After that, you will have to accumulate the Heat bar again. This can be done as follows:

• Super ability – gives 50 units of Heat at once, but this is a rather situational thing, because first you will need to gain a sufficient number of decibels, so you can’t exactly call the ult the main way to gain points.
• Enhanced Special Attack – Spending 1 unit of energy results in 1.4 units of Heat, so using these attacks will be your main way to accumulate this gauge.

However, you should not waste energy in vain. If your Heat bar is almost full, then you should not use the enhanced special attack. Plus, remember that the finishing blow gives a powerful burst of points (fills about 15-20% of the gauge), so try to release the ability button a little earlier or use the assist.

How do you gain energy? Regular basic attacks aren't very effective, so we recommend using a defense assist, a chain of attacks, or a held basic attack (if Nitro Cocktail is active), since after these moves you can immediately perform a strengthened special attack with shooting from two flamethrowers (you need to press the “E” key), getting Heat points.

So, your rotation will look like this:

1. Build up Bernice's energy by performing basic attacks or the above actions, then use her enhanced special attack to build up Heat and enter the Nitro Cocktail state.
2. Apply Burn to enemies by holding down a basic attack, chaining attacks, an ultimate, or an enhanced special attack. We recommend using the first option, as Fire Cocktail generates additional energy at the cost of 20 Heat.
3. Then switch to your main DD and start hitting the enemy with Burn to trigger Charring. This will deal additional damage to the enemy, plus they will accumulate a fire anomaly, which can lead to the imposition of the Burning debuff or even Chaos.
4. If you have few Heat points left, you can perform a defensive assist or a chain of attacks to then use Bernice's enhanced special attack and fill the gauge a little again.
5. When the Heat points run out, just repeat the first steps.

This information will be enough to inflict a lot of damage on enemies. If you want to maximize Bernice's damage, you can learn more advanced tactics for playing her.

Advanced Combos

If you press and hold the enhanced special attack button once, the heroine will only fire from one flamethrower, but you can press the ability again to use the second flamethrower, but in this case, the energy costs will double. True, Heat will also accumulate faster.

So what are the downsides? Firstly, it is more difficult to control the accumulation of Heat, which is why you will waste energy more often. Secondly, based on the energy units spent, the total amount of anomaly accumulates from one flamethrower is greater than from two, although this happens more slowly.

Thus, you will need to carefully monitor the situation and adjust to the squads. For example, in a team with two or three fire heroes, the fire anomaly will already be in abundance, so you can safely fire from two flamethrowers to quickly switch to the main DD. Otherwise, you can stay longer on Bernice, shooting from one flamethrower and gaining more anomaly points.

Let's add that the chain of attacks allows Bernice to accumulate a huge amount of anomaly on enemies and use an attack from two flamethrowers, so we recommend choosing it last in the order of actions. Also, do not forget to immediately switch to main DD after activating the ult, since Bernice will continue to pour fire on the enemy.

Plus, you should know that when using damage dealers who can attack several enemies at once, you can easily cause Charring on all affected enemies at once, and Heat will only be spent as for one. However, there are not many such main DDs in the game yet. Of the free ones, Billy can be singled out.

Bernice's Advantages and Disadvantages

With the help of her unique abilities, this fire-lover can inflict significant fire damage, quickly causing Burning on enemies. Her advantages also include:

• An excellent secondary damage dealer, capable of inflicting a lot of fire damage outside the battlefield, without taking up much time from the main DD. At the same time, her gameplay is quite easy to master, so she is also suitable for beginners.
• She is not only able to accumulate anomaly from her pocket, but even activate it (at the time of patch 1.2, only Bernice has such an ability), which significantly simplifies the game through Chaos when she is in the squad.
• Pairs well with other Anomaly characters, since their presence in the team allows her to activate an additional ability. Plus, she will be an excellent asset for a fire mono pack, since she increases the duration of Burning.
• Charring damage depends not only on Bernice's attack power, but also on her knowledge of the anomaly, which allows her overall damage to be significantly increased by simply increasing these two parameters.

However, Bernice cannot be called an ideal character, since she also has her drawbacks:

• It can be difficult to build an effective build, as in addition to anomaly knowledge, anomaly control, and attack power, she may also need: energy regeneration (for more frequent use of the enhanced special attack) and crits, if you plan to turn her into a main DD.
• When using the flamethrower, Bernice has to stay in one place – dashing from side to side does not always allow you to effectively dodge attacks, especially when fighting a large number of enemies or bosses with area attacks.
• She is a rather narrowly specialized character that requires either a fire main DD or another Anomaly hero. She can be combined with damage dealers of other attributes that deal direct damage from crits, but her usefulness will drop significantly in this case.

Best Build for Bernice

Best Amplifiers

We recommend choosing a weapon that can increase the heroine's attack power and knowledge of the anomaly, and also, if possible, speed up her energy recovery. The table below shows the most interesting options.

Best Drive Discs

As for basic characteristics of drive disks, then your choice should look like this:

• IV-sector: knowledge of anomaly (priority) or attack power%.
• V-sector: fire damage bonus (priority) or penetration chance%.
• VI-sector: control of anomaly (priority) or attack power%.
• Substats: knowledge of anomaly > attack power% > penetration chance

If we talk about recommended parameter values of Bernice, then they should look something like this:

• Attack: 2400+ units
• Health: 9000+
• Defense: 800+
• Anomaly Knowledge: 300+ units (to get the maximum bonus to Charring damage)
• Anomaly Control: 150-195 units

Bernice's Best Teams

F2P Team

A good free squad that can show itself well even in the late stages of the game. Thanks to Bernice and Piper, you can easily call Chaos on enemies, imposing both fire and physical anomalies on them at the same time. At the same time, Piper will be on the field most of the time, waving her huge hammer. Lucy will buff both heroines.

Chaos Team

Bernis is great with Jane (Piper), helping her to easily summon Chaos by accumulating Fire Anomaly from her pocket. Lucy will give a good buff to the rat, allowing her to deal even more damage.

If Lucy is absent, you can use Caesar or Seth, but we should note right away that both characters are aimed specifically at strengthening Jane, that is, they will give Bernice practically nothing. Unless the cat-boy will be able to increase her knowledge of the anomaly.

Electro-Fire Team

This is also a command for Chaos, however, it is somewhat different from the previous option, since Bernice will have to be on the field more often, sharing the role of damage dealer with Grace. Rina increases the chance of penetration, which is useful for Anomaly heroes, but you may have some problems with the rotation without Bernice's M1, since her buffs are fleeting.

Fire Team

Unfortunately, at the time of patch 1.2, there is only one main DD of the fire attribute in the game, and you can’t call it strong. For this reason, this squad is still inferior in strength to the Chaos teams. But Bernice will be able to significantly simplify the activation of Inferno Metal for Soldier 11, since she will constantly impose Burning on enemies.

Bernice Leveling Up

The table below shows the materials needed to increase the level, skills, and inclinations of the heroine, as well as their total amount.

This is the guide to the best build for Bernice in ZZZ can be considered complete. We hope that this information will help you choose the best amplifiers, drives and commands for the heroine.