Zankou arrived as a playable character in version 1.3 of NTE, moving from Scarlet Letter antagonist to an Incantation DPS you can actually pilot. Her damage comes from a mix of damage-over-time and Follow-Up attacks, and she leans hard on crit stats to make either half of that work. Get the crit foundation right and she holds up as a main damage carry.
Quick answer: Equip the Ravenous Blade Arc, run a four-piece Crimson: Twin Butterflies console, roll Crit Damage or Incantation Damage as your main stat, and level her Basic Attack, Ultimate, and both passives before anything else.
Zankou build summary in NTE
| Build piece | What to use |
|---|---|
| Role | Incantation main DPS (DoT and Follow-Up damage) |
| Best Arc | Ravenous Blade |
| Console set | Crimson: Twin Butterflies (four-piece) |
| Main stat | Crit Damage or Incantation Damage |
| Sub-stats | Crit Rate, Crit Damage, Attack |
| Level first | Basic Attack, Ultimate, both passives |
Crimson: Twin Butterflies console and stat targets
She is a main DPS, so the console choice is simple. Crimson: Twin Butterflies raises her Incantation damage and then feeds her attack every time the team lands Incantation damage on a nearby enemy.
| Pieces | Effect |
|---|---|
| 2-piece | Incantation DMG +10% |
| 4-piece | +6% ATK when a nearby enemy takes Incantation DMG from the team, stacking up to 6 times. Each stack lasts 10 seconds and stays active even while she is off-field. |
The off-field clause matters more than it looks. Because the stacks persist through swaps, an Incantation partner can keep her attack buff topped up while she is benched, so she comes back on with the buff already running.
For stats, prioritise Crit Damage or Incantation Damage on the main slot, then chase Crit Rate, Crit Damage, and Attack in the sub-stats. Nothing else is worth rolling for on her.
Best Arcs for Zankou
Ravenous Blade is her signature Arc and the clear pick if you pulled it. Between its passive and its sub-stat it hands her 40 percent Crit Rate outright, which frees up your console rolls for Crit Damage instead. On top of that, dealing Incantation damage stacks Crit Damage up to seven times, worth 63 percent at full stacks.
| Arc | Why it works on her |
|---|---|
| Ravenous Blade | Signature option. 40% Crit Rate from the passive and sub-stat, plus up to 63% Crit Damage across seven stacks when she deals Incantation damage. |
| Contemplative Cat | Chiz’s signature Arc used purely as a stat stick. The Cosmos damage bonus is dead weight on her, but the 44% Crit Damage is not. |
| Watch Your Heads! | Fallback if you have neither of the above. |
| Cosmos Daze, Wild Reverie | Fallback if you have neither of the above. |
| Tears Beneath the Mask | Fallback if you have neither of the above. |
Skill leveling order
Her Basic Attack carries most of her damage, so it goes up first alongside her Ultimate. Unlock both passives as early as your materials allow, because they gate a large share of what she does.
| Priority | Ability |
|---|---|
| 1 | Basic Attack, Ultimate, Passive 1 and Passive 2 |
| 2 | Skill |
| 3 | Support Skill |
The Support Skill can wait until everything else is maxed. Levelling it early costs you materials without moving her damage in any meaningful way.
Best Zankou teams in NTE
Zankou wants field time and partners who either break enemies open or keep her buffs running while she is on screen. These three lineups cover the version 1.3 roster.
| Zankou’s partners | Notes |
|---|---|
| Iroi, Daffodill, Sakiri | Iroi’s healing-driven buffs plus Daffodill’s Break pressure, with Sakiri filling the support slot. |
| Sakiri, Adler, Daffodill | Trades Iroi for Adler if you need shielding and extra Incantation damage over time in the back line. |
| Lacrimosa, Sakiri, Adler | A sturdier variant that leans on Adler for survivability during long on-field windows. |
Linko is a version 1.3 character who has not released yet, and she is expected to become one of Zankou’s strongest partners once she is playable. Until then, treat the lineups above as the ceiling.
Build checks before you commit materials
Two mistakes account for most underperforming Zankou builds. The first is stacking Crit Rate on both the Arc and the console while running Ravenous Blade, which wastes rolls that should have gone into Crit Damage. The second is pairing her with a team that never applies Incantation damage, since the four-piece console bonus only builds attack stacks when Incantation damage lands on a nearby enemy.
Note: If those attack stacks are not appearing during a fight, the problem is almost always the team composition rather than the console pieces themselves.
Built this way, Zankou stays a straightforward character to run. Feed her crit stats, keep an Incantation partner in the rotation to hold her console stacks alive, and spend your first upgrade materials on her Basic Attack, Ultimate, and passives.
