Is Zenless Zone Zero Free-to-Play Friendly?

Set to release on the 4th of July, Zenless Zone Zero has managed to build up a lot of hype around its release. Like most gacha games out there, Zenless Zone Zero follows a model in which the initial game is free, and you can spend money on the game to purchase in-game items and currencies.

While most gacha games can be free-to-play, not all are friendly towards free-to-play players. Many games give free-to-play players very few items, including a low amount of character pulls. So, how free-to-play friendly is Zenless Zone Zero?

Free-to-Play Friendly

It’s important to note that Zenless Zone Zero has not been fully released yet. Everything in our article is based on the latest closed beta version of the game.

Free Characters

There are a total of 5 characters that you can get for free in Zenless Zone Zero. Out of these 5, you can get 3 by simply playing the game’s story mode. These characters are:

• Anby
• Nicole
• Billy

Like other similar gacha games, Zenless Zone Zero has a team-based gameplay system. You will need 3 different characters in your team, and the 3 starting characters are perfect for it. They also synergize together pretty well, as Nicole is a support, Anby a Sub-DPS, and Billy your main DPS.

Other than the 3 starting characters, you can also unlock:

• Corin – Pre-Registration reward
• Soukaku – You can get her by clearing stages of Shiyu Defense

Both of these characters are pretty nice to have, as Corin gives you another DPS option, and Soukaku gives you a good ice-based support option.

The 5 characters are overall pretty fun to play and are pretty different in what they offer. They aren’t the strongest, but starting characters in most games are normally like that.

We also did an article on what mistakes new players should avoid in Zenless Zone Zero, consider giving it a read if you’re a F2P player!

Banners

Alongside free characters, looking at the Banners in a gacha game is also very important. Like the Beginners’ Wish Banner in Genshin, Zenless Zone Zero also has a Banner that helps new players get started in the game.

Zenless Zone Zero has pity timers to make sure you eventually get an S-rank. When pulling from the starting Banner, the pity timer will be 50 pulls. Once you pull your first S-rank character, the timer then becomes 90 pulls. Alongside that, you are also guaranteed one A-rank character every 10 pulls.

This is very good for free-to-play players, as you can get 2 S-rank characters in just 140 pulls. Alongside the standard starting Banner, Zenless Zone Zero will also have plenty of special event Banners you can pull from. Watch out for these as they Banners will feature new releases.

All in all, the Banners system in this game and the starting characters make this game pretty new player-friendly. Playing the game regularly will give you enough pulls to keep up with the meta, and the starting characters are good enough to take you through the early game.

That said, it’s yet to be seen how the game manages future updates and releases, and whether those additions are also new-player friendly.