Deadly Assault Guide and Best Agents for Zenless Zone Zero

Deadly Assault is a high-stakes, endgame challenge mode in Zenless Zone Zero, designed for experienced players seeking more challenge. It is a much higher difficulty than Shiyu Defense, and you will need to come prepared.

Deadly Assault acts currently as the Pinnacle Endgame activity, it is not really accessible to all players, as it requires you to master every aspect of Zenless Zone Zero. There is also no lower difficulty version, so it is not suited for beginners or low level agents.

Deadly Assault consists of time-limited battles against enhanced versions of story campaign bosses, each possessing new mechanics and increased difficulty. The objective is to accumulate as many points as possible within a three-minute timeframe, with rewards based on performance.

Deadly Assault will reset every 2 weeks on Friday. The current Deadly Assault Stages are available from July 29, 2026 until August 12, 2026.

Reset will erase all your progress, allowing you to challenge bosses, and receive all the rewards again! Some of the Bosses and Buffs may change upon reset. We will update this guide accordingly each time.

In order to access Deadly Assault, you need to reach Inter-Knot Level 40, and unlock the Shiyu Defense mode. After Shiyu Defense is unlocked, you will have to complete the Deadly Situation commission.

Once completed, you can access Deadly Assault at Scott's Outpost.

Deadly Assault is a time-limited challenge against Story Bosses. You will have 3 minutes per boss to score as many points as possible. The bosses are more aggressive, have more health, and new mechanics, giving you a serious challenge.

The Enemies will be level 70 versions of Story Bosses. The mode will NOT scale for lower-level agents, and you will not manage to complete it if your agents are not properly equipped.

The three bosses have 30 life bars. The goal is not to actually kill them. You can try, but even with top tier teams you will likely not get all the health down to zero. The goal is to do the most points in a very short time-frame.

There is three point thresholds you need to reach:

• B-Rank: 6000 points
• A-Rank: 14,000 points
• S-Rank: 20,000 points

You can get 3 stars per challenge, and each star gained will give you access to a reward.

You will also need three different teams. Each time you pick a squad for a boss, the agents gets locked to this specific boss, and you will need one squad per boss. You can reset the teams if you picked the wrong ones, but this means loosing your progress. The rewards previously obtained can still be claimed even after you reset a team.

You will also be able to pick between three different buffs for each team. Which one you choose will depend on your squad and the boss you are fighting:

The system is different from everything you have played so far in the game. You will earn points by doing damage, however, the most points will come from completing specific tasks that will depend on the boss.

Those tasks can be things like interrupting a specific attack, or killing adds that spawn during the fight.

Each boss has different weakness and resistances, as well as new mechanics that differ from their story version, forcing you to use specific squads and strategies to get through each boss. Here is a detailed look at the bosses and the recommended squads and strategies:

Make sure your squad are fully leveled, with good W-Engine and Disk Drives sets, and leveled Skills! You will not be able to get maximum points with agents that don't have a very good build!

6.

Bosses, Mechanics, and Recommended Squads

Girtablullu - Stagnant Aberrant Notorious - Dead End Butcher Unknown Corruption Complex Adversity Mode

6.1.

Girtablullu - Stagnant Aberrant

The first boss you can face is Girtablullu - Stagnant Aberrant. He is weak to nothing and has no resistance either.

6.2.

Enemy Details

When an Agent inflicts an Attribute Anomaly on an enemy, the target enemy gains 1 stack of Blight Mark of the corresponding attribute, lasting 30s and stacking up to 2 times.

Repeated triggers of same-attribute Blight Mark reset its duration.

For every stack of Blight Mark inflicted, the enemies take 8% more attribute Anomaly DMG, and DMG taken buy Corruptive Barrier increases by 8%.

When inflicting impaired or Shutdown on an enemy, the whole squad's Anomaly Proficiency increases by 60 pts, lasting 30s. Repeated triggers reset the duration.

6.3.

Special Mechanic

if you successfully inflict Impaired, you get 1000 Performance Points. Successfully countering Control Skill grants 500 Performance Points each time. Preventing an enemy's Corruptive Barrier from completing its charge and rendering them impaired grants 1500 Performance Points. A maximum of 5000 Performance Points can be obtained.

In general, Anomaly Agents work best for this boss.

Remielle Dan together with Velina and another Anomaly teammate is generally your best team option here. If you do not have her, Since the boss has no specific weakness or resistance, you can pretty much use anyone you want, but Anomaly agents in general are way more efficient against this boss.

6.4.

Recommended Squads

Buff	DPS	Sub	Support	Bangboo
United Strength	Promeia	Velina	Remielle Dan	Ariel
United Strength	Promeia	Velina	Ukinami Yuzuha	Biggest Fan
United Strength	Jane Doe	Velina	Remielle Dan	Ariel
Sneak Attack	Aria	Sunna	Nangong Yu	Biggest Fan
United Strength	Hoshimi Miyabi	Velina	Remielle Dan	Ariel
Sneak Attack	Hoshimi Miyabi	Vivian	Ukinami Yuzuha	Robin
United Strength	Burnice White	Velina	Remielle Dan	Ariel

6.5.

Notorious - Dead End Butcher

The second boss you can face is Butcher. He is weak to Ice DMG and Ether DMG, and has no specific resistances.

6.6.

Enemy Details

DMG dealt to boss enemies by Attribute Anomaly is increased by 50%.

While Notorious - Dead End Butcher is in Ether Enhanced state, the DMG it takes is reduced by 15%, and the Daze value dealt by Agents to it is reduced by 30%.

Triggering Disorder on Notorious - Dead End Butcher immediately forces it to exit the Ether Enhanced State.

6.7.

Special Mechanic

If you successfully trigger Perfect Dodge you earn 200 Performance Points. You can obtain a maximum of 5000 Performance Points this way.

Use teams that can easily trigger disorder. Try to do perfect dodges, as this will give you additional points.

6.8.

Recommended Squads

Buff	DPS	Sub	Support	Bangboo
Sneak Attack	Aria	Sunna	Nangong Yu	Biggest Fan
Sneak Attack	Promeia	Vivian	Ukinami Yuzuha	Robin
Sneak Attack	Yixuan	Lucia	Dialyn	Belion
Heartcrusher	Zhu Yuan	Dialyn	Astra Yao	Snap
Sneak Attack	Yidhari	Lucia	Dialyn	Miss Esme
Sneak Attack	Hoshimi Miyabi	Vivian	Ukinami Yuzuha	Robin
Heartcrusher	Ellen Joe	Dialyn	Sunna	Sharkboo

6.9.

Unknown Corruption Complex

The third boss you can face is Unknown Corruption Complex. He is weak to Electric DMG and Ether DMG and Resistant to nothing specific.

6.10.

Enemy Details

When dealing sufficient DMG to the boss enemy's legs, impaired will be triggered. Upon successfully breaking the boss enemy's legs, the Agent restores 1000 Decibels, and the boss gains 1 stack of Disintegration for 20 seconds, up to a maximum of 4 stacks.

When the Agent's attacks hot an enemy, for each stack of Disintegration the target has, Crit DMG is increased by 25%.

6.11.

Special Mechanic

If you successfully impair an enemy, you gain additional 800 Performance Points. A maximum of 5000 Performance Points can be obtained this way.

Use Electric teams if you can, as they will more easily be able to impair the Boss. Focus on hitting his legs. Once one leg is broken, focus another one. Keep your ultimate or big burst DPS for when he is impaired since he will take more damage.

6.12.

Recommended Squads

Buff	DPS	Sub	Support	Bangboo
Heartcrusher	Pyrois	Norma	Sunna	Ultra Jake
Heartcrusher	Pyrois	Dialyn	Astra Yao	Snap
Sneak Attack	Yixuan	Lucia	Ju Fufu	Belion
Heartcrusher	Zhu Yuan	Dialyn	Astra Yao	Snap
Heartcrusher	Seed	Soldier 0 - Anby	Trigger	Mercury
Heartcrusher	Seed	Cissia	Trigger	Mercury

6.13.

Deadly Assault Adversity Mode Integrated - Girtablullu

This season's boss of Adversity mode is Integrated - Girtablullu, and he is weak to Wind DMG.

When an Agent's attack hits a Boss, the Boss gains 1 point of Dissonance. The same Agent can apply at most 1 point of Dissonance every 1s. When a Boss accumulates 10 points of Dissonance, all Dissonance points are immediately removed and the Boss enters the Dissonant state. While in the Dissonant state, enemies take 40% bonus Attribute Anomaly DMG for 10s. Re-entering the Dissonant state resets the duration.

When an Agent successfully inflicts an Attribute Anomaly on a Boss, all Agents on the squad gain the Transmutation effect: DMG dealt increases by 15% and Anomaly Proficiency increases by 20 points. The Transmutation effect lasts 10s, and repeated triggers reset the duration.

Each time you successfully parry an attack from Girtablullu's summoned minions and trigger Active Conversion, you gain 500 Performance Points; successfully triggering against Girtablullu's attacks grants 1000 Performance Points, up to 3 times; if you successfully break the Corruptive Barrier within 25s of Girtablullu first activating, you gain 1500 Performance Points. A maximum of 5,000 Performance Points can be obtained this way.

Overall, this mode functions basically exactly the same as the normal one. You pick your team, pick your buff, try to activate the specific conditions to get additional points, and do as much DMG as possible. The only difference is that the boss will become stronger as you take his life away.

For Integrated - Girtablullu, here are the teams that are recommended to use:

In general, Anomaly Agents work best for this boss. Remielle Dan together with Velina to take advantage of the Wind DMG Weakness, and another Anomaly teammate is generally your best team option here.

Buff	DPS	Sub	Support	Bangboo
United Strength	Promeia	Velina	Remielle Dan	Ariel
United Strength	Promeia	Velina	Ukinami Yuzuha	Biggest Fan
United Strength	Jane Doe	Velina	Remielle Dan	Ariel
United Strength	Aria	Velina	Remielle Dan	Ariel
United Strength	Hoshimi Miyabi	Velina	Remielle Dan	Ariel
United Strength	Burnice White	Velina	Remielle Dan	Ariel

Each time you reach a Performance Point threshold you will gain one Star. Each star will give you access to a set of rewards:

Rewards will be obtainable again each time the Deadly Assault mode resets!

Deadly Assault provides a range of rewards most importantly Polychromes which can be obtained even without getting the full 9 stars available. On top of that, with the addition of Adversity Mode, Deadly Assault provides a range of cosmetic rewards for players interested in some of the toughest content Zenless Zone Zero provides.

After version 3.1 update, Deadly Assault is even more... deadly. This mode is made for players who are able to comfortably clear all three normal Deadly Assault stage and obtain all 9 stars.

You can only access Adversity Mode if you have all 9 stars on the current season's normal Mode. If you reset your challenge lineup, it will not reset the unlock status of Adversity Mode once you have it unlocked.

You can access the Adversity mode through the same menu as regular Deadly Assault. Head to the Outpost and interact with the Deadly Assault terminal. Once you completed all normal stages and got your 9 stars, on the top right of the menu you can access the Adversity Mode.

The Adversity mode only has 1 High-Risk enemy, but its strength will gradually increase as its HP decreases, making them get stronger over time. As always, you can check the enemy's weakness and resistance information on the challenge details and select the best Agents for it.

You do not need a fourth team and should be able to utilise your strongest team from the previous fights. The selectable buffs are the same between each difficulty meaning the fights will often favour the same teams.

Adversity Mode does not give players more Polychromes, instead providing cosmetic rewards. You can obtain titles, namecades and animated avatars from scoring enough stars with Adversity Mode:

On top of that, you can also obtain new items through the Association Supplies Store, such as photo frames and Graffiti Marks, emoticons, and Remielle's exclusive action. You will obtain Certificates for it when you complete the Adversity Mode, and you can then spend them there.