Full Build Friday - Grace Howard [Human Mechanic] (Patreon)

Stepping onto the scene is ZZZ's original foot queen! I think the mechanic is a very cool class so I wanted to exhibit it a little bit more along with a character all the way back from the start of ZZZ. Her potential unlock added some very fun stuff to play with though I'm not sure she's that much more effective.

In any case, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in my best attempt to fit the character. These choices may not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.

Lace up your boots and step into this build for Grace Howard from Zenless Zone Zero!

GRACE HOWARD

SOURCE Zenless Zone Zero

BUILD GOALS

o    Following the death of her Hollow researcher parts, Grace fell under the care of Khors Belobog and developed a fixation of all things mechanical

o    After graduating from the Roose Institute of Technology, she returned to Belobog Heavy Industries as their main mechanic and developer of intelligent machinery

o    She’s an anomaly agent looking to overload enemies with electricity through her grenades and nail gun

o    Obstruction Removal hurls two electric grenades that can consume Zap to generate an electromagnetic field that drags enemies in

o    Demolition Blast – Beware launches a custom grenade that splits into four more and then grants her Zap and Pulse. With Pulse, she can hold her special attack and continually launch grenades

o    Her passive allows her to build up Zap through her basic and dash attacks

o    With her mindscapes, she generates energy for herself and others, reduces electricity resistance, and further boosting up grenades that are charged up with Zap

o    The Fusion Compiler Exclusive W-Engine is very basic and just amps her anomaly proficiency when she uses a special attack

Summary of Goals: Grace is the definition of a gearhead, but that isn’t entirely relevant in her kit, which is instead pretty filled with grenades. Technically, her primary weapon is a modified nail gun, but her dodge throws a grenade, her assist throws a grenade, her chain attack throws three grenades, and her special attack launches a ton of grenades. These grenades should be dealing electricity damage, which I’ll want to work into her kit as much as I can. It would also be fun to find a way to make her quickened, inspired by her Evasive Assist and character demo.

LEVEL 1

Ancestry & Heritage: Cataclyst Human

o    Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Dex, +Int

o    Ancestry Feat: Dragon Spit – electric arc

Background: Mechanic

o    Ability Boosts: +Int, +Dex

o    Skill Increase: Crafting (T), Engineering Lore (T)

o    Background Feat: Quick Repair

Class & Subclass: Mechanic

o    Class Ability Boost: +Int

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (T), Arcana (T), Athletics (T), Computers (T), Medicine (T), Piloting (T), Society (T), Thievery (T)

o    Class Feat: Critical Explosion

o    Exocortex: Mine

Details

o    Ability Boosts: +Str, +Dex, +Con, +Int (Str +1, Dex +3, Con +1, Int +4, Wis +0, Cha +0)

When I started building Grace, I did try to take a look at the available ancestries and see if there was anything that could really take advantage of the electricity or grenades that she uses. I briefly looked at the urog before deciding that giant, crystalline bugs were too big a deviation from the character. However, there are certainly aspects of the human ancestry that she can make use of, and the cataclyst heritage is a pretty perfect fit for the setting of her home game. She is a mechanic twice over between her background and class, which works quite fantastically with her, and while they aren’t exactly the usual grenades she tosses around – and don’t deal electricity damage – she does still use the mine exocortex. This grants her an explosive that she will eventually be able to convert to electricity damage. Between that and her Critical Explosion, she’ll be able to inflict persistent damage with her mines, which does actually manage to resemble the electricity anomaly she excels at building up. It’s a pretty basic but solid foundation to build off of.

LEVEL 2

o    Class Feat: Grenade Specialist

o    Skill Feat: Specialty Crafting

o    Gear: reusable grenade shell

LEVEL 3

o    General Feat: Fleet

o    Skill Increase: Computers (E), Thievery (E)

o    Mechanic’s Ingenuity: Electrical Engineer

o    Gear: tactical arc pistol, reusable grenade shell, ring of discretion

LEVEL 4

o    Class Feat: Grenadier Dedication

o    Skill Feat: Akiton Battery Hack

o    Gear: programmer’s plushie, tactical arc pistol, trusty helmet, reusable grenade shell

LEVEL 5

o    Ability Boosts: +Dex, +Int, +Wis, +Cha (Str +1, Dex +4, Con +1, Int +4.5, Wis +1, Cha +1)

o    Ancestry Feat: Technomagical Scrapper

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (E), Crafting (E), Occultism (T)

o    Gear: advanced arc pistol, programmer’s plushie, crafter’s eyepiece, trusty helmet, reusable grenade shell, ring of discretion

As I said, mines aren’t exactly grenades. But Grace can start getting into them with this block’s Grenade Specialist providing her with free grenades and the Grenadier Dedication letting her use them with far greater ease. Those are obvious choices that can be further complimented by the likes of Akiton Battery Hack, which she is only able to take through Electrical Engineer. Specialty Crafting could go a couple of ways for her. Robotics might fit best with what we see of her work, but I think an argument could be made for engineering or explosives. Though that last one is just because it is used to make her explosives, like her grenades. Technomagical Scrapper is a big boon for her skills, letting her get up to expert in four skills by the time she takes it in concert with her mechanic’s ingenuity. Notable, fifth level also has damage customizations, which is a modification that lets her convert a weapon’s damage type. Since mines can have fire damage, she can use her Energy Versatility mod to swap that out for electricity damage to better resemble her bombs.

LEVEL 6

o    Class Feat: Maneuvering Mines

o    Skill Feat: Tech Crafting

o    Gear: tactical freebooter armor, advanced arc pistol, commercial firebot, programmer’s plushie, tactical dragon gland (electricity), trusty helmet

LEVEL 7

o    General Feat: Combat Hack

o    Skill Increase: Computers (M), Crafting (M)

o    Mechanic’s Ingenuity: Inventor

o    Gear: schematic scanner, tactical freebooter armor, tactical quick-charge hand, advanced arc pistol, programmer’s plushie, charlatan’s gloves

LEVEL 8

o    Class Feat: Plentiful Grenades

o    Skill Feat: Impeccable Crafting

o    Gear: advanced quick-charge hand, vaultbreaker’s harness, schematic scanner, tactical freebooter armor, advanced arc pistol, commercial firebot

LEVEL 9

o    Ancestry Feat: Natural Ambition – Spontaneous Crafting

o    Skill Increase: Thievery (M)

o    Gear: advanced freebooter armor, advanced quick-charge hand, bounding boots, schematic scanner, lesser mirror goggles, advanced arc pistol

LEVEL 10

o    Ability Boosts: +Dex, +Con, +Int, +Wis (Str +1, Dex +4.5, Con +2, Int +5, Wis +2, Cha +1)

o    Class Feat: Selective Blast

o    Skill Feat: Phreaker

o    Gear: greater charlatan’s gloves, advanced freebooter armor, shock module, advanced quick-charge hand, schematic scanner, advanced arc pistol

Maneuvering Mines maneuvers people rather than her mines and with the Black Hole mod it provides, she has a decent way of representing her Vortex Cluster Grenade outside of it being a grenade. Her remaining class feats focus on such consumable weapons with Plentiful Grenades allowing her to make even more of them each day and Selective Blast meaning that she can avoid nailing her allies with her electric explosives, which isn’t usually an issue in ZZZ. She does sneak in another mechanic class feat through the belated use of Natural Ambition to gain Spontaneous Crafting, which opens up a funky little option. Ammunition is typically classified under weapons. Which should mean that she can create a commercial battery with this feat. And then, she can Battery Hack said battery to turn it into a commercial electromag grenade – technically granting her an unlimited number of grenades per day. They’re weak, but they’re there and that’s kind of fun. On the skill side of things, she gets a mix of Computers and Crafting skill feats to demonstrate her in-depth of such topics, including a Combat Hack that even replaces her general feat. It also, hopefully helpful, calls to mind her introductory scene or encounter with Witchhunter Alpha while trying to disable it.

LEVEL 11

o    General Feat: Barricade

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (M)

o    Gear: superior arc pistol, greater charlatan’s gloves, magical mixtape, advanced freebooter armor, advanced quick-charge hand, bounding boots

LEVEL 12

o    Class Feat: Disorienting Grenades

o    Skill Feat: Percussive Maintenance

o    Gear: superior freebooter armor, superior arc pistol, energy robe (electricity), greater charlatan’s gloves, shock module, tactical programmer’s plushie

LEVEL 13

o    Ancestry Feat: Stubborn Persistence

o    Skill Increase: Engineering Lore (E)

o    Gear: elite arc pistol, superior freebooter armor, greater crafter’s eyepiece, energy robe (electricity), greater charlatan’s gloves, thunderblast slippers

LEVEL 14

o    Class Feat: Plentiful Grenades

o    Skill Feat: Delayed Disable

o    Gear: superior quick-charge hand, elite arc pistol, limscan lenses, superior freebooter armor, energy robe (electricity), gloves of precision

LEVEL 15

o    Ability Boosts: +Dex, +Con, +Int, +Cha (Str +1, Dex +5, Con +3, Int +5.5, Wis +2, Cha +2)

o    General Feat: Dive for Cover

o    Skill Increase: Computers (L), Crafting (L)

o    Mechanic’s Ingenuity: Craft Anything

o    Gear: elite freebooter armor, superior quick-charge hand, superior null space chamber, elite arc pistol, greater crafter’s eyepiece, ring of maniacal devices

In addition to getting even more grenades each day with Plentiful Grenades, Grace gains Disorienting Grenades this block so that she can potentially mix in some Strikes from her arc pistol with greater ease. Percussive Maintenance may seem a touch out of place with the mechanic having the Troubleshoot modification, but I think it’s fun to gamble on that crit for a weapon that’s glitching 2. Delayed Disable is based on the Thievery she’s been investing in, which is entirely inspired by her technical know-how and love of taking things apart. Craft Anything is an obvious choice while Dive for Cover is, along with Barricade, again inspired by her encounter with Witchhunter Alpha and her attempt at approaching the manic mecha. Meanwhile, Stubborn Persistence is inspired by her character teaser and one of my main reasons behind using the human ancestry in the first place.

LEVEL 16

o    Class Feat: Double Toss

o    Skill Feat: Kip Up

o    Gear: tactical shock module, elite freebooter armor, advanced programmer’s plushie, superior quick-charge hand, elite arc pistol, limscan lenses

LEVEL 17

o    Ancestry Feat: Too Stubborn to Die

o    Skill Increase: Thievery (L)

o    Gear: ultimate arc pistol, elite quick-charge hand, tactical shock module, elite freebooter armor, moderate clarity goggles, superior null space chamber

LEVEL 18

o    Class Feat: Exploitive Assault

o    Skill Feat: Dirty Trick

o    Gear: crown of intellect, ultimate arc pistol, major crown of the fire eater, tactical shock module, elite freebooter armor, advanced programmer’s plushie

LEVEL 19

o    General Feat: Gift Grenade

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (L)

o    Gear: ultimate freebooter armor, crown of intellect, 17, ultimate arc pistol, elite quick-charge hand, tactical shock module

LEVEL 20

o    Ability Boosts: +Str, +Con, +Int, +Wis (Str +2, Dex +5, Con +4, Int +6, Wis +3, Cha +2)

o    Class Feat: Multitasker

o    Skill Feat: Tumbling Theft

o    Skill Increase: Stealth (T)

o    Gear: paragon arc pistol, ultimate freebooter armor, inexplicable apparatus, crown of intellect, tactical animated intelligence, major crown of the fire eater

By gaining Double Toss at sixteenth level, Grace can potentially throw up to four grenades in a single turn. She shouldn’t necessarily do so depending on resources, but it is an option that can ostensibly cover the state she enters when continually lobbing grenades. She touches on her Mindscapes perhaps for the first time in this build with Exploitive Assault helping her to punch through the defenses of her foes while Multitasker means that after she’s thrown four grenades in six seconds, she still has an action left over to Detonate a Mine. Between this quickened action and her instant mods feature, she should feel like time is moving slow enough to simulate her vital view or character demo. Kip Up helps with that too by letting her stand up as a free action, and then she gets a little Fallout with Dirty Trick into Gift Grenade. When these are coupled with Tumbling Theft and Battery Hack, it gives her an option for a silly little idea. While fighting an enemy that has batteries, she can keep trying to Tumble Through that enemy until she critically succeeds and triggers Tumbling Theft. She can then turn that stolen battery into a grenade with Akiton Battery Hack. Finally, she can return the person’s ‘battery’ to them with Gift Grenade. Is it optimal? Not remotely? Is it kind of hilarious? I certainly think so.

FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: Firstly, the Grenadier Dedication has a few more fun feats that could fit in, such as Long Thrower, Extra Rebound, or Breaching Grenades. Another option, and one that synergizes fantastically with the grenadier, is a Soldier Dedication. Once she has Suppressing Fire and Primary Target, she can use the grenadier’s Soldier Synchronization to mesh those abilities together and treat her grenades as area burst weapons that can also be used in soldier feats. It will let her get even more out of her grenades, including the high-powered option of Brutal Barrage.

BUILD CONCLUSION

Grace Howard the Iron Witch is a cataclyst human mechanic twice over with a mine exocortex. Between a mechanic background and class, I think I've done a good job of demonstrating her fixation and her position within Belobog Heavy Industries, further demonstrated by her investment in Crafting. With a focus on electromag grenades that she can create through Grenade Specialist and Akiton Battery Hack, as well as Energy Versatility letting her turn change mines to electric damage, she has her element down pat. The anomaly aspect of it comes through in her Critical Explosion and the persistent damage that it can inflict and Disorienting Grenades inflicting a sort of flinch effect like it does in ZZZ. Double Toss launches a pair of grenades per her Obstruction Removal while the electromagnetic field of her Vortex Cluster Grenade becomes apparent through her Maneuvering Mines. Either these mines or her grenades could serve as her Demolition Blast while the resultant Pulse and the continual launching of grenades is best expressed through Double Toss and then the Quick Toss of the Grenadier Dedication potentially letting her get four grenades out in a turn. As well as Detonating a Mine through Multitasker. Exploitive Assault lets her reduce the electricity resistance of her foe and her Big Boom Modification lets her soup up one of her grenades or mines to turn the battlefield into a symphony of destruction.

This sisterly sweetheart sees cybernetics as squirts and sprats to be sweetly spoiled but sends scene-shattering shocks to the system through a surplus of severe snares.

Have a fantastic Friday!