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 April 10, 2026 until April 23, 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

Discordant Solo - Vesper Unknown Corruption Complex The Thrall

6.1.

Discordant Solo - Vesper

The first boss you can face is the Discordant Solo - Vesper. She is weak to Ether DMG and resistant to Ice DMG and Fire DMG.

6.2.

Enemy Details

When Discordant Solo is being attacked, the CRIT DMG of the attack decreases by 40%.

When an Agent deploys or extends the duration of Ether Veil in battle, the whole squad gains one stack of Sonic Resonance. Sonic Resonance stacks up to 3 times, and each stack increases Anomaly Buildup Rate by 8%, as well as Anomaly DMG by 15%.

6.3.

Special Mechanic

During a Control Skill, every successful counter of a Boss attack grants 350 Performance Points. Performing a Shutdown on the Boss's Control Skill or counter of the final strike of certain skills inflicts on the Boss the Impaired effect and grants 750 Performance POints. A maximum of 5000 Points can be obtained this way.

This boss is tailored for Anomaly Agents, especially Aria or Yixuan. If you do not have any Ether Anomaly Agent, you can use Physical Agents like Jane Doe or Alice Thymefield.

6.4.

Recommended Squads

Buff	DPS	Sub	Support	Bangboo
Metamorph	Aria	Sunna	Nangong Yu	Biggest Fan
Metamorph	Aria	Sunna	Ukinami Yuzuha	Biggest Fan
Collapse	Yixuan	Lucia	Dialyn	Belion
Metamorph	Jane Doe	Vivian	Ukinami Yuzuha	Robin
Metamorph	Alice Thymefield	Vivian	Ukinami Yuzuha	Miss Esme
Combined Attack	Ye Shunguang	Dialyn	Sunna	Sprout
Combined Attack	Zhu Yuan	Dialyn	Astra Yao	Snap

6.5.

Unknown Corruption Complex

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

6.6.

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%.

6.7.

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.

6.8.

Recommended Squads

Buff	DPS	Sub	Support	Bangboo
Collapse	Yixuan	Lucia	Ju Fufu	Belion
Combined Attack	Zhu Yuan	Dialyn	Astra Yao	Snap
Combined Attack	Seed	Soldier 0 - Anby	Trigger	Mercury
Metamorph	Tsukishiro Yanagi	Nangong Yu	Ukinami Yuzuha	Miss Esme
Metamorph	Tsukishiro Yanagi	Alice Thymefield	Ukinami Yuzuha	Miss Esme
Metamorph	Tsukishiro Yanagi	Vivian	Astra Yao	Robin
Combined Attack	Soldier 0 - Anby	Trigger	Pulchra	Plugboo

6.9.

The Thrall

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

6.10.

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%.

6.11.

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.

6.12.

Recommended Squads

Buff	DPS	Sub	Support	Bangboo
Metamorph	Jane Doe	Vivian	Ukinami Yuzuha	Robin
Metamorph	Alice Thymefield	Vivian	Ukinami Yuzuha	Miss Esme
Combined Attack	Ye Shunguang	Dialyn	Sunna	Sprout
Collapse	Yidhari	Lucia	Dialyn	Miss Esme
Collapse	Hoshimi Miyabi	Vivian	Ukinami Yuzuha	Robin
Combined Attack	Hugo Vlad	Von Lycaon	Lighter	Robin
Combined Attack	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.