Beginner’s Guide to Zenless Zone Zero
New to New Eridu? This guide covers everything you need to know to get started — from combat basics to building your first team.
🎮 What is Zenless Zone Zero?
Zenless Zone Zero (ZZZ) is a free-to-play urban fantasy action RPG developed by HoYoverse (the creators of Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail). Set in the post-apocalyptic city of New Eridu, you play as a Proxy who guides agents through dangerous dimensions called Hollows.
The game features fast-paced real-time combat, a roster of unique agents, and roguelike exploration mechanics. It is available on PC, PlayStation 5, iOS, and Android.
⚔️ Combat Basics
ZZZ combat is action-based and real-time. You control a team of up to 3 agents, switching between them during battle.
Key Mechanics
- Basic Attack — String together light attacks for consistent damage.
- Special Attack (EX) — Consumes Energy for powerful skills with i-frames.
- Dodge / Dash — Avoid enemy attacks. A perfect dodge triggers a Dodge Counter for bonus damage.
- Assist / Parry — Swap agents at the right moment to parry and counterattack.
- Chain Attack — After stunning an enemy, trigger sequential attacks from all 3 team members.
- Ultimate — Each agent has a powerful ultimate ability that charges during combat.
🎯 Elements & Specialties
Each agent has an Element and a Specialty (role). Understanding these is key to building effective teams.
5 Elements
- 🔥 Fire — High burst damage and burning effects.
- ⚡ Electric — Fast attacks with shock and chain potential.
- ❄️ Ice — Freeze and control with critical damage bonuses.
- 💪 Physical — Stagger and interrupt with consistent DPS.
- ✨ Ether — Energy-based attacks with utility and support.
6 Specialties
- Attack — Primary damage dealers. Focus on ATK, CRIT Rate, and CRIT DMG.
- Stun — Builds Daze to stun enemies. Essential for triggering Chain Attacks.
- Anomaly — Applies elemental anomalies (burn, shock, freeze, corruption, assault).
- Support — Buffs teammates and debuffs enemies. Build for Energy Regen.
- Defense — Tanks with shields and damage reduction. Scales with DEF stat.
- Rupture — Specialized in breaking enemy defenses (2.0+).
Browse all agents with our Agent Database — filter by element and specialty.
🛠️ Gear: W-Engines & Drive Discs
Every agent can equip one W-Engine (weapon) and six Drive Discs (equipment).
W-Engines
W-Engines provide base ATK and a secondary stat (e.g., CRIT Rate, ATK%). Each has a unique Passive Effect that activates when the agent's specialty matches the W-Engine's type. There are 4 rarities: S, A, B, and C.
Drive Discs
Drive Discs come in sets of 2 and 4 pieces. Equip 4 pieces of one set + 2 pieces of another to maximize bonuses. Each disc has a main stat and up to 4 sub-stats.
👥 Team Building Basics
A balanced team typically includes:
- 1 Stun agent — Builds Daze to create stun windows.
- 1 Attack or Anomaly agent — Your primary damage source.
- 1 Support or Defense agent — Buffs, shields, or healing.
Some agents have Additional Abilities that activate when paired with agents of the same faction or element. Check individual agent pages for synergy details.
👉 Check the Tier List for the best agents in each role.
⚡ Best Starter Team: Pyrois + Norma + Nicole
Based on community consensus (July 2026), this is the best low-cost team for new players:
- Pyrois (free S-rank from story progression) — Main DPS. High fire damage output, straightforward to play.
- Norma (limited banner) — Stun support. Builds Daze quickly and synergizes perfectly with Pyrois. Flashy, fun playstyle.
- Nicole (free A-rank) — Support/Debuffer. Reduces enemy DEF, groups enemies with her black hole, and requires zero investment to be effective.
This team covers all three core roles (DPS + Stun + Support) with excellent synergy and minimal investment. Focus all your resources on this team first before building a second one.
Alternative: Soldier 11 + Koleda + Lucy is another strong all-F2P option if you haven't unlocked Pyrois yet.
💎 Gacha & Pull Priority
Should You Pull Right Now?
As a new player with the free story agents (Anby, Billy, Nicole, Grace, Pyrois), here is the recommended priority:
- 1st priority — A limited DPS you enjoy. Pyrois is free and strong, so you are not desperate. Wait for a DPS whose playstyle clicks with you.
- 2nd priority — A top-tier Stun agent. Norma (best for Pyrois teams), Dialyn (most versatile), or Qingyi (Electric). Stun agents unlock Chain Attack windows and dramatically increase your damage output.
- 3rd priority — A limited Support. Sunna, Astra Yao, or Yuzuha. Supports age well and fit into many teams.
When to Save
Wait for the version livestream (~1 week before a new patch) before spending. The current banners will still be active, so you lose nothing by waiting. Remielle and Sigrid are coming in 3.1 — check if they fit your roster.
🆓 F2P Resource Guide
How Much Can You Earn?
- ~12,000–15,000 Polychrome per patch (6 weeks) from daily commissions, Hollow Zero, Shiyu Defense, events, and codes.
- 30,000+ Polychrome one-time pool for new players from story quests, commissions, exploration, and achievements.
- You need ~22,000 Polychrome to guarantee a limited S-rank (hard pity). With the one-time pool, you can guarantee at least one limited agent right away.
What to Farm First
- IK Level (Inter-Knot) — Progress the story and spend Battery on resource stages. Higher IK unlocks higher-tier domains with better drops.
- Agent Levels — Get your core 3 to Lv.50+ before spreading resources. Character level gates skill upgrades and base stats.
- W-Engine Levels — Cheaper than character levels per stat gained. Keep W-Engines at your agent's level cap.
- Drive Discs (wait until Lv.40+) — Don't farm discs heavily before unlocking gold-tier drops. Use whatever drops from story and events until then.
- Skills — Prioritize core passive > basic attack > EX special > ultimate. Check individual agent guides for exact priority.
👉 Browse all materials — filter by category to plan your farming.
🔍 Build Quality Self-Check
You have leveled your agent, equipped a W-Engine, and filled all 6 disc slots. How do you know if your build is good enough? Stop farming when you can answer "yes" to these questions:
The 5-Point Build Checklist
- 1. Is the W-Engine type correct? If your Attack agent has an Anomaly W-Engine, the passive is dead. Fix this first — it is worth more than 2 weeks of disc farming.
- 2. Is the 4-piece Drive Disc set bonus active? 4 pieces of the correct set with any stats beats 6 random pieces with good stats. The set bonus is a multiplier, not additive.
- 3. Are your main stats correct on discs 4, 5, and 6? Disc 4 wants CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG (for DPS) or ATK% (for Anomaly). Disc 5 wants Element DMG% matching your agent. Disc 6 wants ATK% or Energy Regen. Wrong main stat = the disc is scrap regardless of substats.
- 4. Do your key substats hit the thresholds? For a DPS: aim for 60%+ CRIT Rate and 120%+ CRIT DMG as a baseline. For Anomaly: 300+ Anomaly Proficiency. Count the number of useful substat rolls — if fewer than 50% of your substats are useful, keep farming.
- 5. Are you within 90% of the cap? Sunna's buff caps at 3500 ATK, but 3350 (96% of cap) is functionally identical. The last few percentage points cost exponentially more stamina. Community wisdom: "maximums are not minimums." Stop when you are close.
Quick Disc Evaluation Trick
Count the number of substat rolls that help your agent. A disc with +2 CRIT Rate, +2 CRIT DMG, +1 ATK% has 5 useful rolls. A disc with +3 HP, +2 DEF has 0 useful rolls — instant scrap. When comparing two builds, count total useful substat rolls across all 6 discs. The build with more useful rolls is almost always better, even if the main stats look similar.
🐰 Bangboo Companions
Bangboo are AI companions that assist in combat with automatic skills. Each Bangboo has an element and a unique ability. You can deploy one Bangboo per team, and its effectiveness increases when paired with agents of matching elements.