Table of Contents
Pros
Champion Zerato is immune to Stun, Sleep, and Blind, and can counterattack when he is debuffed. He can also transfer two debuffs to his enemies while healing himself. His Skill 3 (S3) can Defense Break and Attack Down (also ignores Resist with Soulburn).
Cons
Unfortunately, he relies on enemy debuffs and is countered by immunity. He also requires team support for better sustainability.
Champion Zerato Summary
With his new buffs, Champion Zerato became the ideal solution to the debuff meta, along with Dizzy, Seaside Bellona, and Basar, with his counterplay mechanic and immunity to most crowd control debuffs.
Additionally, he is one of the most reliable units in PvE (Player vs. Environment) and a great option in PvP (Player vs. Player), especially in GW (Guild Wars) and RTA (Real-Time Arena).
Skill 1: Earthen Rage (Multiplier: 0.95)
He attacks two enemies, including the target, with an earthen blast, transferring two debuffs from the caster to the enemy, and recovering the caster’s Health.
The amount of Health recovered increases proportionally to the caster’ max Health. Therefore, his ordinary skill can attack two enemies, transferring two debuffs back to them and also healing himself about 5% of his maximum Health. This skill has a good damage multiplier.
His s1 synergies very well with his S2 and makes him the best unit to counter heavy duty debuffs, like SSB, Basar, or Dizzy. Champion Zerato can counterattack and transfer Defense Break, Unbuffable Slow or Attack down back to them and their allies.
With a good base Attack and a Life-steal set, Champion Zerato can perform difficult counterattacks and heal himself for better sustainability.
Skill 2: Iron Will (Passive)
His second skill makes him immune to Stun, Sleep, and decreases a Hit Chance. It has an 80% chance to counterattack when the caster is debuffed after being attacked.
Champion Zerato has one of the most unique and most potent passive skills in the game. With a mola upgrade, he has a 100% chance to counterattack if he is debuffed after being attacked.
Whenever he is debuffed, he counterattacks transfers his debuffs back to his enemies and heals himself with his S1. However, he cannot counter debuff skills that don’t deal damage, like Kluri’s S3 or Lilias’s S2.
Another strong point is his added immunity to Stun, Sleep, and Blind. It makes him unable to be controlled by any crowd-control debuffs. You can still Provoke Champion Zerato with Kluri or Lilias, but when you attack him, he will counterattack and transfer the Provoke debuff back to you and your allies.
Skill 3: Cataclysm (Cooldown: 5 turns, Multiplier:1.0)
Champion Zerato attacks all enemies by slamming rocks, with a 60% chance each to decrease Defense and Attack for two turns. It also Increases the caster’s Defense for two turns. It has a Soulburn Effect, which ignores Effect Resistance.
Champion Zerato is the only unit in the game that can apply both an AoE (Area of Effect) Defense Break and Attack-down debuff in a single skill. It also buffs his Defense for two turns when used. With his ability to continually debuff enemies and heal himself, he is rather hard to defeat.
Finally, he is also the only unit who can use a Soulburn Effect to apply an AoE Defense break with an Ignore-Effect Resistance. Twenty souls are quite a lot, but it is worth this effect.
PvE Content
Champion Zerato is one of the few units that can do most Hunts solo.
Golem 11
He can’t be stunned by Golem’s counterattack. With his passive skill, he can counter and transfer a Defense Break back to Golem and his minions. It’s not necessary to bring another Defense breaker when you use him. Just pair him with an intense Fire DPS (like Cermia, Serila, and Mellisa) and a healer to make this run safer.
Banshee 11
Champion Zerato can solo this Hunt as well. Banshee and her Mistychains can all apply debuffs with their attack, so he can counterattack them transfer back their Poison debuff to kill them faster, while you and heal yourself. Nonetheless, he will need a Chatty or a Proof of Valor Artifact and a high Attack stat to survive against their damage. If you need a stable auto-team, use Champion Zerato with an Angelic Montmorancy and two Fodders.
Wyvern 11
This is not an excellent place for Champion Zerato because Wyvern does not have any debuff, and his Dark Elemental is also a disadvantage.
Azimanak 11
Azimanak is the best solo run for him. He can even do it at Level 50 with an Abyss set and a Lela Violin Artifact. It is not a long run because he can kill mobs and the Boss rather quickly with their Poison and Bleed debuffs.
However, the most crucial aspect of obtaining a 100% successful solo Hunt is to equip him with a lela Violin Artifact to dispel the Berserk buff from the Boss. If the Berserk buff reaches Level 4, the Boss and produce a massive damage, making it hard for you to survive. If you don’t have the lela Violin Artifact, you are still able to succeed with a Kal’ Adra or Daydream Joker. But, he must have very high stats, mainly attack, and a bit of luck to be debuffed by the Boss every turn.
Raid and Abyss
It is rare to use Champion Zerato in Abyss. But with rather high morale, he is perfect for Raids and Hell Raids. He can be used for both Hell Raid Bosses, particularly Hell Karkanis, because he can transfer the debuffs back to her. His Defense Break and Attack-down effect are also very useful to reduce damage from the Boss when his HP is less than 40%.
PvP Content
In PVP, he is rarely used in defense teams because he requires debuffs to become stronger.
Passive Relies on Debuffs
His Passive skill relies immensely on enemies who apply debuffs so you can counter their attacks and transfer debuffs. Therefore, if you combat DPS who do not cause debuffs, such as Luna, BBK, or A.Coli or enemies that have Immunity, Champion Zerato is simply a lackluster bruiser and will be defeated quickly.
Works Best With Offensive Teams
He works best when used in offense teams, especially in GW or RTA, to fight against Dizzy, Basar, SSB, or any AoE Defense breaker. However, the gameplay has shown that he can perform adequately when fighting against Dizzy or Basar, but still has trouble when fighting against SSB.
He can transfer back her debuffs, but his counterattack also provides her two more stacks, which enables her to Defense break your team.
Low Base Health
Despite his sustainability and survivability, Champion Zerato is still a Mage with a low base Health. He can’t survive against massive AoE damage from SSB without substantial support from his teammates.
His base speed is low, and his S3 has a long cooldown period. His kit is also countered by immunity. He needs a buff stripper or the lela Violin artifact to do his job efficiently.
Build
PvE
For PvE, you can use the standard Life-steal build. His primary role is to counter bosses and sustain himself until they die continually. A Life-steal/Critical build with an Abyss set is an excellent option to maximize his damage output.
An Abyss set has decent amounts of HP stats to help him survive the damage as well. In regards to Artifacts, it will depend on the gameplay. You can choose Kal’adra in Golem and Raid, Chatty and Proof of Valor for Banshee, and lela Violin in Azimanak.
PvP
For PvP, you can choose between a Life-steal/Critical and a Counter/Critical build. It depends on your enemies’ team. If they have units with debuffs, A Life-steal/Critical set is better. However, if they use pure DPS, you can use a Counter/Critical set to have better chances to counter them. With this build, he will not have a Life-steal capability, so he will need more support from a Healer to survive.
Artifacts
Concerning Artifacts, it’s not a great idea to give him a Tagahel Book unless you need it to Soulburn for another unit. You can also use a lela Violin if your team doesn’t have any strippers, an Abyssal Crown to have more chances to stun enemies while countering them or an Etica’s Scepter for long fights.
Overall, Champion Zerato is a PvE slayer and an excellent counter for debuffs in PvP.