Zenless Zone Zero Agent Leveling Guide

In Zenless Zone Zero, players can recruit Agents to form a squad and participate in commission quests on the Hollow Deep Dive system. As players continue to encounter harder content, they can upgrade their Agents and available equipment to meet the quest specifications. In this guide, players can learn more about how to make their Agents stronger and what resources they may need to maximize each Agent's potential.

Note that the materials to upgrade Agents of any rank are the same amounts. However, if players are planning to use A-Rank W-Engines or Drive Discs, the amount of EXP materials will be different from S-Rank options. Battery amounts for certain materials are also not included. To maximize each Agent's potential, using one S-Rank W-Engine as the base equipment, players will need the following total amount of materials and requirements:

Category	Total	How to Obtain
Inter-Knot Promotion (One-Time)	Legendary Proxy	Available starting from Inter-Knot Lv. 50 Complete Main Story Chapter 3 - Story Commission: Strange Messages Collect a total of 100 Observation Data
Total Dennies	4,105,000 Dennies	HIA Combat Simulation - Basic Upgrade Materials Video Store (Daily Passive Income) Newsstand Scratchcard (Randomized Daily) Officer Mew's Mewmew Notes Building Agents' Trust Fading Signal Exchange Bangbuck Exchange
Level 10 -> 60 Agent Promotions	30 Agent-Type Certification Seals (A-Rank), 32 Advanced Certification Seals (B-Rank), 4 Basic Certification Seals (C-Rank), and 800,000 Dennies (of 4,105,000 total)	HIA Combat Simulation - Agent Promotion (for all Ranks) Crafting (for A or B Seals) Dismantling (for B or C Seals)
Level 1 -> 60 Agent EXP	300 Senior Investigation Logs (A-Rank), or 1,500 Official Investigation Logs (B-Rank), or 9,000 Trainee Investigation Logs (C-Rank)	HIA Combat Simulation - Basic Upgrade Materials (for all Ranks) Fading Signal Exchange (for Official Investigation Logs) HIA Investigator Training Course (for Direct EXP)
Level A -> F Core Skill Upgrades	9 Notorious Hunt Boss Items (S-Rank), 60 Higher Dimensional Data Items (A-Rank), and 405,000 Dennies (of 4,105,000 total)	HIA Expert Challenges (for Higher Dimensional Data Items) SCOTT Outpost: Notorious Hunt or Outpost Logistics (for Boss Items)
Level 1 -> 12 Skill Chip EXP	5 Hamster Cage Passes (S-Rank), 250 Specialized Tactical Chips (A-Rank), 75 Advanced Tactical Chips (B-Rank), 25 Basic Tactical Chips (C-Rank), and 2,500,000 Dennies (of 4,105,000 total)	HIA Combat Simulation - Agent Skills (for all Ranks) Video Store Promotion (5 Daily Advanced Chips, Friendly Trust) Crafting (for A or B Chips) Dismantling (for B or C Chips) Fading Signal Exchange (for Advanced Chips) Events or New Eridu City Fund (for Hamster Cage Passes)
Level 10 -> 60 S-Rank W-Engine Upgrades	30 Specialized Agent-Type Components (A-Rank), 32 Reinforced Agent-Type Components (B-Rank), 4 Agent-Type Components (C-Rank), and 400,000 Dennies (of 4,105,000 total)	HIA Combat Simulation - W-Engine Modification (for all Ranks) Crafting (for A or B Components) Dismantling (for B or C Components)
Level 1 -> 60 S-Rank W-Engine EXP	200 W-Engine Energy Modules (A-Rank), or 1,000 W-Engine Power Supplies (B-Rank), or 6,000 W-Engine Batteries (C-Rank)	HIA Combat Simulation - Basic Upgrade Materials (for all EXP) Fading Signal Exchange (for W-Engine Power Supplies)
Level 1 -> 15 S-Rank Drive Disc EXP (per Disc)	24 Ether Plating Agents (A-Rank), or 96 Crystallized Plating Agents (B-Rank), or 480 Molded Plating Agents (C-Rank)	Routine Cleanup (for all EXP) HIA Combat Simulation - Basic Upgrade Materials (for all EXP) Convenience Store (for all EXP) Drive Disc Dismantling (for all EXP, at certain Disc Levels)

Depending on the Agent's specifications, materials may vary from each Agent. As such, players are recommended to double-check the required items before farming the following:

• Certification Seals (Type)
• Tactical Skill Chips (Attribute)
• W-Engine Components (Type)
• Higher Dimensional Data Items
• Notorious Hunt Boss Items

In addition, due to the random nature of most Drive Disc stats, players may choose to include Tuning Calibrators if they want to conduct Advanced Tuning at Bardic Needle. However, keep in mind that Tuning Calibrators only pre-determine the main stat of the Drive Disc, not its sub-stats.

For Agents used in daily Video Store Promotions, only the Agent's specific attribute materials may be obtained from the day's rewards. In addition to having obtained the Agent, players must also build the Agent's Trust to Friendly before they can ask the Agent to help promote the store.

Players can make their Agents stronger through the following ways:

• Agent Promotion and Training (Level-Up)
• Skill Enhancements
• W-Engine and Drive Disc Equipment Upgrades
• Mindscape Cinema Focuses

When upgrading an Agent, if there is an excess of materials used, the remainder will be returned. Many materials listed in the table, such as Dennies and various upgrade items, can be obtained through recurring activities. These activities include, but are not limited to: Events, HDD and Story Commissions, Expert Challenges, Shiyu Defense, Hollow Zero, New Eridu City Fund, Investigator Training Course, and etc.

If players do not have enough Certification Seals, Tactical Skill Chips, or W-Engine Components, they may also substitute the items at various exchange rates with Prototype Seals, Original Chips, or Master Components respectively. The following exchange rates apply:

Prototype Seals/Original Chips/Master Components	Certification Seals/Tactical Skill Chips/W-Engine Components
9	1 A-Rank
3	1 B-Rank
1	1 C-Rank

Prototype Seals, Original Chips, and Master Components can all be obtained through the New Eridu City Fund or certain Events.

The Investigator Training Course is a series of lesson exercises provided by the Hollow Investigative Association Club. Located inside the HIA Club building in Lumina Square, completing the Investigator Training provides useful upgrade items, such as Prototype Seals, Dennies, W-Engine Specialization materials, and Inter-Knot Credits for EXP.

In addition to the above, Agents can passively attend Tactics Courses to gain a set amount of EXP per real-time minute. Only Agents who have not reached their current promotion level may participate. Each Tactics Course takes 10 real-time hours to complete, and will pre-emptively finish when the Agent has reached the promotion level or Lv. 60.

There are also no restrictions on Agents who are studying in the Tactics Courses. They can still participate in all in-game activities, such as HDD commissions, Shiyu Defense, Hollow Zero, and Battery-consuming activities.

For players who do not have a lot of time to play the game, or want to safely level up an Agent without bringing them into combat, it is highly recommended to try the Investigator Training Courses.

To see your available Agents, enter the Main Menu and select the Agents tab at the bottom of the screen. Players can also preview un-obtained Agents that are currently available in the game. The Agents shortcut is available through the overworld interface or hotkey (set in Options > Mouse & Keyboard).

From this menu as well, players can also access the Partner Archive menu in the bottom-left corner of the screen.

After selecting an Agent tab, players can see a brief overview of the Agent's Info: their basic stats, faction, attribute, and type. Players can also view the Agent's Mindscape Cinema, skills, and equipment information at the bottom of the screen.

To view an Agent's detailed stat information, select the Attribute and Type button within the Agent Info window.

An Agent's combat stats will determine their effectiveness in combat. Agents have a number of combat stats, and they are listed as follows. Many of these will be familiar to players of other Hoyoverse games. For Agents of certain Attributes or Types, improving certain stats may or may not be helpful to them. Check out our guides on each Agent for more information.

Stat	Effect
HP	How much health an Agent has. If an Agent's health reaches zero, the Agent will be knocked out.
ATK	How much damage an Agent deals.
DEF	Lowers the damage an Agent will take when hit by an enemy.
Impact	How fast Daze accumulates on enemies when an Agent attacks.
CRIT Rate	How often an Agent will land a critical hit.
CRIT DMG	The damage multiplier of a critical hit when an Agent lands one.
Anomaly Mastery	How much Anomaly Buildup an Agent makes when using Attribute attacks. Each point in Anomaly Mastery is equivalent to 1% of Anomaly Buildup Rate.
Anomaly Proficiency	How much damage an Attribute Anomaly will deal when it triggers. Each point in Anomaly Proficiency is equivalent to 1% of Attribute Anomaly DMG.
PEN Ratio	Ignores a percentage of the target's DEF, based on the PEN Ratio stat, when attacking an enemy.
PEN	Ignores a set amount of the target's DEF, based on the PEN stat, when attacking an enemy.
Energy Regen	While in combat, Agents will passively generate Energy over time. The more Energy Regen an Agent has, the more they recover per second.
Energy Generation Rate	Increases the Energy generated through Energy Regen or when attacking enemies.
Energy Limit	Maximum amount of Energy an Agent can hold at once. An Agent's Special Attack can be upgraded to an EX Special with enough Energy.
Attribute DMG Bonus	For each Attribute ( Physical, Fire, Ice, Electric, and Ether), increases the damage dealt when using Attribute attacks.

The largest (and arguably, the most important) upgrade an Agent can have are their Promotions and Training. As the Agent levels up, they can improve their base stats for HP, Defense, and Attack. If the Agents is lacking in any of these, they may underperform as players tackle harder content. In addition to the base stats, an Agent's level or level cap also determines how much their skills and Core Skill can improve. Players will need Certification Seals for Promotions, and Investigation Logs for Training.

Both resources are available to farm through the HIA's Combat Simulation.

In addition, if an Agent unlocks their promotions for Levels 20, 40, and 60, players can obtain a total of 3 Master Tapes per Agent, which can be used for Signal Searching on the Stable Channel.

To upgrade an Agent's combat proficiency, their skills should be enhanced whenever possible. Certain skills may be more efficient to upgrade over others, so it is important to read through each skill to understand what it does and how much benefit you get from the subsequent level upgrade. This will also allow you to save resources for another Agent you may be interested in upgrading.

When upgrading each skill, the screen will show a preview of what the upgrade provides before confirmation. With the exception of Core Skills, all skills are upgraded using Tactical Chips of the Agent's Attribute. Core Skills, on the other hand, are upgraded using Boss Items from Notorious Hunts and Higher Dimensional Data from Expert Challenges.

If players are ever lost when deciding which skill to prioritize upgrading, they can review the Suggestions option in the bottom-left of the screen. This will pull up a window that provides a general overall recommendation for the Agent specifically. Players can also review the suggestions provided for each Agent on Icy Veins, which gets updated periodically with each Version update.

If players are unsure on how to play the Agent, they can consult the Combat Tutorial option, which is available by selecting the Core Skill option under Skills. This window provides a brief Character Introduction and Demo Animation for the Agent. On Icy Veins as well, each Agent has a How to Play section included in their respective guides.

For further learning on how the Agent plays or is performing with their current equipment, players can consult the VR Co-operation Exercise mode. This mode provides a walkthrough on each Agent's capabilities in combat, and can be accessed either through the Agent's Skill menu (with a pre-made trial squad), or through the VR Device in Random Play.

Equally as important as promotions and skills, Agents should be equipped with the best Drive Discs and W-Engines available before entering combat. This equipment can improve a variety of combat stats for the Agent beyond just flat stats. For example, equipping a W-Engine of the correct Type can provide its W-Engine effect to the Agent, and using enough Drive Discs of the same set can provide beneficial Drive Disc effects.

Drive Discs have six numbered categories they can slot into the Equipment driver for an Agent. Certain categories have unique Main Stats, or Sub-Stats that can be randomly obtained and upgraded.

For every Drive Disc, its sub-stats are randomly generated whenever the player obtains it. They are also randomly upgraded whenever the Drive Disc hits the level stages of 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15. If the Drive Disc has less than 4 sub-stats when obtained, it will continue to add a new sub-stat up to the maximum level stage possible.

Players can obtain Drive Discs of any number category through Routine Cleanup (using Battery Charge) at SCOTT Outpost, or through Tuning with Master Copies at Bardic Needle, the music store. Bardic Needle has the option to specify which Drive Disc set with Master Copies, while the Drive Disc's number category and main stat are determined using Tuning Calibrators.

Master Copies can be obtained through the Association Supplies at SCOTT Outpost, Drive Disc dismantling (at certain Disc levels), or through the New Eridu City Fund. Tuning Calibrators are available through Hollow Zero, Association Supplies Shop, or New Eridu City Fund.

If players are unsure on which Drive Disc sets to use, they can opt to review the Recommendations provided in-game via the Recommendations option at the bottom of the Equipment menu. This menu will bring up a filterable selection of recommended sets, along with percentage values for overall playerbase use per recommended set and main stats available. If players do not have the recommended Drive Disc set or main stat for that number category, no Drive Discs will be shown in the filter.

To upgrade a Drive Disc, players will require Plating Agents, obtainable through various methods, including Routine Cleanup and the HIA's Combat Simulation. Each S-Rank Drive Disc uses 48,000 EXP worth of Plating Agents to reach Level 15. However, players may choose to stop at a lower-level to dismantle and re-build with another Drive Disc in the same number category if the enhancements are not to preference.

As a result, players may require more than 288,000 EXP worth of Plating Agents to fully build an Agent. This is the amount for a minimum of 6 S-Rank Drive Discs, so if players need to build or re-build more Drive Discs, they may require significantly more Plating Agents than what is stated here.

Whenever possible, use W-Engines that share the same Type as the Agent. In doing so, the Agent will be able to take advantage of the W-Engine effect, in addition to the W-Engine's base and advanced stats. Using W-Engines of other types may not be as effective or efficient in combat.

Players can obtain W-Engines of various Ranks through Signal Searching on any Channel (see W-Engine Channel and Signal Search), Residual Signal Exchanges (for specific S-Rank W-Engines), Events, and the Gadget Store located on Sixth Street.

Note that for past limited-time W-Engines, they may return at a later date. Certain W-Engines may only be available through Signal Searching. For W-Engines craftable at the Gadget Store, they require W-Engine Chips, which can be obtained through W-Engine Recycling or the Notorious Hunt. They also require W-Engine Components.

To upgrade an Agent's W-Engine, players can use W-Engine Specialization materials to level up, which can be obtained through the HIA's Combat Simulation, Fading Signal Exchange, and certain Events or rewards. This will improve the base stats a W-Engine provides when equipped.

Players can also unlock the W-Engine's Level Cap (up to Level 60) by modifying it with W-Engine Components, which can be obtained through various methods, including the HIA's Combat Simulation. Through modification, the W-Engine's advanced stats will increase.

In addition to the above, the W-Engine can also be updated with copies of the same W-Engine, up to 4 additional copies. Certain W-Engines, such as the Gilded Blossom, may use a different item to update. After updating, the W-Engine Effect will be upgraded.

If players are lucky enough to obtain another copy of an Agent, either through Signal Searching (see Signal Search) or certain Story Commissions and Events, they will obtain the Agent's Focus. A Focus can be used to unlock sequential Mindscape Cinemas, which can add additional buffs or effects to certain parts of an Agent's combat kit. Players can hold a maximum of 6 Focuses for each Agent obtained.

Mindscape Cinema unlocks have varying degrees of usefulness, from essential to providing nice quality-of-life improvements to an Agent's gameplay. Which Mindscape Cinemas to go for depends on each Agent and a player's financial budget. Players should keep these points in mind when considering the maximum potential their version of an Agent may look like.

While Trust does not provide any direct stats or effect upgrades to an Agent, it is still worth mentioning here as it provides an assortment of benefits that players may find useful when using the Agent.

The Partner Archive can be accessed through the main Agent menu or the Workbench at Random Play. In this menu, players can review the level of Trust each Agent has, sorted into their own Factions and records. Some Agents may not be able to build Trust until players have progressed through the Main Story or completed certain Agent Commissions.

After obtaining an Agent, players can begin to build Trust with them by interacting in various locations at certain times. If an Agent is not available, players may have to refresh the day (using the Time Period selection), progress in their Inter-Knot commissions, or send an Invitation to hang out through the Knock-Knock DMs menu. The player's DMs, not to be confused with Inter-Knot Friends' Messages, are accessible through the Main Menu at the bottom of the screen. The overworld interface also has a shortcut available (hotkey set in Options > Mouse & Keyboard).

Players can send 1 Invitation per Agent, up to 3 Agents maximum per day. After reaching certain Trust ranks with the Agent, players will begin to see additional benefits from using the Agent more.

When an Agent reaches the Friendly Trust rank, players will be able to complete a video tape request from the Agent. This is a brief event that occurs near or in Random Play, and can be tracked using the Inter-Knot schedule. After completing the request, players can invite the Agent to promote the Video Store throughout the day.

When players are setting up the store to open for the day, they can select an Agent with at least Friendly Trust to promote. When the day ends and resets at Server time, players will receive Advanced Skill Chips that are Attribute-specific for the Agent. For example, an Electric Agent can obtain Advanced Electric Chips that can be used to upgrade their skills. This is beneficial for players who want passive Tactical Chip income, along with some Bangboo EXP Modules and Dennies.

When an Agent reaches the Close Trust rank, players will be able to obtain the Agent-exclusive Resonium. This Affinity Resonium is able to trigger special events within certain areas of Hollow Zero. After encountering the special event, players will receive a temporary upgrade to the Agent's Mindscape Cinema throughout the rest of their exploration run of Hollow Zero.

While this may not be useful for Agents at the maximum Mindscape Cinema level, or for most Hollow Zero runs, most players will find this beneficial regardless, as Hollow Zero is considered part of the end-game content for Zenless Zone Zero. With limited resources and Agent availability, any kind of helpful upgrade, even temporary and content-exclusive, should be used when available.