ZZZ 3.3: Strong Agents in an Awkward Spot, All Lined Up to Be Replaced

ZZZ's roster is already enormous, and a few Agents sit in a genuinely awkward place: their numbers are still high, but trouble is closing in from every direction — whether from the current patch or from Agents still to come — and the pressure on them is enormous. So today let's run through the Agents who are strong but awkwardly placed in ZZZ 3.3, and see how many of them you actually own.

Yixuan

The Master is easily the most awkwardly placed character right now. As a Grandmaster — the tier just below Void Hunter — she should be hitting hard, but Rupture has been fading as Miasma bosses thin out: the buffs no longer favor her, and her own performance has deteriorated fast.

ZZZ still has no second Grandmaster, yet Enchainers are already on the way, so for now Grandmaster looks simply forgotten. Hoshimi Miyabi, the first Void Hunter of the 1.0 era, is still the higher-priority pick in plenty of situations. Does our Master have a future at all?

Rina

The only Support Agent in the standard S-rank pool, Rina went quiet for a very long stretch. After her buffs her numbers jumped substantially, and her DEF buff let her slot into Armorer teams — in many players' minds she even became the best Support for Sunbringer's debut lineup.

But once Robin showed up in Sunbringer's gameplay PV, Rina's dream of supporting a Void Hunter fell apart. What's more, since Robin is a Defense Agent she may well be given away for free — meaning some players will end up with Robin and no Rina at all, which is about as awkward as it gets.

Claret

Plenty of people think Claret's peak is already on a countdown, because Sunbringer arrives in 3.4 and the gameplay PV shows her as a pure main DPS. For meta chasers, Sunbringer will obviously be the priority then. Claret may benefit a little on the side, but her real chances of a team slot will be squeezed hard.

Roxy

As the newest limited Stun Agent, Roxy's actual in-combat performance is absolutely meta-defining right now — she fits into every major team and does superbly, so her pull priority should be very high. But she can't open much of a gap over Norma, a Stun Agent from the same 3.0 era, and in the official showcase Sunbringer was paired with Norma, of all people. Roxy is feeling the pressure!

Aria

Before Phoenix, Remielle had a huge choice of drivers. Once Phoenix went live, a Phoenix at M0W1 or better all but shut out the alternatives, and the old drivers — Aria first among them — fell silent as the new driver took her place. Still, a well-built Aria and her peers remain useful against the right weakness.

Promeia

Promeia is a powerful Anomaly Agent who arrived late in Season 2. On her own merits her card quality is excellent and she is extremely forgiving to play, but as a newer Anomaly unit she can't carve out a place in the Velina/Dan core — usable, just not a priority.

And if she wants back into the traditional Nangong/Yuzuha Anomaly team, she has to compete with Hoshimi Miyabi for that slot. Given how heavily invested the average Miyabi is, and how high the ceiling on her damage rotation runs, it's genuinely hard to call who comes out ahead.

Starlight Billy

In Rupture teams Billy carries the same pressure as the Master — and he has more piled on top. Yixuan is the most widely used Rupture main DPS, so anyone running Rupture generally runs the Master; and as a Physical DPS Billy also has to fight Ye Shunguang for the right stage conditions. As one of ZZZ's "three fools," Billy really does take the most pressure of anyone. Rough.

Cissia

The other member of ZZZ's "three fools," Cissia still puts up very strong numbers, and the Cissia & Seed team remains a perfectly good Attack lineup. But in the Attack lane she simply can't beat Ye Shunguang, and since 3.0 two more roadblocks have appeared in Sigrid and Pyrois, so Cissia is basically used only on Electric-weak stages. Then Claret's release sealed off that Electric-weak niche as well — if you pulled Claret, there is almost no reason to field Cissia at all.

That's our roundup of Agents who are still strong but sitting in a very awkward position. Who else do you think fits the bill this time? Keep following our site's merch and articles — see you next time!