Ben bigger is the character I like to use to simply perfect block, but even I will admit simply using Ben Bigger and letting your Allies sit ont he side lines doesn’t maximize his true potential.
Billy's Signature W-Machine rewards you for playing Billy like this so yeah, pretty much how he was intended to be played. Keeping 6m of distance for bonus damage through movement and dodges is the reason he's a dps class and not an Anomaly class
Billy's sig isn't great if you're trying to replicate the fighting style in the video. You can always swap it out for another w-engine. Brimstone or Starlight Engine (not replica) are better alternatives.
I'm pretty sure the description of Billy's signature is horribly wrong, like, it doesn't trigger when you are more than 6m away, it triggers when you're within 6m of your target, because at what i believe it's 6m the damage falloff starts hitting hard for billy, which doesnt make sense at all.
@@Guaporacer prolly a mistranslation then. But to reiterate what I said, Billy's play style of shoot and roll is exactly how his Starlight engine is designed to cater to
So, a little extra info to validate your tech here: I did some damage testing, steady shot/crouching fire aren't move's, it's a 'mode'. So any different attacks you do during 'steady shot mode' (at any point mid a steady shot combo) *gain the bonus damage of crouching shot* So far I've tested his dodge attack, neutral dodge attack, perfect dodge attack, special attack (both normal and enhanced) and even his ultimate: they all gain the nearly 30% crouching shot damage bonus when used during a crouching shot combo. This has a big impact on how you play billy, as suddenly you have to find the right moments to apply his burst window depending on what damage booster you're using. For example, say I'm playing Anby Nicole and Billy. Sure, I could use Nicole and Billy's specials off cooldown, but there's a way more optimal way to use them. Save your meter until triggering stun with Anby, then go Nicole into Billy to get the bonus damage on chain attacks. Switch back to nicole and use her up angle special to lob her orb high and tag on Billy before it lands (not a quick assist) This gives billy time to stack up his crouching fire before the orb hits and ensures 1/2 enhanced special attacks (plus ultimate if you have it) are all triggered during nicole's debuf timer. This meand whatever attacks you do get: -30% crouching fire boost -30% benefit from Nicole's damage reduction -150% damage from stun I never don't trigger an assault when I use this with Ultimate, and it really goes to show where you can take this game if you put the time into understanding mechanics and synergy. Great video dude!
this goes to show that there are a lot of amazing developers working at hoyo, who understand how to make really fun and engaging player experiences... that are unfortunately stuck making gacha games.
what if you stun then go Billy > Nicole, 360 EX special into Billy? if you're close you could also charge EX special hold into 360 EX lob into tag assist (from the EX special hold) into Blilly into crouching shot and potentially ult if you have? just speculating I haven't tested anything
OHHHH!! This explains so much! I was about to post "but doesn't Billy have an entire passive dedicated to staying in Crouching Shot mode?", but it actually means "enter crouching shot, then transition into a high-powered move". That is WAY cooler.
@DarkHarpuia Yeah, it's freaking awesome. Makes me wonder if the guys stress testing the game for tier lists know this, because Billy is ranked very low at the moment. But I think when more Agents release and he has a few more synergies, Billy will really be able to shine
I'm ngl I thought he was bad too. I was planning to swap him out for Grace at some point but now that I've spent some time with him I think he's probably a permanent fixture on my Neko team
@@SomberGratis She's a limited 5* (or S class) compared to a free 4* (or A class). Knowying Hoyo, it's not hard to imagine that she's probably gonna be doing way more damage. But since they do different types of damage, i don't think it's a straight up powercreep, Billy may be better in some situations where the enemy has Ether Resistance or Physical weakness
he is bad But honestly ZZZ is such an easy game that It actually doesn't matter that much. I have Nekomata but I prefer the Chainsaw maid over her since I love those saw noise when I sent enemy to oblivion. For real It's all about preferences. There's actually quite a lot of hidden quirk between each character that you won't notice unless you play them a lot (e.g Nekomata tracking and attack range is as wide as billy and she have AoE and Melee type dodge counter) If you like billy just play Billy. The fact that he's weak might actually be better since this game is already way too easy as it is.
Now this is people who actually playing the game than "button mashing game, bad game" Edit: it seem my comment reply become war section , i dont really care but just dismiss people who said the game bad because they can just button mashing like who cares?
@@danguy6591 There are more things to consider than just damage though. Billy's main source of damage comes from his steady shot/crouching shot because his core passive gives him dmg% during it but the main downside is how his rolling shot is his only form of mobility during this. Moving would bring him out of steady shot so he'd need to go through his entire basic attack string to return to dealing damage and by then he'd need to reposition again. While "theoretically" you'd do more damage staying in crouching shot forever, higher difficulty modes like Shiyu Defense gets you swarmed by mobs and at a high level even just slight hits can be really detrimental. Getting knocked leads to losing dps time and repositioning also leads to losing dps time. What the tech in the video does is opens up more mobility and repositioning options while still maximizing time spent in steady shot. While damage matters a lot, things like positioning, survivability, and mobility can affect your overall damage to the point that what's theoretically the most damage just doesn't apply in practical scenarios. In that sense this tech is really valuable in enabling you to use mobility and reposition without losing the damage from steady shot.
A lot of characters have these little nuanced mechanics that when learned makes gameplay so much smoother. Its a shame they aren't stated in the description sometimes but it really improves gameplay a lot.
the permanent banner gacha has 'selectable S character' trials that failed to properly explain to me how combos/attack chain work like I was that game journalist playing Cuphead tutorial level, and they even forget to mention the move list in pause screen that one can see! what is this, 90s Mortal Kombat on arcade? the console ports got training mode with movelist on pause menu and they didn't tell that too
i did not expect to find someone with the exact type of energy and interest in what the depths of core combat can offer in both wuwa and zzz, subscribed and super locked into any insight you can catch that we miss! for feedback, while i find the excitement truly endearing and it's what's got me to actually listen to the whole video, i'm sure you'd benefit generally from a more clear and focused/fast showcase. excited for future content, amigo!
Yo thank you! Love to see other like-minded players out there. I absolutely agree re the feedback (and thanks for sharing it really does help). I'm planning on making a clearer, more concise guide to Billy's overall playstyle at some point for that exact reason
Bro there is so much cool things you can do in ZZZ, Doble Counters, Swap Cancel, Doble, i manage even triple specials at one point just by matching frames with Anby, Anton and Grace, i hope in the future days, zzz creates not only new characters, but new mechanics that allow players to just think "Wait, i can do this! ok!", Great video :3
Same here! 1.0s tend to be the simplest version of any gacha imo and considering we've already got all THIS going on I'm thinking the future looks very bright (knock on wood)
Maybe I'm just crazy or I've seen this in other games but none of this is impressive to me, it's cool don't get me wrong but it's something I've played before. Maybe from DMC, MGR or Bayonetta or any action game. Again don't get me wrong, this is all cool stuff but it's definely nothing new (for me).
Its cool bro, i never play Dmc or Bayonetta, so this is kinda new to me :3 the closest i play´ed is some Roguelikes with rapid action and Berserk from the PS2, and im pretty sure a lot of people have the same experience as me.
@@zenshiro8 Oh you should definitely give them a go, they are great games and honestly a fantastic experience. DMCV I highly recommend as well as Bayonetta which is similar in that field but it does a lot of very unique things. There's a certain feeling in DMCV where it just feels super good pulling off a nicely timed Judgement Cut End.
There will be type of people who will complain because they can still win with buttons mashing, such like 'Why would you play that way when you can just button Mashing' It just upsetting me.
Lowkey those people aren't neccesarily wrong to feel that way though. Actually ~a monthish ago I was watching a GDC talk from the combat lead (I'm pretty sure) on Ghost of Tsushima and he brought up this phenomena where when initially designing/testing Ghost they accidentally designed a combat mechanic that was just WAAAAY easier to use than any other approach to combat but also more boring (effectively mashing while stunlocking enemies if I remember correctly). And the designer described how, even though everyone testing and playing knew it was more fun to play GoT in other ways, because they had found what they felt to be the "best" or "most optimal" approach they couldn't help but lean into it even though they knew it was making them have less fun playing the game. It was a long talk & it was a min ago but I believe the conclusion of that section was that as a designer to an extent you want to avoid combat feeling stale in that way because some players, even if they know there are better ways to have fun, won't engage with that and they'll blame the devs for putting them in that position. Honestly that GDC talk is kinda why I went out of my way to try to explain WHY you would use any of this tech because it made me realize if I just showed people how flashy and cool this playstyle could be that likely wouldn't be enough to justify what gives it value over the standard approach. I think I might go back and find that talk to reference in a future vid cuz it's super interesting and super relevant to the ZZZ community rn I think.
That's strange. You could beat bayonetta or some DmCs with mashing too with no problems whatsoever. Great games nonetheless. They have style systems though, but i doubt that many players will actually give a try to those challanges.
For better or worse, it seems Hoyo will always design their games so players can beat the main story content by just button mashing. They don't want to discourage casual players from playing their games. They may add complex, high skill ceiling elements into their combat, but it will only be necessary, if even that, for optional post game content like Shiyu Defense or Spiral Abyss. This certainly gives ammo to those who want to call the game a button masher. But don't let that stop you from enjoying the more intricate parts of the combat or the game as a whole.
Wait for that same people to complain about not being able to mash your way to victory when hoyo decides to pull off an star rail and turn the endgame dial up to 11 with how hard it gets
Welp just like fighting games, make them learn not to button mash by having enemies punishing and countering them. Based on other CCs covering this game, higher difficulty content already does this.
Additional word of note on the dash attacks and different dodge animations. I found out through personal testing that the roll dodge you get from pressing dodge twice can not only be done after the slide dodge, but also by pressing dodge during the spinning dash attack animation, which means you not only have a defensive backup plan when doing the spinning dash attack, but you also get the option to perform both dash attacks back to back for more damage without breaking steady shot stance
IM SO HAPPY PEOPLE FOUND OUT ABOUT THIS AAAAAA its about time people realize putting in a bit more brain cells can end up with more combos like this, waiting for a corin one :)
what's sad to me is that people were more than willing to give genshin's combat a shot at launch but people just gave up on zzz at launch. they didn't even try.
@@plvto1 right?? zzz's combat has crazy potential for more insane mechanics and rotations, its sad the general public won't even give it a chance, its been genuinely fun and I really wonder if I want to gatekeep this
@@plvto1Because Genshin is simpler and easier to understand for newbies, the system for elemental reactions is not mechanically intensive unless you're really maximizing it and characters generally don't have secret intended tech in their kits, a similar thing is happening within ZZZ with anomalous characters, they're easier to build for low level accounts and have a more visual way of displaying their burst damage via the status bar and effects, so lots of people are using them over dealers like Billy, Anton, Neko, Corin, 11 or even Ellen.
Woke up to the video kinda popping off in a BIG way I didn't expect. Thank you so much for all the love and support! Already very hard at work on the next one. Trying to step my game up a little bit every video until I'm at a place I'm happy with :)
Just as a bit of perspective, when I went to sleep last night this video had barely 1k views and I had 19 subscribers. Again thank you all so much. Idrc about the growth (it's more surprising than anything), I'm just kinda glad I could be helpful or at the very least make a fun video that so many people could enjoy :)
@@HCCasual Heyo, a thing I wanted to add that you mentioned about his Steady Shot passive and it is something I've found out. Steady Shot's buff is applied to Billy as long as he enters Crouching Shot mode and doesn't perform any direct movement. What does that mean? You enter crouching shot and you gain steady shot's passive for all of his kit, not just basic attacks. This means you can effectively have a pseudo 50% dmg buff (at max core passive) on Billy as long as you do not get hit, or move without performing dash attacks, dodge counters etc. I have tested how it works and its essentially this, you are able to fully benefit from this dmg bonus on anything including dash counters, dash attacks, assists and yes, even his ultimate for a whopping 50% on top of the already possible 100% bringing it to be a massive nuke with its multipliers enhanced by a 150% dmg boost, as long as you enter crouching shot.
Best thing about this is his S2 BUFFS HIS crouching rolling shot allowing him to dodge attacks that cannot be countered plus you can perform a counter attack dodge attack with it while amplifying its overall damage.
he felt pretty bad the second I hit interknot 20-25 so this is so cool to see. I love his character so much so I can’t wait to relearn and fall in love with playing him all over again
Billy is craaaazy. He definitely doesn't hit as hard as Ellen does with practically no effort but even as a I get deeper into interknot 30+ he's still popping off
You have no idea how bad I was trying to find Billy combo guides that are actually good and not just basic combos that some content creator’s do. Once I stumbled upon this video and watched it 1-2 times, it made me love ZZZ’s combat a lot more thx to you so I really appreciate the content Sorry for the yap session, but you just earned a new subscriber brother 🫡
Genuinely no shade intended towards any other creator cuz that's how the game is played but personally, if I ever find that's all I have to offer to the discussion then I'm just not gonna make a video lol. I'm really glad I could help you find some of the fun in ZZZ. I kinda had the same reaction when I stumbled across this it made me fall in love with the combat even though I was already feeling fairly positive about it. Glad to have you onboard, thanks a ton for the support, and please know you never have to apologize to me for yapping lol (I unironically love to see it). Fair warning though, write me an essay and odds are you're getting one back cuz I love gaming too much I almost can't help myself lmfao
@@HCCasual Yeah of course man, I’m not trying to throw shade at any creator I just personally don’t find some of the information useful for me but it’s targeted for a specific demographic. Keep up the good work man, I’m gonna try to spread your channel on my socials when I can 🙏🏽
@@Bilal2Extra Absolutely didn't come across like you were I was moreso trying to make sure that I didn't come across that way when I said it wasn't the kind of content I would make haha And you're a real one, thank you so much 🙏
After trying Zhu Yuan and feeling how amazing and layered her combat is, I realized she's just Billy without the weights on. She can even trigger perfect dodges using her attack movements WITHOUT it being locked behind a dupe! Wanna have more fun and play characters as intended? Better get lucky or swipe! Hate gatcha games sometimes...
I'm already dreading how long it's gonna take me to land Grace 😓 and Zhu Yuan looks craaazy too. I'd love to have a full gun-user team with the three of them but the gamba makes that feel somewhat unattainable
My billy gameplay just hella peaked rn, i have several characters at lvl 40 just testing to see who i really wanna stick to the end game and i think i found who is gonna be there forever now
I appreciate the video, thanks a lot! I always wanted to main Billy, and this gave me a plethora of new insights. I’m looking forward to your future content!
my jaw dropped when i saw you're not even 50 subs. this is a very nice video! your audio is also set very well. hope you blow up man, here's my subscribe!
Billy is my favorite character in this game and with this video you made him even more fun to play than he already did! Thank you so much for the tips!
You have convinced me, and you have convinced me HARD. Your analyses and in-depth explanations are what I was looking for in the content space. I look forward to your Ellen and Corin Tech videos in the future (fingers crossed for the latter; she's my carry on 2nd team, and my time on Shiyu defense is directly tied to her performance).
Billy rolling shots remind me alot of the Charge Blade playstyle in Monster Hunter, which is all about learning the maneuverability options and mastering the perfect guard timings. You could even compare the crouching shot with the Axe mode where the style is more stationary. Ironically the most "button mashy" character in ZZZ is the most technical in another game.
If nothing else, I guarantee you I'm going to be one of the most consistently grumpy creators about how Hoyo chooses to monetize & ruins my fun in the process haha
Having done some damage testing, 6m is actually very short and quite easy to maintain. It is approximately the length of one tile in the training room. The buff from his wengine lasts 8s so all you have to do is dip in and out of this range if youre intent on playing really close. This is the sweetspot range though, being too far will drastically lower damage, being too close for too long will not keep the buff up (i went from 388 to 310 damage per shot)
6m = roughly the length of a training tile is VERY good info to have thank you. Billy absolutely seems perfect for shifting between close/far range like that
Just happened to stumble across your video as I was curious about billy and this was an awesome explanation of him! Look forward to messing around with him now
I'm glad you liked the video, thanks for watching! Billy is sooo much fun I think I'm always going to prefer him over a lot of S-ranks even haha. Have fun experimenting!
Thie video makes me want to give zzz another try. I didnt really like the game before as Ive seen way too few input controls on the early bits of the game. Thank you. If i end up enjoying it some more, it's all due to you.
This for Billy and Monica's tech for her EX-Special are pretty damned amazing. The fact that the free characters are so decent (including Anby) is great.
AcTuAlLy: You can keep Billy in crouch shot mode after using his special combo and ex special attack. Immediately after either attack, use the dash attack > rolling shot, which will immediately place you back in crouched shot mode.
Yeah, but that's kinda boring and seeing billy do 360 and deal damage to multiple enemies just seems cooler What's the difference between dash attack and rolling shot ? I kinda understand what he said but not fully, like i only understand when it's said in input
@@04cassiusphanthanhbinhjake That's a cool question. Rolling shot triples as a dodge, crowd control and burst damage. It shoots 2 shots, 1 into the direction Billy was already firing and the second in the opposite direction he's rolling towards. If you're in crouched shot mode, *the game will remember that you were in crouch shot mode if you perform a rolling shot after whatever action you last performed, mainly his specials.* If you use his special and EX special while in crouching shot, *not only will the specials benefit from crouching shot's damage bonus, but by using a dash attack and a rolling shot immediately after, you will instantly re-enter crouching shot* . If you play Billy correctly, you're inside the enemy's face constantly keeping crouching shot up while using Billy's special attacks and dodge counters, the former of which builds very quickly since his basic attack just inflates the energy bar.
@@Ze_N00B ahh i get it now, rolling shot is always better better since it still have the buffs, You perform rolling shot by entering crouching mode, exit and cancel the jump back by using the dash attack to perform rolling shot correct ?
Yoooo I didn't know my guy had started a ZZZ channel. I've been in a mini-media blackout cuz I love playing games like this myself first before I start really diving into the community but this is one of the easiest subs in my life. If you don't know Iyo the man cooks. Highly recommend him, esp if the ZZZ content is anything like how he covers HSR/WuWa. Over the moon you liked the video! Tells me I'm on the right track haha
that's the thing, it's people creating the misconception about the combat system being "button mashing", like Nicole has a unique secret EX that you can do by holding the basic attack button, then doing a circle movement(D then W then A then S), you can choose between clicked or held(release the basic attack button when the animation starts or hold), there's also Anby's combo where after the third basic attack, you can pause for a sec then use attack for a different attack string
Im understand, why you are frustrated with the cinema. But I prefer cinema which transform my playstyle over cinema which just give me 20% more crit damage. And A-Rank, the first and second cinema are relatively easy to get in the medium term. Just wait for a boosted banner/search and you should get them without a big investment. But to a certain degree, I still agree with you. C2 for billy is such a game changer that it is a shame that it is locked behind pull RNG. I would have this being part of his core kit and the new C2 buffing the flip dodge. Edit: Almost forgot to say it. Great video! Finally found another billy enjoyer in the wild ^^
Yeah I think Billy is far from the WORST example in the world considering his C2 is definitely very attainable, but I'm just kinda concerned that this kind of tech is already getting locked behind the monetization cuz more than likely it'll only get worse as more characters get added. Lord knows trying to pull for 4 stars in a Hoyo game can sometimes be oddly harder than getting a 5 star lol
Sadly that's just how HoYo monetized they games. But at least the cost is reasonable to a certain degree. Bully is an A rank so you will get all his Cinema eventually. And HoYo don't usually lock 5*/S rank character main functionality behind dupe so let hope they continue to do that for ZZZ.
Man, Billy is one of my favorite characters (he is such an adorable confident goofball eeeeee), although the playstyle I used was a bit too lacking. But damn, THIS way of playing him made me love him more. Props to you man (although the way to earn cinemas for him will be tough). I honestly don’t care about if he is non-meta, it’s just fun as hell and I like his character.
okay I might not be able to absorb all the tech with my smol brain, but I just wanna say that I love your content I hope you make more! really like the flow of it + the bigger picture of ZZZ and where it's headed. your vids have a lot of substance. subscribed!
Ayy thanks so much! There's absolutely more coming very soon (I'm working on an Anby video as we speak) And I'm sure with a bit of practice any of the tech we're gonna discuss will be super attainable for you :)
Usually, how I would use Billy in ZZZ is almost like how you would use Dante’s ‘Gunslinger’ style, except it’s for crowd clearing. If there’s a crowd of enemies, I would dash and press the attack button to make him do that spin attack with his pistols, not to mention, he’s a good damage dealer at ranged and could do pretty well on his own. Basically, my analysis is that; Billy is good as a Support character and a good damage dealer if he’s called for.
a thing i love about roaming gunslinger is how easy it is to do DP assists with billy bc of them, normally you need to get a very tight timing of dodge->counter->perfect assist by pressing the buttons almost simultaneously, but with billy I just trigger his rolling shot and do a perfect assist and its drastically easier
Billy's playstyle was already close to how I usually play in other games, always spamming that dodge whenever I can, so for me it was a pretty obvious choice, didn't have a single problem using him and even prefered him over my S ranked characters. Didn't even know people think he's a bad character until today.
Billy’s Core Skill is active as soon as he does the flip into so you can cancel the flip into ult or EX for the dmg increase, he keeps the dmg buff as long as he doesn’t move after activating it so he can for example stand still, dash around roll or attack ( doesn’t count as moving), Dodge an enemy attack, and EX and he will keep it the whole time as long as you don’t walk or run around with your normal movement option, standby means switching out which means he can’t get the buff on quick assist or his chain attack but thats it if you want a fast dps for like daze you can do basic-roll-cancel roll start up into EX-Ult the EX and Ult both will get the buff and if you don’t move after the ult you will still have the buff up if you still need it
Thanks for the guide! ZZZ is my first Hoyo game and overall I’m having a blast. After my first week I’ve been meaning to improve my combat skills with some tech so this video helps a lot. I’m looking forward to the game’s future and trying to get my Billy as flashy I can like the real Starlight Knight 💖
Yes! I love seeing people talk about the combat and combo details! I need to see people like comparing mash to hold for Anton or Anomaly Buildup on multi hit moves from non Anomaly units!
His ultimate also does so much damage. Also regarding Hoyo's gacha, its gotten better over time. You don't really need any Mind nodes at all. It just makes them easier to build. Currently Zhu Yuan seems to be really f2p friendly. You don't even need any extra copies or her signature wengine. Anton M1 does have this tech (maybe intentional, maybe not) where if you miss the first hit during burst mode, you'll stay in burst mode if you do the first drill attack only)
As a person who loves ZZZ including it’s combat, story (character writing especially), visuals, UI design, and even the TV grid exploration gameplay, I don’t think you’re discovering something about the game worth talking about. Your “extra movement” that you say you’ve “labbed out” is just including more dodges into your attack string. The complexity and nuance of the combat does not come from individual character kits. The one “negative criticism” about the game that people make that I agree with is that individual characters are very simple. No, Soldier 11, Grace, and anybody else you can think of are not valid counterarguments not just because they are exceptions rather than the norm, but their extra “tech” is barely something you can refer to as skill expression. Trying to compare the individual character kits of zenzero characters with a kit from an individual character from *literally name any fighting game on the current mainstream market* is unreasonable and unrealistic. The true depth of this game comes from a combination of situational awareness and team building. The simplistic controls are intentionally made that way in order to give the player a constant vector to interact with the game with since attack combo strings is genuinely just mashing. Every single character only has a single basic attack combo string. This isn’t a fighting game where you can string together essentially any move you want with each other to make unique combos. You either do the full basic attack, or you interrupt it to do a dash attack or charge the next attack if your character even has that mechanic like Lycaon. The game is intentionally designed to require the same kind of instinctive thinking you utilize when playing fighting games yes, but you’d be genuinely delusional to believe that any amount of genuine skill expression or depth goes into how you execute attacks. If you watch people who are not complete beginners ply the game, there is no different nuance between how those different people play the game. You cannot analyze a specific technique or strategy because there is generally only one strategy you utilize for every single enemy, just that the timing of when you’re allowed to mash to build up daze is different. Zenzero is a game that decides to take a foundation of fighting games, that being the method which the player connects to the game via controls (and by that I mean when you develop enough skill with fighting games, the quick execution of button presses becomes second nature to the point where the lightning quick movements are no longer conscious decisions. The simple controls of zenzero provide that exact same kind of “immersion” between the physical player’s body and the game world). It then uses this foundation as a way to bring the player to a new “gameplay setting” derived from ARPG norms (more specifically from zenzero’s spiritual gameplay predecessor, Honkai Impact 3rd). Zenzero is a game about feeling and immersion. It is a vibe where every detail is intentional, from the inspirations to the world building, tone, and the graphic style which draws heavy inspiration from both manga and American comic book tropes (the character expressions are things you don’t see in comics but the 2D art scenes explicitly use comic book onomatopoeia). The character designs even look like a mix of manga and comic book character designs, although it does lean more towards manga. The inspirations are clear but Hoyo are clearly doing their own unique and new thing. If you cannot get the vibe straight from the get go, this game is not for you and never will be. I’m not saying this to gatekeep the game or anything (not that I think gatekeeping is always a bad thing in the first place but that’s beside the point). It’s just an objective fact. If you don’t get the game then you don’t get the game and that is perfectly fine. But if you don’t like it, don’t bash the game because of personal preference. Your opinion is valuable and every human being has the right to express views, as long as that expression doesn’t serve to fuel hate towards anybody who enjoys the game or the company that develops the game. Regardless of how you feel about Hoyoverse as a company, the only thing you do by spreading hate is making the experience worse for everybody, including yourself. TL;DR: You get none. Read the entire thing or don’t bother at all
Wow, another hidden mechanic. I really love how the game gives you the basics as to not overwhelm you and rewards those who look for more depth either by themselves or with help like this video.
My guy, you don't need to cancel any animation, you just need to get into the Crounching Shot stance and from there you can do...almost everything, use your skill, first dodge attack, second dodge attack, your Crounching Shot stance will not be broken. I didn't notice the second dodge attack into Crounching Shot stance, thanks for the vid!
Billy has basically become my main. It's been really confusing seeing him at level 1 in all the background shots for people that are making these "best" teams videos. His movement just fits my playstyle. I can confirm that staying still makes a difference. Let's say you have a stunned target. Hold that attack and you will see a damage jump after a second, then a smaller jump after another second. If you move at all, you lose that. You don't get a lot of opportunities to use it. More than 90% of the time you need to be more dynamic.
Videos like this are the exact thing I need cause after playing genshin and honkai ik how the upgrade systems work, I could care less for that aspect but stuff like chaining combos and improving your own gameplay is what I live for and I cant wait to see someone make a dedicated video for soldier 11s weird rhythm mechanic
Billy's going to be in Qingyi's banner, apparently, and SO many people complaining about how 'bad' her A-ranks are but Billy Mains should be pleased. :)
I started ZZZ today and Billy was smelling like monster hunter to me and after a bit of experimantation i figured out the second dodge stuff but now i see how much more there is to it
MY COMBO BRETHREN!! I wish our community were more connected honestly. Stylish/Character Action Games are a passion of mine. They're perfect for me because I love the second to second decision making while also dealing with enemy attack strings, or juggling enemies for style at the same time. It's part of what makes these games so special. People always as why you would even want to style on enemies if you can just mash... but like... YOU CAN BEAT DMCV WITH JUST MASHING!!! It doesn't mean you are playing it well or as intended. I feel like Zenless has a pretty medium height skill ceiling at least at the moment since it's using the annoying elite enemy stamina system (hit enemy until it fills... enemy sits there while you burst) --- I wish we could juggle elite enemies in FFXVI honestly. There's a lot of problems with Zenless since it wants to have its cake and eat it too... Ellen for instance doesn't TRULY unlock until C2 as well sadly. If people knew how hard it was to do the combos we in the action game community concoct and how deliberate it all is they wouldn't just wave it off as dumb. I've dealt with these goofballs since DMC3...
I like how you explain Billy kit here. Im not into that damage calc stuff since brain stupid, but seeing how you played Billy differently makes me think there is more to see in a character kit than they explained. Your explanation has sparked my interest to test character even if Im not gonna yield anything from the test.
Would be cool if this channel focused on specific tech like this. No character should be overlooked. And keeping the meta aside for these kinds of videos would be fantastic as well. The best characters are the ones you have after all.
That's my entire goal. I wanna share tech, I wanna talk about combos, I wanna focus on the gameplay above all else. I like doing decent damage ofc but I'll always find more fun in things that change the way you play the game in more substantial ways and provide more options to enjoy the experience :)
off topic, but thanks for adding the subtitles down the bottom! :D i often have a difficult time understanding/concentrating on spoken words so i really appreciate it (especially since - in my experience - it can take quite some time to write everything down again) anyway!! cool to see a video on billy!! i dont care what the tier lists say, i WILL main (& kiss) the funny robot man
we WILL be subbing for the Casual-Approved Super Secret Corin Combo Tech yessir The streets need more appreciation for the lovely maid molded in steel cushions (as her former seat warmer ofc) Cheers 🤝
dam, i thought you were a big content creator when i watched your vid. you need more recognition man cause i think ur vid is so informative and cool. Nice!
I'm happy you figured it out bru but I hope people don't think Billy aka one of the top five characters with best movement is a button mashy type of character. like it's beyond me how someone would play Billy for a few minutes and not be zooming all over the place
lycaon is a good stunner since compared to anby he can easily push enemies making it easy to group them up and use nicoles's chain ability to group them up and use billy's special to clean them all in one swoop. I manage to trigger chain so many times in one combo
This what i found from my own testing: 1. The bit about need to be crouch is kind of a lie, Billy normal special, spin, and piercing shot all benift from the damge buff if done while in steady aim, i could not test Ex special or other moves because the are too many numbers to read. 2. If you do 2 dash attacks back to back Billy first spins then does piercing shot, if you want to do spins back to back you can do a special attack and spin again, you can even cancel the start of the normal special 3. After a special or EX special you can press attack to continue the next auto attack in the chain, so if you are in steady aim, you can do a special and go right back into steady aim I hope some found this lond comment helpful
I think the entirety of ZZZ is intended not to be button mashing Soldier 11 is probably the most well known example since if you time your basic attacks she deals fire dmg
It’s crazy how much cooler the gameplay can be, aand actually deal more dmg as well as feel rewarding for pulling off plinking swaps as well as quick swaps from your breaker to your support to your breaker, to the dps etc. Thanks for the Video! I found it well explained, then only thing i might have gripes with is to translate all the moves names into buttons. To not confuse players who haven’t read the names of the Abilities themselves. Like doing both would create a pretty coherent guide ^^. Otherwise, awesome stuff! We need more of these videos :D
I couldn't agree more! Once you really get into the meat and potatoes of all of the nuances behind this game's systems it's soooo satisfying to put it all together. I hella appreciate the feedback too! That's a really helpful note! I was actually kinda wondering about notation for stuff like that since people have different input devices. I'll probably try out your suggestion next guide!
I played Genshin on and off for a while and learned from that experience how I wanted to play ZZZ. I ignored rankings, DPS, tier lists, and constellations (cinema) and just had fun with the game. I'm enjoying it so much more now that I'm naturally just learning new things about the characters and mechanics and not striving to create a top tier team. I've managed to get some S Rank character s like Ellen and Koleda and I haven't even touched them because I'm still enjoying Nicole, Any, and Billy and going to the arcade and taking pictures of cats. Going to take my sweet time and not rush to create a maxed out S Rank team.
For the people worrying about Billys C powers they will come A ranks come quickly in Hoyogames just wait for a banner to have Billy on Bonus in it and go nuts. I pulled a total of 80 pulls on Ellens banner and nearly maxed both Anton (C4) and did max (C6) Soukaku.
Actually use him as a crowd clearer, when the enemies are far apart. His slide shot can take down a chunk and his ult finishes them off. Stable in my teams.
If you like Billy you'll LOVE what he can do when he starts putting in work with Anby and Nicole: czcams.com/video/dK3xnMv_l28/video.html
Ben bigger is the character I like to use to simply perfect block, but even I will admit simply using Ben Bigger and letting your Allies sit ont he side lines doesn’t maximize his true potential.
Billy's Signature W-Machine rewards you for playing Billy like this so yeah, pretty much how he was intended to be played. Keeping 6m of distance for bonus damage through movement and dodges is the reason he's a dps class and not an Anomaly class
Billy's sig isn't great if you're trying to replicate the fighting style in the video. You can always swap it out for another w-engine. Brimstone or Starlight Engine (not replica) are better alternatives.
@@anonymoususer5940 funny thing, starlight engine is actually also Billy's signature W-Machine
I'm pretty sure the description of Billy's signature is horribly wrong, like, it doesn't trigger when you are more than 6m away, it triggers when you're within 6m of your target, because at what i believe it's 6m the damage falloff starts hitting hard for billy, which doesnt make sense at all.
@@Guaporacer prolly a mistranslation then. But to reiterate what I said, Billy's play style of shoot and roll is exactly how his Starlight engine is designed to cater to
It's Starlight Engine Replica, not Starlight Engine itself.
So, a little extra info to validate your tech here:
I did some damage testing, steady shot/crouching fire aren't move's, it's a 'mode'. So any different attacks you do during 'steady shot mode' (at any point mid a steady shot combo) *gain the bonus damage of crouching shot*
So far I've tested his dodge attack, neutral dodge attack, perfect dodge attack, special attack (both normal and enhanced) and even his ultimate: they all gain the nearly 30% crouching shot damage bonus when used during a crouching shot combo.
This has a big impact on how you play billy, as suddenly you have to find the right moments to apply his burst window depending on what damage booster you're using.
For example, say I'm playing Anby Nicole and Billy. Sure, I could use Nicole and Billy's specials off cooldown, but there's a way more optimal way to use them.
Save your meter until triggering stun with Anby, then go Nicole into Billy to get the bonus damage on chain attacks.
Switch back to nicole and use her up angle special to lob her orb high and tag on Billy before it lands (not a quick assist)
This gives billy time to stack up his crouching fire before the orb hits and ensures 1/2 enhanced special attacks (plus ultimate if you have it) are all triggered during nicole's debuf timer.
This meand whatever attacks you do get:
-30% crouching fire boost
-30% benefit from Nicole's damage reduction
-150% damage from stun
I never don't trigger an assault when I use this with Ultimate, and it really goes to show where you can take this game if you put the time into understanding mechanics and synergy.
Great video dude!
this goes to show that there are a lot of amazing developers working at hoyo, who understand how to make really fun and engaging player experiences...
that are unfortunately stuck making gacha games.
@@salinalee2613 unfortunately for us, but for them... oh boy
what if you stun then go Billy > Nicole, 360 EX special into Billy? if you're close you could also charge EX special hold into 360 EX lob into tag assist (from the EX special hold) into Blilly into crouching shot and potentially ult if you have? just speculating I haven't tested anything
OHHHH!! This explains so much! I was about to post "but doesn't Billy have an entire passive dedicated to staying in Crouching Shot mode?", but it actually means "enter crouching shot, then transition into a high-powered move". That is WAY cooler.
@DarkHarpuia Yeah, it's freaking awesome. Makes me wonder if the guys stress testing the game for tier lists know this, because Billy is ranked very low at the moment.
But I think when more Agents release and he has a few more synergies, Billy will really be able to shine
THANK YOU!!!. Billy is the coolest character in ZZZ for me. But everyone seemed to say he was pretty bad, which had me sad.
I'm ngl I thought he was bad too. I was planning to swap him out for Grace at some point but now that I've spent some time with him I think he's probably a permanent fixture on my Neko team
@@HCCasual true i thought billy was bad too, now I am worried abt the new ether dmg dealer pwr creep
@@SomberGratis She's a limited 5* (or S class) compared to a free 4* (or A class). Knowying Hoyo, it's not hard to imagine that she's probably gonna be doing way more damage.
But since they do different types of damage, i don't think it's a straight up powercreep, Billy may be better in some situations where the enemy has Ether Resistance or Physical weakness
he is bad
But honestly ZZZ is such an easy game that It actually doesn't matter that much. I have Nekomata but I prefer the Chainsaw maid over her since I love those saw noise when I sent enemy to oblivion. For real It's all about preferences. There's actually quite a lot of hidden quirk between each character that you won't notice unless you play them a lot (e.g Nekomata tracking and attack range is as wide as billy and she have AoE and Melee type dodge counter)
If you like billy just play Billy. The fact that he's weak might actually be better since this game is already way too easy as it is.
@@JeSt4m Btw there will be a difficulty spike after lv 40 ish
Now this is people who actually playing the game than "button mashing game, bad game"
Edit: it seem my comment reply become war section , i dont really care but just dismiss people who said the game bad because they can just button mashing like who cares?
I deal 10x times more damage just button mashing, lol
try shiyu defense 9 or 10 for mashing, you die in 2 second
@@danguy6591 me when I lie
@@danguy6591 There are more things to consider than just damage though. Billy's main source of damage comes from his steady shot/crouching shot because his core passive gives him dmg% during it but the main downside is how his rolling shot is his only form of mobility during this. Moving would bring him out of steady shot so he'd need to go through his entire basic attack string to return to dealing damage and by then he'd need to reposition again. While "theoretically" you'd do more damage staying in crouching shot forever, higher difficulty modes like Shiyu Defense gets you swarmed by mobs and at a high level even just slight hits can be really detrimental.
Getting knocked leads to losing dps time and repositioning also leads to losing dps time. What the tech in the video does is opens up more mobility and repositioning options while still maximizing time spent in steady shot. While damage matters a lot, things like positioning, survivability, and mobility can affect your overall damage to the point that what's theoretically the most damage just doesn't apply in practical scenarios. In that sense this tech is really valuable in enabling you to use mobility and reposition without losing the damage from steady shot.
@@rixdespo9144 here is shocking fact for ya: his crouching attack triggers when you button mashing
A lot of characters have these little nuanced mechanics that when learned makes gameplay so much smoother. Its a shame they aren't stated in the description sometimes but it really improves gameplay a lot.
im glad it isn't, that makes it so much more cooler when you find it yourself.
@@plvto1true, like a secret combo
the permanent banner gacha has 'selectable S character' trials that failed to properly explain to me how combos/attack chain work like I was that game journalist playing Cuphead tutorial level, and they even forget to mention the move list in pause screen that one can see! what is this, 90s Mortal Kombat on arcade? the console ports got training mode with movelist on pause menu and they didn't tell that too
i did not expect to find someone with the exact type of energy and interest in what the depths of core combat can offer in both wuwa and zzz, subscribed and super locked into any insight you can catch that we miss! for feedback, while i find the excitement truly endearing and it's what's got me to actually listen to the whole video, i'm sure you'd benefit generally from a more clear and focused/fast showcase. excited for future content, amigo!
Yo thank you! Love to see other like-minded players out there. I absolutely agree re the feedback (and thanks for sharing it really does help). I'm planning on making a clearer, more concise guide to Billy's overall playstyle at some point for that exact reason
Bro there is so much cool things you can do in ZZZ, Doble Counters, Swap Cancel, Doble, i manage even triple specials at one point just by matching frames with Anby, Anton and Grace, i hope in the future days, zzz creates not only new characters, but new mechanics that allow players to just think "Wait, i can do this! ok!", Great video :3
Same here! 1.0s tend to be the simplest version of any gacha imo and considering we've already got all THIS going on I'm thinking the future looks very bright (knock on wood)
Maybe I'm just crazy or I've seen this in other games but none of this is impressive to me, it's cool don't get me wrong but it's something I've played before.
Maybe from DMC, MGR or Bayonetta or any action game.
Again don't get me wrong, this is all cool stuff but it's definely nothing new (for me).
Its cool bro, i never play Dmc or Bayonetta, so this is kinda new to me :3 the closest i play´ed is some Roguelikes with rapid action and Berserk from the PS2, and im pretty sure a lot of people have the same experience as me.
@@zenshiro8 Oh you should definitely give them a go, they are great games and honestly a fantastic experience.
DMCV I highly recommend as well as Bayonetta which is similar in that field but it does a lot of very unique things. There's a certain feeling in DMCV where it just feels super good pulling off a nicely timed Judgement Cut End.
YA BOY GOT ELLEN (at like 83 pity ripme)
I'm hitting the lab TONIGHT can't wait to start figuring her out
failed my 5050 so i'm on a second account at 60 pulls so far
on standard i only get copies of the same character
@@pieperson444 Godspeed friend 🙏
i got her on like 81 too... gave up on her weapon thanks to this lmao
@@CaptainMeleon At least we didn't have to go to hard pity tho amirite (ImnotcopingIswear.jpg)
update i got ellen 77 pulls in the second account :)
There will be type of people who will complain because they can still win with buttons mashing, such like 'Why would you play that way when you can just button Mashing' It just upsetting me.
Lowkey those people aren't neccesarily wrong to feel that way though. Actually ~a monthish ago I was watching a GDC talk from the combat lead (I'm pretty sure) on Ghost of Tsushima and he brought up this phenomena where when initially designing/testing Ghost they accidentally designed a combat mechanic that was just WAAAAY easier to use than any other approach to combat but also more boring (effectively mashing while stunlocking enemies if I remember correctly).
And the designer described how, even though everyone testing and playing knew it was more fun to play GoT in other ways, because they had found what they felt to be the "best" or "most optimal" approach they couldn't help but lean into it even though they knew it was making them have less fun playing the game. It was a long talk & it was a min ago but I believe the conclusion of that section was that as a designer to an extent you want to avoid combat feeling stale in that way because some players, even if they know there are better ways to have fun, won't engage with that and they'll blame the devs for putting them in that position. Honestly that GDC talk is kinda why I went out of my way to try to explain WHY you would use any of this tech because it made me realize if I just showed people how flashy and cool this playstyle could be that likely wouldn't be enough to justify what gives it value over the standard approach.
I think I might go back and find that talk to reference in a future vid cuz it's super interesting and super relevant to the ZZZ community rn I think.
That's strange. You could beat bayonetta or some DmCs with mashing too with no problems whatsoever. Great games nonetheless. They have style systems though, but i doubt that many players will actually give a try to those challanges.
For better or worse, it seems Hoyo will always design their games so players can beat the main story content by just button mashing. They don't want to discourage casual players from playing their games.
They may add complex, high skill ceiling elements into their combat, but it will only be necessary, if even that, for optional post game content like Shiyu Defense or Spiral Abyss.
This certainly gives ammo to those who want to call the game a button masher. But don't let that stop you from enjoying the more intricate parts of the combat or the game as a whole.
Wait for that same people to complain about not being able to mash your way to victory when hoyo decides to pull off an star rail and turn the endgame dial up to 11 with how hard it gets
Welp just like fighting games, make them learn not to button mash by having enemies punishing and countering them. Based on other CCs covering this game, higher difficulty content already does this.
This is the TRUE power of the Starlight Knight!!!
You made his gameplay look like how he looks in the trailers
Additional word of note on the dash attacks and different dodge animations. I found out through personal testing that the roll dodge you get from pressing dodge twice can not only be done after the slide dodge, but also by pressing dodge during the spinning dash attack animation, which means you not only have a defensive backup plan when doing the spinning dash attack, but you also get the option to perform both dash attacks back to back for more damage without breaking steady shot stance
IM SO HAPPY PEOPLE FOUND OUT ABOUT THIS AAAAAA
its about time people realize putting in a bit more brain cells can end up with more combos like this, waiting for a corin one :)
what's sad to me is that people were more than willing to give genshin's combat a shot at launch but people just gave up on zzz at launch. they didn't even try.
@@plvto1 right?? zzz's combat has crazy potential for more insane mechanics and rotations, its sad the general public won't even give it a chance, its been genuinely fun and I really wonder if I want to gatekeep this
@@plvto1Because Genshin is simpler and easier to understand for newbies, the system for elemental reactions is not mechanically intensive unless you're really maximizing it and characters generally don't have secret intended tech in their kits, a similar thing is happening within ZZZ with anomalous characters, they're easier to build for low level accounts and have a more visual way of displaying their burst damage via the status bar and effects, so lots of people are using them over dealers like Billy, Anton, Neko, Corin, 11 or even Ellen.
Woke up to the video kinda popping off in a BIG way I didn't expect. Thank you so much for all the love and support! Already very hard at work on the next one. Trying to step my game up a little bit every video until I'm at a place I'm happy with :)
Just as a bit of perspective, when I went to sleep last night this video had barely 1k views and I had 19 subscribers. Again thank you all so much. Idrc about the growth (it's more surprising than anything), I'm just kinda glad I could be helpful or at the very least make a fun video that so many people could enjoy :)
@@HCCasual Heyo, a thing I wanted to add that you mentioned about his Steady Shot passive and it is something I've found out. Steady Shot's buff is applied to Billy as long as he enters Crouching Shot mode and doesn't perform any direct movement. What does that mean? You enter crouching shot and you gain steady shot's passive for all of his kit, not just basic attacks. This means you can effectively have a pseudo 50% dmg buff (at max core passive) on Billy as long as you do not get hit, or move without performing dash attacks, dodge counters etc.
I have tested how it works and its essentially this, you are able to fully benefit from this dmg bonus on anything including dash counters, dash attacks, assists and yes, even his ultimate for a whopping 50% on top of the already possible 100% bringing it to be a massive nuke with its multipliers enhanced by a 150% dmg boost, as long as you enter crouching shot.
Best thing about this is his S2 BUFFS HIS crouching rolling shot allowing him to dodge attacks that cannot be countered plus you can perform a counter attack dodge attack with it while amplifying its overall damage.
Been doing it the 1st day soo don't know what's secret here.....mm
@@nushnusher3902So does that mean you’d have to just press dodge attack without any directional input in order to keep the buff?
he felt pretty bad the second I hit interknot 20-25 so this is so cool to see. I love his character so much so I can’t wait to relearn and fall in love with playing him all over again
Billy is craaaazy. He definitely doesn't hit as hard as Ellen does with practically no effort but even as a I get deeper into interknot 30+ he's still popping off
Billy was instantly my favourite in both gameplay and personality.
You have no idea how bad I was trying to find Billy combo guides that are actually good and not just basic combos that some content creator’s do. Once I stumbled upon this video and watched it 1-2 times, it made me love ZZZ’s combat a lot more thx to you so I really appreciate the content
Sorry for the yap session, but you just earned a new subscriber brother 🫡
Genuinely no shade intended towards any other creator cuz that's how the game is played but personally, if I ever find that's all I have to offer to the discussion then I'm just not gonna make a video lol. I'm really glad I could help you find some of the fun in ZZZ. I kinda had the same reaction when I stumbled across this it made me fall in love with the combat even though I was already feeling fairly positive about it.
Glad to have you onboard, thanks a ton for the support, and please know you never have to apologize to me for yapping lol (I unironically love to see it).
Fair warning though, write me an essay and odds are you're getting one back cuz I love gaming too much I almost can't help myself lmfao
@@HCCasual Yeah of course man, I’m not trying to throw shade at any creator I just personally don’t find some of the information useful for me but it’s targeted for a specific demographic. Keep up the good work man, I’m gonna try to spread your channel on my socials when I can 🙏🏽
@@Bilal2Extra Absolutely didn't come across like you were I was moreso trying to make sure that I didn't come across that way when I said it wasn't the kind of content I would make haha
And you're a real one, thank you so much
🙏
After trying Zhu Yuan and feeling how amazing and layered her combat is, I realized she's just Billy without the weights on. She can even trigger perfect dodges using her attack movements WITHOUT it being locked behind a dupe!
Wanna have more fun and play characters as intended? Better get lucky or swipe! Hate gatcha games sometimes...
I'm already dreading how long it's gonna take me to land Grace 😓 and Zhu Yuan looks craaazy too. I'd love to have a full gun-user team with the three of them but the gamba makes that feel somewhat unattainable
@@HCCasual Just 300 pulls on the regular banner while other games would allow it for only a few hours of gametime don't sweat it. 🙃
My billy gameplay just hella peaked rn, i have several characters at lvl 40 just testing to see who i really wanna stick to the end game and i think i found who is gonna be there forever now
I appreciate the video, thanks a lot! I always wanted to main Billy, and this gave me a plethora of new insights. I’m looking forward to your future content!
Yooo I appreciate the love and support! More coming very soon!
"It’s like kara cancelling a Pot buster"
Now this is my language
my jaw dropped when i saw you're not even 50 subs. this is a very nice video! your audio is also set very well. hope you blow up man, here's my subscribe!
Wow thank you! Appreciate the support
Billy is my favorite character in this game and with this video you made him even more fun to play than he already did!
Thank you so much for the tips!
This is exactly how I’ve always played him just to look flashy
hmmm, this vid made me experiment a whole bunch and now playing Billy is like 2x cooler, thanks man.
This comment and every one like it is the entire reason I made the video. I'm so glad I could be helpful, thanks for watching
billy looks like a zhu yuan trainer
You have convinced me, and you have convinced me HARD. Your analyses and in-depth explanations are what I was looking for in the content space.
I look forward to your Ellen and Corin Tech videos in the future (fingers crossed for the latter; she's my carry on 2nd team, and my time on Shiyu defense is directly tied to her performance).
Billy rolling shots remind me alot of the Charge Blade playstyle in Monster Hunter, which is all about learning the maneuverability options and mastering the perfect guard timings. You could even compare the crouching shot with the Axe mode where the style is more stationary.
Ironically the most "button mashy" character in ZZZ is the most technical in another game.
Swap parrying is my fav mechanic in this game, being able to cleanly swap in with a counter attack feels so good
Seeing you playing him the same way as i do is soo satisfying to watch 😊
2nd half of the vid about the hoyo greed was straight up, just fax.
Keep spitting, bro, keep spitting.
If nothing else, I guarantee you I'm going to be one of the most consistently grumpy creators about how Hoyo chooses to monetize & ruins my fun in the process haha
"they didn't go super into detail in his movelist"
His entire mindscape set is exactly this...
a fellow billy connaisseur
a Billy Bro
Did lil bro try to write connaisseur ???
@@Sholver auto correct kills lives
Wow dude this is really cool!
Having done some damage testing, 6m is actually very short and quite easy to maintain. It is approximately the length of one tile in the training room. The buff from his wengine lasts 8s so all you have to do is dip in and out of this range if youre intent on playing really close. This is the sweetspot range though, being too far will drastically lower damage, being too close for too long will not keep the buff up (i went from 388 to 310 damage per shot)
6m = roughly the length of a training tile is VERY good info to have thank you. Billy absolutely seems perfect for shifting between close/far range like that
This video makes ZZZ sound 10x funner
Just happened to stumble across your video as I was curious about billy and this was an awesome explanation of him! Look forward to messing around with him now
I'm glad you liked the video, thanks for watching! Billy is sooo much fun I think I'm always going to prefer him over a lot of S-ranks even haha. Have fun experimenting!
I never realized you could just hold down the mouse instead of just mashing it, definitely feels a lot smoother
Cool stuff! I've been "labbing" Zhu Yuan via her trial missions and finding similarly cool combo routes and cancels with her strafe attacks
I can't wait for 1 minute Anton's in-depth guide!
Thie video makes me want to give zzz another try.
I didnt really like the game before as Ive seen way too few input controls on the early bits of the game.
Thank you.
If i end up enjoying it some more, it's all due to you.
Billy is an SSS-tier character for me. He is FUN to play and charming.
This for Billy and Monica's tech for her EX-Special are pretty damned amazing. The fact that the free characters are so decent (including Anby) is great.
AcTuAlLy:
You can keep Billy in crouch shot mode after using his special combo and ex special attack.
Immediately after either attack, use the dash attack > rolling shot, which will immediately place you back in crouched shot mode.
Yeah, but that's kinda boring and seeing billy do 360 and deal damage to multiple enemies just seems cooler
What's the difference between dash attack and rolling shot ? I kinda understand what he said but not fully, like i only understand when it's said in input
@@04cassiusphanthanhbinhjake
That's a cool question.
Rolling shot triples as a dodge, crowd control and burst damage. It shoots 2 shots, 1 into the direction Billy was already firing and the second in the opposite direction he's rolling towards.
If you're in crouched shot mode, *the game will remember that you were in crouch shot mode if you perform a rolling shot after whatever action you last performed, mainly his specials.* If you use his special and EX special while in crouching shot, *not only will the specials benefit from crouching shot's damage bonus, but by using a dash attack and a rolling shot immediately after, you will instantly re-enter crouching shot* .
If you play Billy correctly, you're inside the enemy's face constantly keeping crouching shot up while using Billy's special attacks and dodge counters, the former of which builds very quickly since his basic attack just inflates the energy bar.
@@Ze_N00B ahh i get it now, rolling shot is always better better since it still have the buffs,
You perform rolling shot by entering crouching mode, exit and cancel the jump back by using the dash attack to perform rolling shot correct ?
@@04cassiusphanthanhbinhjake
Yeah.
Aye! This is what I love to see!! Get that special awareness and learn that schmoovement!
Yoooo I didn't know my guy had started a ZZZ channel. I've been in a mini-media blackout cuz I love playing games like this myself first before I start really diving into the community but this is one of the easiest subs in my life. If you don't know Iyo the man cooks. Highly recommend him, esp if the ZZZ content is anything like how he covers HSR/WuWa.
Over the moon you liked the video! Tells me I'm on the right track haha
@@HCCasual aweeee thanks big dawg! You’re gonna make me blush! Haha 😅
wow i just thought of something... if you can go behind the enemies back anytime then neko's sig wengine is rly good for billy
For me its billys pierce, lining up 2-5 enemies and pressing the energy button and stun locking them is something amazing.
that's the thing, it's people creating the misconception about the combat system being "button mashing", like Nicole has a unique secret EX that you can do by holding the basic attack button, then doing a circle movement(D then W then A then S), you can choose between clicked or held(release the basic attack button when the animation starts or hold), there's also Anby's combo where after the third basic attack, you can pause for a sec then use attack for a different attack string
Im understand, why you are frustrated with the cinema. But I prefer cinema which transform my playstyle over cinema which just give me 20% more crit damage. And A-Rank, the first and second cinema are relatively easy to get in the medium term. Just wait for a boosted banner/search and you should get them without a big investment.
But to a certain degree, I still agree with you. C2 for billy is such a game changer that it is a shame that it is locked behind pull RNG. I would have this being part of his core kit and the new C2 buffing the flip dodge.
Edit: Almost forgot to say it. Great video! Finally found another billy enjoyer in the wild ^^
Yeah I think Billy is far from the WORST example in the world considering his C2 is definitely very attainable, but I'm just kinda concerned that this kind of tech is already getting locked behind the monetization cuz more than likely it'll only get worse as more characters get added. Lord knows trying to pull for 4 stars in a Hoyo game can sometimes be oddly harder than getting a 5 star lol
@HCCasual this is true unless they keep it how it is now 2 rated up A ranks per banner
Sadly that's just how HoYo monetized they games. But at least the cost is reasonable to a certain degree. Bully is an A rank so you will get all his Cinema eventually. And HoYo don't usually lock 5*/S rank character main functionality behind dupe so let hope they continue to do that for ZZZ.
This guy is definitely going to be my go to for everything on zzz i just know it 😭
Bro this is kind of an awesome video thank you for finally getting me to actually open zzz
Ayyy love to hear it! Have fun!
Thank you SO much for bringing these techs up! It was such a pain to get crouching shot set up normally every time i changed positions
Very happy I was able to help 🙏 hope you're having as much fun with Billy as I am haha
Billy is the DEFINITION of swag😎
Man, Billy is one of my favorite characters (he is such an adorable confident goofball eeeeee), although the playstyle I used was a bit too lacking. But damn, THIS way of playing him made me love him more.
Props to you man (although the way to earn cinemas for him will be tough). I honestly don’t care about if he is non-meta, it’s just fun as hell and I like his character.
That's absolutely the best way to look at the game imo. Forget the meta it's about your own fun :)
okay I might not be able to absorb all the tech with my smol brain, but I just wanna say that I love your content I hope you make more! really like the flow of it + the bigger picture of ZZZ and where it's headed. your vids have a lot of substance. subscribed!
Ayy thanks so much! There's absolutely more coming very soon (I'm working on an Anby video as we speak)
And I'm sure with a bit of practice any of the tech we're gonna discuss will be super attainable for you :)
At first glance i thought that billy was able to parry, but the double roll is much better!
Usually, how I would use Billy in ZZZ is almost like how you would use Dante’s ‘Gunslinger’ style, except it’s for crowd clearing.
If there’s a crowd of enemies, I would dash and press the attack button to make him do that spin attack with his pistols, not to mention, he’s a good damage dealer at ranged and could do pretty well on his own. Basically, my analysis is that; Billy is good as a Support character and a good damage dealer if he’s called for.
a thing i love about roaming gunslinger is how easy it is to do DP assists with billy bc of them, normally you need to get a very tight timing of dodge->counter->perfect assist by pressing the buttons almost simultaneously, but with billy I just trigger his rolling shot and do a perfect assist and its drastically easier
Yoo I could absolutely see how his rolling guard would make that quite a bit easier those i-frames are juicy
Billy's playstyle was already close to how I usually play in other games, always spamming that dodge whenever I can, so for me it was a pretty obvious choice, didn't have a single problem using him and even prefered him over my S ranked characters. Didn't even know people think he's a bad character until today.
Billy’s Core Skill is active as soon as he does the flip into so you can cancel the flip into ult or EX for the dmg increase, he keeps the dmg buff as long as he doesn’t move after activating it so he can for example stand still, dash around roll or attack ( doesn’t count as moving), Dodge an enemy attack, and EX and he will keep it the whole time as long as you don’t walk or run around with your normal movement option, standby means switching out which means he can’t get the buff on quick assist or his chain attack but thats it if you want a fast dps for like daze you can do basic-roll-cancel roll start up into EX-Ult the EX and Ult both will get the buff and if you don’t move after the ult you will still have the buff up if you still need it
Thanks for the guide! ZZZ is my first Hoyo game and overall I’m having a blast. After my first week I’ve been meaning to improve my combat skills with some tech so this video helps a lot. I’m looking forward to the game’s future and trying to get my Billy as flashy I can like the real Starlight Knight 💖
ZZZ is the best demo for DMC5 that I could have asked for
Right? I can't wait for all of the people who've never gotten into character action to become massive DMC fans after playing this lol
Admittedly my controller has drift, so I just thought this was normal and didn't realize people didn't always play him like this...
Yes! I love seeing people talk about the combat and combo details!
I need to see people like comparing mash to hold for Anton or Anomaly Buildup on multi hit moves from non Anomaly units!
His ultimate also does so much damage.
Also regarding Hoyo's gacha, its gotten better over time. You don't really need any Mind nodes at all. It just makes them easier to build.
Currently Zhu Yuan seems to be really f2p friendly. You don't even need any extra copies or her signature wengine.
Anton M1 does have this tech (maybe intentional, maybe not) where if you miss the first hit during burst mode, you'll stay in burst mode if you do the first drill attack only)
As a person who loves ZZZ including it’s combat, story (character writing especially), visuals, UI design, and even the TV grid exploration gameplay, I don’t think you’re discovering something about the game worth talking about. Your “extra movement” that you say you’ve “labbed out” is just including more dodges into your attack string. The complexity and nuance of the combat does not come from individual character kits.
The one “negative criticism” about the game that people make that I agree with is that individual characters are very simple. No, Soldier 11, Grace, and anybody else you can think of are not valid counterarguments not just because they are exceptions rather than the norm, but their extra “tech” is barely something you can refer to as skill expression. Trying to compare the individual character kits of zenzero characters with a kit from an individual character from *literally name any fighting game on the current mainstream market* is unreasonable and unrealistic.
The true depth of this game comes from a combination of situational awareness and team building. The simplistic controls are intentionally made that way in order to give the player a constant vector to interact with the game with since attack combo strings is genuinely just mashing. Every single character only has a single basic attack combo string. This isn’t a fighting game where you can string together essentially any move you want with each other to make unique combos. You either do the full basic attack, or you interrupt it to do a dash attack or charge the next attack if your character even has that mechanic like Lycaon.
The game is intentionally designed to require the same kind of instinctive thinking you utilize when playing fighting games yes, but you’d be genuinely delusional to believe that any amount of genuine skill expression or depth goes into how you execute attacks. If you watch people who are not complete beginners ply the game, there is no different nuance between how those different people play the game. You cannot analyze a specific technique or strategy because there is generally only one strategy you utilize for every single enemy, just that the timing of when you’re allowed to mash to build up daze is different.
Zenzero is a game that decides to take a foundation of fighting games, that being the method which the player connects to the game via controls (and by that I mean when you develop enough skill with fighting games, the quick execution of button presses becomes second nature to the point where the lightning quick movements are no longer conscious decisions. The simple controls of zenzero provide that exact same kind of “immersion” between the physical player’s body and the game world). It then uses this foundation as a way to bring the player to a new “gameplay setting” derived from ARPG norms (more specifically from zenzero’s spiritual gameplay predecessor, Honkai Impact 3rd).
Zenzero is a game about feeling and immersion. It is a vibe where every detail is intentional, from the inspirations to the world building, tone, and the graphic style which draws heavy inspiration from both manga and American comic book tropes (the character expressions are things you don’t see in comics but the 2D art scenes explicitly use comic book onomatopoeia). The character designs even look like a mix of manga and comic book character designs, although it does lean more towards manga. The inspirations are clear but Hoyo are clearly doing their own unique and new thing. If you cannot get the vibe straight from the get go, this game is not for you and never will be. I’m not saying this to gatekeep the game or anything (not that I think gatekeeping is always a bad thing in the first place but that’s beside the point). It’s just an objective fact. If you don’t get the game then you don’t get the game and that is perfectly fine. But if you don’t like it, don’t bash the game because of personal preference. Your opinion is valuable and every human being has the right to express views, as long as that expression doesn’t serve to fuel hate towards anybody who enjoys the game or the company that develops the game. Regardless of how you feel about Hoyoverse as a company, the only thing you do by spreading hate is making the experience worse for everybody, including yourself.
TL;DR: You get none. Read the entire thing or don’t bother at all
Wow, another hidden mechanic. I really love how the game gives you the basics as to not overwhelm you and rewards those who look for more depth either by themselves or with help like this video.
Great vid my guy. You done justice for ma boi Billy.
BILLY MAINS RISE UP!!
ngl Billy is my favorite so far. He's really fun to play
My guy, you don't need to cancel any animation, you just need to get into the Crounching Shot stance and from there you can do...almost everything, use your skill, first dodge attack, second dodge attack, your Crounching Shot stance will not be broken. I didn't notice the second dodge attack into Crounching Shot stance, thanks for the vid!
Billy has basically become my main. It's been really confusing seeing him at level 1 in all the background shots for people that are making these "best" teams videos. His movement just fits my playstyle.
I can confirm that staying still makes a difference. Let's say you have a stunned target. Hold that attack and you will see a damage jump after a second, then a smaller jump after another second. If you move at all, you lose that. You don't get a lot of opportunities to use it. More than 90% of the time you need to be more dynamic.
Videos like this are the exact thing I need cause after playing genshin and honkai ik how the upgrade systems work, I could care less for that aspect but stuff like chaining combos and improving your own gameplay is what I live for and I cant wait to see someone make a dedicated video for soldier 11s weird rhythm mechanic
Billy's going to be in Qingyi's banner, apparently, and SO many people complaining about how 'bad' her A-ranks are but Billy Mains should be pleased. :)
I started ZZZ today and Billy was smelling like monster hunter to me and after a bit of experimantation i figured out the second dodge stuff but now i see how much more there is to it
MY COMBO BRETHREN!!
I wish our community were more connected honestly. Stylish/Character Action Games are a passion of mine. They're perfect for me because I love the second to second decision making while also dealing with enemy attack strings, or juggling enemies for style at the same time. It's part of what makes these games so special.
People always as why you would even want to style on enemies if you can just mash... but like... YOU CAN BEAT DMCV WITH JUST MASHING!!! It doesn't mean you are playing it well or as intended. I feel like Zenless has a pretty medium height skill ceiling at least at the moment since it's using the annoying elite enemy stamina system (hit enemy until it fills... enemy sits there while you burst) --- I wish we could juggle elite enemies in FFXVI honestly.
There's a lot of problems with Zenless since it wants to have its cake and eat it too... Ellen for instance doesn't TRULY unlock until C2 as well sadly.
If people knew how hard it was to do the combos we in the action game community concoct and how deliberate it all is they wouldn't just wave it off as dumb. I've dealt with these goofballs since DMC3...
I like how you explain Billy kit here. Im not into that damage calc stuff since brain stupid, but seeing how you played Billy differently makes me think there is more to see in a character kit than they explained. Your explanation has sparked my interest to test character even if Im not gonna yield anything from the test.
The fact that I could make anyone excited to experiment and find stuff like this is kinda everything to me so thank you 🥰
Dude, wild commentary skills for someone with such a low sub-count! Charismatic and clear, awesome stuff!
Would be cool if this channel focused on specific tech like this. No character should be overlooked. And keeping the meta aside for these kinds of videos would be fantastic as well. The best characters are the ones you have after all.
That's my entire goal. I wanna share tech, I wanna talk about combos, I wanna focus on the gameplay above all else. I like doing decent damage ofc but I'll always find more fun in things that change the way you play the game in more substantial ways and provide more options to enjoy the experience :)
You do NOT call Billy Kid "dollar store deadpool".
He's just as cool as the real Deadpool on his own.
off topic, but thanks for adding the subtitles down the bottom! :D i often have a difficult time understanding/concentrating on spoken words so i really appreciate it (especially since - in my experience - it can take quite some time to write everything down again)
anyway!! cool to see a video on billy!! i dont care what the tier lists say, i WILL main (& kiss) the funny robot man
Thank you HC. This was a good video. Thank you for Theorizing and pulling this off. Sorry I wanna put game theory lines in this. hehe
we WILL be subbing for the Casual-Approved Super Secret Corin Combo Tech yessir
The streets need more appreciation for the lovely maid molded in steel cushions (as her former seat warmer ofc)
Cheers 🤝
With the way Billy plays I really wish he was a stunner instead of an attacker
dam, i thought you were a big content creator when i watched your vid. you need more recognition man cause i think ur vid is so informative and cool. Nice!
When billy has more personality than every character in genshin, honkai and wuwa
I'm happy you figured it out bru but I hope people don't think Billy aka one of the top five characters with best movement is a button mashy type of character. like it's beyond me how someone would play Billy for a few minutes and not be zooming all over the place
W video keep posting man
His c2 literally turns his rolling shot into perfect dodge counter
I already loved Billy and picked up on some of the technical side of how to use him. I've been putting this everywhere; I spin2win with Billy.
lycaon is a good stunner since compared to anby he can easily push enemies making it easy to group them up and use nicoles's chain ability to group them up and use billy's special to clean them all in one swoop. I manage to trigger chain so many times in one combo
This what i found from my own testing:
1. The bit about need to be crouch is kind of a lie, Billy normal special, spin, and piercing shot all benift from the damge buff if done while in steady aim, i could not test Ex special or other moves because the are too many numbers to read.
2. If you do 2 dash attacks back to back Billy first spins then does piercing shot, if you want to do spins back to back you can do a special attack and spin again, you can even cancel the start of the normal special
3. After a special or EX special you can press attack to continue the next auto attack in the chain, so if you are in steady aim, you can do a special and go right back into steady aim
I hope some found this lond comment helpful
I found it helpful so thank you :)
I think the entirety of ZZZ is intended not to be button mashing Soldier 11 is probably the most well known example since if you time your basic attacks she deals fire dmg
I can't play the game but showcasing the tech is pretty nifty. Good on you sir.
It’s crazy how much cooler the gameplay can be, aand actually deal more dmg as well as feel rewarding for pulling off plinking swaps as well as quick swaps from your breaker to your support to your breaker, to the dps etc.
Thanks for the Video!
I found it well explained, then only thing i might have gripes with is to translate all the moves names into buttons.
To not confuse players who haven’t read the names of the Abilities themselves.
Like doing both would create a pretty coherent guide ^^.
Otherwise, awesome stuff! We need more of these videos :D
I couldn't agree more! Once you really get into the meat and potatoes of all of the nuances behind this game's systems it's soooo satisfying to put it all together.
I hella appreciate the feedback too! That's a really helpful note! I was actually kinda wondering about notation for stuff like that since people have different input devices. I'll probably try out your suggestion next guide!
I played Genshin on and off for a while and learned from that experience how I wanted to play ZZZ. I ignored rankings, DPS, tier lists, and constellations (cinema) and just had fun with the game. I'm enjoying it so much more now that I'm naturally just learning new things about the characters and mechanics and not striving to create a top tier team. I've managed to get some S Rank character s like Ellen and Koleda and I haven't even touched them because I'm still enjoying Nicole, Any, and Billy and going to the arcade and taking pictures of cats. Going to take my sweet time and not rush to create a maxed out S Rank team.
This is the way
For the people worrying about Billys C powers they will come A ranks come quickly in Hoyogames just wait for a banner to have Billy on Bonus in it and go nuts. I pulled a total of 80 pulls on Ellens banner and nearly maxed both Anton (C4) and did max (C6) Soukaku.
Actually use him as a crowd clearer, when the enemies are far apart. His slide shot can take down a chunk and his ult finishes them off. Stable in my teams.
Using this much ammo is gonna cost a Lung and a kidney
Good thing Billy has neither!