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 August 28, 2026 until September 10, 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

Dead End Butcher Girtablullu Primordial Nightmare - The Creator Adversity Mode - Rewritten Sanguine Sweeper

6.1.

Dead End Butcher

The first boss you can face is Dead End Butcher. He is weak to Ice DMG and Ether DMG and has no resistance.

6.2.

Enemy Details

When not in a Stunned state, Boss enemies gain 1 stack of All or Nothing every 6s, stacking up to 3 stacks. Each stack of All or Nothing increases the DMG dealt by the Boss enemy by 10%.

When an Agent's attack hits an enemy, for each stack of All or Nothing the target has, CRIT DMG from the Agent's attacks increases by 25% and Attribute Anomaly DMG decreases by 15%.

When an enemy enters a Stunned state, they gain 1 stack of All or Nothing. All or Nothing stacks will be reset when the enemy recovers from being Stunned.

6.3.

Special Mechanic

Successfully triggering Perfect Dodge or Perfect Assist grants 300 Performance Points. A maximum of 5,000 Performance Points can be obtained.

In general, Attack Agents work best for this boss.

Ice or Ether are generally your best team option here.

6.4.

Recommended Squads

Buff	DPS	Sub	Support	Bangboo
Icy Raid	Sigrid	Norma	Astra Yao	Snap
Icy Raid	Sigrid	Dialyn	Sunna	Biggest Fan
Icy Raid	Ellen Joe	Lighter	Astra Yao	Snap
Icy Raid	Hugo Vlad	Lighter	Von Lycaon	Robin
Mutation	Hoshimi Miyabi	Nangong Yu	Ukinami Yuzuha	Biggest Fan
Heartcrusher	Pyrois	Dialyn	Sunna	Biggest Fan
Heartcrusher	Yixuan	Dialyn	Lucia	Belion

6.5.

Girtablullu

The second boss you can face is Girtablullu. He is weak to Wind DMG and resistant to no other element.

6.6.

Enemy Details

Whenever an Agent inflicts an Anomaly on the Boss, they apply 1 stack of Shadow to it. Each stack of Shadow increases the Boss's Anomaly DMG taken by 7.5% and additionally increases its Vortex DMG taken by 5% for 10s. Shadow can stack up to 3 times. The duration of each stack is calculated separately.

During Corruptive Barrier, applying Shadow to the Boss additionally reduces the Corruptive Barrier by 20% of its max value and accumulates 15% Daze (cannot be repeatedly triggered within 15s). When the Boss is Stunned, all Shadow stacks are removed and an equal number of Laceration stacks are applied. Each stack of Laceration reduces the Boss's Anomaly Buildup RES by 5% and increases its Stun DMG Multiplier by 10%. When the Boss's Stunned state ends, all Laceration stacks are removed.

6.7.

Special Mechanic

Each successful parry against Girtablullu's consecutive downward smashes after it activates Corruptive Barrier grants 1000 Performance Points. Successfully triggering a Chain Parry against the final slam grants an additional 1000 Performance Points. Successfully breaking the Corruptive Barrier grants 1500 Performance Points. Maximum 5000 can be obtained this way.

In general, Anomaly Agents work best for this boss. Velina is obviously the best choice for this boss since she is the only current Agent using Wind. However, most other Anomaly Agents can be used as well in case you do not have Velina.

6.8.

Recommended Squads

Buff	DPS	Sub	Support	Bangboo
Mutation	Promeia	Velina	Remielle Dan	Ariel
Mutation	Aria	Remielle Dan	Velina	Ariel
Mutation	Burnice White	Velina	Remielle Dan	Ariel
Mutation	Velina	Promeia	Ukinami Yuzuha	Ultra Jake
Mutation	Jane Doe	Vivian	Ukinami Yuzuha	Robin
Mutation	Alice Thymefield	Vivian	Ukinami Yuzuha	Miss Esme
Mutation	Aria	Sunna	Nangong Yu	Biggest Fan
Mutation	Promeia	Vivian	Ukinami Yuzuha	Robin
Mutation	Hoshimi Miyabi	Nangong Yu	Ukinami Yuzuha	Biggest Fan

6.9.

Primordial Nightmare - The Creator

The third boss you can face is the Primordial Nightmare. He is weak to Physical DMG and resistant to Ice DMG and Ether DMG.

6.10.

Enemy Details

Boss Anomaly DMG taken is reduced by 30%. When switching from Miasmic Shield state to normal state, or from normal state to Miasmic Shield state, Agent CRIT DMG against them is increased by 20%.

This effect can stack up to 3 times and resets when the boss recovers from Stun.

6.11.

Special Mechanic

During the fight, trigger the Miasmic Shield Purification to obtain 1000 Performance Points. During the control skill, each successful counter against the Boss's attacks grants another 500 Performance Points. Performing a Shutdown on the Boss's Control Skill grants 2000 Performance POints. A maximum of 5000 Points can be obtained this way.

This boss is tailored for Attack Agents, especially Ye Shunguang. If you do not have any Physical Attack Agent, you can use Fire Rupture Agents like Komano Manato or Banyue. Even if the boss is not weak to Fire, the fact they are Rupture agents will at least help you break through the Miasma SHield easier.

6.12.

Recommended Squads

Buff	DPS	Sub	Support	Bangboo
Heartcrusher	Ye Shunguang	Dialyn	Zhao	Sprout
Heartcrusher	Ye Shunguang	Dialyn	Sunna	Sprout
Heartcrusher	Starlight - Billy	Dialyn	Lucia	Miss Esme
Heartcrusher	Komano Manato	Lucia	Dialyn	Miss Esme
Heartcrusher	Banyue	Lucia	Dialyn	Miss Esme

6.13.

Deadly Assault Adversity Mode Integrated - Rewritten Sanguine Sweeper

This season's boss of Adversity mode is Rewritten Sanguine Sweeper, and he is weak to Ice DMG.

When an Agent lands Shutdown on an enemy, the enemy's All-Attribute RES decreases by 10%, Agents with Attack specialty gain 20% bonus ATK, 25% bonus PEN Ratio, and their Ice and Ether CRIT DMG increases by 60%. Upon triggering a special stagger, the whole squad's Anomaly Proficiency increases by 40 pts and their Anomaly DMG increases by 30%.

Each successful counter and subsequent trigger of a special stagger against the Boss's attacks grants 1,000 Performance Points. During the Control Skill, each successful counter against the Boss's attacks grants 500 Performance Points. Performing a Shutdown on the Boss's Control Skill grants 1,500 Performance Points. Maximum obtainable Performance Points: 5,000.

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 Rewritten Sanguine Sweeper, here are the teams that are recommended to use:

In general, Attacks Agents work best for this boss, but Remielle Dan teams are a pretty good option here as well.

Buff	DPS	Sub	Support	Bangboo
Mutation	Promeia	Velina	Remielle Dan	Ariel
Icy Raid	Hugo Vlad	Von Lycaon	Lighter	Robin
Icy Raid	Ellen Joe	Dialyn	Astra Yao	Snap
Mutation	Hoshimi Miyabi	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.