Norma Build Guide: W-Engine, Drive Discs & Teams | Zenless Zone Zero

Norma Hollowell is a member of the External Strategy Department inZenless Zone Zero, known for her bangboo-themed design and funny antics in the story. Despite her small appearance, she packs quite a punch. Her fiery rockets can blow any enemy to dust. Not only that, being one of the first Season 3 characters to make an appearance in the storyline, she's highly anticipated. In this blog, we'll explore Norma’s playstyle, strengths, and optimal builds, along with tips on W-Engines, Drive Discs, and team synergy to help you maximize her effectiveness.

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Norma Agent Overview

  • Norma Information

Agent Information
NormaRarityS-Rank
AttributeFire
SpecialtyStun
FactionExternal Strategy Department
Combat RoleSupport
  • Norma Overview

Norma is a S-Rank Fire Stun Agent who has the ability to activate Chain Attacks for another squadmate outside of stun. She has a unique resource called Preheated Chamber, which passively refills and can be gained through many skills as well. Her kit is really straightforward, her held Basic Attack triggers a Quick Assist for the previous character. With sufficient Preheated Chamber, the next Quick Assist triggered this way will consume it and gets converted into a Chain Attack. When Norma switches off-field, her hat will remain on the battlefield and automatically attacks enemies, accumilating Preheated Chamber for itself, and when Norma switches back on-field, the resource'll be transferred to her. Her EX Special summons 2 Turrets to help you out in battle. When their target isn't stunned, they'll repeatedly fire bullets. But when their target is stunned, or when Preheated Chamber is consumed, they'll fire missiles instead, dealing heavy DMG and Daze.

norma

Norma Skill Priority

Below are the best skill priorities for Norma:

SkillPriority
Core Skill Core Skill★★★★★ (Top)
Basic Attack Basic Attack★★★ (High)
Chain Attack Chain Attack★★★★ (Top)
Special Attack Special Attack★★★★ (Top)
Dodge Dodge★ (Low)
Assist Assist★★★ (High)

Norma's Core Skill is where she gets the most value from, with each upgrading making her signifcantly stronger, making it the most prioritised skill. Her Chain Attack and Special Attack come next, as they're the main contributors to her Daze output. Basic Attack and Assist follow right after, they're really strong, just not on the same level as the skills higher in the priority list. Lastly, her Dodge skill is placed at the bottom; it is really situational and is usually only used a few times in combat due to Norma being more of an off-field stunner, so its level shouldn't matter.

Norma Best W-Engines

Requiring an astounding 100% Crit Rate to maximise her Core Skill's buffs, Norma wants as much Crit Rate as possible. Among the vast choices of Stun W-Engines, her Signature W-Engine, Chief Sidekick, is her strongest pick. We recommend you secure this W-Engine in order to get the most out of Norma.

Best choice

Chief Sidekick

Chief Sidekick

(S-Rank)

  • Base ATK: 713
  • Bonus Stat: Crit Rate 24%
  • W-Engine Effect (R1): The equipper's Impact increases by 30, and their DMG ignores 15% of the target's Fire RES. When the equipper is not the active character, Energy Regen increases by 0.4/s. When the equipper deals Fire DMG with an EX Special Attack, all Agents' DMG increases by 12.5% for 30s, stacking up to 2 times. Repeated triggers reset the duration. This effect can trigger once per skill. Only one instance of this effect can exist in the same squad.
Alternatives

Yesterday Calls

Yesterday Calls

(S-Rank)

  • Base ATK: 713
  • Bonus Stat: Crit Rate 24%
  • W-Engine Effect (R1): While off-field, the equipper's Energy Regen increases by 1.5/s. When the equipper deals Physical DMG with an EX Special Attack, the Daze dealt by the equipper's attacks increases by 9% for 10s, stacking up to 3 times. At 3 stacks, all squad members gain 30% additional CRIT DMG for 40s. Repeated triggers reset the duration. Only one instance of this CRIT DMG boost effect can exist in the same squad.

Spectral Gaze

Spectral Gaze

(S-Rank)

  • Base ATK: 713
  • Bonus Stat: Crit Rate 24%
  • W-Engine Effect (R1): When the equipper hits an enemy with Aftershock, causing Electric DMG, the target's DEF is reduced by 25% for 5s. Passive effects of the same name do not stack. When this effect is triggered, if the equipper is not the active character, they gain 1 stack of Spirit Lock, up to a maximum of 3 stacks. This can trigger only once per use of a skill. Each stack of Spirit Lock increases the equipper's Impact by 4%, lasting 12s. The duration of each stack is calculated separately. At full stacks of Spirit Lock, the equipper's Impact increases by an additional 8%.

 Hellfire Gears

Hellfire Gears

(S-Rank) 

  • Base ATK: 684
  • Bonus Stat: Impact 18%
  • W-Engine Effect (R1): While off-field, the equipper's Energy Regen increases by 0.6/s.
    When using an EX Special Attack, the equipper's Impact is increased by 10% for 10s, stacking up to 2 times. The duration of each stack is calculated separately.

 Steam Oven

Steam Oven

(A-Rank)

  • Base ATK: 594
  • Bonus Stat: Energy Regen 50%
  • W-Engine Effect (R5): For every 10 Energy accumulated, the equipper's Impact is increased by 3.2%, stacking up to 8 times. After Energy is consumed, this bonus remains for 8 more seconds. The duration of each stack is calculated separately.

Precious Fossilized Core

Precious Fossilized Core

(A-Rank)

  • Base ATK: 594
  • Bonus Stat: Impact 15%
  • W-Engine Effect (R5): When the target's HP is no lower than 50%, the equipper inflicts 16% more Daze. When the target's HP is no lower than 75%, this bonus is further enhanced by 16%.

Norma Best Drive Disk Sets

Norma is best suited for Drive Disk Sets that can provide buffs to her teamates, and her stat already focuses heavily on Crit Rate, so King of the Summit will be the best 4-Piece option for her. Moving on to her 2-Piece Set, you can choose from Woodpecker Electro, Shockstar Disco and Swing Jazz depending on whether you've reached the Crit Rate requirement or not.

Best Choice

 King of the Summit

King of the Summit

  • Increases Daze of attacks by 6%. (2-Piece)
  • When the equipper is a Stun character and uses an EX Special Attack or Chain Attack, increases CRIT DMG of all squad members by 15%, and when the equipper's CRIT Rate is more than or equal to 50%, further increases CRIT DMG by 15%, lasting 15s. Repeated triggers reset the duration. Passive effects of the same name do not stack. (4-Piece)
2-Piece Choice

Woodpecker Electro

Woodpecker Electro

  • Increases Crit Rate by 8% (2-Piece)

Shockstar Disco

Shockstar Disco

  • Increases Impact by 6%. (2-Piece)

Swing Jazz

Swing Jazz

  • Energy Regen increases by 20% (2-Piece)

Norma Best Drive Disk Stats

Here are the best Drive Disc main stats and sub-stats for Norma:

1.  Drive Disc Main Stats

Main StatsDrive Disk Slot
Crit RateSlot 4
Fire DMG%/ATK%Slot 5
Impact/Energy RegenSlot 6

2.  Drive Disc Sub Stats

Sub StatsPriority
Crit Rate★★★ (High)
Crit DMG★★★ (High)
ATK%★★ (Medium)
Pen★ (Low)
Flat ATK★ (Low)

Norma Best Teams

Norma works amazingly well with both Attack teams and Rupture teams, making her highly versatile. She does have an edge over Attack teams when she's in a Rupture team, however, as she can gain additional ATK based on her Sheer Force, up to an amazing 1200, making her attacks even more devastating. So we recommend you prioritise putting her in Rupture teams.

1. Norma Premium Rupture Teams

It is quite funny to see how similar these teams are, with the only change being the choice for the main DPS. Lucia is, without a doubt, the best Support any Rupture character could ask for. By following the DPS+Norma+Lucia structure, you can create any premium Rupture team with her in it.

DPSSupport

Yixuan

Yixuan (S-Rank)

 Norma

Norma (S-Rank)

Lucia

Lucia (S-Rank)

 Banyue

Banyue (S-Rank)

Norma

Norma (S-Rank)

 Lucia

Lucia (S-Rank)

Yidhari

Yidhari (S-Rank)

Norma

Norma (S-Rank)

Lucia

Lucia (S-Rank)

Starlight - Billy

Starlight - Billy (S-Rank)

Norma

Norma (S-Rank)

Lucia

Lucia (S-Rank)

2. Norma Evelyn Team

Evelyn benefits from Norma's extra Chain Attacks the most, as her source of DMG comes mainly from them, combine that with Astra's 2 additional Chain Attacks per Ultimate, and you've got an incredibly powerful team.

DPSSupport

Evelyn

Evelyn (S-Rank)

Norma

Norma (S-Rank)

 Astra Yao

Astra Yao (S-Rank)

3. Norma Free To Play Teams

Norma unfortunately doesn't work with Pan Yinhu as both of their Quick Assist swaps to the previous character, and that ruins their main gimmicks. That means for her free Rupture team, Manato has very few options for a complete squad, we've decided to choose Pulchra as the third member because she's arguably the best free Rupture Support excluding Pan. For her free Attack teams, however, she's got quite a lot of options. Soldier 11, Pyrois, Nekomata and Billy all work surprisingly well with Norma.

DPSSupport

Manato

Manato (A-Rank) 

 Norma

Norma (S-Rank) 

 Pulchra

Pulchra (A-Rank)

Soldier 11

Soldier 11 (S-Rank)

 Norma

Norma (S-Rank) 

Nicole

Nicole (A-Rank)

Pyrois

Pyrois (S-Rank)

Norma

Norma (S-Rank) 

Nicole

Nicole (A-Rank)

 

Nekomata

Nekomata (S-Rank)

Norma

Norma (S-Rank) 

Nicole

Nicole (A-Rank)

 

Billy

Norma

Norma (S-Rank) 

Nicole

Nicole (A-Rank)

 

Velina Mindscape Cinema

M1: Visionary Extremism
  • Rating: ★★★★ (Great)
  • Effect: The duration of the En-Nah Turret's missile bay deployed by EX Special Attack: Explosive Experiment increases to 12s. When an Armor-Piercing Warhead or High-Explosive Warhead from any skill hits an enemy, the target's All-Attribute RES is reduced by 15% for 15s.
  • The increased Turret duration combined with its attacks now giving the entire squad Attribute shred against the struck target make this Mindscape a great upgrade.
M2: Axiom of Universal Unity
  • Rating: ★★★★★ (Best)
  • Effect: The Stun DMG Multiplier granted by each stack of Tech Divide in Norma's Additional Ability: Advantage in Numbers is increased to 6%. When Norma uses Basic Attack: Hat Trick while in combat, she gains 25 Energy. This effect can trigger once every 20s.
  • Norma's increased Stun DMG Multiplier now skyrockets to an astounding 60% with this Mindscape, doubling its non-upgraded version. The additionally Energy really helps out in combat as well. 
M3: Natural-Born Villain Paradox
  • Rating: ★★ (Good)
  • Effect: Basic Attack, Assist, Dodge, Special Attack, and Chain Attack Lv. +2
  • Norma's Daze and DMG output gets a decent boost out of this Mindscape.
M4: Bangboo Superiority Theory
  • Rating: ★★★★ (Great)
  • Effect: When Norma consumes Preheated Chamber to trigger a Chain Attack, both Norma and the corresponding Agent gain 200 Decibels.
  • Gaining a flat 200 Decibels for both Norma and another Agent just from performing her Chain Attack conversion is a huge deal. When optimised properly, you can afford to use your DPS's Ultimate outside of stun for great additional DMG; or, alternatively, you can stun enemies much quicker as Norma can use Ultimate a lot more frequently with this Mindscape.
M5: En-Nah Big Bang
  • Rating: ★★ (Good)
  • Effect: Basic Attack, Assist, Dodge, Special Attack, and Chain Attack Lv. +2
  • Identical to Norma's Mindscape 3.
M6: The Primary Cause of Genius
  • Rating: ★★★★★ (Best)
  • Effect: After any squad member Stuns an enemy, Norma will continuously summon missiles to bombard random enemies on the field for 6s. A missile is launched every 0.75s, dealing Fire DMG equal to 200% of Norma's ATK to enemies within the area. This DMG is considered Ultimate DMG. Repeated triggers reset the duration. This effect can trigger once every 30s. The Daze inflicted by Armor-Piercing Warhead increases by 30%, and the DMG dealt by High-Explosive Warhead increases by 30%.
  • Norma's Mindscape 6 and Mindscape 2 are practically on par with eachother. Mindscape 6 focuses more on Norma herself, offering a significant boost in DMG output and a small boost in Daze output, while Mindscape 2 focuses more on the whole squad. We've decided to rate them both as the best Mindscapes for her.

Conclusion

Overall, Norma is an extremely versatile and powerful Stun Agent in Zenless Zone Zero. Contrary to many's belief of generalist characters being average, she's actually the best-in-slot for many teams. We hope this Norma guide can provide you with a better understanding of her strengths and help you maximize her potential.

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