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Zash is one of the four selectable NPC companions in Echoes of Aincrad. He is a young two-handed swordsman who is introduced in the story when the player's party is looking for a new member for a raid.

Loadout

Zash wields a two-handed sword, which slots him into the party's damage role. His attacks land with higher weight than the one-handed companions, at the cost of the defensive options that a shield loadout offers.

Support Kit

On top of raw damage, Zash bolsters his allies with attack buffs and deploys defensive barriers. That mix of offence and party utility makes him the most rounded of the damage-focused companions, and a natural fit for raid-style encounters where the team needs both throughput and protection.

Reveal and Media Visibility

Zash has been part of the marketing rollout since the game was first announced. Social posts and the official site both featured him as one of the named companions, so fans knew him by sight well before they could actually play as his teammate. However, the early hands-on media previews did not include him on their list of selectable partners, which meant the public had not seen his abilities in motion until later. The developer livestream that followed the reveal was the first time Zash's combat gameplay was shown at length, and it filled in the gap between his promotional presence and his actual playable kit.

Story Introduction

In narrative terms, Zash is described as a young man who wields a two-handed sword and who cares deeply for his allies. He is written into the story as a partner the player recruits when the party is actively looking to add another member ahead of their push on the first floor's raid boss, Illfang the Kobold Lord. Meeting him and earning his trust therefore lines up with the shift from scattered exploration on the lower floors to organized raid preparation, and his arrival marks the point where the core party is rounded out for the climactic encounter.

Combat Role

Mechanically, Zash fights with a two-handed sword, which places him in the Greatsword category of the game's weapon types. Greatsword partners trade the quick follow-ups of one-handed weapons for slower, heavier swings that cover a wide arc and punish grouped or over-committed enemies. Because his weapon category is fixed, bringing Zash on an expedition meaningfully changes how the team approaches crowds and large single targets: the player leans into his sweeping reach rather than picking angles for a dagger or a mace user.

Support Skill: Overlay Shield

Zash's Support Skill overlays an extra shield on top of the player's health bar. Incoming hits chew through the shield first and only start eating raw HP once the shield is depleted, so in practice it functions as a personal damage buffer while active. That makes it especially valuable in encounters where a single mistimed hit would otherwise force the player to burn a healing crystal, and it pairs well with aggressive play against bosses whose windows for damage overlap with their threatening swings. Like other partner abilities, it is grouped alongside the player's special skills on the same action layer, so a Support Skill call can be slotted into the same rhythm as sword-skill usage without giving up attack pressure.

Combination Skill: Area Sweep

Zash's Combination Skill is built around area-of-effect damage. It is designed for moments when the player is surrounded, and it deals damage to every enemy close enough to be swept up by the ability in a single activation. That flips the script on encirclements: instead of punishing the player for getting crowded, it rewards grouping threats together and then firing the Combination Skill as a clean-up. In the broader combat system, this makes Zash a strong pick for dungeon rooms with large packs, chase sequences where enemies bunch up, and any fight where staying mobile would otherwise mean burning stamina on repeated evades.

Activating His Skills

Like every partner, Zash's Support Skill and Combination Skill are accessed by holding the action-shift button during battle. Holding the button surfaces the partner ability shortcuts on the same face-button layer the player uses for sword-skill palettes, so invoking Zash's overlay shield or his area sweep does not require leaving the current action flow. Resource for both gauges is generated by attacking enemies, which means steady aggression is what keeps his abilities available. The Combination Skill fires once its gauge is fully charged, while the Support Skill has an additional wrinkle: charges of it can be stocked, so the player can save up multiple uses in a row and spend them back to back when the situation calls for it. That lets Zash cover extended danger windows with repeated overlay shields rather than rationing one activation across a whole fight. His partner behavior in battle also runs through the usual Free Mode and Switch System toggle, so the player can leave Zash attacking on his own or hold him back to swap in on a perfect evade, in addition to triggering his two named skills on demand.

Bond Growth and Side Quests

Zash has his own character-focused side quests that expand on his personality, and these become available as the player's bond with him deepens. Reaching new bond levels unlocks additional skills and stronger abilities for him, which layers on top of the two skills already in his kit. Investing time in his side stories therefore pays off in two ways at once: the player gets concentrated scenes that flesh out who Zash is and why he cares so openly about his teammates, and his combat role widens as new abilities slot into his rotation. Because his fixed weapon stays a two-handed sword, every new skill tends to reinforce the same identity, heavy, allies-first, built for raid-scale encounters, rather than pivoting him into a completely different playstyle.

Quick Summary