Zione: The Mechanized Delivery Expert Who Forgot the Package

Overview

Zione is a 4-star Epic Holy hero from the Super Elemental family, originally released in July 2023. She represents a very specific archetype in Empires & Puzzles: the "Board Alterer." Unlike traditional heroes who blast enemies with damage or heal your team, Zione focuses entirely on manipulating the board state and buffing her allies. She fits into the niche of support heroes designed to accelerate mana and enhance tile damage, primarily for mono-Holy teams or titan fights. While her "mechanized" aesthetic suggests high-tech efficiency, her actual gameplay often feels like dial-up internet in a fiber-optic world.

Hero Art & Visuals

Zione’s design is certainly distinct. She sports a bald head, glowing cybernetic implants, and a set of massive, articulated mechanical arms extending from a backpack-like apparatus. The color palette is a vibrant mix of Holy yellow and teal, giving her a futuristic, almost sci-fi shaman look. The "Express Delivery" theme is visualized by crates and glowing energy orbs held by her mechanical appendages. It’s a cool concept—she looks like she’s ready to build a skyscraper or perhaps dismantle a tank, even if her in-game skill is more about rearranging furniture.

General Info

Hero Stats

When looking at Zione's stats through the lens of late 2025, the picture is stark. With 688 Power, 680 Attack, and 690 Defense, she is severely behind the curve.

• Attack: 680 is quite low by modern standards. New 4-star heroes like Rafeeq (792 Attack) and Breca (794 Attack) sit comfortably 100+ points higher.
• Defense & Health: Her bulk is similarly outdated. Modern 4-stars are pushing 800+ Defense and 1500+ Health. Zione's 1234 HP leaves her very fragile against the damage output of current 4-star and 5-star heroes.

She essentially has "Classic Hero" stats in a "Super Elemental" wrapper. To use her effectively today, she almost certainly requires full emblems and Limit Breaking just to survive long enough to cast her skill.

Special Skill: Express Delivery

Analysis: "Express Delivery" is a skill that looks better on paper than it feels in practice.

1. Tile Alteration: The core mechanic is altering Holy shields to give +30% mana on attack (or -23% on defense). This is a powerful effect if you have the tiles. The problem is speed. At Average speed, by the time Zione casts this, you've likely already used your best cluster of yellow tiles to charge her. You are essentially buffing the next wave of tiles, which takes time to set up.
2. Attack Buff: The +35% attack buff is standard, but the "undispellable" clause for Holy characters is the real gem here. It lasts for 6 turns on yellow allies. This is excellent for long fights like Wars or Events where dispellers are common.
3. The Defensive Flaw: On defense, she weakens tiles for the attacker. While -23% mana generation for the enemy is annoying, smart players can usually play around tile-altering tanks, and Zione is not sturdy enough to be a tank.

The lack of any direct impact—no damage, no healing, no cleanse—makes her a "win-more" hero. She helps you win faster if you already have a good board, but she doesn't help you recover if you are losing.

By the Numbers

• Mana Speed: Average (10 tiles). With a level 23 Mana Troop, this drops to 9 tiles.
• Attack Buff: +35% Attack. On a hero with ~1000 attack (modern standard), this adds 350 attack points. Undispellable for 6 turns means consistent damage output for Holy stacks.
• Tile Mana Generation: +30%. This is significant. Normally, 3 tiles charge 30% of a mana bar (roughly). With this buff, 3 tiles charge ~39%. This can break mana break-points, allowing Average heroes to charge in 7-8 tiles instead of 10, or Very Fast heroes to charge in just 5 ghosted tiles.

Family Bonus, Passives, Aether Power & Unique Abilities

Family Bonus

The Super Elemental Family bonus generates Power Gems. For 4-star heroes like Zione, a Power Gem spawns randomly.

• Effect: Deals 15% damage to a random enemy each turn until matched.
• Match Effect: Deals 10% damage to all enemies when matched.
• Verdict: This is actually Zione's only source of damage. It's passive pressure. In 4-star tournaments (Bloody Battle especially), these gems add up over time, providing chip damage that can eventually kill a low-health enemy.

Passives

Troop Mastery is the defining passive of this family.

• Offense: +100% Elemental Damage. This is huge for tile damage. It effectively doubles the tile damage Zione contributes against Dark enemies. This makes her a titan specialist.
• Defense: -10% damage from Dark troops. A small survival boost, but largely negligible given her low base stats.

Aether Power

Ailment Immunity for the first 6 turns.

• Analysis: This is actually a top-tier Aether Power. It guarantees she won't be silenced, mana-blocked, or defense-downed before she can fire her first special. For a support hero who needs to cast to be useful, this is excellent.

Legacy & Modern Relevance

• Historical Context: Upon release, Zione was met with confusion and disappointment. Players compared her to the 3-star hero Budatin or a watered-down Rhys. She never found a foothold in the meta because she didn't do enough.
• Power Creep Analysis: The gap has only widened. New 4-stars do everything she does but better, or they bring massive damage/healing alongside utility. Heroes like Goldie (who reflects ailments and boosts stats) or Toon Costume 4-stars completely overshadow her utility.
• Modern Viability Verdict: Zione is Low Viability. She is a niche tool for specific PvE content (Tower events, Contest of Elements) or perhaps Mythic Titans where tile damage is king. In competitive PvP (Raids, Wars), she is a liability due to her passive nature and poor stats.

Emblem Path Analysis

The Survivalist (The Only Logical Choice)

• Path: Defense > Health > Attack
• Pros: Zione's job is to stay alive to cast her buff and alter tiles. She has no direct damage special, so Attack nodes only help her tile damage (which is decent due to her passive, but secondary to survival). She needs every point of Defense and HP to survive modern snipers.
• Cons: Lower tile damage against Titans.

Final Recommendation

Go full Defense/Health. If she dies before casting, she is useless. Her tile damage is already boosted by +100% via her passive, so the emblem attack bonus gives diminishing returns compared to keeping her alive.

Strengths

• Undispellable Buffs: 6 turns of undispellable +35% Attack for Holy allies is rare and valuable in specific setups.
• Tile Mastery: Massive tile damage vs Dark Titans due to the +100% passive.
• Ailment Immunity (LB2): Guarantees she can get her skill off at least once.
• Mana Acceleration: Can significantly speed up slow Holy heroes in rush situations or PvE.

Weaknesses

• Zero Immediate Impact: She deals no damage and heals no health upon casting.
• Average Speed: Too slow for a non-impactful skill.
• Outdated Stats: Severely fragile compared to 2024/2025 heroes.
• Niche: Useless outside of a Yellow stack.
• Defensive Liability: On defense, attackers can simply dump tiles into her or ignore the board manipulation.

Best Game Modes

• Contest of Elements (Holy): This is her home. The event encourages mono-Holy teams, and her buff duration extension shines here.
• Mythic Titan: Useful for increasing tile damage and attack stats for high scores.
• Tower Events: The undispellable buff and mana generation can be helpful in climbing floors where you can manipulate the board freely.

Advanced Strategy & Team Compositions

The "Yellow Brick Road" (Mono/Stack)

• Composition: C. Vivica (Def Down) - Zione (Tile/Atk Buff) - Jove (Damage) - Anne (Damage) - C. Leonidas (EDD).
• Strategy: Zione acts as the bridge. You fire her to buff the tiles, ghost a few, and suddenly your Slow or Average hitters are charged. Her Attack buff ensures that when Jove or Anne fire, they hit significantly harder.

Counters & Anti-Synergies

• Dispellers: While her buff is undispellable for Holy heroes, if you pair her with non-Holy heroes, they lose the buff easily.
• Minion Summoners: Zione has no way to deal with minions or meat shields.
• Fast Snipers: Any modern fast sniper (e.g., Adelitza) will likely one-shot Zione before she charges.

Advice for New Players

If you pulled Zione early, she can be a decent support in your yellow team for map stages and early titans. Her tile damage passive will help you kill Purple titans and bosses much faster than a standard 4-star like Wu Kong (without the miss chance) or Chao. However, do not prioritize her over a healer or a direct damage dealer.

Advice for Veterans

She is a "Bench Warmer" with a specific badge for Contest of Elements. If you are struggling to fill your roster for the late stages of the Holy Contest, level her. Otherwise, she is not worth the Limit Break mats. Her Aether Power is great, but the hero attached to it is not. Save your Alpha Aethers for a hero who changes the outcome of the battle.

Community Corner: Hot Takes & History

The community reaction to Zione was famously lukewarm, bordering on icy.

• One player on the forum summed it up perfectly: "Does that make her the worst hero in the game? At last Exeera got some competition."
• Another lamented: "The hero does nothing to scare the enemy and nothing of note to help allies. All at Average speed. Truly strange this hero made it out into the live game."
• However, a few optimists noted her niche: "I use her in my 4+1 yellow team... extremely niche but handy in a pinch, especially in those PoG level 15 no specials no ticket challenges."

Final Thoughts

Zione is a classic example of a "mechanic-first, utility-second" design. The developers wanted to introduce more board manipulation, but they forgot to give her the raw power or speed to make it scary. She is a mechanized delivery expert who shows up with the package three days late. For collectors and puzzle enthusiasts, she offers a unique way to play with tiles. For everyone else, she is likely fodder for the Soul Exchange—if only 4-stars were accepted there.

Costume Verdict: N/A (No costume exists for Zione yet, and she desperately needs one to fix her speed or stats).

Final Recommendation: Keep one copy for the Museum and Contest of Elements. Do not prioritize.