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 3 weeks on Friday. The current Deadly Assault Stages are available from April 18, 2025 until May 2nd , 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!

5.

Bosses, Mechanics, and Recommended Squads

Dead End Butcher Deadly Assault - Bringer Unknown Corruption Complex

5.1.

Notorious - Dead End Butcher

The first boss you can face is Butcher. He is weak to Ice and Ether Damage, and has no specific resistances.

5.2.

Enemy Details

When the Agent hits the boss enemy with a Defensive Assist or Chain Attack, they apply 1 stack of Weakening to the target.

For each stack of Weakening on the target, Agent Crit DMG is increased by 10%.

When the boss enemy has 4 stacks of Weakening, Defensive Assist will deflect the boss enemy's attack, causing a Stagger effect.

5.3.

Special Mechanic

If you successfully trigger Perfect Assist you earn 300 Performance Points. You can obtain a maximum of 5000 Performance Points this way.

If you only have one Ice team, we recommend you keep it for the second boss and use Zhu Yuan or another Ether team for this boss instead. Try to always use Perfect Assists as this will give you additional points.

5.4.

Recommended Squads

Buff	DPS	Sub	Support	Bangboo
Interrupt	Zhu Yuan	Qingyi	Nicole Demara	Officer Cui
Interrupt	Zhu Yuan	Nicole Demara	Astra Yao	Resonaboo
Rapid Aid	Hoshimi Miyabi	Tsukishiro Yanagi	Alexandrina Sebastiane	Agent Gulliver
Rapid Aid	Hoshimi Miyabi	Lighter	Astra Yao	Sharkboo
Interrupt	Ellen Joe	Lighter	Astra Yao	Sharkboo
Interrupt	Ellen Joe	Von Lycaon	Soukaku	Sharkboo

5.5.

Sacrifice - Bringer

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

5.6.

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.

5.7.

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 have only one Ice squad, prioritise using it against Bringer, as the 1st boss is also weak to Ether. You can use Electric Agents for Bringer as well, if your best teams are Electric.

Make sure to 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.

5.8.

Recommended Squads

Buff	DPS	Sub	Support	Bangboo
Blazing Chill	Hoshimi Miyabi	Tsukishiro Yanagi	Alexandrina Sebastiane	Agent Gulliver
Final Assault	Hoshimi Miyabi	Lighter	Astra Yao	Agent Gulliver Sharkboo
Final Assault	Ellen Joe	Lighter	Astra Yao	Sharkboo
Final Assault	Ellen Joe	Von Lycaon	Soukaku	Sharkboo
Blazing Chill	Tsukishiro Yanagi	Qingyi	Alexandrina Sebastiane	Plugboo
Blazing Chill	Asaba Harumasa	Qingyi	Alexandrina Sebastiane	Plugboo

5.9.

Unknown Corruption Complex

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

5.10.

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%.

5.11.

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. Keep your ultimate or big burst DPS for when he is impaired since he will take more damage.

5.12.

Recommended Squads

Buff	DPS	Sub	Support	Bangboo
Swift Advance	Soldier 0 - Anby	Trigger	Pulchra	Plugboo
Swift Advance	Soldier 0 - Anby	Astra Yao	Pulchra	Snap
Worn Out	Asaba Harumasa	Astra Yao	Caesar King	Knightboo
Worn Out	Asaba Harumasa	Qingyi	Alexandrina Sebastiane	Plugboo
Blazing Chill	Tsukishiro Yanagi	Qingyi	Alexandrina Sebastiane	Plugboo
Blazing Chill	Tsukishiro Yanagi	Seth Lowell	Alexandrina Sebastiane	Plugboo

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.