Welcome to the Zenless Zone Zero tier list! This is a ranking of all characters in terms of how effectively they perform in their role in endgame content, particularly the most difficult content in the game Shiyu Defense. Due to the game's recency, both S and A-Rank Agents are currently ranked based on their Mindscape 0 performance.
Please keep in mind that Zenless Zone Zero is still a new game! There's plenty to explore and learn in this game, and it is currently unfeasible for a majority of players to have all of their Agents maxed out. As a result, it is likely that placements will change, so feel free to check back frequently.
This tier list is currently up to date for Patch 1.0 as of July 13th 2024.
ZZZ Tier List Ranking Criteria
As with all tier lists, it's important to understand how each character is ranked. Although all characters are ranked in the same list, Zenless Zone Zero categorises characters with their own specialty. Due to the vast differences between most of these specialties, it is important to not directly compare a character from one specialty with another. For example, just because a Stun specialty character is SSS tier does not mean they do the same amount of damage as an SSS tier Attack specialty character.
- Characters are ranked based on their Mindscape 0 performance, with some mention of early Mindscapes if relevant.
- Characters are assumed to be at Lv. 60/60, with Lv. 11/12 Skills and all Core Skill Enhancements unlocked.
- Characters are assumed to have access to all Phase 5 A and B-Rank W-Engines, as well as Phase 1 W-Engines from the Stable Channel Gacha pool.
- Each character has access to their best Drive Disc set bonuses and main stats, as stated in the respective character's guide once available.
Specialties
Each character has their own specialty, helping players to decide which characters to bring to a team. Each character is ranked based on how well they fulfil their specialty's description, alongside any additional benefits they may bring, such as a Stun specialty bringing additional buffing, or a Support specialty having extra damage potential.
| Attack | Excels at dealing large amounts of damage directly through their attacks to defeat enemies. | |
| Stun | Excels at building up Daze to cause enemies to be Stunned, creating opportunities for teammates to attack. | |
| Anomaly | Excels at accumulating Anomaly Buildup to weaken enemies and deal damage with Attribute Anomalies. | |
| Defense | Excels at counterattacking enemy attacks whilst possessing strong survivability. | |
| Support | Excels at buffing allies to improve the combat effectiveness of the team. |
ZZZ Tier List: Best Characters
Here are the current rankings for all characters as of Patch 1.0. Characters are only rated vertically; horizontal placement in a category is not considered.
A large amount of characters tend to perform very well, with a majority of A-Rank characters being obtainable for free. Even if a character is rated low compared to others, they are still capable of clearing a majority of content in the game given enough investment.
Keep in mind that with the release of new characters, others may rise and fall so remember to check back for any changes.
| Ranking | Characters | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SSS | ||||||||
| Ellen | Lycaon | |||||||
| S | ||||||||
| Grace | Koleda | Soukaku | Rina | |||||
| A | ||||||||
| Nekomata | Soldier 11 | Piper | Anby | |||||
| Lucy | Nicole | |||||||
| B | ||||||||
| Corin | Anton | Ben | ||||||
| C | ||||||||
| Billy | ||||||||
Zenless Zone Zero Tier List Explanations
Here are our current explanations for each character's rating:
| Character | Rank | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| SSS | Being Zenless Zone Zero's first limited character, Ellen provides excellent damage in a short period, synergising perfectly with the two other Ice characters on release, Lycaon and Soukaku. Her Core Passive and Additional Ability grant her large amounts of CRIT DMG and Ice DMG, further pushing her damage and allowing her to focus mainly on CRIT Rate to balance out her CRIT Ratio. Finally, Ellen's Roaming state after dashing grants her large amounts of movement speed, letting her chase down enemies with ease. Due to being rather combo-oriented to maximise her damage, she can take some time to learn. However, once mastered, she currently has unbeatable damage by the rest of the cast, making her an excellent pickup if you have her ideal teammates. | |
| Ellen | Attack | |
| SSS | Currently one of the best characters to get from the Stable Channel Gacha, Lycaon's not only able to deal incredible amounts of Daze DMG, but his Additional Ability increases the Stun Multiplier by 35%, a potent buff for any team's damage whilst enemies are Stunned. Although the previously mentioned points allow him to see great success in numerous teams, Lycaon's Core Ability lets him reduce enemy Ice RES by 25% for 30 seconds with almost 100% uptime after casting his EX Special or Assist Follow-up, greatly increasing the damage output of Ice teams. Being both a simple and very effective character, Lycaon is almost never a bad addition to a team. | |
| Lycaon | Stun | |
| S | Grace combines high Anomaly buildup, short field time and good mobility into one tight package, whilst also being capable of dealing high amounts of damage through Shock. This short field time allows her to pair with other damage dealers quite comfortably. Currently, she is almost a must for Shock-oriented teams on release due to how quickly she builds up Electric Anomaly. Unfortunately, refreshing Shock will not cause it to deal additional damage, resulting in Grace losing some of her damage potential without another character able to trigger Disorder frequently. However, her best teammate Rina is locked behind the Stable Channel Gacha as an S-Rank, with a noticeable difference in performance without her. | |
| Grace | Anomaly | |
| S | Koleda has one job: stunning enemies, and she does it very well, with her EX Special specifically providing large amounts of Daze DMG. She is also extremely forgiving to play thanks to her Basic Attack combo having invincibility frames whilst she's in the air. These invincibility frames can also be briefly extended by delaying her Basic Attacks, allowing Koleda to easily avoid enemy attacks without the need to dodge or parry. Koleda's teamwork attacks with Ben also greatly increase the damage and Daze DMG dealt by her Basic Attacks, and slightly increase the output of her EX Special and Ultimate. Although Koleda's Additional Ability increases the damage of Chain Attacks, team performance will not drop significantly if this is skipped, allowing Koleda to slot into a large number of teams effectively. | |
| Koleda | Stun | |
| S | Soukaku's a great addition to all teams and even moreso to Ice teams thanks to her insane 1,000 Flat ATK and 20% Ice DMG buff. Although her EX Special and Chain Attack's animations can be quite long, they provide a decent amount of Ice Anomaly application, whilst granting her buff to the next teammate to switch in. These buffs have very long durations, allowing Soukaku to keep them active 100% of the time with good management. Despite Soukaku requiring 2,500 ATK to maximise her ATK buff, this is relatively achievable once she's levelled up without much extra investment into her Drive Disc's sub stats if you wish to invest into your other characters first. | |
| Soukaku | Support | |
| S | Rina synergises amazingly into Shock-oriented teams thanks to her Shock duration extension, and provides up to 30% PEN Ratio to all teammates with her Core Passive when her Bangboo are on the field. Although this buff is both universal and potent, it can be a pain for players to keep weaving in her attacks between their damage dealer's combos, as her Bangboo need constant redeployment to keep the PEN Ratio buff active. Despite this, her Shock duration extension and additional Electric DMG buff are crucial for Shock-oriented teams, increasing Shock DMG by up to 30%. Rina also has very high movement speed and can attack whilst moving, allowing her to chase down enemies with ease. | |
| Rina | Support | |
| A | Despite Nekomata being one of many Physical Attack characters, she provides fast-paced gameplay with quick attacks and fast movement. Her Dash Attack locks onto enemies incredibly well with immense speed, whilst her EX Special has a lower Energy cost compared to other characters, granting her more invincibility frames compared to the rest of the cast. Unfortunately for Nekomata, her Core Passive requires hitting an enemy with either a Dodge Counter or Quick Assist every 6 seconds to keep it active, which may get annoying for some players. Additionally, her signature W-Engine requires hitting enemies from behind to make use of it effectively. This can be solved by her potent 1st Mindscape, however it is unlikely for a majority of players to have multiple copies of a desired S-Rank at this point in time. | |
| Nekomata | Attack | |
| A | Soldier 11 provides satisfying gameplay though her timed attacks, granting her a Fire Infusion if timed correctly. Although some players may struggle with this, using her EX Special, Chain Attack and Ultimate grant her 8 free attacks without the need to time them. Currently, Soldier can form a potent team with two A-Rank characters, Ben and Lucy, with the option of replacing Ben for Koleda or Piper if they're available. Both Ben and Lucy can be guaranteed, with Ben being available from the main story and Lucy being available in July's Residual Signal Shop. Soldier 11's main issue is that she only does Fire DMG and provides nothing else to a team, making her relatively easy to replace later on. Additionally, she is the only OBOLS Squad character on release, meaning her synergies are limited to teams of Fire characters only. | |
| Soldier 11 | Attack | |
| A | As one of two new characters revealed in 1.0, Piper has performed surprisingly well, able to deal damage both through her raw damage multipliers and Assault thanks to her high Physical Anomaly Buildup. Piper can increase her Anomaly Buildup Rate further with her Core Passive, further increasing the frequency of Assault Anomalies. Piper can also work well in a more supportive role to a team, granting 18% DMG Bonus to all teammates with her Additional Ability. However, keeping a good uptime on this is heavily reliant on her 1st Mindscape. Despite this, her flexibility, quick Anomaly Buildup and high damage lead to her performing very well in a majority of content currently available, with her and Lucy forming a solid team core that works with a large amount of the current cast. | |
| Piper | Anomaly | |
| A | For a free character, Anby has surprisingly high Daze DMG and a satisfying combo that allows her to fit a Special or EX Special between her 3rd Basic Attack and Thunderbolt Basic Attack. The main thing holding Anby back is her lack of any sort of buffing potential for the team, resulting in her being very easy to replace later on. Unfortunately, her satisfying combos can be annoying to perform under pressure, thanks to her Thunderbolt attack requiring either waiting, Holding or performing a Special. Despite this, being the only free Stun specialty character currently grants her a niche no other character can fulfil unless you manage to acquire Lycaon or Koleda from the Stable Channel Gacha. | |
| Anby | Stun | |
| A | Thanks to Lucy's short field time and strong buffing potential, she's able to fit in numerous teams. On top of providing up to 600 ATK to all teammates assuming she has enough ATK herself, she is also capable of dealing some moderate off-field damage with her guard boars. Unfortunately, enemies with high mobility can cause the guard boars to either miss their attacks or spend additional time trying to catch up, reducing Lucy's total damage output. On top of this, her EX Special also infrequently misses enemies even in close range, causing her to not activate her manual Quick Assist. Despite this, her Additional Ability is relatively minor, allowing her to slot into numerous teams with little loss in her performance. Make sure to level her Skill as her ATK buff's potency is based on this! | |
| Lucy | Support | |
| A | Nicole being free is a blessing for players thanks to her large DEF Reduction debuff from her Core Passive and strong grouping capabilities from her EX Special and Chain Attack. Her Additional Ability also provides Ether DMG to the team, which will be helpful once Zhu Yuan releases, but means she doesn't need to activate her Additional Ability in a majority of teams to be useful. Although her EX Special can be expensive, it is possible to swap whilst it's being launched. This sacrifices the guaranteed Quick Assist for higher uptime on her DEF Reduction debuff for your damage dealer's main combo, as her debuff duration can be quite short when compared to most damage dealer's combos. | |
| Nicole | Support | |
| B | Thanks to Corin's Additional Ability, she is able to deal incredible amounts of damage when enemies are stunned. However, she is also extremely reliant on her EX Special and Ultimate to do so. Without Energy or Decibels, Corin's damage potential drops immensely, making her better suited to boss scenarios that allow her to generate Energy and Decibels before attacking. Corin's attacks also lock her in place or cause her to have very limited movement, making her prone to missing enemies. Because of her reliance on Stunning enemies, even moreso than other characters, Lycaon makes a perfect pairing for her. Otherwise, she requires a Physical character or Rina in order to activate her Additional Ability, making her team options quite limited for a lot of players due to the lack of Physical supports and rarity of Victoria Faction characters. | |
| Corin | Attack | |
| B | Anton is incredibly reliant on his Energy to enter Burst Mode and high Shock uptime to trigger his Additional Ability. Because of this, he is additionally reliant on strong S-Rank options such as Grace, able to build up large amounts of Electric Anomaly, and Rina, who extends the duration of Shock and provides additional buffs. Anton tends to lose a lot of value when enemies aren't Shocked and becomes a sitting duck outside of his Burst Mode. Although he can pair with Anby for a Stun unit, the increases he gains from Grace and Rina are very noticeable. Without at least one of the two, Shock uptime starts to drop, making him a less desirable DPS to build early on. Anton's Energy issues can be marginally circumvented with his 1st Mindscape, allowing him to miss his first two Basic Attacks and dash cancel his Drill attack, granting him just enough Energy to continue attacking. | |
| Anton | Attack | |
| B | Although Ben is currently the only Defense character in the game, a lot of his value comes from his teamwork attacks with Koleda, who a majority of players will not have access to. Ben's focus on counterattacking with his EX Special also can result in weird swap timings, due to needing to swap early to counterattack rather than trigger a Defensive Assist. Despite being geared towards Stunning enemies, his Base Impact stat is noticably lower than dedicated Stun characters, alongside having no additional buffing for Daze DMG. This results in him falling behind noticably compared to dedicated Stun characters. However, due to the game's current lack of options, he can pair alongside Soldier 11 as a cheap alternative to Koleda and/or Lucy. | |
| Ben | Defense | |
| C | Unfortunately for Billy, Zenless Zone Zero released with two other Physical Attackers contesting his role, as well as Piper who can also take the role of a Physical DPS. When combined with a lack of synergistic teammates, it can be hard to bring him to a team that fulfills everyone's Additional Abilities. Although Billy can attack from range, this range actually becomes a downside to him, due to his damage dropping off immensely when attacking at a distance. This results in him having to play in close range to maximise his damage output, losing one key strength he had over the majority of the roster. However, he does have one of the highest Ultimate DMG Multipliers in the game, making him decent at nuking if the team can generate Decibels quickly. | |
| Billy | Attack |
