Ellen Joe Best Build Guides - Teams and Bangboo, Materials

Ellen is an S rank character with the Ice attribute who belongs to the Attack Specialty and who is part of the Victoria Housekeeping Co faction. Less Is More, Simple Is Key. Complexity has no place here. Just keep everything simple. Work Smart and Rest More. Take breaks at the right time... to minimize the annoyance of working. Work With Focus, Prevail With Caution. Whether she takes it too seriously or not seriously enough, it's her enemy who ends up suffering from it. Unleash Sweet Delight, Unwrap and Indulge. Savoring the lollipop and concealing her true thoughts.

New Eridu Citizen Verification Profile: Ellen, with a good aptitude for Ether, is authorized to perform basic tasks such as investigating and mining in identified Hollows (including Companion Hollows) within New Eridu. Note: The remaining information about Ellen is currently archived in a certain school in New Eridu.

Ellen is an S-Rank Ice Combat Agent specializing in delivering high amounts of pure Ice damage through her unique burst rotation and her ability to execute EX combos with the team’s Ultimate. Additionally, she maintains a consistent damage output against less formidable foes using a powerful sustained combo.

Ellen boasts high mobility, thanks to her signature sprinting state, which positions her as one of the fastest characters in the game. Her gameplay is centered around managing Flash Freeze charges, a resource exclusive to her, which powers her Enhanced Basic Attacks. Mastering this allows Ellen to achieve one of the highest damage outputs in the game, cementing her status as a top-tier DPS in the endgame mode, Shiyu Defense.

Due to nuances of her kit, Ellen is considered one of the more complex characters ingame.

Ellen’s Basic Attack is a 3-hit combo integral to both her standard and burst rotations. It features two variants: a standard form dealing Physical damage and an enhanced form consuming Flash Freeze charges to deal Ice damage instead (requiring 3 Flash Freeze for a full 3-hit combo). In both forms, the first and second strikes are swift and relatively weak, while the third strike is a lengthier attack that can be extended further with continuous tapping. The third hit deals the majority of the combo's damage and triggers Ellen's teleportation behind her current or a new target if the original is eliminated or moves.

Ellen possesses standard Dodge, Dodge Counter, and Dash attacks common among characters. Unique to her is the ability to hold down her Dodge to enter a special sprinting state known as the Roaming State. This state allows her to remain indefinitely sprinting and transforms her standard Basic Attack into Arctic Ambush, a critical component of her kit. Activating Arctic Ambush exits the Roaming State, delivering a chopping attack with her scissors that generates 1 Flash Freeze charge on hit. Alternatively, holding the Basic Attack button charges Arctic Ambush, increasing its damage and generating 3 Flash Freeze charges (ideal for executing a full Enhanced Basic Attack combo). Charging Arctic Ambush costs Ellen considerable field time, but executing a Perfect Dodge grants her the "Quick Charge" buff, significantly speeding up her next Charged Arctic Ambush from roughly 2 seconds to about 1.5 seconds.

Ellen’s Defensive Assist, Assist Follow-Up, and Quick Assist are standard attacks among melee characters, dealing Ice damage and/or inflicting Daze. Notably, when she performs a Quick Assist, she also gains the "Quick Charge" effect mentioned before, in addition to the usual Perfect Dodge bonus.

Ellen possesses 3 Special Attacks: 1 Standard Special and 2 EX Specials. She utilizes her Standard Special sparingly, focusing instead on her EX Specials during burst rotations and situational use within her standard combo. The first EX Special can be activated when having sufficient energy, dealing Ice damage ahead of her, generating 1 Flash Freeze charge, and allowing an immediate Follow-Up with the third Basic Attack of her Basic Attack combo. This sequence allows Ellen to quickly deal damage, generate a Charge, and then immediately use it via her powerful Basic combo, making her entire rotation go in a concise sequence. Ellen’s second EX functions similarly but with increased damage and the ability to induce Daze, requiring immediate use after her first EX. This choice gives Ellen flexibility: she can opt for EX1 followed by a Basic 3 or EX1 + EX2 followed by a Basic 3.

Ellen’s Chain Attack and Ultimate, smilar to her Assists, deliver substantial Ice damage and Daze. However, her Chain Attack requires more time to execute compared to other characters.

Ellen’s Core Passive is very strong, making it a nice incentive to approach 100% Critical Hit Rate without damaging her other stats. This passive grants up to 100% Crit damage to Arctic Assault, all her Flash Freeze-Enhanced attacks, including her Basics. Her Additional Ability is also formidable and should be activated as a priority. It grants a buff increasing her Ice damage by 3% each time she deals any Ice damage, stacking up to 10 times for 10 seconds. This ability is easily maintained, effectively providing a consistent 30% boost to Ice damage.

Ellen is unquestionably at the frontline of the meta upon her release as a DPS. Once mastered, she proves to be invaluable both in present and in future gameplay. For optimal strategies for combining all of Ellen’s abilities, refer to the Rotation & Teams section of this guide.

1. Strengths

• Has the highest damage output in the game at the time of her release
• Is part of the best team in the game at the time of her release (Mono-Ice)
• Has incredible mobility while in the Roaming state, which allows for quick movement through levels and repositioning around bosses
• Many abilities have movement and dodging components built into them, making Ellen more challenging for enemies to hit
• Has the strongest self-buffs built into her kit in the game at the time of her release
• Only Ice damage dealer at the time of her release.

2. Weaknesses:

• Is a combo-based character with a variety of attack sequences that are all viable. This means Ellen has a slight learning curve compared to other characters
• Has small moments of vulnerability unless played carefully when executing charged attacks or her fairly long Basic Attack part 3
• Ellen's Chain Attack is notable for its extended cast time compared to other characters, which can potentially sacrifice valuable opportunities during the enemy's Stun window.

Ellen, like most combat characters, has a Burst Rotation she aims to execute while the boss is Stunned and a Standard Rotation she uses against smaller enemies not worthy of her full burst potential or to use during any downtime she has (waiting to Stun the enemy again, dealing with foes who die even before being Stunned or to fill extra time during a Stun window if you don’t have enough energy to execute a full combo).

In both rotations, you’ll be using Ellen’s Basic Attacks a lot and it’s imperative you only do so when you have Flash Freeze charges to consume to empower them. Here is a comparison of what 3 un-enhanced Basic Attacks deal against an enemy compared to 3 Enhanced Basic Attacks both with a full endgame build.

Standard rotation Ellen’s standard rotation doesn’t require the use of any energy or your team's Ultimates, making it ideal for building and conserving energy when you have downtime and are getting ready for your next burst rotation while you build Daze to Stun the enemy. Ellen’s most optimal standard rotation consists of a fully charged Arctic Assault to generate 3 Flash Freeze charges followed by 3 Enhanced Basic Attacks, repeat. Your sequence of attack should look like this:

• Dash Attack: Arctic Ambush: Spinning Slash
• Dash Attack: Arctic Ambush: Charged Scissors
• Basic Attack: Flash Freeze Trimming P1
• Basic Attack: Flash Freeze Trimming P2
• Basic Attack: Flash Freeze Trimming P3

While executing Ellen’s standard rotation if you find yourself full on energy don’t waste it by over-capping it. Instead spend it on an EX Special followed by a Basic 3. This is also a valid tactic against enemies close enough to death as Stunning them again would be slower than taking them out earlier with the use of Ellen’s energy.

EX Special Attack: Tail Swipe Basic Attack: Flash Freeze Trimming P3 Burst rotation Ellen’s Burst Rotation comes into play after you Stun an enemy and is what we recommend you save your team's Decibels and Ellen’s energy for in order to deal maximum damage. As the enemy is only Stunned for a short while, charging Arctic Assault and executing a full sequence of Basic Attack 1, 2 and 3 isn’t time efficient. Instead we want to make full use of Ellen’s EX + Basic 3 combo and string together as many of these alongside her Ultimate as possible. Assuming Ellen has a full energy gauge (120 energy) and 3000 Decibels available an optimal burst combo should look similar to this:

• Chain Attack: Avalanche
• EX Special Attack: Tail Swipe
• Basic Attack: Flash Freeze Trimming P3
• Ultimate: Endless Winter
• EX Special Attack: Tail Swipe
• EX Special Attack: Sharknami
• Basic Attack: Flash Freeze Trimming P3

Or alternatively, if you’re okay with your burst combo being longer but dealing more damage (higher overall damage, lower dps) you can also utilize a combo similar to this one instead:

• Chain Attack: Avalanche
• EX Special Attack: Tail Swipe
• Basic Attack: Flash Freeze Trimming P3
• Ultimate: Endless Winter
• EX Special Attack: Tail Swipe
• Basic Attack: Flash Freeze Trimming P3
• EX Special Attack: Tail Swipe
• Basic Attack: Flash Freeze Trimming P3

In each of these combos, Ellen is dealing the maximum possible damage in the shortest possible time by burning through her and her teams resources, but if you go in without enough energy to unleash a full combo or without Ellen’s Ultimate, skip what you can’t do and revert to Ellen’s standard rotation for the remaining time the enemy is vulnerable.

It’s important to note that depending on the W-engine and Disc Drive set you’re using you may want to re-order the use of certain abilities when executing Ellen's Burst rotation. A good example of this would be you would want to use Ellen’s Ultimate as fast as possible while using Puffer Electro to activate its buff but would want to delay the Ultimate until after using an EX and a Basic attack when using Woodpecker Electro.

As you continue to play Ellen more you’ll learn when to save her resources for a big burst combo or burn them all early to take out higher priority smaller enemies. Ultimately the best Ellen players make full use of her kit by combining both her rotations using all or parts of each as the situation demands it.