Note: this guide assumes basic understanding of ZZZ mechanics. If you don't yet know anything or need a refresher on core mechanics like how to attack, dodge, or perfect assist, refer to the following resources

• The Proxy Handbook available from the main menu in game under "More"
• Tactics available in the dedicated tab on the menu where you find your daily rewards (Errands)

Understanding Character Types and Roles

Teams in Zenless Zone Zero include up to three agents. The game recognizes the following agent types

1. Attacker: Focuses on crit damage and attack to directly deal damage to the enemy
2. Rupture: Focuses on crit damage and "sheer force" to deal damage to the enemy that bypasses their defense. Typically scales with HP rather than attack
3. Anomaly: Excels in building up the anomaly gauge on an enemy corresponding to their type, dealing damage when the gauge is filled. Inflicting two different types of anomalies quickly results in Disorder, dealing massive damage.
4. Stunner: Excels at filling the stun gauge on an enemy, allowing an Attacker or Rupture type unit to deal additional damage during the stun window
5. Support: Provides buffs to your other agents and/or debuffs on the enemy
6. Defense: Similar to support, but tends to have a wider variety of buffs that are less potent instead of focusing on a couple of strong buffs.

Reading between the lines here, these agent types can be boiled down into one of the following role:

1. DPS: Focused on dealing damage, either through anomaly or disorder infliction or raw damage. These types of agents are usually Attacker, Anomaly, or Rupture
2. Supporter: Not to be confused with the literal support type, this refers to any agent that improves the damage capabilities of your DPS without stunning the enemy. Agents that are Support or Defense tend to fall into this archetype
3. Stunner: Self-explanatory and identical to the Stunner type in game.

There are then two subtypes for agents

1. On-Field: You must spend a lot of time actively using the agent for them to be effective, usually unleashing a series of attacks to build up combat resources and buffs while inflicting daze, anomaly, or damage.
2. Off-Field: The agent does not need to be used for long periods of time, instead coming on field only briefly to use an EX skill or ultimate. Although technically slightly different, you can consider "Burst DPS" characters that unleash their DPS all in one go to be off-field.

This designation is not specific to a certain type of agent, although Support/Defense agents tend to be off-field.

Damage Cycles, Team Building, and Execution

All that being said, this means there are two basic damage cycles in game

1. Anomaly Based: Build up the anomaly gauge repeatedly to consistently damage the enemy
2. Crit Damage Based: Stun the enemy and inflict massive damage with your crit-based DPS (attacker/rupture) while the enemy is stunned

This leads to the following common team archetypes

• Stunner/Supporter/DPS
• Anomaly/Anomaly (of a different element)/Supporter
• Supporter/Supporter/DPS

The exact way you play these teams will depend on who is on field and who is off field. Generally speaking, you only want one on-field character per team.

• For the Stunner/Supporter/DPS team, this means you want an On-Field Stunner and Burst DPS, or an Off-Field Stunner and an On-Field DPS
• For the Anomaly/Anomaly/Supporter team, you'll want one Off-Field Anomaly character and one On-Field Anomaly character.
• For the Supporter/Supporter/DPS team, you'll want to use an On-Field DPS.

Subsequently, your gameplay will usually follow these steps

1. 1Use your On-Field character to build up stun, anomaly, or decibels (if DPS)
2. Use your Off-Field character when resources are available to complement the On-Field character (to deal damage, fill up the other anomaly type, or increase the stun gauge)
3. As you are about to inflict anomaly or stun the enemy, use your support to ensure your other characters are buffed
4.  After inflicting one anomaly or stunning the enemy, inflict another anomaly to deal damage via Disorder or use the Ultimate + EX skills from your DPS to deal damage during the stun window.

Applying Your Knowledge

Obviously there are many characters in game and every character has their own quirks that will affect team building.

For a better idea of how individual characters work, be sure to play their cooperation exercise/character demo.

• On-banner characters have a "Start Demo" option from their event promo
• Characters you own  have their demo accessible via the Cooperation Exercise option when viewing their core skill, or when using the VR Training option in the Random Play HDD room.

Once you've played their cooperation exercise

• Read the character's Core Skill
• Read at least the descriptions for their skills marked as "Priority" in "Upgrade Suggestions"

Combined with their character type, this should give you an idea of

• How to use the character
• Whether the character is on-field or off-field
• What role they will play in a team

More advanced team building involves understanding the specifics of a character's kit (e.g., for Supporters what stats they specifically buff or for Stunners, how any secondary buffs they provide will help the rest of your team), but this should be enough to get you on the right track for building and playing a team that will flow smoothly.

I'm just a guy that really loves ZZZ! I'd love for you to join my on my ZZZ Discord server at https://discord.gg/P4ypUBWhqQ where I have even more info available along with a cozy and fun community.