Zenless Zone Zero Agent Skill Tier List: Best Abilities Ranked for 2025

Zenless Zone Zero Artwork 7

The strongest skills in Zenless Zone Zero are the ones that either drive your main DPS rotation (Basic/Special/EX/Chain) or massively buff the whole team through Core and Support abilities. Below is a role-based tier list of ability types you should value and upgrade first in 2025.

S-Tier: Always-Upgrade Skills

These skills are universally top priority across almost every meta agent.

  • Core Skill (all roles) – Core Skills modify an agent’s defining passive and often boost multiple stats or key effects at once (damage, shields, buffs). Guides and community advice agree they should be among the first skills you push to high level, especially on DPS and tanks like Caesar whose Core directly scales shield strength and mitigation.
  • Main DPS damage skills (Basic / Special / EX / Ultimate) – For Attack and Anomaly carries, the core damage loop comes from Basic Attacks, Special/EX Specials, and Ultimates, so these skills are always S-tier upgrade targets.
Skill TypeWhy It’s S-Tier
Core Skill (DPS, Tank, Support) Large stat and passive gains per level; upgrades the “heart” of the kit, from shields (Caesar) to stance buffs (Ellen).
DPS Basic / Special / EX / Ultimate Most-used buttons; scaling here directly translates into faster clears and higher endgame scores.

A-Tier: High-Impact Support and Stun Skills

These skills are crucial but slightly more role-dependent.

  • Support Special & Chain/Ultimate – For buffers/healers (Astra Yao, Caesar-style hybrid supports), the Special Attack and Chain/Ultimate carry team buffs, heals, or shields, so guides recommend maxing them early after Core.
  • Stun / Impact skills (Special, Assist, Chain) – On Stun agents, skills that add heavy Daze or Impact (like Caesar’s Special and Defensive Assist) are rated highly because they accelerate Stun windows for your whole team.
  • Anomaly application skills – For Anomaly carries, the skills that build and trigger Anomaly (often Special/EX and Chain) scale status uptime and final explosions, making them nearly as important as traditional DPS skills.
Skill TypeWhy It’s A-Tier
Support Special & Chain/Ultimate Deliver heals, shields, PEN buffs, or damage boosts that multiply team DPS.
Stun/Impact Special & Defensive Assists Faster Daze fill and safer Stun windows; key for Shiyu Defense and Hollow Zero.
Anomaly application skills More frequent and stronger Shock/Burn/Frost triggers → huge effective DPS.

B-Tier: Utility, Niche, and “Nice-to-Have” Skills

These are worth leveling once your core kit is online, but rarely first.

  • Standard Assist Attacks on pure DPS – Attack Assists are useful for extra damage and rotation smoothing, but they typically come after Basic/Special/EX/Ultimate and Core on main carries.
  • Less-used passives / situational skills – Some agents have skills that only matter in niche conditions (certain HP thresholds, specific enemy types). Community advice is to leave these around 5–7 until you have spare materials.​
  • Over-investing every skill on low-priority agents – Given material costs, guides emphasize focusing on three to six core agents and stopping other characters’ skills at modest levels.
Skill TypeWhy It’s B-Tier
Attack Assists on DPS Helpful for min-maxing, but lower priority than main damage loop and Core.
Niche/passive skills ​​Small or situational gains; upgrade late or only on favorite characters.

Practical 2025 Upgrade Order (Per Agent)

Across tier lists and upgrade guides, a clear 2025 pattern emerges:

  • Attack/Anomaly DPS:
    1. Core Skill → 2) Basic Attack → 3) Special/EX → 4) Ultimate/Chain → 5) Assist → 6) Others.
  • Support/Healer:
    1. Core Skill → 2) Special (buff/heal/shield) → 3) Chain/Ultimate → 4) Assist → 5) Basic.
  • Tank/Stun:
    1. Core Skill → 2) Stun-centric Special & Defensive Assist → 3) Chain/Ultimate → 4) Basic.

Sticking to this S/A/B tier logic, Core and main damage/support skills first, utility last, will give the biggest power spike per material spent for your Zenless Zone Zero roster in 2025.

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