Zenless Zone Zero Tier List: Best Agents (Version 1.0)

Zenless Zone Zero Tier List

Welcome to our Zenless Zone Zero Tier List where we cover the best characters/agents . If you want to reroll, be sure to check out our ZZZ Reroll Guide for more catered information.

With Zenless Zone Zero just about to release, many players are curious to learn about the strongest characters. This is especially important for those who want to reroll to get that perfect start.

Let’s jump right into the tier list. You can find more information on the agents and a few disclaimers below.

ZZZ Tier List (Version 1.0)

Note: Tiers are not ordered

S	Ellen, Grace, Lycaon, Rina
A	Koleda, Nekomata, Soldier 11, Ben, Lucy, Nicole, Piper, Soukaku
B	Anby, Anton, Billy, Corin

Disclaimers

This tier list attempts to cover every character and their potential value, but be sure to take this article with a grain of salt.

Since release has only just begun, this tier list is largely based on the CBT (Closed Beta Test), and things may change upon official release. The meta may change drastically as more players test with the official launch.

Secondly, we also try to take into consideration how flexible a character is. If a character only has one strong team, it can be quite difficult to obtain all the pieces. Agents that fit into a variety of teams will generally be higher up on the tier list.

Lastly, these tiers look to evaluate characters in a “meta” sense. You may enjoy a character if they’re easier to play, more difficult to play, or simply for their aesthetic.

This tier list is simply a reference to help guide you in your decisions. Let’s jump into the Agent breakdowns.

S-Tier: Ellen

S Rank

Victoria

Ice

Attack

Ellen will be the first featured Limited Agent, and she has quite a lot going for her. In the early game, having a character to carry the team through damage is very valuable. She can help you breeze through more content stages, or even tackle harder stages.

It also helps that she has a full Mono Ice team with herself, Lycaon, and Soukaku. Lycaon is a Standard S-Rank, while Soukaku is a featured A-Rank on Ellen’s banner. While Lycaon may be hard to get, if you do happen to get him from the Standard Banner, you should really consider pulling for Ellen.

It’s true that DPS characters tend to get powercrept the fastest (just look at Genshin/HSR). However, for the first 3-6 months of the game, Ellen should be a top tier option.

S-Tier: Grace

S Rank

Belobog

Electric

Anomaly

Grace is our next S-Tier Agent, and this may be our personal bias for Anomaly characters. As of right now, there are only two Anomaly Agents in the game. Lots of testing needs to be done to see the effectiveness of Anomaly, but it is quite valuable nonetheless.

Anomaly provides a different playstyle, dealing damage through the Attribute Anomaly mechanic as opposed to things like ATK/Crit scaling. If Anomaly is anything like Elemental Mastery/Break from Genshin/HSR, we can expect Anomaly to be very resource efficient.

This means that while Anomaly might not have the highest damage ceiling compared to Crit, it provides strong value for the resources required.

Grace also empowers Mono Electric teams to their highest potential. Lastly, there is potential for Disorder Teams as well. These are teams that use multiple Attributes to apply different types of Attribute Anomaly, triggering Disorder.

These Disorder teams can potentially deal very strong damage without needing the same investment level of other Agents that want Crit/ATK stats.

S-Tier: Lycaon

S Rank

Victoria

Ice

Stun

Next up, we have Lycaon, another S-Rank Standard Agent. Lycaon stands out as an S-Rank Stun Agent that can synergize with both the Ice Attribute and Victoria Housekeeping Factions.

As of right now, the only Attack Agent for Ice/Victoria is Ellen, and these two pair very naturally. Lycaon is very noticeable step up from Anby, in terms of both Damage and Stun capabilities.

As more Ice/Victoria Agents release, Lycaon will continue to be a strong option unless a better Stun Agent releases. Because of this, he’s quite a safe investment at release. Even if you don’t have Ellen, he can still be a very powerful Stun Agent.

S-Tier: Rina

S Rank

Victoria

Electric

Support

Moving on, we have Rina, a Support Agent from Victoria Housekeeping. Rina excels at supporting Electric teams, which there are quite a few Agents for. She is also just a solid unit, providing off-field damage which is not very common in ZZZ.

For Electric Agents, we have Anton, Grace, and Anby in Version 1.0. When it comes to accessible teams, Anton and Anby work, but won’t necessarily impress. Rina will really shine if you have Grace on the same team, but that requires two specific S-Rank Agents.

As such, Rina’s tier greatly depends on your own account. If you have one copy of Anton, the Mono Electric team might not impress. Conversely, if you have Grace with Rina, you can have a very powerful team.

Rina’s value will also increase in the future if a Limited S-Rank Electric/Attack Agent comes out.

A-Tier: Koleda

S Rank

Belobog

Fire

Stun

Up next, we have Koleda, a Fire Stun Agent from Belobog. In CBT, the Fire Attribute was a bit lacking with only 3 members, two of them being S-Rank Agents. However, with the release of Lucy, the Fire Attribute teams are much more flexible.

Koleda and Ben are also unique in that they launch Coordinated Attacks when they are on the same time. While this makes for a strong combination, it also makes team building less flexible.

Right now, we’re unsure what the best Fire setup will be. If you want to run Lucy, you have to give up something. Either you go Soldier 11, Koleda, Lucy (and miss out on Ben), or you go Koleda, Ben, Lucy (and miss out on Soldier 11).

It could very well be that Lucy doesn’t make the cut, but more testing will need to be done to see.

A-Tier: Nekomata

S Rank

Cunning Hares

Physical

Attack

Nekomata is another Standard S-Rank with the Attack Fighting Style. Since she’s a Standard S-Rank, it’s highly likely that Ellen will out damage her as a Limited S-Rank. However, Nekomata is an easier Agent to build around, since we already get a Cunning Hares team for free. Anby (Stun) and Nicole (Support) will combine to make a very accessible team.

Furthermore, Hoyoverse teased a new Agent, Piper, who is an A-Rank Physical Anomaly. This opens up more teambuilding options for Nekomata, increasing her flexibility in the future.

While every Agent will have more team options in the future, Nekomata can give you instant results with a Cunning Hares team, with Piper soon to come.

A-Tier: Soldier 11

S Rank

OBOLS

Fire

Attack

For the most part, Soldier 11 has the same breakdown as Koleda when looking at the Fire Attribute teams. The other downside is that Soldier 11 doesn’t have any other Faction members. This pigeonholes her into Fire teams.

However, with Lucy, the options do open up. You can potentially run Soldier 11, Lucy, and Piper instead of the Mono Fire team with Koleda/Ben.

Last thing to note is that Soldier 11 is more difficult to play compared to other Agents. To maximize her damage, you will need to time your attacks accordingly, which can be a detriment.

If you enjoy this type of challenge, Soldier 11 may be the Agent for you. But for the majority of players, this will simply lead to a loss in damage.

A-Tier: Ben

A Rank

Belobog

Fire

Defense

Next up, we have Ben, the only Defense Agent in the game currently. As it sounds, Defense Agents focus on things that provide defensive utility compared to offensive.

When you’re just starting out, avoiding damage is quite powerful as you can push through content without worrying about dying. There are also no healers currently in the game, which makes Ben even more valuable.

Many players in the CBT used Ben to challenge the harder stages in the game without worry. However, if you’re the type that only cares about damage and dodging, Ben won’t be as valuable to you.

Even still, having a defensive character lets you have a comfier time, similar to a character like Zhongli from Genshin.

A-Tier: Lucy

A Rank

Sons of Calydon

Fire

Support

Lucy is a “new” character releasing with 1.0 since she wasn’t part of the CBT. As a Support Agent, she provides a lot of buffing effects to your team, which is premier for any account.

While she generally works best with Fire Agents, you can pair her with Piper (Physical Anomaly) as they share the same Sons of Calydon Faction. This lets Lucy spread well into Physical teams as well.

While we believe Lucy’s kit is extremely valuable, in terms of the current meta, Fire teams aren’t looking to be the predominant Attribute. Even still, Lucy is still great at flexing into a variety of teams.

In a general sense, Support characters tend to have a longer shelf-life compared to Attack Agents. That being said, it’s very possible for a future S-Rank Fire Support to powercreep Lucy.

A-Tier: Nicole

A Rank

Cunning Hares

Ether

Support

Nicole is one of the free Agents you receive upon starting the game. Of these Agents, we think Nicole is one of the best Agents to invest resources into. The Ether Attribute is unique in that the Drive Disc set (Chaotic Metal 4) provides an enemy debuff rather than just personal damage.

This allows Nicole to be a flexible support for almost any team. While she may not always be your best option, she can easily fit into any team, giving her great flexibility.

She also doesn’t take up too much time on field and has grouping in her kit (pulling enemies together). This can be extremely valuable in certain content, further increasing her value.

While there may be better Supports for certain Attributes (Rina for Electric/Lucy for Fire), Nicole has a lot of flexibility for any account.

A-Tier: Piper

A Rank

Sons of Calydon

Physical

Anomaly

Like Lucy, Piper is a new Agent releasing in 1.0 that wasn’t playable in the beta. She is another connective piece for the Physical Attribute, which is lacking Agents other than Attack Agents.

Since Piper is Anomaly, she helps trigger Assault on enemies, which deals good damage and inflicts Daze. This makes Mono Physical teams much stronger. As of right now, Nekomata is a great pairing, but you could use Piper with Billy/Corin as well.

A-Tier: Soukaku

A Rank

Section 6

Ice

Support

Up next, we have Soukaku, who is a Support Agent for the Ice Attribute. She is also part of Section 6, but she is the only Agent currently available from the Faction.

Soukaku will be on the Ellen banner, so chances are that you get at least one copy of Soukaku when going for Ellen. With Ellen + Soukaku, you have 2/3rds of a very strong team. As previously mentioned, Lycaon will be a great final team member, but that depends if you obtain him or not.

Right now, a big part of Soukaku’s value comes from her pairing with Ellen. In the future, stronger Support characters may come out, leading to Soukaku moving down the tier list. But as it stands, she’s a solid unit assuming you have Ellen.

B-Tier: Anby

A Rank

Cunning Hares

Electric

Stun

Up next, we have Anby, another free Agent you get from Cunning Hares. As a Stun Agent, she somewhat has flexibility, but to make the most of her, you want to use her in Electric/Cunning Hares teams.

While not a bad unit, we think that Anby will be one of the quicker units to be powercrept in the game. As more Stun/Support/Anomaly units come out, it will be hard for Anby to compete with new releases.

However, we don’t think you should just ignore her. There are plenty of applications where raising up Anby will be good for your account. If you pull Nekomata/Anton, you can easily build a Cunning Hares/Electric team with Anby.

Raising up free Agents early can also let you save some currency to pull for Agents you really want in the future. Just expect to replace her sooner rather than later.

B-Tier: Anton

A Rank

Belobog

Electric

Attack

Moving on, we have Anton, an A Rank Electric Attack Agent from Belobog Heavy Industries. As an A Rank Attack Agent, he won’t compete with S Rank Agents, but he can be a valuable addition to your roster.

Anton will be featured on the Ellen banner, meaning you can get a copy or two while pulling for Ellen. While he doesn’t synergize with Ellen, he opens up options for a second team since you already get Anby for free.

This gives you 2/3 team members for a budget Electric team. If you have Grace/Rina, Anton can slot in as a third Agent, but you can also run him alongside Anby/Nicole for a F2P team.

Overall, he’s not a bad character by any means, and he does have application even for strong teams if you have Grace and/or Rina. We just expect his value to not last too long as stronger Agents release.

B-Tier: Billy

A Rank

Cunning Hares

Physical

Attack

Lastly, we have two Physical Agents to close out the list. First up, we have Billy, the last free Agent you receive from Cunning Hares.

As an A-Rank Attack Agent, he’s already at a disadvantage when trying to compete with other Attack Agents. His ranged playstyle can be an advantage, but that will depend on your personal preference.

The main issue is that Nekomata already exists. She has the exact same breakdown of Cunning Hares/Physical/Attack, except she’s S-Rank. In the CBT, some players used Billy alongside Nekomata to make an Assault team (Physical Attribute Anomaly).

However, with Piper in the game, Billy loses his value as another Physical Agent. Nekomata + Piper will almost assuredly outperform Nekomata + Billy, which is unfortunate.

At the end of the day, Billy can be useful to raise if you don’t own Nekomata. You can definitely use the free Cunning Hares team. However, Nicole and Anby both have applications in other stronger teams. As such, Billy will likely get left behind sooner rather than later.

If you pull for Piper in the future but don’t own Nekomata, Billy does have value as part of your Physical Team, he just won’t be ideal.

C-Tier: Corin

A Rank

Victoria

Physical

Attack

Corin is another Agent you receive for free as part of the pre-registration rewards. Like Billy, she already has fierce competition being a Physical Attack Agent.

With so many options, it really begs the question of why build up Corin at all. The Victoria Housekeeping Faction doesn’t synergize well with Corin, and there are better Physical options in the game already.

If you want to build your account around the Physical Attribute, you can start out using Billy/Corin and replace one with Piper down the line.

Either way, we don’t have high expectations for Corin as Nekomata is a clear upgrade and Piper will also take up a team slot on Physical teams.