9 Beginner Tips You Need to Know Before Starting Zenless Zone Zero

Zenless Zone Zero is the latest installment in Hoyoverse’s mobile RPG line. While the aesthetics are significantly different from the other games, the systems and mechanics will be quite familiar.

Whether you are an expert from here Honkai Impact 3rd, Genshin ImpactAnd Honkai: Star Trailor a newbie looking to try out their first gacha mobile game, we’ve listed some things you should know before diving in. ZZZ.

Yes, ZZZ is a gacha game

If you were wondering if Zenless Zone Zero was just a very stylish mobile RPG or if it has the infamous gambling element – yes, it has gacha. That means that when it comes to unlocking new powerful characters and weapons, you have to spend hard-earned or purchased premium currency for a opportunity to get the desired character.

ZZZ is the same as the other Hoyoverse games — the free, less rare characters are good enough to complete the story, and you’ll collect an army of higher rarity characters as you play through the game. Just don’t expect to each character.

ZZZ follows the same gameplay loop as other popular mobile games

The story, the battles and the puzzles in Zenless Zone Zero differ from the other games, but the gameplay loop you go through every day during the daily tasks is the same as in an average mobile RPG where you have to build characters.

You collect characters (agents) and weapons (W-engines) through the gacha system. You must use stamina (battery charge) to collect materials to power these characters. You eventually reach a point where you collect sub-equips for each character (drive discs), which have unique passive abilities and are given random stats.

There are a few different things, like mini games and specific game modes that ZZZ aside from these other games, but essentially you’ll continue to do the same things once you’ve completed the game’s story.

Don’t forget the noodle house and the coffee shop

You can get buffs from the coffee shop and noodle house in exchange for money. Plus, a cup of coffee can refill 60 battery charges per day, so that’s more free materials to farm!

Image: Hoyoverse

Use your battery charge (stamina) as soon as possible

Not long after you start the story, you’ll unlock the HIA Club, a place you can drive to in order to farm materials for your characters. You should start doing this right away in order to burn off some of your battery charge (what the game calls the stamina system). Since your battery charge caps at 240 and any excess energy is wasted, you’ll need to spend it farming materials or you’ll be wasting a valuable resource.

Completing these levels will also earn you EXP which you can use to increase your Inter-Knot level (your account level). You will need this EXP to progress through the game.

Test your agents before you build them

The Hollow Deep Dive System VR device lets you learn how to use different agents in the Agent Academy. You may want to try out different characters, not only because you get rewards for doing so, but also because the characters you end up liking the kit for may not be characters you were planning on building. Koleda certainly looks cool, but you may find Lycaon’s kit more appealing after trying it out.

In the beginning, your resources are limited, so you can’t build every character you get. Figure out which one you like best and go from there.

Disable trial mode if you don’t want to use the characters from the story

There will be instances where Zenless Zone Zero wants you to play as specific characters relevant to the story, but you can toggle this on or off in the bottom left corner of the character select screen. If you want to use your characters instead, toggle this off.

Image: Hoyoverse

Do not use your Polychrome to pull the standard banner

Polychrome is the premium currency that you can spend on the gacha system (and a few other, less important things, like paying to refill your battery). As you play, you’ll collect a bunch of Master Tape, a currency that you can use to roll on the standard gacha banner. This banner never changes and will likely keep the same S-rank agents and W-engines in it.

Instead, you should use your Polychrome to purchase Encrypted Master Tape, which will allow you to roll on whichever event banner is taking place. Event banner characters are only available for a limited time (though they will return in later updates), so instead of spending your precious premium currency on the standard characters that are guaranteed to get power crept, you should use your Polychrome on the limited characters.

Any gacha game expert will tell you not to waste your precious currency on permanent banners, because you can still get these characters through event banners.

Get used to dodging and countering

The monsters you fight in the beginning are a breeze and it feels like all you have to do is press buttons to take them out. As you progress, things get harder and you’ll want to use that dodge. Make sure you time it right when the enemy is shining so you can parry and counter. It’s best to develop good habits early on and get used to dodging attacks, even if you feel like you don’t have to.

Image: Hoyoverse

The time of day will affect what you can do, but don’t worry about it

Some side quests are only available at certain times of the day, but don’t worry too much about min-maxing your day. There’s no penalty for taking extra days, and you can rest on the couch to kill time if necessary to access whatever quests you want.