Zi Xiao (The Owl): A Beginner's Guide
Gunfire Reborn's latest paid DLC is out.
But if you're looking for a clear and concise explanation of Zi Xiao's abilities in game, you might be disappointed by the tooltip descriptions. It's full of jargon and vague terms that don't really help you understand how to play this new hero.
Don't worry, we've got you covered with this beginner's guide to Zi Xiao, the master of astrology!
Let's break down the basics of his skills and talents.
Astroaspects: The Key to Zi Xiao's Power.
Astroaspects are the core mechanic of Zi Xiao's gameplay. They are small scrolls that appear in squares below your primary skill, which is called your Astrohouse.
You can get Astroaspects in two ways:
• By using your primary skill, which fills up your Astrohouse with random Astroaspects and then activates Fallen Star, a powerful explosive attack that consumes all your Astroaspects.
• By using your secondary skill, which gives you one random Astroaspect. If your Astrohouse is full, it replaces the first one with a new one.
You might wonder why the randomness matters? Well, it's because the effect of Fallen Star depends on the rarity and combination of your Astroaspects. There are four possible outcomes:
• If your Astrohouse has different Astroaspects, it's called Impure and Fallen Star deals 800 base damage in a 3.5 meter radius.
• If your Astrohouse has only Normal Astroaspects, Fallen Star does the same damage as Impure, but twice.
• If your Astrohouse has only Rare Astroaspects, Fallen Star does the same damage as Normal, plus an extra 1000 damage in a 7 meter radius.
• If your Astrohouse has only Legendary Astroaspects, Fallen Star does the same damage as Normal, plus an extra 1600 damage in a 7 meter radius, and also creates a lingering area of effect that deals 1000 damage per second and slows enemies by 50%.
There's also a special type of Astroaspect called Wild, which can act as any rarity and gives you a Legendary effect if you have a full set of them.
Scroll Divination: How to Influence Your Luck
You might think that getting good Astroaspects is just a matter of luck, but Zi Xiao has a way to manipulate his odds. His first talent, Scroll Divination, lets him upgrade or reroll his scrolls to affect his chances of getting certain rarities of Astroaspects.
The rarity of your scrolls determines the probability of getting matching Astroaspects.
For example, if you have more Legendary scrolls than other rarities, you have a higher chance of getting Legendary Astroaspects.
Scroll Divination works in two ways:
• It upgrades your scrolls according to a scheme that you can choose in the occult scrolls inventory menu. There are three schemes:
Normal Least, which tries to minimize Normal scrolls while upgrading Rares; Legendary Most, which tries to maximize Legendary scrolls;
Rare Most, which tries to upgrade all Normal scrolls to Rare.
The upgrades only affect Zi Xiao's abilities and not other effects like Overconsumption.
• It lets you reroll your scrolls to another one of equal or higher rarity. This can be very useful if you want to change your scroll build or get rid of unwanted effects.
You get two upgrades and one reroll per ascension, which are applied automatically to scrolls in your backpack.
You can also change your scheme at any time and see how it affects your probabilities of getting different types of Fallen Stars.
Stellar Recovery: How to Mitigate Bad Rolls.
Zi Xiao's second talent, Stellar Recovery, is another way to deal with bad luck. It refunds 100% skill cooldown if you miss your Fallen Star.
This means that if you get an Impure or Normal Astrohouse that you don't want to use, you can just shoot it away from enemies and try again. This can help you save your cooldown for better opportunities or situations where you need more damage.
However, there are some drawbacks to this strategy.
First, you need to make sure that Stellar Recovery is not on cooldown itself when you miss your Fallen Star.
Second, you might miss out on some benefits from other ascensions that reward hitting enemies with Fallen Star or using certain types of Astrohouses.
Third, you might waste time and ammo by constantly rerolling your Astrohouse instead of dealing damage.
Overall Gameplay Tips
That's pretty much everything you need to know about Zi Xiao's basic mechanics.
He's a very unique and complex hero that relies on RNG and manipulation of his skills and scrolls.
He can be very rewarding if you manage to get good rolls and unleash devastating Fallen Stars on your enemies, but he can also be very frustrating if you get stuck with bad rolls and low damage output.
Here are some tips to help you get started with Zi Xiao:
• Experiment with different scroll schemes and rerolls to find the optimal balance between rarity and probability for your playstyle.
• Try to get as many scrolls as possible to increase your chances of getting good Astrohouses.
• Use your secondary skill often to gain information about your next Astrohouse and prepare for it accordingly.
• Don't be afraid to miss bad Fallen Stars if Stellar Recovery is available, but don't rely on it too much either.
• Pay attention to the bar below your primary skill that shows the probability of each type of Fallen Star with your current Astrohouse.
• Take advantage of Zi Xiao's fifth talent, Star Rearrangement, which increases his scroll upgrade rate as he progresses through stages.
• Be careful with Zi Xiao's defensive ascensions, as they are not very strong compared to other heroes.
Hopefully this guide helps you enjoy playing Zi Xiao in Gunfire Reborn. He's a very fun and challenging hero that offers a lot of variety and replay value. Have fun exploring his potential and discovering new synergies with his skills and scrolls!
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