Disorders and Anomaly buildup in Zenless Zone Zero explained

Both Disorder and Anomaly buildup are two of the most important aspects of Zenless Zone Zero combat. Understanding one is not possible without the other, making each mechanic a single note in the game's harmony of players vs. challenging enemies. Both of these terms will be foreign to even long-time fans of HoYoverse games, as Zenless Zone Zero takes a different approach.

This article will guide you through both Disorders and Anomaly buildup in Zenless Zone Zero and help you understand what each of the terms means. Since there are a few other mechanics added to both Disorder and Anomaly buildup, understanding them first will make things easier.

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Understanding Disorder and Anomaly buildup in Zenless Zone Zero

1) 'Anomalies' in Zenless Zone Zero

Before going into Disorder and Anomaly buildup, let us go over what 'Anomaly' is in Zenless Zone Zero. An 'Anomaly' is the same as an element or a status/status effect in any other game. Hence, the term "Anomaly buildup' refers to building up a status effect or a reaction with an Anomaly.

Soldier 11 with Fire as the main Anomaly (Image via HoYoverse)

Additional examples of reactions are listed below:

There are five Anomalies in Zenless Zone Zero, including Fire, Ice, Electric, Physical, and Ether. Both 'Disorder' and 'Anomaly buildup' are associated with the reactions.

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2) What is 'Anomaly buildup'?

Attacking an enemy with any one of the Anomaly (elemental) attacks mentioned above will start accumulating a threshold of that Anomaly on the enemy until it reaches a certain point for "reaction." Hence the term, "Anomaly buildup." Think of it like an invisible bar on enemies that slowly fills up after receiving attacks from a specific Anomaly or element.

Continuous attacks with the element will eventually fill that bar, allowing players to trigger a reaction associated with the element that is being used for attack. Let us take Electric as an example here. If you hit an enemy with Electric attacks, that opponent will build up an Electric anomaly within it. Once the attacks reach a threshold, a "Shock" reaction will be triggered.

Shock debuff triggered on an enemy in Zenless Zone Zero (Image via HoYoverse)

Anomaly on any reaction can be built using skills, basic attacks, ultimate, and chain attacks. Here is a list of all 'reactions' that can be triggered with each Anomaly buildup:

• Burn: Fire + Fire
• Freeze: Ice + Ice
• Shock: Electric + Electric
• Corruption: Ether + Ether
• Assault: Physical + Physical

Building up Anomaly on certain enemies is easier due to certain faction weaknesses against specific Anomalies. For example, Fire deals more damage against Organic, while Electric deals more damage against Robots. Lastly, Ether is known to have an increased effect against Ether enemies, allowing players to deal increased damage with the Anomaly hits and reactions.

Building up Freeze with Ice Anomaly (Image via HoYoverse)

However, it is very important to note that each enemy will build resistance within itself if a character keeps hitting it with the same Anomaly. For example, if a player keeps attacking a Robot with Electric damage, it will eventually grow resistance against that damage type, eventually leading to less outgoing damage from players. This is where "Disorder" comes in.

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3) 'Disorder' explained

Disorder is a reaction that can be triggered by mixing a certain Anomaly with a different one. Since creating Anomaly reactions will eventually create resistance in the enemy for that specific Anomaly, the Disorder will break that resistance to deal extra damage.

For example, if you have Shock Anomaly built up on an enemy, you can then start building up Burn with Fire to apply the Disorder debuff. Here, the "Anomaly Buildup" is being done twice, once with Electric and then with Fire.

Disorder triggered on an enemy in Zenless Zone Zero (Image via HoYoverse)

The damage of Disorder, in this case, will depend on the damage of the first applied debuff, which is Shock. Hence, it is ideal to trigger the second debuff as fast as possible for increased DPS in combat.