Top Picks for F2P Players: Zenless Zone Zero Pre-Release Tier List

In this video, Iyo discusses The Zenless Zone Zero Pre-Release Tier List! ZZZ releases July 4th, and a lot of players are starting to ask what's The Best 5-Star Character to Choose, who are the best characters to build, and what are the best options for F2P. Here's what you need to know about EVERY Character's strength & pull value ranked in Zenless Zone Zero. Both for F2Ps who are looking to reroll & low-spenders who just want to know what characters give them their favorite results.
Some notable mentions in this video include Lycaon, Rina, Grace, Koleda, Nekomata, Soldier 11, Ellen, and their overall value. This is Iyo's Beginner Guide to EVERY Standard 5-Star / S-Rank Character in Zenless Zone Zero.
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🕹️ Discord ► / discord
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🧉 Want that hoodie or shaker I use? Grab it at [redacted].
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#ZenlessZoneZero #ZZZ
0:00 Intro
2:01 Grace
4:06 Ellen
9:30 Zhu Yuan
11:42 Lycaon & Rina
16:55 Lucy & Koleda
21:01 Nekomata & Soldier 11
27:03 Piper & Anton
29:37 Saokaku & Nicole
34:25 Ben, Billy, & Corin
39:07 Final Tier List Recap

[@IyoXS]

For those of you that saw the video 10min ago... No you didn't. LOL Tell me your tier opinions though!

[@thetruestar6348]

Nooo that video was great

[@LoachAo]

Hey, man. Loving the content and super informative towards this game, I want to ask a question though. Have you seen wuthering waves content or considered playing? It's kinda a mix between ZZZ and genshin. Mainly genshin vibes but the combat has quite a bit of depth, with unique models and animations like this, just not to the same level. Just a suggestion, but do your own thing I'm not trying to backseat lol.

[@IggyRE]

​@LoachAo See his main channel, Iyo. This is apparently a second channel.

[@LoachAo]

@IggyRE oh, nice thanks man. I've only watched like two videos today so I didn't know that I appreciate it

[@itsZoii1]

LMAOO its 40 mins but great vids🎉

[@jellosoda7203]

“What makes it better about assault-“ with no context and wearing hisoka hoodie is peak comedy

[@jhornarahman9247]

💀

[@vozzy06]

Shinji no!

[@smashmonkey6304]

I think Zhu Yuan will improve over time. A big problem is there aren't a lot of ether characters and she's the only member of Pubsec right now. A lot of characters have potential to move just on the fact that some factions aren't done and some elements have few options. Ellen benefits from the fact that Victoria Housekeeping has all of its members and there are a lot of ice characters out there. Zhu Yuan will easily move up and Saukako could move up when Miyabi comes out.

[@statixfear]

Zhu Yuan being ranked so high despite basically being handicapped with almost no other ether character and no other faction-aligned unit is already an impressive feat. I love Ellen's character and personality but I'll probably skip her and save. I'm just a sucker for gun-wielding archetypes, especially ones who appear to take a lot of inspiration from John Wick... basically CQC with a gun.

[@Dvalyn]

damn, rip to billy. i hoped that he would be better

[@DavidZhao-lc1kj]

Nah bruh, he is only an A rank, he is trash

[@Shadow82311]

@@DavidZhao-lc1kjall the Billy Fans would be sadge to hear that and insulted oop

[@chaltrs]

@@DavidZhao-lc1kjwe’re going to use him anyway 😊

[@Ilikegames804]

y'all remember when players called Chixia trash and turned out to be busted OP let's hope the same situation happens for Billy.

[@Shadow82311]

@@Ilikegames804 mmhm the moment where i play her gameplay for the first time i instantly maining her since then cause guns users are super duper cool (but then i have to delete WUWA cause of Storage problem to be able to play ZZZ :

[@chinesesquidward]

Brudda the game haven't even launch yet but u making hour long video Man i respect the work

[@QueerRadish]

This is the best ZZZ explanation video I’ve seen so far!

[@mistermamamia]

makes sense, I'm definitely gonna run Ben just because... well he's a talking bear. But I hope he ends up having some sleeper buffs and potential, I wanna run any and all teams I can fit him on, and if he's mid, well I won't complain about making the game harder, that's for sure. Can't wait to really dive into the game, I'm also a massive fighting game fan, and action game fan in general, and this is by far the best looking gacha game I've ever seen, with some actual genuine depth in it's mechanics. I don't care about open world genshin, turn based star rail, honkai impact kinda looks like a mess, etc. This game is simple straightforward levels with nonstop interesting action, and that's what I've been asking for for a looong time.

[@luciosdk]

people always sleep on shielders. For begginers its just great. For execution heavy teams, so you dont have to dodge all the time and misstime your execution. For "lets just relax" moments. Also for when heavy hitting enemies come to the game.

[@mvigel]

Respectfully, wuthering waves exists.

[@mistermamamia]

@@mvigel what does that mean? It's a game I have my eye on but I'm not gonna try it until it comes out on console. Frankly I like ZZZ more from the stance that it doesn't have an open world to prance around in, I hate that in every game, but at the same time the combat still looks neat.

[@mvigel]

@@mistermamamia well you don’t have to explore the open world, and the combat is better.

[@Dyetai]

These are the kinds of videos I love seeing you make, I get to listen to the best takes while doing my dailies 😂

[@IyoXS]

I never thought about being used for background footage as daily runs, but that's actually kinda cool! I like that!

[@starboyrob]

since i haven't even watched any gameplay so much of this flew over my head finna have to rewatch LOL u put so much into ts thank u

[@b1ckdrgn]

Holy shit dude, this is exactly what I was thinking - guess I learned your team building ideas from HSR

[@IyoXS]

Haha That's definitely a plus big dawg! Teach a man how to fish and he'll eat for days!

[@seazuc]

Watched the whole thing and this definitely deserves a sub Thank you for the vid it was rlly helpful

[@appleku51]

That sweatshirt is LIT! Good find and great vid.

[@__GOD__.]

in a year i wanna see how much the tierlist is different i feel like ben is gonna be T 1 or 0.5

[@Akira19-]

You making bangers my guy, jss subscribed keep the content coming u gon blow up🤟🏽🖤

[@keanesn.1513]

love this tier list and character explanations

[@saintspade]

I really appreciate your approach to these games in your vids man. Especially in hsr, it made me want to go more in-depth with characters and team building. Same here with the combos, timings, etc. I’ll probably be button mashing until I get these down from hands-on experience HAHA

[@bad3ip2k10]

Iyo's hot takes and tier list. Quite a combination

[@Samyboy03]

Discovered your channel bc of Zenless moon. Love your take on the game 🤘🏽🔥

[@IyoXS]

Thank you! haha Glad you enjoyed the both of our videos and found your way here! :D

[@zenlessmoon]

:D Enjoy Iyo's Content!! hes awesome

[@Anne-km1ov]

Great video!

[@cuttingedge6630]

Just started the video, youre now my favorite ZZZ youtuber just based off of the awesome music choice I love sonic BTS and ATS so much its so peak

[@zeph769]

I hope you keep doing these types of videos for this game for some time. If I click with it like I did Star Rail, I would love to have a content creator as informed as you for comprehensive advice rather than the slop "this character is broken/changes everything/etc" that gets recommended to me ad nauseam. I find early on in most gacha any rarity aside from the top are heavily slept on and it can lead to bad pull planning when a dark horse turns out to be extremely powerful, like Bennett/Xingqiu in Genshin, so it's a good sign that some of them occupy higher tiers like Lucy. I like how you considered both casual and more experienced play like with Rina's placement, as well as explaining the tech that can propel a character higher than they would be normally EDIT: I would also like a breakdown of notable character dupes as well as good weapons after launch, I always find myself regretting not considering vertical investment early on and just getting tons of character variety when resources are so scarce in the early game and I won't be able to build everyone

[@PrettyBoyJutsu]

Very informative video! I like your breakdowns of the characters. I currently have Ellen, Lycoan, Belobog.

[@haloelite2720]

Great video brother

[@inmate_i9208]

I hope this channel blows up too bro, best zzz channel

[@TRITONIOS]

Good video pal!

[@IyoXS]

Thanks, big dawg!

[@DanielSantos-kt3xh]

Iyo relax, man. TWO VIDS IN ONE IS CRAZY🗿

[@IyoXS]

Gotta get the juice out to y'all before tomorrow night! lol

[@Lanera32]

ur editing is fire

[@sevnathism2177]

Bro is rocking the hell out of that Hisoka hoodie. Mad respect 🤜🤛

[@Austin_AW]

Rly nice vid👍🏻👍🏻, i think you should make a vid for you to nerd out about the techs and guide for sweaty players :) Cuz i rly like playing challenging characters in-game but i didnt come from a fighting game background 😅

[@Heheeps]

you're gonna make it big

[@IyoXS]

I hope so! haha

[@sjtaylor0]

Your vids are great man, keep up the good work. I'm pretty hyped for this game as it seems pretty gameplay-centric, I don't need any more open worlds or lengthy stories to eat up my time :)

[@foxyrouge8775]

Ik this is irrelevant to the video but, is it recommend to pull for the character’s signature weapon? Let’s say if I get Ellen, should I get her weapon or maybe wait to get Zhu yuan??

[@IyoXS]

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii recommend it, but it honestly depends on if you're F2P. Plan to push content beyond a casual level, etc.

[@WaywardRyu]

As a person who is also into the fighting game scene, your usage of the word "schmovement" brought a smile to my face

[@stevenyong6933]

Downloading rn, july 4th is going to be EXTRA lit

[@thminh3949]

Very helpful, you will be my main zzz cc to follow

[@irish3486]

Thanks for clarification on premium that helps when trying for that pitty pull.

[@Ray_Kaminari]

Does the daze thing from physical apply to lycon too if he is on team ? Or is it just for physical character or whoever did the assault or flinch ?

[@VorbG]

Брат, сколько пересмотрел таких видео с мнением о героях, но только твой канал действительно дает понимание чего ждать от персонажей. Сравнение Элен с Жу Янь очень помогло определиться... Спасибо!

[@thebenis3219]

I really wanted Grace, but my 50 pity was Neko and I felt pretty bummed about it until I watched this vid. Thanks bro for making me feel better about my luck.

[@Music_Of_Philosophy]

Subbed and Liked. Notifications on. Could you make a video dedicated on teams making the video as a tier list. Great video, man. looking forward to more content.

[@Team5A5K]

SET EXECUTION HENSHIN KARA CANCEL AS A FIGHTING GAME PLAYER READY? FIGHT!

[@WaywardRyu]

ZZZ HENSHIN COMPLETE!

[@Trxckologist]

As a marvel enjoyer I really really really want nekomata. One of my friends said she had like a plinking dash mechanic that is mad cool.

[@IyoXS]

Yeah! I actually showed it off in the last video, but I'm gonna make a short for it tonight or tomorrow.

[@madrain9898]

Where Zhu Yuan lacks in terms of team comps, I think she makes up for in terms of value because of her element being restricted right now, she has the least amount of potential to be powercrept anytime soon because they need to fill out Ether element roles. I think she deserves T0 if were talking F2P, specifically because of this reason.

[@mastazenkei]

Will you be making indepth guides for mechanics in the game ? Like you did with nekomata in one video with the dash cancel , would be really helpful to have a fighting game vet explain some mechanics.

[@lacqs9129]

I planned on rerolling for Grace or Rina then all in for Ellen, good to know they're up there

[@statixfear]

I love how Hoyo is really leaning into the fighting game community more when it comes to the technicalities in ZZZ. When I first saw the gameplay and animation of ZZZ, my mind immediately went to SF6... frame by frame, everything is so fluid

[@DTVenom]

Iyo congrats on Hitting 2.5k on the alt channel

[@ZenlessZoneZeroAndroid]

But I got about 5 billy dope. I still use it on the nekomata, nichole and billy teams. whether I like to use it. Until I get the next S agan. Do you have any recommendations for alternative nekomata teams?

[@Jshoea]

THIS MAN BE SPEAKIN THE TRUTH

[@thminh3949]

thanks, subscribed

[@ugmo0722]

Sir I just wanna say THANK YOU for using different background music besides PERSONA 5 you even threw in some persona 2 music my goodness everyone just uses the same reused persona 5 songs these days ! Great thinking for switching it up !

[@WaywardRyu]

Two questions, first, what mic do you use an' second, where did you get that Hisoka hoodie cause I gotta get me one yo

[@97chase_]

just curious what is your FG background? you mention it a lot so I'm curious which ones you played

[@NCG420]

Sees Ben in T4 my day is ruined, jokes aside W video I had a blast playing the CBTs hyped for the release

[@SharkedON]

I believe that Corin it's pretty underrated, not because of her weaknesses. But instead it's because of her Anomaly application, it's pretty good infact for a Attack type of character and yet it's pretty ignored. Literally if you don't have piper, your best choice will be Corin if you use Nekomata, it's pretty crazy how just many of the characters are overlooked in what they bring meanwhile the rest just are overlook with their weaknesses.

[@Xierdia_15]

This guy is gonna blow up when this game launches. Here before 2.5k subs

[@freshiin8925]

If I'm looking to run Rina and Nicole on release, who should I be looking for to fill the 3rd slot optimally?

[@-ssamurafimswithdiveluv7179]

so far I only wanted rina and lycaon , glad that I can save for a limited character for now

[@GameProdigy_]

Tbh i feel even with Zhu Yuans limit on characters she should be in tier 0 at least. I may be biased to her but i think shes gonna surpass alot especially from what ive seen from others views on her. Plus future proof as well

[@marielgalicha8548]

Fun to play as well... Zhu Yuan is so fast that is incredible

[@thetruestar6348]

We don’t know if she or her weapon got any changes on full release and we have to wait for her teammates.

[@Space4Cats]

i have a really strong feeling this guy is gonna have 500k by the end of the year

[@dramorian4486]

This is not happening realistically

[@RockingSpaceDragon]

Would you say it's worth rerolling to try and get better starting S-Class pulls, or is this the kinda game where you think it's better to just go with whatever you get?

[@brgryujin9778]

mad respect bro

[@JayUzo]

a team with solider 11, anby(soon replaced by lyca or koleda hopefully) and lucy, how should I go about using that team like when I should switch to who and why

[@plvto1]

another reason i love this game is that it took me back to my naruto storm days, something about the gameplay just reminds a lot about it.

[@TofuFGC]

As a fighting game player as well, I was pretty set on Grace and after hearing Iyo talk about her schmovement; yeah i'm plying this game for her. LOL This is why Iyo is my goat for my gacha games rn, he gives perspective from the same genre that I come from. Also the mention the group tierlist made me chuckle with the names "Ryu" and Sol" in it 😂

[@kelogz007]

I see the fighting game comparisons but I dont get it. You not playing against human so what’s stopping you from just spamming the optimum combo over and over. Do some enemies block or counter ?

[@Menuki]

Ellen drip has put her in high waifu category for me. The only reservation has been her meta, but this pretty much seals it for a must pull

[@mossykid]

you've got me sitting happy on my Ellen and Nekomata. Corrin... really only serves as a surrogate Piper to activate Ellen's buff, for me, until I get another maid.

[@pdmerritt]

After actually playing the game... Billy is a beast... Also, you play in teams and the solo aspect doesn't really equate to what the characters bring to their perspective teams.

[@user-gp5yj6xh7n]

Soldier 11 is for me. Pure damage unga bunga is my kind of style.

[@ViciousKell]

I got confused with the borderlands slag comparison as slag is debuffing enemies making them take more dmg from other resources

[@M4SKED2001]

I will be watching this to know what character to pick

[@IyoXS]

Ayyye!

[@otsdarvafoxxfyre]

Lately, my go to team has been an all out offensive group of Nekomata, Ellen, and Lucy for buffing my team, (I'm kinda confused about her kit, but I think she has a regular ATK boost function and a second one for her element/faction, but i could be wrong) I threw soldier 11s weapon on Neko and I'm constantly doing long assist chains, and everything else just vanishes so quickly, even on challenge mode

[@chudayu6543]

been more exited about this than any other game like ever lol

[@IyoXS]

Same! I'm hoping I'm completely satisfied by ZZZ tomorrow night too! Excited.

[@id_YuKus]

12:46 what is the music that is playing there? can I have a name pls

[@ImpulsiveZombie]

As someone that's never touched a Hoyo game but is fascinated by character optimization, these videos are greatly appreciated, and I'd even disagree with the folks saying they're too long- I wanna be down in the trenches with the *real* deep tech and numbers. I'm especially fascinated by how much importance is placed on team composition as opposed to individual character staying power, and have been pondering future compositions and seeing how they'd shake up the informal tier lists. To that end, a question, if you (Or anyone else reading this!) happened to have played Miyabi in the CBT- Where would she stand, given her immediate similarities to Ellen in terms of being a fast-paced Ice DPS Slashing character that builds up Ice-amping stacks? Obviously, she could be in the process of being heavily reworked and the earlier CBT data may not translate to her eventual live release, but the curiosity remains all the same. Assuming she can be a rough parallel to Ellen, she'd have near-identical teambuilding options to her, with Lycaon and Soukaku being immediate choices, although in the absence of Lycaon she'd obviously lack the advantage of the Victoria faction squadmates to activate passives, but I would imagine any competent Stunning character would still work wonders all the same. With that in mind, the main point to compare would be how much hurt Miyabi dishes out in comparison. Did she do more? Less? Any interesting mechanics or tech at a glance? I'm curious to hear thoughts on her, as I'm strongly considering skipping a banner or two to get Miyabi. Thank you again for the videos, and keep up the good work my man!

[@jeurisdelarosa1860]

Oh damn surprised you saw my comment about slag 😂

[@jeurisdelarosa1860]

Glad to help

[@Emmori6]

You made a comment at some point towards the opening of the video talking about elite usage of characters when explaining the usage of a character. This seems like it's probably not necessary, but would it make sense to have a casual tier list & what you would consider your ideal tier list? Or at the end of the day are they close enough where that wouldn't be necessary? Also, there was a random thought I had that I was curious about your thoughts, during that collab video they mentioned playing a fighting game at 30 FPS. Is that something to consider with ZZZ?

[@best-girl-ilulu9736]

Idk about 2d fighters like street fighter but I will say that for ZZZ u are certainly gonna want to have 60fps everything will move quicker and smoother and it should feel fantastic to play, also if ur on pc and u can go higher then go higher. I could be wrong maybe ZZZ will play better in 30fps I am making these assumptions before launch still lol.

[@Emmori6]

Yeah I was lucky enough to play in CBT 3 and played it uncapped and played great but yeah I might test it out at 30 FPS but we will see

[@CharizardIsTheGoat]

See I don’t care whether she’s rated high by people or not, I see cat girl so that’s who I want to go for and I’ll end up working to be able to main what ever play style she has

[@crystalsaria5625]

Welp time for me to make a proper tier list Rina is an s tier support character and it’s not even close her ability to do what she does is bat shit insane

[@remomareno]

Does rina really stack up to soukaku's perfect fit in the ellen team? I'm guessing Rina's penetration buff can be as strong as Soukaku's two damage buffs, but Soukaku's buff has a longer duration and she herself requires less field time so you can get to Ellen faster. OH! and Grace as a third was recommended somewhere too! I really love the Ellen teams so i'm very curious

[@Blackbeard925]

I just need to know where you got that hoodie asap

[@GhostEmblem]

My take away: these characters are way more in depth then I realized

[@goncalorodrigues9268]

I really want Ellen, Nekomata, Lucy and the Wolf guy... This means I'm fucked right? 😂

[@robertbland6218]

@IyoXS That Hisoka hoodie is 🔥 btw

[@themetal]

It think Score Attack is a better fighting game analogy to modes like Spiral Abyss or Memory of Chaos.

[@Magomed-g3p]

So the Lycan does better daze, better element (ice), better synergy (180% daze dmg) and has synergy with best dps shark grill? I got Koleda and was hoping to get soldier11 next but now I don't see the point. I guess i'm creating new acc and hoping to pull shark girl or lycan on few first rolls (f2p)

[@kenkaneki3873]

Does ZZZ have free 5* weapons like HSR?

[@Fyafli]

Does the game get more combat oriented later on? There's so much yapping and stupid TV stuff I'm losing the will to keep playing fast.

[@Creazaw]

Ma boys, I got grace wit her engine in 5 summons… did I win? Should I focus on a team wit her?

[@thegamewoods8473]

Lucy: Strong sub dps Animal familiar 4 star Blonde Long ass name and faux nobility She's fucking Fischl lmao.

[@ff14_shark98]

Where can I buy your hitbox controller?! It's so small and thin!!

[@ShouVertica]

Billy is way higher if you just hold his attack though, that dps is close to the highest because it's consistent and range.

[@izanagi2488]

Lycaon is a heavy hitter. I tried doing the Lvl 50 enemies in Free Training and he stuns them quickly. I just spam his charged basics into charged specials and he immediately stuns them. Also, I will actually defend Billy. He has plenty damage, but they are locked behind Crouching Shot, which requires you to combo a bit to get into it. Are you vulnerable? No, hold a direction and he hits a shot that launches him into a mini-evasive move that deals some decent damage as well. Though he is still pretty lacking, he isn’t that weak, but I agree that other characters have more value than him.

[@maatseik2807]

As a fighting game player myself (Tekken, SF, Guilty Gear strive) i like how you explore deeper aspects of combat it self . Cause i always look for mechanics like canceling , movement , etc in games as well.

[@misamisa5145]

I'm just mad Miyabi's completely MIA since first cbt She's literally Ayaka, ice katana girl who just disappears right after first cbt and she never reappeared until years later

[@kreidas]

How would the majority of players know about the characters, since we are not testers? Hopefully there are some characters which are friendly on style and such, but are we taking the word of content creators in general too readily; we should make our own judgements and personal tierlists for what WE like!

[@best-girl-ilulu9736]

Well surprisingly while another youtuber didn't do a tier list he did give a lot of praise to Nicole, Ben, Corin and piper making them all seem a lot higher than this guys opinion on them. Also I hate how this guy moves around characters that he's not specifically talking about it made me skip to the end so that I could see where he ranked them

[@kreidas]

@@best-girl-ilulu9736 Probably premature bias?

[@aramis4347]

I hope that they add a character that's similar to Monsoon from MGR

[@breadskiiyeetusdefeatus]

Hire this fella.

[@Creeperking-Razormain]

Mr.KZbinr can you please tell hoyovers that if you have android you can't play Zenless zone zero

[@Rascalli]

great vid but why do you have the cupcake hoodie on 😭