Zenless Zone Zero – Best S-Rank Or 5-Star Characters To Get For Free

A plethora of agents can join your Zenless Zone Zero roster. The top-tier or 5-star options are highly sought after, and they can carry your squad throughout the campaign. Naturally, you might be wondering which ones are viable. Here’s our guide on the best S-rank characters in Zenless Zone Zero.

Zenless Zone Zero best S-rank characters – Ideal 5-star agents to get from the Signal Shop

Zenless Zone Zero is a free-to-play gacha game. As such, it’s imperative that you avoid the need to spend an exorbitant amount of cash. Moreover, take note that there are freebie characters that can be unlocked as you progress.

For those looking to acquire 5-star or S-rank characters, you can find them in the Star-Studded Cast standard banner in the Signal Shop. The characters are Grace, Rina, Koleda, Nekomata, Soldier 11, and Lycaon. Here are some other tidbits to keep in mind:

A premium currency called Master Tape is required to make standard banner pulls.The standard banner has a promotional offer where you can do 10-pulls at a lower Master Tape cost. You’re also guaranteed one random 5-star character within 50 pulls.Likewise, you can get a 5-star character of your choosing upon reaching 300 pulls.If you want to acquire the agents that you really need, you should be able to do so early in the game. There’s little to no investment as there are ways to receive Master Tape currency for free. You can learn more in our reroll guide.Note that other 5-star agents (i.e. Ellen and Zhu Yuan) come from limited-time banners, which we won’t discuss in this particular guide.

The best S-rank characters from the Star-Studded Cast standard banner

Here are our recommendations when it comes to the best 5-star or S-rank characters in Zenless Zone Zero:

1st: Lycaon2nd: Nekomata3rd (tie): Rina3rd (tie): Grace5th: Koleda6th: Soldier 11

Since this article only discusses the characters from the standard banner, we encourage you to check our ZZZ tier list. It’s where we talk about all 17 agents and how each one fares in the long run.

Lycaon

Specialty: StunElement: IceFaction: Victoria Housekeeping Co.Core passive: Metallic Paws – When charging the basic attack to completion, deal 40% increased daze. Decrease a target’s Ice damage resistance by 25% for 30 seconds when your EX special or assist follow-up hits an enemy.Additional ability: Elegant Predator – Hitting a stunned target increases its stun damage multiplier by 35%.

If you manage to get Lycaon from the standard banner, then you’re set with playing the game on easy mode. That’s because the wolfman butler has some of the fastest attack animations in the game, with a flurry of punches and kicks that leave opponents reeling. As a Stun-type character who uses the Ice element, he can practically incapacitate targets through a variety of ways.

Note that Lycaon is great for a Mono Ice squad, which we feel is the best team comp right now. However, due to his abilities, he works wonders on any team.

Nekomata

Specialty: AttackElement: PhysicalFaction: Cunning HaresCore passive: Stealthy Paws – Increase damage by 30% for six seconds upon hitting an enemy with a dodge counter or quick assist.Additional ability: Catwalk – Inflicting assault increases the damage of Nekomata’s next EX special by 35%; stacks up to two times.

Bar none, Nekomata or Nekomiya Mana has the fastest attack animations in the game. These include multi-hit claw swipes, leaping pounces that are almost akin to teleportation, and twisting maneuvers that even help her avoid projectiles and blows. Her DPS potential is through the roof, as she strikes one target after another without so much as requiring any other buff of backup. We rank her below Lycaon because (a) she can be hard to control at times, and (b) the Ice element tends to be more useful compared to Physical.

Rina

Specialty: SupportElement: ElectricFaction: Victoria Housekeeping Co.Core passive: Mini Destruction Partner – When ordering Drusilla or Anastella to attack, the squad’s penetration ratio increases by Rina’s penetration ratio (up to 30%). The effect ends when both Drusilla and Anastella return to Rina.Additional ability: Banquet of Perfection – Increases the duration of shock inflicted on enemies by three seconds; increase the party’s Electric damage dealt by 10% whenever there are shocked enemies on the field.

What makes Rina one of the best 5-star characters in Zenless Zone Zero? Well, it’s mostly due to her long-range abilities that allow you to hit hostiles even though they’re farther away, as well as her penetration ratio perks. Penetration basically allows for a portion of your damage to ignore a target’s defense. She’s great for any squad since the perk affects all allies, too.

Grace

Specialty: AnomalyElement: ElectricFaction: Belobog Heavy IndustriesCore passive: Pre-Driven Needle – Dealing Physical damage with a basic attack or dash attack adds a stack of Zap (up to eight stacks). At eight stacks of Zap, using a special or EX special consumes all stacks to increase Electric anomaly buildup by +65%.Additional ability: Tech Support Dept – Hitting an enemy with an EX special causes the next shock effect to deal +18% increased shock damage. This effect stacks up to two times, and each enemy can trigger it once per skill use. This resets when the shock effect ends.

The reason why Grace and Rina are tied is because they complement each other so well. Grace already has fast combo sequences and multi-hit area-of-effect (AOE) abilities. These naturally increase anomaly buildup and improve elemental status effects, which are subsequently bolstered by Rina’s penetration boosts. You’re likely to just alternate between the two during combat encounters.

Koleda

Specialty: StunElement: FireFaction: Belobog Heavy IndustriesCore passive: Demolition Hammer – Using your EX special or consuming Furnace Fire to do an enhanced basic attack allows you to deal +30% daze.Additional ability: Belobog Management – The explosion from your EX special applies a debuff to the target, causing all party members to deal +35% damage while it’s stunned. This effect stacks up to two times and resets once the stun ends.

Koleda, sadly, isn’t a character that we recommend. This is mostly due to the need to have Ben Bigger in your party, if only to make use of their unique team-up moveset. Having Ben around turns Koleda into a powerhouse. Without the bearman, Koleda is just a reliable Stun-type agent, though she’s outclassed by someone like Lycaon.

Soldier 11

Specialty: AttackElement: FireFaction: Obol SquadCore passive: Heatwave – Triggering Fire Suppression during a basic attack or dash attack increases that move’s damage by 35%.Additional ability: Fields of Fire – Gain bonus +10% Fire damage. This effect is enhanced by an additional 22.5% when attacking stunned enemies.

We’ve placed Soldier 11 at the bottom of our Zenless Zone Zero best 5-star characters guide since (a) the Fire element isn’t as viable at this time, and (b) she’s the only agent from the Obol Squad faction. This means you’ll have no choice but to include Koleda, Lucy, or Ben in the party just to activate her additional perk. Compare this to ideal setups like Mono Ice or Nekomata Carry team comps, and it would seem that a team with Soldier 11 as the main DPS is just harder to optimize.

That does it for our guide on the best 5-star or S-rank characters in Zenless Zone Zero. If you’d like to see how the other agents fare, you can take a look at our ZZZ tier list. We also have a reroll guide for those who want to get the ideal characters right from the start without spending money.