Zenless Zone Zero’s Soukaku is one of Section 6’s fighters, helping to push back against the Hollows appearing in New Eridu. She’s got some strong moves that deal both physical and ice damage, and here, we’ll go through her combat abilities, who she is, and how best to build her.
Make sure to check out our in-depth guides covering all of the available Zenless Zone Zero characters, our Zenless Zone Zero tier list, and our Zenless Zone Zero codes list. Plus, we’ve got build guides for more powerful agents like Zenless Zone Zero’s Nicole, Zenless Zone Zero’s Billy, and Zenless Zone Zero’s Zhu Yuan.
Here is everything you need to know about Zenless Zone Zero’s Soukaku.
What is the best Soukaku build?
Soukaku is an A-tier support character capable of dealing ice-infused slash damage. Her kit revolves around supporting her squadmates with attack buffs and quick-swap abilities, and she’s capable of dealing both physical and ice damage.
We recommend equipping Soukaku with the Bashful Demon W-Engine, a four-piece set of Hormone Punk drive discs, and a two-piece set of Polar Metal. Focus on increasing her attack ratio, ice damage bonus, and energy regeneration.
| Best W-Engine | Bashful Demon |
| Best drive discs | Four-piece Hormone Punk and two-piece Polar Metal, or vice versa, or four-piece Swing Jazz and two-piece Hormone Punk (only if not already running Swing Jazz) |
| Main stats | Attack ratio > ice damage bonus > energy regeneration |
| Sub-stats | Attack ratio > attack > anomaly proficiency > crit rate/damage |
You can also increase Soukaku’s damage by having another ice anomaly agent in the squad like Zenless Zone Zero’s Ellen, or another member of Section 6 like Zenless Zone Zero’s Miyabi when she arrives in-game.
What are Soukaku’s best W-Engines?
Soukaku’s signature A-Rank W-Engine, Bashful Demon, is a great choice for her as it increases her ice damage and provides a team-wide attack buff whenever you use an EX special attack. That being said, any support-aligned W-Engine will work if you don’t have Bashful Demon yet.
| W Engine | Effect |
| Bashful Demon | Increases Soukaku’s ice damage. Increases all squad members’ attack when launching an EX special attack for 12 seconds, stacking up to four times. Retriggering refreshes duration and this effect cannot stack |
| Unfettered Game Ball | Whenever Soukaku’s attack triggers an attribute counter effect, all squad members’ crit rate against the struck enemy increases for 12 seconds. This effect cannot stack |
What are the best drive discs for Soukaku?
We recommend equipping Soukaku with a four-piece set of Hormone Punk for a solid switch-in attack buff and a two-piece set of Polar Metal to increase her ice damage output. You can also try swapping the two around for a more ice-heavy build, especially if you’re running multiple ice attribute agents.
If no other agent in your squad is running Swing Jazz, you can give the full set to Soukaku alongside two pieces of Polar Metal to access the powerful team-wide damage buff while also increasing her ice damage.
Of course, this information is subject to change as we experiment more with Soukaku and her kit.
| Drive discs | Effect |
| Hormone Punk | Two equipped: Increases attack by 10% Four equipped: Soukaku’s attack increases by 25% for ten seconds upon entering combat or switching in. This can trigger once every 20 seconds |
| Polar Metal | Two equipped: Increases ice damage by 10% Four equipped: Increases basic attack and dash attack damage by 20%. When any squad member inflicts freeze or shatter, this effect increases by an additional 20% for 12 seconds |
| Swing Jazz | Two equipped: Increases energy regeneration by 20% Four equipped: Launching a chain attack or ultimate increases all squad members’ damage by 15% for 12 seconds. This effect cannot stack |
Soukaku stat recommendations
Aim for these main and sub-stats on Soukaku’s drive discs:
Main stats:
- Attack ratio
- Ice damage bonus
- Energy regeneration
Sub-stats:
What are Soukaku’s skills?
Here are all of Soukaku’s active and passive skills that help her support the team.
Soukaku’s attacks:
| Skill | Effect |
| Basic attack – Making Rice Cakes | Unleashes up to three attacks, dealing physical damage |
| Basic attack – Making Rice Cakes (Frosted Banner) | When Frosted Banner is active, press the basic attack button to unleash up to three faster attacks, dealing ice damage |
| Special attack – Cooling Bento (press) | Press the special attack button to release a wind current in front of Soukaku and unleash her finishing move, dealing ice damage. Her anti-interrupt level increases while using this skill and she takes 40% less damage. Holding the special attack button during this skill can quickly transition to Fly the Flag |
| Special attack – Rally! (hold) | Hold the special attack button to activate. Soukaku plunges her weapon into the ground, morphing it into a flag and launching Fly the Flag, dealing ice damage. Hitting an enemy with Fly the Flag triggers a quick assist (A Set for Two). Pressing the basic attack or special attack buttons during Fly the Flag activates a special attack as she retracts the flag, dealing ice damage. If Soukaku owns three stacks of Vortex upon using Fly the Flag, she consumes all three stacks and enters the Frosted Banner state, enhancing her basic attack and dash attack. This effect can last up to 45 seconds or stack up to six times. Soukaku’s weapon gains Vortex stacks when:
Soukaku can accumulate up to three stacks of Vortex |
| EX special attack – Fanning Mosquitoes | When you have enough energy, press the special attack button to use Soukaku’s EX special attack. Soukaku releases wind currents with extended range in front of her that deal massive amounts of ice damage. You can use this skill in rapid succession by pressing the special attack button repeatedly. Each use consumes a specified amount of energy. When Soukaku’s energy is depleted or you stop pressing the button, she unleashes a powerful finishing move that deals massive amounts of ice damage. Her anti-interrupt level increases while using this skill and she takes 40% less damage. Holding the special attack button during this skill can quickly transition to Fly the Flag |
Soukaku’s dodges:
| Skill | Effect |
| Dodge – Grab A Bite | Press the dodge button to avoid an enemy attack and make Soukaku invulnerable |
| Dash attack – 50/50 | When dodging, press the basic attack button to slash enemies in front, dealing physical damage |
| Dash attack – 50/50 (Frosted Banner) | When Frosted Banner is active, press the basic attack button during a dodge to slash enemies in front, dealing ice damage |
| Dodge counter – Away From My Snacks | Press the basic attack during a perfect dodge to deal ice damage to enemies in front of Soukaku, and become invulnerable |
Soukaku’s combo attacks:
| Skill | Effect |
| Quick assist – A Set for Two | When an enemy launches the active character, press the swap character button to activate this assist. Soukaku swaps in, becomes invulnerable, and deals ice damage to enemies in front of her |
| Defensive assist – Guarding Tactics | Press the swap character button to activate this assist when an enemy is about to attack the active character. Soukaku parries the enemy’s attack, dealing massive amounts of daze. This skill excels at parrying enemy attacks and reduces the consumption of assist points when Soukaku is under intense attacks. She’s also invulnerable when using this skill |
| Assist follow-up – Sweeping Strike | Press the basic attack button after using Guarding Tactics to become invulnerable and charge forward to strike enemies in front, dealing ice damage. Holding the basic attack button while using this skill quickly transitions to Fly the Flag |
| Chain attack – Pudding Slash | When you trigger a chain attack, switch to Soukaku to become invulnerable and unleash a quick series of strikes, followed up with Fly the Flag, dealing massive ice damage |
| Chain attack ultimate – Extra Large Pudding Slash | When the decibel rating is at maximum, press the ultimate button to unleash an extended series of strikes at the enemy, followed up with Fly the Flag, dealing massive ice damage. When she activates this skill, Soukaku enters the Masked state, increasing her crit rate by 15% for 15 seconds. Other squad members also recover ten energy and the next character to switch in gains an additional 20 energy. Soukaku is also invulnerable during this skill |
Soukaku’s passives:
| Skill | Effect |
| Core passive – Blade Banner | When Soukaku launches Fly the Flag, her attack increases by 10%, up to a max of 500, for 22 seconds. When consuming Vortex during Fly the Flag, the attack increase doubles up to a max of 1k. This buff can pass along to characters switching in via quick assists or chain attacks triggered during Fly the Flag, which refreshes the duration of the buff |
| Additional ability – Group Set Meal | When another character in your squad shares the same attribute (ice) or faction (Section 6): When Soukaku consumes Vortex to activate Fly the Flag, the squad’s ice damage increases by 20% for 22 seconds |
What are Soukaku’s promotional materials?
As you level up Soukaku, you’ll need to promote her at various points to increase her level cap. You’ll need support certification seals to do this, which you can get from combat simulation – agent promotion combat challenges, plus a stack of denny.
Here are all of Soukaku’s promotion materials:
| Level | Denny and materials |
| 10 | 24k denny and four basic support certification seals |
| 20 | 56k denny and 12 advanced support certification seals |
| 30 | 120k denny and 20 advanced support certification seals |
| 40 | 200k denny and ten ruler certification seals |
| 50 | 400k denny and 20 ruler certification seals |
What are Soukaku’s mindscape cinemas?
If you pull multiple copies of Soukaku, you can unlock extra bonus effects via the mindscape cinema. This resembles Genshin Impact’s constellation system.
Here are all of Soukaku’s mindscape cinemas:
| Mindscape cinema | Effect |
| Uplifting Current | When Soukaku triggers Blade Banner or Group Set Meal, the buff duration increases by eight seconds |
| Experimental Charging Module | When Soukaku’s basic attack, dash attack, dodge counter, or quick assist hits an enemy, there’s a 15% chance of her gaining a stack of Vortex, triggering up to once per second. When Vortex reaches max stacks, any additional stacks grant her 1.2 energy instead |
| Attendance Meal Allowance | Soukaku’s basic attack, dodge, assist, special attack, and chain attack each gain two levels |
| Hypothermia | If Soukaku hits an enemy with Fly the Flag, the target’s ice resistance reduces by 10% for eight seconds |
| Late-Night Snacks | Soukaku’s basic attack, dodge, assist, special attack, and chain attack each gain two levels |
| Northern Wind | While in the Frosted Banner state, the number of usable enhanced basic attacks and dash attacks increases to 12, and these attacks also deal 45% more damage |
What are Soukaku’s core skill enhancement materials?
You can enhance Soukaku’s core skills to power her up even further, but you’ll need special materials and a bunch of denny to do so. You can obtain higher dimensional data: murderous obituary from the expert challenge game mode, whereas you can find the finale dance shoes in the notorious hunt mode.
Here are all of Soukaku’s core skill enhancement materials:
| Required level | Denny and materials |
| 15 | 5k denny |
| 25 | 12k denny and two higher dimensional data: murderous obituary |
| 35 | 28k denny and four higher dimensional data: murderous obituary |
| 45 | 60k denny, nine higher dimensional data: murderous obituary, and two finale dance shoes |
| 55 | 100k denny, 15 higher dimensional data: murderous obituary, and three finale dance shoes |
| 60 | 200k denny, 30 higher dimensional data: murderous obituary, and four finale dance shoes |
What are Soukaku’s skill enhancement materials?
Enhancing Soukaku’s core skills can only get you so far – you need to level up her combat skills too. You need to use freeze chips, denny, and a hamster cage pass to increase the skills to max level. You can get freeze chips from the combat simulation – agent promotion combat challenge or craft them using lower-level materials. Hamster cage passes come from the New Eridu City Fund or from event rewards, similar to Genshin Impact’s crowns of insight.
Here are all of Soukaku’s skill enhancement materials:
| Level | Denny and materials |
| 2 | 2k denny and two basic freeze chips |
| 3 | 3k denny and three basic freeze chips |
| 4 | 6k denny and two advanced freeze chips |
| 5 | 9k denny and three advanced freeze chips |
| 6 | 12k denny and four advanced freeze chips |
| 7 | 18k denny and six advanced freeze chips |
| 8 | 45k denny and five specialized freeze chips |
| 9 | 67.5k denny and eight specialized freeze chips |
| 10 | 90k denny and ten specialized freeze chips |
| 11 | 112.5k denny and 12 specialized freeze chips |
| 12 | 135k denny, 15 specialized freeze chips, and one hamster cage pass |
That’s a wrap on our Zenless Zone Zero Soukaku build. We’ll regularly update this guide as the meta evolves. In the meantime, make sure you check out our other Hoyoverse guides, such as builds for Genshin Impact’s Kaeya, Genshin Impact’s Qiqi, Honkai Star Rail’s Black Swan, and Honkai Star Rail’s Firefly.