Astra Yao ZZZ – Guide, Skills, Builds, Teams & More

Astra Yao ZZZ Overview

Welcome to our ZZZ character guide, where we cover everything you need to know about Astra Yao.

Astra Yao		Stars of Lyra
S Rank	Ether		Support

Hoyoverse recently revealed two new characters coming to ZZZ during their trailer for “The Game Awards.” These two characters will likely come with the Version 1.5 update, releasing in January.

Astra Yao is one of the two newly revealed characters, and if you’ve played close attention, she’s actually had some easter eggs in the game for a while now.

Her release will also introduce a new faction “Stars of Lyra.” However, the most important thing players are noticing is her specialty. Astra Yao will be the first limited Support Agent to release in ZZZ.

The closest thing we currently have in ZZZ is Caesar, who is a Defense Agent with a lot of team utility. If we look at other Hoyoverse games, the first limited “Support” character has been meta relevant for a long time.

Ruan Mei in HSR is still extremely relevant/strong today (2 years after release), and Kazuha was considered one of the best characters in Genshin Impact for a long time (still good today over 3 years after his release). While we don’t know what Astra Yao’s kit will do exactly just yet, many players are expecting it to warp the “meta” for quite some time.

ZZZ Astra Yao Release Date

Astra Yao will likely release with Version 1.5 which releases on January 22nd, 2025. However, we don’t know if Astra will be on the first half or second half of the version.

ZZZ Astra Yao Kit Review

TBD

ZZZ Astra Yao Skills

TBD

Astra Yao ZZZ Mindscape Cinema

TBD

Astra Yao ZZZ Build Guide Overview

We know basically nothing about Astra Yao’s kit except that she is Ether and Support. While we don’t have much to work with, there are still some basics we can cover from existing game knowledge.

W-Engine

• Signature (TBD)
• TBD

Drive Disc

• Astral Voice

Drive Disc Stats

• TBD

Main Stats

• TBD

Substats

• TBD

ZZZ Astra Yao Best W-Engines

As with most Limited Agents, Astra Yao will release alongside a new W-Engine that perfectly synergizes with her kit. When looking at other Support W-Engines, it’s hard to recommend something as universally good. While options like Slice of Time are universally good, we don’t know if Astra Yao scales with a specific stat, which may change her recommended Engine.

Furthermore, most of the Support W-Engines are fairly mid. The Vault may be usable, but the short buff duration hinders it quite a bit. Overall, I wouldn’t worry too much about the W-Engine. Astra Yao will likely be good with any Engine, but she will likely be extremely good with her signature.

ZZZ Astra Yao Drive Discs

Astral Voice

• (2): ATK +10%.
• (4): Whenever any squad member enters the field using a Quick Assist, all squad members gain 1 stack of Astral, up to a maximum of 3 stacks, and lasting 15s. Repeated triggers reset the duration. Each stack of Astral increases the DMG dealt by the character entering the field using a Quick Assist by 8%. Only one of this effect can be active at a time in the same squad.

Astral Voice is a new Drive Disc set that released in Version 1.4. As you can see, the set is very clearly designed to be used on Astra Yao. The naming and design of the Disc matches up perfectly with her.

With this in mind, we can likely assume that Astra Yao has a Quick Assist mechanic in her kit. Every Support Agent has one, Astral Voice uses the Quick Assist mechanic to buff teammates, it’s most likely the case.

At max stacks, Astral Voice will grant 24% DMG to the Agent Quick Assisting in, which is a solid buff that rivals Swing Jazz. Swing Jazz is still preferred in Stun/Burst teams like Zhu Yuan/Qingyi/Nicole, but Astral Voice is a strong option for non-stun teams or teams with double Support.

ZZZ Astra Yao Drive Disc Stats

Once again, without knowing her full kit details, we don’t know for sure what stats are recommended.

ZZZ Astra Yao Teams

Without knowing Astra Yao’s kit, I’m unable to firmly recommend teams. She could buff ATK, PEN, Crit, Anomaly, provide Energy, Decibels, a mixture of everything, a mixture of some things, etc.

However, let’s assume that Astra Yao will be a flexible Support Agent that can buff a variety of teammates regardless if they are Anomaly or Crit based. For the most part, any team that runs a Support/Defense Agent (which is close to every team) can replace someone with Astra Yao.

The current teams in ZZZ “generally” boils down to three main breakdowns: Hyper Carry, Stun, and Disorder. While there are other/more niche archetypes, these are the most common/generally strong.

Here are some examples of such teams. Keep in mind these don’t cover every possible team, just some notable examples.

Hyper Carry aka Double Support/Defense

The first team archetype here is the Hyper Carry team. This team uses one Agent to deal damage and the other two provide buffs/utility. Not every Attack/Anomaly Agent performs well in a Hyper Carry set up, but almost every Limited Attack/Anomaly Agent should do just fine in Shiyu Defense.

For this team, the main thing to consider is the “order” of Quick Assist. For example, Seth’s Quick Assist and Shield goes backward in order. While we don’t know Astra Yao’s Quick Assist mechanic, if she’s “normal” like the other Supports, an order of “Jane, Seth, Astra” would be your ideal setup.

For other Supports like Rina and Lucy, you don’t need to worry too much since their buff affects the entire squad rather than just the Agent Quick Assisting in.

Stun Teams

The next team archetype is Stun teams. These teams generally consist of Attack, Stun, and Support/Defense. (You can play Stun teams with Anomaly Agents over Attack, but that’s more niche)

The idea of these teams is to do as much damage as possible during the Stun Window, sacrificing DPS uptime for your Stunner to, well, stun the enemy. We don’t currently know the duration of Astra Yao’s utility. She could be a short buff Agent, similar to Nicole, or a high uptime one like Caesar/Lucy.

Either way, you’ll be able to buff your DPS Agent during the Stun Window to deal massive damage.

Agents like Zhu Yuan and Soldier 11 generally excel in these types of teams as their kit benefits from hitting stunned enemies.

Disorder

Lastly, we have Disorder teams. Anomaly has been very strong in Shiyu Defense due to the abundance of Anomaly Agent releases. Overall, Disorder teams are essential “Dual DPS” teams, where having two DPS Agents benefits each other through the Disorder mechanic.

Currently, we don’t know if Astra Yao buffs one Agent or the entire squad, but she likely will fit in either way. Some players feel like Yanagi is simply there to build up stacks for Miyabi, making her more like a Sub DPS rather than a secondary DPS on the same level.

Even if Astra Yao only buffs one Agent, if the buff is large enough, she will certainly find a place in Disorder teams as well.

Wrap Up

Overall, Astra Yao is an important milestone for ZZZ, as she is the first Limited Support Agent. If Hoyoverse follows the trend that Genshin and HSR set, Astra Yao will be a meta Agent for years to come.

Astra Yao’s release is also a breath of fresh air for players who haven’t been pulling for Anomaly Agents. Astra Yao is releasing alongside Evelyn,  a new Limited Attack Agent. The past 4 Versions have all included an Anomaly Agent, so players who have been focusing on Attack/Stun are definitely looking forward to Version 1.5.

Thanks for Reading! For more resources, check out our other Zenless Zone Zero Guides such as our ZZZ Tier List or ZZZ Best Teams.