ZZZ Version 2.0 Changed Everything

Zenless Zone Zero just dropped its Version 2.0 Hollow Zero update and the meta shifted hard. Some legacy picks finally got power crept into the ground. A few surprise units jumped tiers. And if you're a newer player wondering where to focus your Polychrome, this list is for you.

Quick disclaimer: this is specifically the endgame meta — Shiyu Defense, Deadly Assault, and the new Hollow Zero combat challenges. Casual story content you can run basically anyone. This tier list is for players who care about clearing, farming efficiently, and not wasting their pulls.

We'll cover every available agent, rank them, and explain the reasoning. No fluff, no AI-generated bullet spam. Just real takes from someone who's been grinding ZZZ since launch.

Tier List Overview

| Tier | What It Means | |------|---------------| | S | Meta-defining. Pull on sight. | | A | Excellent. Clear-carrying units with the right team. | | B | Solid. Work well in specific comps or as support filler. | | C | Not terrible, but there are strictly better options. | | D | Power crept or too niche. Avoid unless you're building for fun. |

S-Tier — The Meta Kings

Miyabi (Ice / Anomaly DPS)

Bro. Miyabi is just unfair. She dropped in Version 1.5 and immediately broke the ice Anomaly meta. Her Disorder scaling hits numbers that feel genuinely wrong, especially paired with Trigger or a proper freeze setup. She clears Shiyu 12 like it's a tutorial stage.

If you're pulling anyone this year, Miyabi is your answer. Her only "weakness" is that she demands team investment — she's not plug-and-play. Build her right and she's the best DPS in the game.

Best team: Miyabi + Trigger + Von Lycaon (ice resonance freeze setup) F2P friendly? No. Full limited banner. But she's worth every Polychrome.

Yanagi (Electric / Anomaly DPS)

Yanagi is the electric answer to Miyabi — a Disorder enabler who rewards players who understand the Anomaly system. Paired with Jane Doe, she creates a Disorder loop that annihilates grouped enemies in Hollow Zero.

Her rotation takes some getting used to. Once you understand it, she's oppressively good. The Jane Doe + Yanagi core is probably the strongest two-unit duo in the game right now.

Best team: Yanagi + Jane Doe + Seth / Rina F2P friendly? No. Limited. But if you like electric teams, she's essential.

Astra Yao (Ether / Support)

She dropped in Version 2.0 and immediately made every other support feel outdated. Astra Yao's ult buffs the entire team's attack multipliers and generates Drive Discs on-swap. She fits any team composition. There's basically no downside.

Think of her like Bennet in Genshin — universal, ridiculous, and everyone should have one.

Best team: Any team. Seriously. Slot her in anywhere. F2P friendly? No. Limited banner. But she's the easiest pull decision you'll ever make.

Harumasa (Electric / DPS)

The king of the electric DPS role since 1.5, Harumasa is still cracked in Version 2.0. His charge mechanic rewards fast rotations, and in a Qingyi or Yanagi stun-support setup, he pumps out absurd burst damage. Best part — his signature W-Engine isn't mandatory. He works well on off-banners.

For Malaysian players who skip a lot of limited banners, Harumasa is one of the safest investments: strong, doesn't need his sig, and slots into multiple teams.

Best team: Harumasa + Qingyi + Rina F2P friendly? Relative to other S-tiers — yes. Works on standard W-Engine options.

A-Tier — Excellent Units Worth Having

Jane Doe (Physical / Anomaly DPS)

Half of the strongest dual-carry duo in the game. Jane alone is A-tier. Paired with Yanagi she becomes S-tier territory. Her assault anomaly mechanic stacks fast and her dodge-counter gameplay feels incredibly satisfying to play.

If you have Yanagi, pull Jane. If you don't, she's still a strong standalone physical DPS.

Best team: Jane + Yanagi + Seth

Zhu Yuan (Ether / DPS)

Zhu Yuan was the meta queen in 1.1 and she's aged well. Still strong in Nicole-buffed teams, especially if you're running ether Anomaly compositions. She got outpaced by Miyabi and Harumasa at the top, but she clears endgame comfortably.

Great pick if you have her from early banners. Not worth pulling from scratch now unless you love her design.

Best team: Zhu Yuan + Nicole + any flex support

Caesar (Physical / Defense Support)

Best defensive support in the game. Caesar's shield applies assault Anomaly passively just by shielding, which feeds into Jane Doe or Burnice comps beautifully. Even in other comps, her defensive value + personal DPS is impressive for a support.

If you're struggling with survival in Shiyu Defense, Caesar fixes that problem.

Best team: Caesar + Jane Doe + Yanagi or Burnice

Evelyn (Fire / DPS)

Version 2.0's main story unit and genuinely solid. Evelyn's single-target damage is among the best for fire teams, and she enables some slept-on Lighter + Burnice triple-fire comps. Not as universally broken as Miyabi but she holds her own in the right setup.

Best team: Evelyn + Lighter + Lucy or Burnice

Lighter (Fire / Stun Support)

Went from "meh fire stun" to a legitimate A-tier pick once mono-fire became viable. Lighter's stun window feeds perfectly into Evelyn's burst rotation. If you're building a fire team, he's your stun pick.

Best team: Evelyn + Lighter + Lucy

B-Tier — Solid, Situationally Strong

Ellen Joe (Ice / DPS)

She was the launch queen. Version 1.1 Ellen was top-tier S. After Miyabi dropped in 1.5, she got hard power crept in the ice DPS role. She's still a capable unit, just no longer best-in-class.

If you have her from early, she's still perfectly usable for Shiyu clears. Just don't expect Version 1.1 performance out of her anymore.

Best team: Ellen + Von Lycaon + Soukaku

Qingyi (Electric / Stun)

Still the go-to stun support for Harumasa teams. Her Stunning animation is cinematic and her Daze application is fast and reliable. She's fallen to B-tier purely because of competition, not because she got worse. If you have Harumasa, you probably already have Qingyi — good pairing.

Rina (Electric / Support)

Electric team buffer with a strong passive that boosts Anomaly efficiency. She powers Yanagi/Harumasa teams well. Astra Yao is strictly better as a universal support, but Rina has the advantage of being on the standard banner — you can pull her with standard tickets.

F2P friendly? Relatively yes — standard banner.

Burnice (Fire / Anomaly DPS)

Niche but not bad. Burnice is the fire anomaly option that pairs with Caesar for Disorder setups. Her damage ceiling in the right composition is genuinely impressive, she just needs specific teammates to reach it. Casual flex doesn't work well for her.

Trigger (Ice / Support)

Miyabi's best friend in mono-ice setups. Trigger doesn't do much outside of ice comps but inside one, she's essential. If you pulled Miyabi, you probably want Trigger eventually to hit full team potential.

Lucy (Physical / Support)

Lucy is the F2P carry support of early ZZZ and she's still fine. Her physical attack buff helps any physical team and she's farmable from game content — no limited pulls needed. She got outscaled by Astra Yao but as a free-to-play support option, she's still doing real work.

F2P friendly? Yes — standard banner, relatively easy to get.

Von Lycaon (Ice / Stun)

Still the best free-to-play adjacent ice stun pick. Power crept compared to Trigger for ice teams, but he fills the stun slot in Ellen Joe teams reasonably well. Standard banner, consistent access.

F2P friendly? Yes — standard banner.

C-Tier — Works But Outclassed

Grace Howard (Electric / Anomaly)

Was genuinely strong in 1.0. Electric anomaly with good Shock application. The problem is that Yanagi and Harumasa do everything she does, but better. She's still the best free electric anomaly option but she's clearly power crept.

Soukaku (Ice / Support)

Ice attack buff support, best in early Ellen teams. Trigger replaced her in Miyabi setups. Still viable if you don't have better options.

Nicole Demara (Ether / Support)

The standard banner ether buffer. Zhu Yuan teams love her. Becomes increasingly redundant as Astra Yao takes the universal support slot but if you don't have Astra Yao, Nicole is your ether team glue.

F2P friendly? Yes — standard banner.

Soldier 11 (Fire / DPS)

Once the only fire DPS, now completely overshadowed by Evelyn. She can still clear story content fine. In endgame, Evelyn is just straight better.

Koleda (Fire / Stun)

Fire stun that works in Koleda + Ben + Lucy combos, which was the 1.0 staple. Lighter replaced her in serious fire comps. She's genuinely fun to play but don't invest deeply.

D-Tier — For Collectors Only

These agents are fully power crept or too niche to recommend investing in:

Anby — Was the only electric stun at launch. Qingyi made her obsolete.
Corin — Physical DPS with awkward mechanics. Never really competitive.
Ben — Shielder with no offensive utility. Caesar replaced him entirely.
Billy — Physical ranged DPS with weak scaling. Couldn't compete even before newer units dropped.
Piper — Physical anomaly DPS from the early story. Jane Doe does everything better.
Nekomata — Physical DPS. Fun design, middling damage.
Anton — Electric DPS designed around Koleda synergy. Both units got left behind.

F2P Tier List: Best Agents Without Spending

If you're running a minimal-spend or pure F2P account, here's where to focus your Polychrome:

| Priority | Agent | Why | |----------|-------|-----| | 1st | Standard S-tier (Zhu Yuan, Harumasa — if you hit them) | S-rank from standard tickets | | 2nd | Nicole Demara | Best F2P ether support | | 3rd | Von Lycaon | Ice stun, still useful | | 4th | Lucy | Physical buff support, farmable | | 5th | Rina | Electric support, standard |

Rookie recommendations: The game gives you a free S-rank agent early in the story — pick Zhu Yuan for ether DPS or Von Lycaon for ice stun depending on what limited units you're planning to pull.

What Gacha Spending Looks Like in RM

Since we always do RM pricing here:

| Polychrome Amount | RM Cost (approx.) | Pulls | |-------------------|-------------------|-------| | 300 Polychrome | ~RM12 | ~3 pulls | | 2,000 Polychrome (Outpouring Bundle) | ~RM79 | ~20 pulls | | 6,480 Polychrome | ~RM258 | ~65 pulls | | Pity (90 pulls for guaranteed limited) | ~RM358 if fully paid | Guaranteed S-rank |

Realistically if you play daily: ~40-50 Polychrome per day. That's one limited S-rank per 45-55 days of grinding just from free income. Not terrible for a HoYo game.

Best value for money: The Outpouring monthly pass (~RM12/month) gives you a chunk of daily Polychrome and is the highest-efficiency spend if you want to supplement F2P income.

Who Should You Pull Right Now?

Quick decision guide for April 2026:

Just started? → Pull Astra Yao if available. She fits any team forever.
Building electric? → Yanagi → Harumasa → Qingyi stack
Building ice? → Miyabi is must-pull. Add Trigger next.
Building fire? → Evelyn + Lighter, then add Burnice for Disorder
Going F2P? → Farm standard tickets for Von Lycaon/Rina, save Polychrome for Astra Yao rerun or whichever 2.x character drops

Final Thoughts

ZZZ in Version 2.0 is genuinely one of the best gacha games available right now for SEA players. The combat is satisfying, the endgame is actually challenging, and HoYo has been reasonably generous with Polychrome income.

The big meta story right now is Anomaly teams dominating over traditional DPS. If you want to invest in one mechanic for endgame longevity, Anomaly compositions are where the game is heading. Miyabi, Yanagi, Jane Doe — these units define the current top of the meta.

For more ZZZ content, check our Zenless Zone Zero Beginners Guide if you're still wrapping your head around team building and progression basics.

Honk if you got Miyabi to M2. Please. Some of us are suffering.

Tier list updated for ZZZ Version 2.0 — April 2026. Meta shifts with every patch. Check back when new limited agents drop.

Zenless Zone Zero Agent Tier List 2026 — Who's S-Tier and Who's Collecting Dust