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Zenless Zone Zero Beginners Combat Guide
With Hoyoverse’s latest release Zenless Zone Zero, players are thrown into the bustling city of New Eridu as a Proxy, responsible for guiding Agents through mysterious environments known as Hollows. In these Hollows, you will encounter a variety of enemies, allowing players to experience high-stakes action combat with several different characters. However, there are many mechanics the game doesn't explain to players. Knowing how these mechanics work can make the difference in getting an S rank on your next Shiyu Defense stage. Whether you’re looking for a rundown on the basics, or are someone interested in more advanced mechanics, they’ll both be explained here!
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The Basics
Every character, also called Agents, has access to five main skills and two passive skills, which can be leveled up via the Agent’s Skill tab. These include:
Basic Attack
The default combo of an Agent, performed by pressing the Basic Attack button, indicated by a fist.
- Some Agents will have additional abilities under their Basic Attack or other Skills that can be activated by holding the button or timing inputs, resulting in a wide variety of options during combat.
- For example, Anby can either hold down or briefly wait to press Basic Attack after her 3rd Attack to perform a stronger Electric DMG attack.
Dodge
Dash Attacks can be initiated by pressing the Basic Attack button after a dodge.
- If timed correctly, a Perfect Dodge will be triggered, indicated by a small glowing effect around the character. After a Perfect Dodge, a Dodge Counter can be initiated, dealing large amounts of damage compared to a Dash Attack.
Assist
Assist Skills are triggered by swapping to another Agent in battle once specific conditions are met.
- Quick Assist
Upon getting hit by a strong attack, a pop-up will appear over the Assist button, allowing you to swap and perform a Quick Assist, quickly bringing you back into the action.
- Defensive and Evasive Assist
When an enemy is about to attack you, a golden flash will appear, indicating the attack can be parried. Upon switching characters, the incoming character will either trigger a Defensive Assist, parrying the enemy’s attack and dealing large amounts of Daze DMG, or an Evasive Assist, activating a time-slow state called Vital View.- Using Defensive and Evasive Assists consumes a resource called Assist Points, shown around the Assist button during combat.
- If a Defensive or Evasive Assist is performed without Assist Points, a Perfect Dodge will be triggered instead. When out of Assist Points, golden flashes will be replaced with red flashes, indicating that the attack cannot be parried.
- Assist Follow-up
Upon triggering a Defensive or Evasive Assist, pressing the Basic Attack button will cause the current character to perform an Assist Follow-Up attack, rewarding players for successfully avoiding enemy attacks with their teammates.- Like Dodge Counters, Assist Follow-Ups also deal large amounts of damage compared to their weaker counterpart.
Special
The Special Skill consists of two attacks, a default Special Attack and an EX Special Attack. Both by attacking enemies and naturally over time, Agents will accumulate Energy, indicated by the bar below their HP. Upon gaining enough Energy, the Special button will light up, indicating an EX Special can be performed.
- EX Specials can provide a variety of effects, such as a mix of either high damage or Daze DMG, high Anomaly buildup, or supportive buffs to teammates.
- Normal Specials deal a rather minor amount of damage, and will generally not be used outside of a few examples, such as Grace or Anby.
Chain
Like Specials, the Chain Skill also consists of two attacks, Chain Attacks and Ultimates. However, both of these attacks are triggered under different conditions:
- Chain Attacks
Upon Stunning an enemy, hitting them with a heavy attack will trigger a Chain Attack, giving players the option to quickly select one of their teammates to unleash a powerful attack.- On some enemies, multiple Chain Attacks can be “chained” together, allowing players to deal a tremendous amount of damage within a short period. However, if the timer runs out, you will miss your Chain Attack opportunity, so be sure to select quickly!
- On some enemies, multiple Chain Attacks can be “chained” together, allowing players to deal a tremendous amount of damage within a short period. However, if the timer runs out, you will miss your Chain Attack opportunity, so be sure to select quickly!
- Ultimate
Compared to Special Skills, Ultimates rely on a shared resource, known as Decibels. The Decibel Rating will show on the left side of the screen during combat and can be increased from a variety of sources, such as attacking and stunning enemies, applying Anomalies, parrying attacks, and more.- Upon generating 3000 Decibels, the Ultimate button will light up, granting access to an extremely powerful ability.
- Keep in mind, Decibels are shared by all teammates, so make sure to use the Ultimate of your strongest Agent for the highest amount of damage!
Core Passive
Core Passives will generally provide either extra benefits to an Agent’s main role, or add unique effects to their abilities, such as higher damage or team buffing. Core Passives can be leveled up via Core Skill Enhancements, indicated by the A-F Icons in an Agent’s Skill tab. Unlocking Core Skill Enhancements will additionally grant extra stats to further their combat effectiveness.
Additional Ability
Additional Abilities are secondary passives, granting buffs to either the respective Agent or other teammates. However, they are only activated by teaming the Agent up with other characters that fit their requirements. These requirements can range from Agents of the same Attribute, Faction or of a specific Specialty, encouraging specific characters to be paired together when deciding on what team to take to a battle.
Additional Combat Mechanics
In addition to these, players have access to some additional mechanics when in combat. Making use of these can grant great advantages over the enemy, thanks to their ability to increase survivability and provide large windows to deal damage.
Specialties
Alongside an Agent’s attribute, there are five different specialties that determine an Agent’s role in a team. This can be found next to their attribute in the character’s Base Stats menu. Agent specialties can help you decide who to bring to a team, either for their own capabilities or to activate the Additional Abilities of other teammates.
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. |
Daze
Below every enemy’s HP is their Daze meter, which increases upon being attacked. Once full, the enemy will become Stunned, taking more damage and granting the opportunity to do Chain Attacks once hit with a heavy attack.
- Normal, Elite and Boss enemies will grant 1, 2 and 3 Chain Attack chances respectively once triggered, allowing for large amounts of damage to be dealt.
- Daze DMG dealt to enemies can be increased by increasing the Impact stat on a character, as well as by leveling their Skills, which in turn increases their Daze DMG Multipliers found under each skill’s Stats page.
- Stun characters specialize in dealing large amounts of Daze DMG to Stun enemies quickly, making them a potent role to bring to a team.
Swap Cancels
After initiating an attack, upon swapping to another Agent, the previous Agent will stay on-field momentarily to finish their attack. This can prove useful when trying to cast long abilities or for increasing the uptime of buffs when swapping to your damage dealer.
- Agents present on the field can still be hit and damaged by attacks however, so be careful when committing to a long attack, even from off-field.
- Agents in this state are unable to be swapped to until they have fully disappeared from the field, instead swapping to the next available character in the team.
Manual Quick Assists
Quick Assists can also be initiated after specific attacks, such as Lucy’s EX Special. This can grant some extra value to Assist Skills as well as help create new combos during combat.
Bullet Parrying
Some Agents, such as Anby, possess the ability to deflect any bullets coming at them from enemies with guns. This allows them to quickly close the gap without getting staggered or taking damage, granting ample opportunity to attack.
DP Assist - Dodge Parry Assist
When an enemy attacks, you generally have the option to either dodge and perform a Dodge Counter, or swap and perform a Defensive or Evasive Assist. However, most enemy attacks last long enough to trigger both a Dodge Counter and a Perfect Assist on the same attack.
- To do this, quickly press Dodge, Attack and Swap one after another. If done correctly, your first character should carry on with their Dodge Counter, whilst your second character successfully parries the attack, allowing for a quick Assist Follow-up.
- Learning this tech can help in combat due to combining the high damage from Dodge Counters and Assist Follow-ups with the high Daze DMG from Defensive Assists.
- Although Evasive Assists do not parry, they instead trigger Vital View, slowing down time to attack the enemy with ease.
Hidden Inputs
Some attacks, such as Nicole's EX Special, have an additional input which changes their animation. Currently, this tech is limited to Nicole, initiated by spinning the joystick (or pressing WASD in a circular pattern) during her EX Special, causing her to sit down on her bag to fire the attack. Although it doesn’t have much use in combat compared to using her EX Special normally, it is a nice easter egg to the fighting games Zenless Zone Zero is based on.
Energy Regen
Every character has a Base Energy Regen stat, showing how much Energy they gain per second during combat. Gaining Energy Regen stats further increases this effect, allowing characters to charge up their EX Special faster.
- Compared to other Hoyoverse games, increasing a character’s Energy Regen does not increase the Energy generated from attacking enemies. This instead is increased by another stat called Energy Regeneration Rate. However, Energy Regeneration Rate is generally not accessible via common methods, instead rarely being found in W-Engine Passives or Mindscape effects such as Anby’s 1st Mindscape.
In Combat vs Out of Combat Stats
Although this may be more advanced knowledge, stats and buffs in Zenless Zone Zero aren’t always equal compared to other Hoyoverse games and can be categorized into In Combat and Out of Combat stats.
- Out of Combat stats are any stats that show up on the character’s Base Stats menu. Any stat increases that show up on this menu are based on the Base Values of the respective Agent. This includes:
- W-Engine Mainstats and Substats.
- Drive Disc Mainstats and Substats.
- Drive Disc 2pc Set Bonuses.
- Core Passives such as Ben’s, which converts his DEF into ATK before combat.
- In Combat stats are any stats or buffs that take effect upon entering combat or that are triggered in combat. These stats and buffs instead use the final Out of Combat stat as their base value, rather than the Agent's base stats before other bonuses. As a result, gaining 10% ATK in combat will take effect on top of any ATK sources the Agent had outside of combat. This increases the value of flat substat rolls, such as Flat ATK, HP or DEF and greatly increases the value of 4pc Drive Disc Set Bonuses such as Woodpecker Electro and Thunder Metal. Unfortunately there is no consistent way to tell which effects are In Combat stats or Out of Combat stats by wording alone but a current list of included effects are:
- W-Engine Passives.
- Drive Disc 4pc Set Bonuses.
- Noodle Shop buffs.
- Hollow Zero Combat Configuration buffs.
- Hollow Zero Resonium effects.
- Any additional buffs applied in combat, such as Lucy or Soukaku’s ATK buff.
Buffs such as Lucy and Soukaku’s ATK buff are based on their Final ATK stat during combat, meaning any ATK stats they gain during combat will affect the amount of ATK they grant to teammates.
However, as Ben’s Core Passive converts his DEF into ATK outside of combat, it won’t additionally convert any DEF buffs he gets during combat into ATK.
Buffs such as Rina’s PEN Ratio buff from her Core Passive are decided immediately at the start of battle, resulting in additional sources of PEN Ratio during combat not increasing the buff granted to teammates.
Attribute Anomalies and Disorder
When attacking enemies with attribute attacks, they will accumulate Anomaly, indicated by a meter to the right of the enemy’s HP bar. Upon filling this meter, the enemy will be afflicted with an Attribute Anomaly.
Each attribute has its own Attribute Anomaly with unique effects upon being triggered:
Shock | Upon hitting a Shocked enemy, they will take one instance of Electric DMG. Can be triggered once every second with a maximum of 16 procs.
| |
Corrupted | Upon hitting a Corrupted enemy, they will take one instance of Ether DMG. Can be triggered once every 0.5 seconds with a maximum of 20 procs.
| |
Burn | Burning enemies will automatically take Fire DMG once every 0.5 seconds with a maximum of 20 procs.
| |
Freeze, Shatter and Frostbite | Enemies will be Frozen for a brief period and then trigger Shatter, dealing Ice DMG upon unfreezing. Enemies affected by Freeze will also be inflicted with Frostbite, increasing the attacker’s CRIT DMG by 10% against that target. | |
Assault and Flinch | Assault interrupts enemy actions and deals a large instance of Physical DMG. Assault also inflicts the enemy with Flinch, increasing their Daze Taken by 10%. |
Disorder
When another Attribute Anomaly is applied to an enemy already afflicted by one, a Disorder will be triggered, dealing large amounts of damage based on the original Anomaly. The new Anomaly applied will also take its place, allowing you to quickly chain different Attribute Anomalies together for constant Disorders.
Each Attribute Anomaly has a unique effect upon triggering a Disorder:
Shock | Immediately deals Electric DMG based on the amount of Shock hits left. | |
Corrupted | Immediately deals Ether DMG based on the amount of Corrupted hits left. | |
Burn | Immediately deals Fire DMG based on the amount of Burn hits left. | |
Shatter | Immediately deals Ice DMG that decreases in strength the longer it took for the second Attribute Anomaly to be applied. | |
Assault | Immediately deals Physical DMG that decreases in strength the longer it took for the second Attribute Anomaly to be applied. |
Additional Information
- You can increase the amount of Anomaly a character applies by increasing their Anomaly Mastery stat.
- Anomaly Proficiency can also help to further increase the damage dealt by Anomalies on top of other damaging stats, such as ATK or DMG Bonus.
- All Attribute Anomalies will last 10 seconds before expiring.
- Compared to Elemental Reactions in Genshin Impact, the damage dealt by Anomalies uses a portion of all teammate’s stats that contributed to applying the Anomaly.
- For example, if Grace applied 80% of a Shock Anomaly and Anton applied 20%, it would use 80% of Grace’s stats and 20% of Anton’s stats when deciding on the Shock DMG dealt.
Some Drive Disc effects also require enemies to be affected by Attribute Anomalies to activate their effects, making them particularly valuable effects.
Although Shock can hit up to 16 times, it is currently unable to reach this without Disorder or abilities that increase Shock duration, such as Rina’s Additional Ability.Bangboo
Bangboo are additional partners that can be brought to battle, providing either high amounts of damage or supportive aspects such as Energy or Anomaly Buildup.
Bangboo can be obtained from the Bangboo Channel Gacha using Boopons, a currency available from completing different tasks such as Hollow Zero and the New Eridu City Fund. Unlike Master Tape, Boopons can not be acquired with Polychromes, however, any S Ranks obtained from the Bangboo Channel are guaranteed to be the selected Bangboo.
During combat, Bangboos will automatically attack enemies and use their Active Skill when available. Some Bangboo also possess a Chain Attack, which can be used in addition to Agent Chain Attacks when one is triggered. Bangboo Chain Attacks do not reduce the amount of possible Chain Attacks and will immediately lead into the next Agent’s Chain Attack, making them another source of high damage.
Bangboo also have Additional Abilities activated by having specific Faction, Attribute or Agent Specialties in the team, further enhancing their combat effectiveness.
Teambuilding
Teams in Zenless Zone Zero will generally consist of three characters, along with a Bangboo, whose Additional Ability is satisfied by the team chosen. The most common team archetype consists of an Attack, Stun and Support. During combat, the Stun Agent will take most of the field time as they build up enemy Daze meters. Once Stunned, it's the Attack Agent’s turn to take the field, dealing large amounts of damage during the Stunned state. Support Agents will generally take the field to refresh their buffs periodically, either before the Attack Agent or whenever their buffs are about to expire.
Due to the large damage buff gained by Stunning enemies, alongside the ability to Chain Attack from that Stun, Stun Agents are highly valuable Agents to bring to a team, regardless of the archetype. For players interested in other teams, alternative archetypes do exist.
- Some characters such as Koleda and Ben gain special attacks when paired together, increasing both their damage and Daze DMG dealt to enemies.
- Anomaly Agents such as Piper or Grace can also take the place of an Attack Agent, due to also dealing large amounts of damage. However, teams containing two Anomaly Agents can see success, thanks to the quick buildup of two different Attribute Anomalies to rapidly trigger Disorder effects.
Although pairing teammates together to activate their Additional Passives is not required for teambuilding, they can help incentivise a specific team archetype. For example, Nicole’s Additional Passive grants all teammates 25% Ether DMG Bonus, making her a great teammate to pair with other Ether characters like Zhu Yuan. However, her Core Passive will decrease enemy DEF regardless of the team she’s in, meaning she can still provide support to non-Ether teammates.
Top 5 Tips to Keep in Mind
- Watch Out For Enemy Attacks
Learning enemy attack patterns and watching out for golden flashes is key when tackling a strong opponent. Take your time to dodge and parry enemy attacks in order to significantly improve your combat experience. Make use of the VR Training Room if you would like to practice against a specific enemy in a controlled environment.
- Don’t Underestimate Skill Levels
The level of an Agent’s Skills directly increases both their damage and Daze DMG output and are the first step in dealing damage before additional buffs. Increasing the levels of an Agent’s Basic, Dodge, Assist, Special, Chain and Core Skills will grant permanent damage increases to aid with taking down stronger opponents.
- Make Sure to Keep Stunning
Stunning enemies not only provides a large damage increase but also grants access to powerful Chain Attacks. After using your Chain Attacks, make sure to keep up the pressure with your damage dealers in order to make the most of the damage increase from Stunning enemies.
- Don’t Waste Your Decibels
As Decibels are a shared resource amongst the team, it’s unlikely you will be using several different Ultimates in a team, instead sticking to the one that deals the most damage. For most teams this will be your Attack or Anomaly Agents due to them specializing in dealing large amounts of damage.
- Raise That Inter-Knot Level!
Increasing your Inter-Knot level will not only grant you access to new features as you progress through the game but will also increase the level cap of Agents and W-Engines, as well as the rewards gained from spending Battery Charges. Your Inter-Knot level can be increased from earning Inter-Knot Credits, found from spending Battery Charges, completing your daily Errands, and completing other quests in your Schedule such as the main story.