Table of Contents
This is our preliminary tier list for all of the characters that are currently in Zenless Zone Zero as of the 1.1 release. This tier list will be updated regularly as new updates and balance changes are implemented to ZZZ, so stay tuned!
Tier List
Attention, all proxies! This is a list of all available agents that are willing to take on commissions. We will be going over the agent, their ranking, and simple explanation as to why they've earned their rank!
*This list takes into account both Core: Additional Abilities and base talent level
Tier List Explanation
- S Tier: These agents are the best of the best, offering top mobility / defense, damage / support options, unique mechanics, skill ceiling, daze capability, and overall longevity in the meta.
- A Tier: The agents that excel in one or more of their main roles, rather that be support, main DPS, or daze applicator. Typically, only 1 agent per element and role, so for example, only 1 fire daze unit.
- B Tier: The agents that perform their role as expected.
- C Tier: These agents are generally competent, but there are probably other agents that fulfill their niches a little better.
- D Tier: These agents shine in very few areas and are likely to be replaced relatively quickly with a stronger character in their respective field.
S Tier
Caesar
Caesar is a limited unit introduced in Version 1.2 with an absolutely packed kit that makes her an invaluable asset to her team. Not only is she a great stun unit thanks to her high impact, but can also give the team a strong shield that on top of absorbing a lot of damage, also gives the squad an attack buff, which in a DPS focused game, is the most valuable buff a unit can provide. As a Jack of all Trades, she will be useful in the meta for quite a while, and can fit in many teams thanks to her easy to achieve additional ability.
Ellen
As seemingly the first limited character, it's no shocker as to why Ellen is at the top of this list. Her penetration stat along with her flurry of fast attacks, as well as her unique Roaming State mechanic applying ice on her weapon ensues ice destruction. Her core passive has a natural crit damage increase, and her dodge is packed full of mechanics to boost her damage potential, making her the quintessential ice main DPS. However, she has a very high skill ceiling in order to reach that potential. For more information as to why Ellen is so good (and desirable), check out my build guide HERE
Lycaon
Lycaon is a stylish, high impact ice unit capable of dealing massive Daze attacks. He is arguably the best daze applicator in the game, with his fast attacks, and core passives that allow him to boost his already high daze skills. He is an exceptional unit in an ice team comp as the front-runner to CC enemies, then to allow your main DPS such as Ellen to come in to wreak havoc. He will be essential to ice comps for quite a while as your stagger agent, as well as non ice comps due to his stun ability. Check out our build guide HERE
Zhu Yuan
Zhu Yuan, the second agent currently in the game who is able to deal powerful Ether damage, is a force to be reckoned with. Not only does she have range, allowing her to attack from a safer distance, she is also able to quickly apply Corruption due to her fast rate of attacks. To add, she also gets a big boost (30%) to her crit rate if she has another faction or Ether element agent in her squad, making it much easier to build this damage dealer. The lack of Ether units also makes her much more valuable at this point in the game.
Qingyi
Qingyi, a limited unit first introduced in Version 1.1, is a high impact electric agent capable of increasing the stun multiplier of enemies with Subjugation. She stands out from other stun units currently in the game as she is capable of dealing decent damage outside of just impact damage, and she has anti interrupt and damage reduction on her third and fourth basic attack, allowing her to ignore some mechanics in order to deal that very important daze damage. She is also highly versatile, as she only needs an attack agent with her on the squad in order to unlock her additional ability.
Jane
Jane, an S rank physical anomaly damage, is a fantastic unit not only due to her incredible speed / mobility, but also due to the fact that her assault damage multiplier is very high, and her ability to attack multiple enemies at once and provide crowd control due to her wide attacks. With assault being arguably the highest damage dealing anomaly in the game, having a physical anomaly unit who can also deal amazing damage is a must have for fast clear times.
Soukaku
While Soukaku's damage output is not nearly the best, her support and daze capabilities make her a very solid ice unit. Her chain attack inflicts a lot of ice damage, and it surrounds her in a vortex, letting you apply the damage to a wide area around her. Her Fly The Flag stance allows her to send out ranged ice attacks, allowing her to keep her distance. Soukaku's Masked state upon activating her ultimate also allows her to inflict heavy daze damage, making her very versatile. She works best on a heavy rotation team, especially when she plants the flag, as she will remain on field while another agent takes her place. She is absolutely incredible for Ice based teams, and will remain top tier for that particular setup for quite a long time.
A Tier
Grace
Grace, with her natural PEN Ratio and high elemental mastery, makes for an excellent choice for support DPS, doubly so thanks to her wide AOE special and ultimate, applying electric and shock damage in a wide area. Her dodge, much like Ellen's, is a useful tool of hers as it does not interrupt her combo, meaning she can weave in dodge with any of her attacks and not lose much DPS. Her core passive recharges energy for the entire squad, making her have team utility, as well. Overall, a great agent for AOE shock application. For more information on Grace, check out my build guide HERE
Koleda
Koleda is a high impact fire unit who specializes in dealing daze as well as fire and burn damage, and her daze is increased when attacking with fire with the use of her Furnace Fire ability. While she is solid on her own, without her main bear Ben, she is not at her full base potential, therefore I cannot place her into S, but she is still highly versatile thanks to her daze application capabilities. For more information on Koleda, check out my build guide HERE
Rina
Rina, with one of the highest base attribute masteries in the game, is an excellent electric support DPS who can not only offer utility for the team, but also massive burst damage in both physical and electric forms. She can safely keep at a distance from her foes, and her dodge is highly mobile, making it easy to play keep away with enemies to avoid damage. Her core abilities allow for damage buffs to the entire team, as well as enhanced shock damage. For more information on Rina, check out my build guide HERE
Lucy
Lucy, a fire support unit, is a good choice for overall team synergy, with her ability to constantly provide the team with the Cheer On! buff, which increases attack of the entire team up to 600, and with ultimate ability allowing her to act as a battery, giving the entire team 10 energy and the next on field agent an additional 20. She can also provide off field damage.
Nicole
Nicole is currently the only unit capable of group wide crowd control by means of her gravity pull abilities on her special, chain attack, and ultimate, making her incredibly valuable for dealing with large groups of enemies, especially for time attack situations. Her core abilities increase her daze capability and stun damage multipliers, making her even a decent stun unit, as well as her ability to decrease the enemies defense, makes her a great support for Ether based squads.
Seth
Seth is a perfect match for any anomaly based team, with his ability to not only increase the the squads anomaly proficiency, but to also decrease the enemies anomaly buildup resistance, making it much easier for the likes of Jane to apply her powerful Assault debuff. His versatility makes him a very good unit and worth to build, especially if you make use of anomaly agents.
B Tier
Nekomata
Nekomata is a great pick for DPS physical agent in the game. She attacks by using very fast, but close ranged attacks, and mainly deals with enemies one on one, with the exception of her chain / ultimate attack. She deals more damage upon executing a perfect dodge or attacking stunned enemies and has high base crit rate in order to help her deal more damage. To top it off, she has a built-in mechanic with her basic attack that allows her to quickly get behind her enemy, allowing for easy setups with Steel Cushion, or to avoid attacks. Her only downside is her constantly reliance on dodge counters or quick assists to keep her core passive alive, putting her at the top of B rank. To learn more about Nekomata, check out my build guide HERE
Soldier 11
Soldier 11, a great choice for a main fire DPS agent, not only has high damage, but is also a fantastic support and burn applicator. While she is on the team, when any fire agent including herself applies burn, they generate 4 energy, also making her a battery unit. After using her ultimate, all of her basic attacks will deal increased damage and fire, and as a bonus, whenever she attacks stunned enemies, her fire damage is increased by a further 20%. Her downside currently is that she is not very versatile as there is only one OBOL squad agent in the game, and due to her mechanic of needing to time her attacks constantly, her odds of being power crept by a future fire attack agent is quite high, leaving her at B rank. Check out the build guide HERE
Piper
Piper is an Anomaly physical agent, meaning she works well with top picks such as Nekomata. Her passive is where she shines in a lot of team comps, with it being a straight up 18% bonus damage to the entire team when she has 20 or more stacks of power. So the way to play her is conservative, as you want to try to aim to have at least 20 stacks of power when fighting elite enemies. Or, you can play her as your main physical damage DPS, meaning aggressively, by investing in her energy regen in order to constantly stack power with her EX Special.
Anby
Anby is an electric DPS daze applicator unit with an excellent core passive ability that can increase her daze multipliers to a considerable amount. Her damage output, while okay, is not impressive enough to push her to higher ranks, but if you need an electric daze applicator, then Anby will fit into your squad.
Anton
Anton is a DPS electric pierce unit who attacks at a close range, who comes with two modes, one for physical, the other for electric. His core abilities give him increased stun and damage, while his special and ultimate has decent AOE. While currently he is the best choice for your A rank electric main DPS, I believe he operates best as a burst DPS when you can chain into an EX-Special that can clear the field in one burst. With his base high crit rate, you should find some good results from him, especially against dazed and mechanical enemies.
C Tier
Corin
Corin is a physical main DPS unit who attacks at a close range, with an ultimate and core passive that lowers enemies' physical resistance, as well as increased damage when attacking stunned enemies. Her versatility is lacking for a main DPS, with attacks that often keep her stuck in place, and suffers from short ranged, slow attacks, leaving her at risky positions. Fortunately, her utility of lowering an enemy's physical resistance means she would still be good in a physical team, and good for attacking enemies when they are stunned due to it dealing increased damage, however, I would not consider her among the best choices for physical DPS.
Ben
Ben, the first "tank" of ZZZ, boasting the highest defense stat and kit that scales with his defense, deals slow physical and fire damage, and applies shields to himself, and with his core passive, to the team in order for them to sustain a little extra damage. Since his damage scales with his defense, even if you do miss a few parries, Ben could easily just shake it off as you would spec into defensive gear. However, overall, he lacks the damage needed to keep up in end game tasks.
D Tier
Billy
Billy, a ranged physical support DPS unit, is an okay for dealing AOE physical damage from a safe distance, as well as the ability to quickly fill up the assault anomaly due to his core passive. His ultimate can also safely damage an entire arena, who is currently the only unit in the game that has that ability. However, outside of clearing out trash mobs, he does not have much of a fit in the games end game activities, especially against bosses.
Update / Change Log
Updates / changes to the tier list will go here, as well as brief explanations. Usually as gacha games get older and get more updates, power-creep is introduced, causing characters to move down the list in order to make new characters more appealing, so expect the same here.
July 2024
- (7/4/2024) - Official Game Launch.
