Zenless Zone Zero – How To Unlock All Free Characters

TL;DR

  • Get three free characters immediately from Cunning Hares faction at game start
  • Unlock additional agents through story progression and achievement milestones
  • Maximize character potential through Signal Shop and strategic duplicate acquisition
  • Build balanced teams using free characters’ complementary abilities and elements
  • Complete specific in-game challenges to earn powerful S-rank characters for free

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Zenless Zone Zero launches with 17 distinct agents in version 1.0, offering multiple pathways to build your roster. While the Signal Search gacha system provides access to premium characters, strategic players can assemble formidable teams entirely through free acquisition methods. This comprehensive guide details every character available without spending real currency and how to optimize their combat effectiveness.

Understanding the distinction between Proxies and combat agents is crucial for effective team building. As you navigate New Eridu, you’ll control Belle and Wish as narrative protagonists, but these characters don’t participate in actual combat encounters.

The Cunning Hares faction provides your foundational three-character squad within the first hour of gameplay. This deliberate design ensures new players immediately experience Zenless Zone Zero’s core combat mechanics, which revolve around three-agent team compositions and ability rotations.

Nicole, Anby, and Billy
  • Nicole Demara serves as your primary Support character, utilizing the Ether element to apply corruption debuffs that significantly amplify team damage output against afflicted enemies.
  • Anby Demara specializes in crowd control through her Stun capabilities and Electric element, delivering shock debuffs that trigger bonus damage when enemies are attacked while electrified.
  • Billy Kid operates as your ranged damage dealer, wielding dual pistols that inflict Physical damage with assault debuffs for interruption and enhanced daze accumulation.

Pro Tip: Master the quick-swap mechanics between these three characters early, as their complementary abilities form the basis of advanced combat strategies you’ll use throughout the game.

Beyond your initial trio, Zenless Zone Zero rewards consistent gameplay with additional free agents. Complete specific story chapters and achievement milestones to unlock characters like Corin, who joins your roster after reaching certain narrative checkpoints.

Corin

Ben becomes available through completing a series of combat challenges that test your mastery of the game’s mechanics. His defensive capabilities provide valuable survivability options for challenging content.

Ben

Soukaku represents another progression reward, obtained by reaching specific player level thresholds or completing endgame content.

Soukaku

Common Mistake to Avoid: Don’t neglect side missions and achievement hunting—many free characters are locked behind these activities rather than main story progression alone.

While obtaining characters costs nothing, maximizing their combat potential requires strategic resource management. The Agent Focus system allows significant power increases, typically acquired through Signal Search duplicates or Signal Shop purchases using in-game currency.

The Star-Studded Cast banner provides a guaranteed opportunity to obtain a powerful 5-star (S-rank) character through completing specific free challenges available to all players.

Free 5-star or S-rank character from the Star-Studded Cast banner

Optimization Tip: Prioritize obtaining duplicates for your main damage dealers first, as their Agent Focus upgrades typically provide the most significant combat power increases.

Signal Shop rotations offer targeted acquisition of specific character upgrades. Save your Polychrome currency for these opportunities rather than spending immediately on standard Signal Search pulls.

Note: For detailed character performance rankings and team composition advice, consult our comprehensive best agents tier list to make informed decisions about resource allocation.

Building effective teams requires understanding character synergies and elemental interactions. A balanced composition typically includes one Attack specialist, one Stun/control character, and one Support unit for optimal performance across various combat scenarios.

The free character roster provides all necessary roles for successful team building. Nicole’s corruption debuffs pair exceptionally well with Billy’s rapid-fire Physical attacks, while Anby’s stun capabilities create valuable windows for dealing burst damage.

Advanced Strategy: Master the timing between character swaps to chain abilities effectively. Electric shock from Anby followed by Ether corruption from Nicole significantly amplifies Billy’s damage output during assault windows.

As you progress, incorporate additional free characters to create specialized teams for specific content. Defensive-oriented characters like Ben become invaluable for surviving high-difficulty encounters where sustain matters more than pure damage.

For more comprehensive team building strategies and character combinations, our Complete Guide provides detailed analysis of optimal rotations and ability sequencing.

Action Checklist

  • Complete initial tutorial to unlock Cunning Hares trio
  • Master basic combat mechanics and character swapping with your free team
  • Progress through main story chapters to unlock additional free characters
  • Complete achievement milestones and side content for character unlocks
  • Save Polychrome currency for Signal Shop character upgrades
  • Complete Star-Studded Cast banner challenges for free S-rank character

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