Looking for the ultimate Zenless Zone Zero Tier List to dominate the Shiyu Defense? The 2.8 meta has officially shifted towards high-synergy elemental setups and defense-ignoring mechanics. With a massive roster of powerful ZZZ characters available, choosing who to invest in with your resources can be difficult, especially with the release of ZZZ's new characters like Promeia completely reshaping the meta and team comps.
The highest tiers of the current meta are being dominated by ZZZ female characters such as Ye Shunguang and Miyabi, who offer unparalleled raw damage and party support. If you want to improve your team comps and build, here's a definite guide on the best agents in ZZZ.
Zenless Zone Zero Version 2.8 Character Tier List Table
S Tier Agents in ZZZ
The characters in this tier represent the best Agents in ZZZ. They define the endgame landscape with overwhelming scaling, easy build requirements, and indispensable team buffs.
⚔️ YE SHUNGUANG (Attack / DPS)
Status: She reigns supreme at the top of the ZZZ meta as the premier traditional damage dealer. Analysis: She dishes out a catastrophic amount of field damage whenever she enters her Enlightened Mind state. Thanks to an incredibly high innate CRIT Rate stat built straight into her kit, she's widely considered one of the easiest and most forgiving DPS units to optimize with Drive Discs. Best Build: You'll want to focus on boosting her CRIT DMG and raw ATK stats to maximize the explosive damage windows provided by her specialized state.
💥 YIXUAN (Rupture / DPS)
Status: She's an elite but highly technical powerhouse dominating the newer Rupture-focused team archetypes. Analysis: Yixuan relies on dealing specialized Sheer Force DMG, a powerful damage type that completely ignores enemy DEF. While her mechanical execution requires exact timing and presents a high skill floor, unleashing her Special Attack and Ultimate correctly shreds through boss health pools faster than almost anyone else. Best Build: You should prioritize Energy Generation Rate and Impact stats to keep her high-damage rotations flowing seamlessly.
❄️ MIYABI (Anomaly / DPS)
Status: She's the premier choice for modern Anomaly team compositions, offering massive burst potential. Analysis: Miyabi functions as an oppressive Anomaly driver who triggers a combination of Frostburn and her uniquely scaling Basic Attack - Shimotsuki. Her ceiling's high, making her prolonged skirmishes into absolute loops of frozen elemental shred. Best Build: Equipping her signature W-Engine, Hailstorm Shrine, provides a massive, irreplaceable jump in her total damage output.
✨ ASTRA (Support)
Status: She's the gold standard for flexible Support units, fitting effortlessly into nearly any meta team. Analysis: Astra acts as a hyper-versatile catalyst for your team, doling out massive ATK and generic DMG buffs across her entire kit. Crucially, her mechanics allow your other active units to utilize their Chain Attacks as specialized Assists, and she can even deploy her Ultimate to restore team HP in an emergency. Best Build: You should spec into high Energy Regen to ensure her buffing uptime never drops during intensive boss fights.
🧪 YUZUHA (Support)
Status: She's an indispensable backbone for any account heavily invested in high-tier Anomaly gameplay. Analysis: Yuzuha's Support assets are designed to enhance the party's elemental interactions. She can elevate the squad's total ATK, raw Anomaly DMG, and Anomaly Buildup Rate, making her the best partner for high-frequency status teams. Best Build: You'll want to focus purely on Anomaly Mastery and Proficiency stats to maximize the speed at which your team triggers secondary reactions.
A Tier Agents in ZZZ
These Agents are extremely potent units that deliver exceptional results and can rival the S-tier agents when they're drafted into the right elemental matchups or specific Shiyu Defense Stages.
🌀 PROMEIA (Anomaly / DPS)
Status: She's an outstanding, high-tempo Anomaly unit released in the 2.8 patch that accelerates the team's ultimate economy. Analysis: Promeia's built entirely around spreading and triggering the Abloom reaction. What makes her exceptionally strong in the current meta is that triggering Abloom directly refunds bonus Decibels, allowing your squad to cycle into their ultimate abilities much faster than normal. Best Build: It's best to run items that enhance Anomaly Buildup Rate to trigger her Decibel-generating loops as often as possible.
🛡️ ZHAO (Defense / Support)
Status: She's a highly reliable Defense hybrid that brings a surprising amount of offensive utility to the table. Analysis: Zhao protects the squad while boosting them, deploying her Ether Veil to grant a flat ATK and DMG multiplier to all party members. In addition to her staggering defensive capabilities, her EX Special Attack doubles as a quick burst of healing to maintain high team comfort. Best Build: You'll need to stack DEF and Max HP to amplify her shield values and improve her party-wide healing output.
🪵 EVELYN (Attack / DPS)
Status: She's a dominant physical Attack agent who thrives at turning chaotic multi-target encounters into easy clears. Analysis: Evelyn excels at crowd control and high-value boss targeting, using a kit specialized in grouping scattered mobs of smaller enemies. Her personal damage values are heavily concentrated within her massive Chain Attack percentages. Best Build: You should focus on Raw Physical DMG bonuses and traditional ATK percentages to maximize her chain damage.
🔮 VIVIAN (Anomaly / DPS)
Status: She's an elite off-field elemental enforcer who serves as a force multiplier for dual-Anomaly setups. Analysis: Operating completely from the backline, Vivian's an Ether Anomaly unit designed to jack up the party's overall Disorder DMG via systematic Abloom triggers. She hits her true peak when paired alongside an active, on-field Anomaly unit of a contrasting element. Best Build: You'll want to stack Anomaly Proficiency to ensure that whenever her off-field triggers react, the resulting Disorder damage is amplified.
⚡ SOLDIER 0 ANBY (Attack / DPS)
Status: She's a heavy, selfish on-field attacker who rewards precise mechanical dedication. Analysis: Unlike her base variant, Soldier 0 Anby's a dedicated, greedy Attack unit who demands maximum field time. She stacks unique White Thunder marks onto targets to trigger severe, cascading Aftershock DMG that punishes static enemies. Best Build: You need to build for raw ATK and Physical/Electric damage modifiers to ensure her on-field combos hit as hard as possible.
B Tier Agents in ZZZ
The Agents in this tier are well-rounded characters that perform well in standard content but truly excel in high-tier endgame content only with a tailored team comp or specific W-Engines.
🐀 JANE (Anomaly / DPS)
Status: She's a fast Anomaly driver that needs a dedicated Assault composition to work. Analysis: Jane provides incredible movement and relies heavily on triggering the physical Assault anomaly. She's a great pick if you build around an Assault-focused core or pair her up with an alternative element to fish for consistent Disorder procs. Best Build: You should maximize her Anomaly Mastery to guarantee swift, reliable physical anomaly bars.
🦈 ELLEN (Attack / DPS)
Status: She's a classic, mobile powerhouse that remains highly reliable but faces heavy competition from newer generation damage dealers. Analysis: Ellen features great mobility and excellent Normal Attack strings. Her Ultimate remains an incredibly hard-hitting tool capable of clearing out threats regardless of size, though she lacks the defense-piercing gimmicks of the current meta kings. Best Build: Ice DMG and traditional CRIT stats are mandatory if you want to keep her foundational damage relevant.
🩸 MANATO (Rupture / DPS)
Status: He's a high-risk, high-reward A-Rank option who trades personal safety for sheer numbers. Analysis: Manato belongs to the Rupture archetype and features a distinct health-sacrifice mechanic to boost his outgoing damage artificially. While it's risky, his Defensive Assist transitions flawlessly into a rapid-fire Special Attack barrage. Best Build: You should incorporate a small amount of HP or pair him with active shields to mitigate his self-damaging tendencies.
🤖 QINGYI (Stun)
Status: She's a highly versatile, foundational Stun engine that can fit comfortably into almost any traditional roster. Analysis: Qingyi deals heavy amounts of Daze through her Basic Attacks, and her Subjugation passive allows her to steadily ramp up the damage multiplier applied to enemies while they're stunned. She acts as a fantastic bridge for traditional Attackers. Best Build: Impact and Attack Speed are your primary targets to ensure she breaks enemy stun gauges as fast as possible.
🔫 ZHU YUAN (Attack / DPS)
Status: She's a premium, burst-heavy ranged damage dealer who's entirely dependent on her team's Stun execution. Analysis: Zhu Yuan deals large burst damage from a distance using her Enhanced Shotshells. However, her kit is explicitly balanced around hitting enemies during their vulnerable Stun windows. Her overall efficiency completely falls off if her team's Stun unit is sub-optimal. Best Build: You'll want to pair her alongside high-Impact units and load her up with CRIT DMG to exploit stunned vulnerability.
C Tier Agents in ZZZ
These Agents suffer from awkward kit requirements or have been directly outpaced by the mechanics in the 2.8 update.
🔥 SOLDIER 11 (Attack / DPS)
Status: She's a very linear Fire attacker who has difficulty keeping up with dynamic elemental scaling. Analysis: Soldier 11's easy to pilot but relies on rhythmically activating her Fire Suppression to boost her basic swings. While her raw damage against stunned targets is decent, she brings zero extra utility or anomaly flexibility to modern teams. Best Build: Fire DMG and basic ATK parameters are all she requires to do her singular job.
⚙️ GRACE (Anomaly / DPS)
Status: She's a dedicated Electric Anomaly unit who's slipped down the ladder due to the rise of higher-priority status drivers. Analysis: Grace is mobile and excels at keeping targets perpetually Shocked. Because Shock damage can continue ticking while she's off the field, she's decent when paired with an active on-field carry, but her individual damage lacks bite in the current version. Best Build: You should favor Anomaly Proficiency and Energy Generation Rate to maintain an automated off-field presence.
🏍️ PIPER (Anomaly / DPS)
Status: She's a tedious, buildup-reliant physical driver whose execution feels too slow for current high-tempo trials. Analysis: Piper builds up personal Power stacks using her spinning EX Special Attack and Ultimate to buff the party's generic DMG eventually. Unfortunately, accumulating these stacks takes far too much on-field time, leaving her highly vulnerable to interruption. Best Build: You should hunt for Physical DMG and Balance/Interruption Resistance to prevent her from being knocked out of her prolonged spins.
メイド RINA (Support)
Status: She's a niche Support agent whose stat-routing requires highly specific team gearing. Analysis: Rina provides a PEN Ratio buff that helps your team ignore a portion of enemy DEF. While it sounds powerful on paper, her actual uptime and application methods are limited, making her mostly relevant in strict, mono-Electric Shock teams. Best Build: You'll need to stack raw PEN Ratio items to maximize the percentage value she passes on to her teammates.
🐾 NEKOMATA (Attack / DPS)
Status: She's a high-mobility physical skirmisher who's entirely outclassed when facing single, high-health endgame bosses. Analysis: Nekomata features incredibly fast Dodge Counters and great AoE sweeping tools, making her excellent at clearing out rooms of fragile, small mobs. However, when she's dropped into high-tier boss arenas, her damage scaling drops off significantly. Best Build: You'll want to run Physical DMG and CRIT Rate to clear out small encounters as quickly as possible.
D Tier Agents in ZZZ
The Agents in this tier are currently weaker than alternatives. These units require investment in resources or specific partners to achieve viability.
🔧 ANTON (Attack / DPS)
Status: He's an A-Rank attacker whose damage output's trapped behind an old, restrictive elemental condition. Analysis: Anton relies heavily on entering his Burst Mode to deliver multi-hit Basic Attacks. However, his damage numbers only look decent if the target's already suffering from the Shock status, making him entirely dependent on an elite secondary setup. Best Build: You'll need to focus on Electric DMG and Energy Regen to try and force his Burst Mode online more frequently.
🧸 CORIN (Attack / DPS)
Status: She's a localized single-target shredder who completely lacks the flexibility demanded by modern content. Analysis: Corin can deliver a massive amount of multi-hit damage against a target, but only after they've already been stunned. Her lack of any viable AoE tools makes her feel incredibly clunky outside of isolated, static boss encounters. Best Build: You should focus entirely on flat ATK and CRIT parameters to burst down targets during tight burst windows.
🐻 BEN (Defense / Support)
Status: He's a slow, defensive tank whose heavily passive playstyle hurts your team's clear times. Analysis: Ben provides decent shields with his EX Special Attack and can help your team survive heavy incoming hits. However, his slow attack animations and low personal impact make him an active detriment in an endgame meta that strictly rewards fast, aggressive clears. Best Build: You'll want to stack Defense stats to max out his shield values if you're running him specifically alongside Koleda.
⭐ BILLY (Attack / DPS)
Status: He's at the bottom of the barrel in Version 2.8 due to extreme mechanical risks that yield very little reward. Analysis: Billy can deal decent physical damage from afar, but maximizing his multipliers forces him into his stationary Crouching Shot stance. Staying completely still in modern high-tempo trials makes him an incredibly easy target for aggressive boss mechanics, turning him into a massive liability. Best Build: You should prioritize Physical DMG and traditional ATK scaling to optimize his stationary damage potential.
