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Blowing stuff up seems to be a recurring theme inZenless Zone Zero. Whether it be a set-up for some stress relief, cleaning up old job sites, or just annihilating your enemies, explosive missions can be a fun break from the draining work of being a Proxy.
The commission The Ethereal’s Guide is a prime example of a puzzle mission with explosive elements to keep it interesting. With constant bombs going off around you as you struggle against the Ethereals surrounding you, it is your job to collect enough coins to upgrade your bombs and become an undefeatable explosion machine!
How To Unlock The Ethereal’s Guide Commission
The Ethereal’s Guide commission is aspecial Exploration commissionin Zenless Zone Zero. It can be unlocked byreaching Chapter Twoin the main story. The introductory quest,Blast Away, is given to you by your sibling to level up your Inter-Knot Level.
During Chapter Two, your sibling will prompt you tospeak to a strange man outside Random Play. His name is Colt, and he explains that he is working on a bomb specifically designed to work against Ethereals. Colt will thenpost a commission on Inter-Knot, and you can accept it there.
Preparing For The Ethereal’s Guide
The Ethereal’s Guide is aLevel 26 commission of medium difficulty. Despite this high difficulty rating,combat is both optional and randomduring the commission.
Because of the unpredictable nature of combat in this commission,there are no recommended Attributesor Agents you should bring along. Instead,bring whatever team you are most comfortable with, since you never know what enemies you might be up against.
The Ethereal’s Guide Walkthrough
Entering The Hollow
Upon entering the Hollow, a message from Colt will appear, explaining that you willneed to collect 15,000 Gear Coinsin order to help him finish his testing. Along the way in the Hollow, you will also be able tocollect upgrades to make the bombs more efficient.
When you spawn, you will need tomove to the bottom-left cornerto collect the Tactical Bomb tile before proceeding deeper into the Hollow.
The Gear Coin Vaults cannot be opened - yet. You will need to proceed through the fissure and collect at least 5,000 extra Gear Coins to unlock these vaults when you return later.
With the Tactical Bomb, every timeyou move three tilesin the HDD, anexplosion will trigger on the four surrounding tiles(a cross-shaped explosion). This explosion willdestroy all enemy tiles it hits, and damage or destroy brick tiles it hits.
With the bomb collected, proceed to thebottom-right corner, destroy the bricks, and go down the Hollow Fissure. Remember, an explosion can only be triggeredafter you move three tiles, so keep moving until you can trigger one to break the brick wall!
Floor Two
When you drop down to the second floor, you may notice a few Ethereal tiles around you. These areenemies that must be blown upin order to earn Gear Coins and help Colt upgrade the bomb.
And speaking of upgrades, when you first drop down, you will beprompted to choose an upgrade for the Tactical Bomb. There are two upgrade options each time you land on an upgrade tile, andtheir type and strength are always random.
Tactical Bomb Upgrades
Energy Conversion: Frightened I / II / III
Enemies have a low / moderate / high chance to take one less action
Gain 10 / 20 / 30% more Gear Coins
Increase explosion radius by one
Restores an overload stack
Restores two overload stacks
Energy Conversion: Effective Usage I / II
Defeating an enemy using an explosion grants 30 / 50 Gear Coins
Most of the upgrades do not stack with each other, so be sure to take the highest level upgrade if it ever comes up to override the lower level ones.
Tactical Bomb upgrades are always marked by a"pink and blue hammer" tile in the HDD, which can appear randomly when youdefeat an Ethereal with an explosion. Another tile to watch out for during this commission is the"green highlighted" tiles, which mark where enemies will spawnafter you take your next three moves.
The goal of this commission is tonavigate around the open space in the HDD and blow up enemies as they spawn. Blowing up enemies is themain way to generate Gear Coins, and you will need at least 15,000 Gear Coins to leave the Hollow. However, we recommendcollecting 20,000 Gear Coinsso you have enough to unlock the Gear Coin Vaults as well.
The three Hollow Observation Datas are in the top left, bottom left, and bottom right sections of the HDD respectively - so be sure to grab them!
Each time you defeat an enemy and it drops a Gear Coin tile, you willgain 500 Gear Coins, meaning you will have to collect at least 30 Gear Coin tiles to proceed.
However, there are a few strategies to make this commission slightly easier, and theyvary depending on your play style.
Whenever you run into an Ethereal tile, you can eitheruse an overload charge to trigger an explosion early, or you canenter combat to defeat the Ethereals and gain four overload charges.
If you prefer navigating the HDD and avoiding combat, then take thePower Boost upgrade, and the Energy Conductor upgrades when they show up.
The Power Boost upgrades can stack, so keep taking them to make your explosions bigger and bigger!
However, if you like combat and want to rely on overload charges or grinding through enemies in combat for Gear Coins, thenbe sure to take the Effective Usage or Conversion upgrades.
Combat
Combat during this commission israndom, meaning the type and number of enemies varieseach time you encounter an enemy tile. Combat will be in two sets of two rounds, meaning youfight two waves of enemies, then move locations andfight two more waves of enemies.
Because the type of enemy varies, there is no set Attribute to make combat easier. However, combat does have the perk of not only destroying the enemy tile, but alsoearning you four overload charges, meaning you could avoid combat later if needed.
While Ethereal weaknesses vary, many Ethereals are weak to Ice and Ether, so consider using these Attributes if you have strong Agents that align with them.
Whatever your strategy is, once you have collected 15,000 Gear Goins, another Hollow Fissure will appear near the center of the screen, and you cantake it to return to the top floor of the Hollow. Be sure to unlock the Gear Coin Vaults (you can return down to earn more Gear Coins if you need), thenmove to the checkered flag at the top of the screento finish the commission!
Rewards
For completing The Ethereal’s Guide commission in Zenless Zone Zero, you will receive:
Along with these loot rewards, you will now beable to access the larger story of Chapter Two!
