Which Free Selectable Character Should You Choose in Zenless Zone Zero?

In a generous move that will hopefully continue in whatever other games HoYoverse makes going, in Zenless Zone Zero, you have the chance to choose a guaranteed S-Rank character after a certain point, ensuring that at least one choice leaves nothing to chance. But which character to choose?

Which Guaranteed Selectable S-Rank Should You Choose in Zenless Zone Zero

In Zenless Zone Zero, if you make a whopping 300 pulls on the standard banner, called the Stable Channel, in this game, you can select one of the six standard banner S-Rank characters, and the game will just give them to you. No questions asked. And as much as I’d like to say you’ll have at least one copy of each standard S-Rank by that point, there’s a very good chance you won’t.

I’ve been playing Honkai: Star Rail since launch, and I have every starting 5-star except Welt, who I’ve wanted to complete the set for more than a year.

Now, between the six characters, I’d recommend getting Lycaon from the S-Rank selector. He’s one of only four Stun-type characters in the game as of 1.0 and is the best of them by a massive margin. He makes up one part of the current Ice-damage meta, is a fairly straightforward character to play (minus some timing stuff to optimize his damage), and his playstyle is fun, to boot.

In the event that you nab Lycaon during your push to 300 standard banner pulls, or as the unfortunate result of losing the 50/50 on the limited banner, there are definitely other options worth your time, at least in the early life of Zenless Zone Zero.

• Soldier 11 is a solid main DPS, and the character I got from the discounted 50 pulls on my main account. She’s straightforward to a fault, with few bells or whistles to speak of, but her damage is solid, and her playstyle is easy to understand.
• Grace is incredibly fun and synergizes well with other Electric characters present and to come. She’s not going to put up the biggest numbers, and she exists in a more sub-DPS role, but for story progression, she’ll do just fine.
• Rina is a support on par with Soukaku, who works well with Grace, with both characters elevating the other —one buffing and the other dishing out damage. She is, however, enormously creepy.
• Koleda is the other main Stun unit in 1.0 of Zenless Zone Zero, and while I think her playstyle is incredibly clunky, her Blaze Anomaly buildup and straight damage are nothing to sneeze at, provided you can get the wonky timing of her attacks down.
• Nekomata is a bit more technical of a DPS than Soldier 11, focusing on counters and Chain Attacks to maximize her output, but she is also much flashier to watch and play, with a significant pace difference between her and Soldier.

The last thing you should consider when choosing your S-Rank selector character is what roles you still need to fill. If you need a better Stun character, Lycaon or Koleda will do nicely, and so on. For the Shiyu Defense mode, you’ll need two fully built teams to take on the later floors, so if one of your teams has a hole in it, the selector can help fill it until a limited event character inevitably comes along and makes the entire 1.0 roster obsolete.

For more on the game, check out our Zenless Zone Zone guides hub.