Zenless Zone Zero – Nekomata build and promotion guide

Check out the best W-Engines and Drive Discs for Nekomata in Zenless Zone Zero

HoYoverse

Protect your new-found family with the best Zenless Zone Zero Nekomata build and show the world how sharp your claws are. She’s a Physical Attack Agent with impeccably quick melee skills.

Table of Contents

1. ZZZ – Nekomata: best W-Engines
2. ZZZ – Nekomata: best Drive Discs
3. ZZZ – Nekomata: best teams
4. ZZZ – Nekomata: promotion materials

• Role: Attack
• Damage Type: Physical
• Faction: Gentle House aka. Cunning Hares
• Rarity: S-Rank

Nekomata is built around quick rotations, dealing the majority of her damage right after being swapped in. Teaming her up with fellow Cunning Hares or Physical Agents allows Nekomata to increase her EX Special Attack DMG after Assault is being triggered, so you should focus on building up her Energy and using the EX Special Attack at the right time to maximize its effect.

Holding the Basic Attack button allows Nekomata to attack targets from all sides as she whirls around them (with a chance to trigger repeat attacks) – a mechanic that actually helps increase her damage once you’ve unlocked Mindscape Cinema Level 1 by obtaining a duplicate of her. 

Level 1 enables Nekomata to ignore some of the target’s Physical Resistance when attacking from behind and – even better – counts all attacks against stunned foes as coming from behind. Level 2 boosts her Energy Regen when she’s fighting a single enemy, Level 4 increases her CRIT Rate after activating her EX Special Attack. Level 6 strengthens her CRIT DMG after using her Chain Attack or Ultimate.

ZZZ – Nekomata: best W-Engines

Nekomata’s signature W-Engine, Steel Cushion, provides a fantastic mix of stats and effects for her: It comes with substantial boosts to CRIT Rate and Physical DMG on top of increasing the DMG the wearer deals to targets when attacking them from behind. This is already great with her repeated Basic Attacks, but becomes so much more powerful with Mindscape Cinema Level 1.

Best W-Engines for Nekomata:

• Steel Cushion (S-Rank)
• The Brimstone (S-Rank)
• Cannon Rotor (A-Rank)
• Starlight Engine (A-Rank)
• Housekeeper (A-Rank)
• Street Superstar (A-Rank)
• [Lunar] Pleniluna (B-Rank)

Nekomata has a wild and fast-paced combat style. / HoYoverse

ZZZ – Nekomata: best Drive Discs

Nekomata is all about the offense, so it’s best to pack her Drive Discs with aggressive stats that enhance her damage output. If you’re planning on using Nekomata as the sole Physical Agent on your team, then it may be worth investing into Anomaly Mastery as the main stat of Partition 6, since this will help her with Anomaly Buildup and allow her to reliably trigger Assault on her own – though this comes at the expense of readying her EX Special Attack more quickly with higher Energy Regen.

Best Drive Disc sets for Nekomata:

• Fanged Metal (4) + Woodpecker Electro (2): +10% Physical DMG, +35% DMG against a target for 12 seconds after Assault has been triggered, +8% CRIT Rate.
• Fanged Metal (2) + Woodpecker Electro (2) + Hormone Punk (2): +10% Physical DMG, +8% CRIT Rate, +10% ATK.
• Woodpecker Electro (4) + Fanged Metal (2): +8% CRIT Rate, +9% ATK for 8 seconds after triggering a critical hit with Basic Attack, Dodge Counter, or EX Special Attack (can stack three times), +10% Physical DMG.

Best Drive Disc stats for Nekomata:

• Partition 1 – HP (Primary), CRIT Rate %, CRIT DMG %, ATK %, PEN
• Partition 2 – ATK (Primary), CRIT Rate %, CRIT DMG %, ATK %, PEN
• Partition 3 – DEF (Primary), CRIT Rate %, CRIT DMG %, ATK %, PEN
• Partition 4 – CRIT Rate % or CRIT DMG % (Primary), CRIT Rate % or CRIT DMG %, ATK %, PEN, ATK
• Partition 5 – Physical DMG % (Primary), CRIT Rate %, CRIT DMG %, ATK %, PEN
• Partition 6 – Energy Regen or Anomaly Mastery (Primary), CRIT Rate %, CRIT DMG %, ATK %, PEN

Nekomata is the latest member of the Cunning Hares. / HoYoverse

ZZZ – Nekomata: best teams

Nekomata is a lightning-fast melee attacker you’ll want to rotate in for short bursts. She sweeps around enemies like a whirlwind, clawing at them from all directions with a high attack speed.

• Nekomata (Main DPS), Anby (Sub DPS), Nicole (Support)
• Bangboo: Booressure

The Cunning Hares are a solid framework for Nekomata, especially if you have unlocked Level 1 of her Mindscape Cinema, as this allows her to make full use of Anby’s stunning capabilities. As her rotations are short, Nekomata can easily exploit the debuffs and buffs Nicole provides – and her crowd control will come in handy as well, stacking enemies up to be hit by Nekomata’s EX Special Attack all at once.

• Nekomata (Main DPS), Piper (Sub DPS), Lucy (Support)
• Bangboo: Bangvolver

Nekomata fits in with Piper and Lucy even better than Billy, as she needs much less field time than the robot gunman, which gives Piper more room to inflict Assault, which in turn feeds the Core Skill of Nekomata – they have great synergy. Having Piper on the team means you don’t need Anomaly Mastery on Nekomata’s Disc Drives, so you can focus on Energy Regen to get those EX Special Attacks up and running. Lucy can provide strong offensive buffs to the entire team to round things out. 

This team is much less reliant on Nekomata’s Mindscape Cinema Level 1.

Nekomata's Mindscape Cinema Level 1 essentially unlocks a second playstyle for her. / HoYoverse

ZZZ – Nekomata: promotion materials

After obtaining Nekomata, you’ll want to level her up as quickly as possible to make use of her talents in combat. Here are the materials required to upgrade her to Level 60:

• Basic Offense Certification Seal x4
• Advanced Offense Certification Seal x32
• Pioneer Certification Seal x30
• Dennies x800,000

You can obtain Certification Seals from the VR Combat Simulation. Advanced materials may be crafted using lower-level materials as well. Dennies can be earned in the VR Combat Simulation as well as through operating the Random Play video store.

Leveling Nekomata up is only half the game, though – you’ll want to upgrade all of her skills as well to get the most out of her performance in battle. Here are the materials required to max out her Basic Attack, Dodge, Assist, Special Attack, and Chain Attack – we’re giving you the total you need, so just divide everything by five to get the materials needed for a single skill:

• Basic Physical Chip x25
• Advanced Physical Chip x75
• Specialized Physical Chip x250
• Hamster Cage Pass x5
• Dennies x2,500,000

Chips can be farmed in the VR Combat Simulation with Advanced and Specialized Chips also being available through crafting. Hamster Cage Passes are a rare material that can be grabbed from time-limited events as well as the New Eridu City Fund.

Finally, you can upgrade her Core Skill six times to make Nekomata stronger, for which you need the following materials:

• Higher Dimensional Data: Crimson Awe x60
• Ferocious Grip x9
• Dennies x405,000

Higher Dimensional Data: Crimson Awe is available from the Expert Challenge: Troublemaker – Wanted Enforcer, while Ferocious Grip must be acquired through Notorious Hunt: Newborn Dead End Butcher.