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 December 12, 2025 until January 01, 2025.

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

Notorious - Marionette The Thrall Miasmic Fiend - Unfathomable

6.1.

Wandering Hunter

The first boss you can face is the Wandering Hunter. He is weak to Fire DMG and Ice DMG, and resistant to Physical DMG.

6.2.

Enemy Details

Wandering Hunter's Base DEF increases by 40% in Miasma Field. When an Agent hits Wandering Hunter with an Assist Follow-up or Dodge COunter, 1 stack of Wavering is applied.

Wavering can stack up to 5 times and lasts 15 seconds. Repeated triggers reset the duration.

When an Agent's attacks hit Wandering Hunter, for each stack of Wavering, the Agent's Sheer DMG is increased by 7%.

6.3.

Special Mechanic

During the hide-and-seek phase, use your Perception Technique to break Drowned Ideals. This will grant you 3000 Performance Points. After breaking the true form, successfully counter the ambush with a Defensive Assist or Evasive Assist to get an additional 2000 Performance Points, up to a maximum of 5000 points.

This boss is tailored for Rupture characters, especially Yidhari or Komano Manato. If you do not have those, you can use other Rupture Agents or other Fire and Ice Agents.

6.4.

Recommended Squads

Buff	DPS	Sub	Support	Bangboo
Break Through	Komano Manato	Lucia	Dialyn	Miss Esme
Break Through	Yidhari	Lucia	Dialyn	Miss Esme
Graceful Mastery	Hoshimi Miyabi	Vivian	Ukinami Yuzuha	Robin
Tempering Body	Evelyn Chevalier	Dialyn	Astra Yao	Snap
Break Through	Yixuan	Lucia	Dialyn	Belion

6.5.

The Thrall

The second boss you can face is The Thrall. He is weak to Ice and Physical, and resistant to Electric.

6.6.

Enemy Details

When Sobek and The Thrall alternate turns, The Thrall gains 1 stack of Contract and Self-Sacrifice.

Contract and Self-Sacrifice can stack up to 3 times.

Each stack of Contract increases All-Attribute Anomaly Buildup RES by 15%, each stack of Self-Sacrifice increases Stun DMG Multiplier by 10%. When The Thrall is Stunned, CRIT DMG taken increases by 50%.

6.7.

Special Mechanic

When Agents inflict Weakened on Sobek and The Thrall, you get 1500 Performance Points. When you eliminate Sobek, you get 2000 Performance Points. Up to 5000 Performance Points can be gained this way.

Stun Agents are particularly useful during this fight.

6.8.

Recommended Squads

Buff	DPS	Sub	Support	Bangboo
Graceful Mastery	Jane Doe	Vivian	Ukinami Yuzuha	Robin
Graceful Mastery	Alice Thymefield	Vivian	Ukinami Yuzuha	Miss Esme
Break Through	Yidhari	Lucia	Dialyn	Miss Esme
Graceful Mastery	Hoshimi Miyabi	Vivian	Ukinami Yuzuha	Robin
Tempering Body	Hugo Vlad	Von Lycaon	Lighter	Robin
Tempering Body	Ellen Joe	Dialyn	Astra Yao	Snap

6.9.

Sacrifice - Bringer

The last boss you can face is Sacrifice - Bringer. He is weak to Ice DMG, and resistant to Physical DMG.

6.10.

Enemy Details

When inflicting an Attribute Anomaly or Disorder on a boss enemy, all squad members gain 1 stack of Laser Focus, stacking up to 6 times.

Each stack of Laser Focus increases the Agent's ATK by 8%. With at least 3 stacks of Laser Focus, inflicting an Attribute Anomaly will increase its duration by 5s.

When Sacrifice - Bringer attacks with his Sacrificial Knife, all squad members' Laser Focus stacks will be reset.

6.11.

Special Mechanic

If you successfully interrupt a chant you will earn 2000 Performance Points. You can get a maximum of 5000 Performance Points this way.

You should use Ice Agents for this fight. If you don't have any Ice squad, you can go for an Ether or Electric one, but the second boss is also week to Electric and Ether, so make sure to have another available squad.

Always keep an ultimate or high-damage attack for the moment Bringer starts to "sing" (He will go into the ground in a corner, with his huge hand poking out). In theory you should get the chant cancelled with your ultimate.

6.12.

Recommended Squads

Buff	DPS	Sub	Support	Bangboo
Break Through	Yidhari	Lucia	Dialyn	Miss Esme
Graceful Mastery	Hoshimi Miyabi	Vivian	Ukinami Yuzuha	Robin
Tempering Body	Hugo Vlad	Von Lycaon	Lighter	Robin
Tempering Body	Ellen Joe	Dialyn	Astra Yao	Snap

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 is not really there for the rewards but more for the challenge. If you love spending hours gearing your agents perfectly and want a bigger challenge to test your squads against, this mode is what you are looking for!

It is worth trying out if you wish to get the few Polychromes and Merits you can earn, but otherwise it is only worth if you want a tough challenge for your squads.

Deadly Assault is the hardest challenge of Zenless Zone Zero for the time being. It is perfect if you have high level Agents with very good gear, and want to test your own skills against strong bosses. It can help you identify your own weaknesses, or what your agents my lack.

If you are only looking for rewards, you are better of farming Shiyu Defense, Hollow Zero, or the latest Events.