Zenless Zone Zero update 1.4 patch notes: Characters fading out, Ultimate changes, and more

Find out what the update from December 18, 2024, has in store

HoYoverse

Update 1.4 for Zenless Zone Zero brings the game’s first overarching story to an end with a bang – but the patch from December 18, 2024, has many other impactful changes in store.

HoYoverse adjusted one of the combat system’s core features, making Decibels – the resource required to cast Ultimates in battle – no longer shared between all team members. All characters have their own gauges now, leading to a higher frequency of Ultimate activations. On the side of visuals, Agents will now fade out in the overworld map when observed from specific angles, just like in other titles by the developer – a blow to ZZZ’s spicier side.

Not listed in the patch notes, but nonetheless noteworthy, is the fact that several Agents remain silent in the story of 1.4, such as Lycaon and Koleda – an effect of the ongoing VA strike and the first instance of ZZZ being affected by it. Fortunately, none of the characters with bigger roles in this version’s story are among the missing voices.

Find the full ZZZ update 1.4 patch notes below.

Zenless Zone Zero update 1.4 patch notes

New Characters

• S-Rank Agent: Hoshimi Miyabi (Anomaly - Frost)
• S-Rank Agent: Asaba Harumasa (Attack - Electric)

New W-Engines

• S-Rank W-Engine: Hailstorm Shrine (Anomaly)
• S-Rank W-Engine: Zanshin Herb Case (Attack)
• A-Rank W-Engine: Marcato Desire (Attack)

New Bangboo

• S-Rank Bangboo: Agent Gulliver
• A-Rank Bangboo: Brawlerboo

New Story

• Main Story Chapter 5: A Storm of Falling Stars
• Asaba Harumasa's Agent Story: A Name Written in Water
• Agent Trust Events: New Trust Events for Hoshimi Miyabi, Soukaku, and Asaba Harumasa

New Feature: Quality Time Events

After Version 1.4 goes live, the Quality Time Events for Agents will be available:

• Wish Events: Completing a Wish Event for the first time increases the Agent's Trust and grants Polychromes and other rewards.
• Fun Events: Experience and collect the Agent's Fun Events during Quality Time to earn rewards.
• Quality Time Spots: Enjoy arcade games with your Agents at the Arcade. More stores will be available for Quality Time activities in future updates.

New Areas

• Port Elpis: Available in Main Story Chapter 5 "A Storm of Falling Stars" after Version 1.4 goes live.
• Reverb Arena: Available after Version 1.4 goes live. Reach Main Story Chapter 1 - Intermission and complete Agent Story "Mole in the Hole (I)" to unlock.
• H.S.O.S. 6 Office: Available after completing Main Story Chapter 5 "A Storm of Falling Stars" and acquiring Miyabi's token.

New Events

• Special Visitor
• All-New Program
• Into That Pale Wasteland
• Where the Stars Shine Bright
• Data Bounty: Combat Simulation
• Windchaser Harumasa
• Bangboo vs Ethereal
• "En-Nah" Into Your Lap
• Combat Footage Review
• Collab Designer
• Before the Curtain Rises
• Advanced Bounty: Routine Cleanup

Find more details on ZZZ 1.4’s events in our overview.

New Modes

• Hollow Zero: Lost Void: Explore the Lost Void to experience diverse Gear and Resonia effects, enhance Agent combat abilities, and experiment with different playstyles to defeat enemies and earn rare rewards.
• Deadly Assault: Challenge powerful enemies to earn Polychrome, Investigation Merits, Dennies, and more rewards!
• Challenge Mode for The Mystery of Arpeggio Fault: In Challenging Mode, Crimson Silk acquisition increases by 50%, Agents cannot be recruited, Tech Tree effect trigger rates are halved, and enemy stats are slightly enhanced.

New Systems

Adds "Special Training Plan" system for Agents Proxies can access it via the Agent interface to:

1. View detailed upgrade plans for Agents, calculate upgrade materials, and quickly navigate to the Agent upgrade or material acquisition screens.
2. Set upgrade plans individually for Agents, skills, and Drive Discs. The set targets will be displayed in their respective modules.
3. Batch set upgrade plans.
4. Designate an Agent as the "Training Target," after which the required materials in the HIA Club, Routine Cleanup, Notorious Hunt, music store, and Compendium screens will be marked for easier identification.

Adds an Agent Combat Readiness system, allowing Proxies to view recommended upgrade paths for Agents and quickly navigate to their upgrade screens.

The Inter-Knot now includes a "Journey" system, enabling Proxies to review their progress in Main Story chapters, unlocking functions, and commissions. Reach specific nodes to claim the corresponding chapter rewards.

Other New Content

• Adds new enemies: Tyrfing (Infested), Alpeca (Infested), Special Sacrifice Entity, Shatterbug, Autonomous Assault Unit - Typhon Destroyer, and Notorious - Marionette.
• Adds a "Monster Duet" challenge to Routine Cleanup, where the new series of Drive Discs, "Branch & Blade Song" and "Astral Voice" can be obtained.
• Adds "Special Sacrifice Entity" challenge to Notorious Hunt.
• Adds new challenge "Thracian" to Expert Challenge.
• "Hamster Cage Pass" is available for exchange at the NPC Casper's Association Supplies store in Scott Outpost.
• Adds new TV shows: Coffee Mate, Nihility, and Lumina Square Ad.
• Adds a "Manage Resources" function to the mobile version that allows Proxies to delete or download story-related resources via Options > Other.
• Adds new Inter-Knot style avatars.
• Adds new dynamic wallpapers for Agents Hoshimi Miyabi, Soukaku, and Asaba Harumasa. Unlock these dynamic wallpapers by obtaining the respective Agents and increasing their Trust to certain levels.
• Adds new achievements, including some hidden ones, for: A Ridu Journey, Phaethon's Story, Agent Story, Agent Trust, When Opportunities Converge, Hollow Zero, Combat Techniques, Enemy Target, Combat Achievements, Hollow Exploration Guide, and Zero Key.
• Adds two new achievements, "I'm Shiyu" to Shiyu Defense and "Sweep the Battlefield" to Deadly Assault. Unlocking them grants custom achievement avatars.
• Adds a new trophy set to the PS5 and PS5 Pro platforms: "ZZZ: A Storm of Falling Stars" and "ZZZ: Special Challenge Group"
• Adds new selectable Agents for the "Character Selection" feature. Proxies can now switch between all the Agents obtained to freely move around the city.
• Adds a new item, Victoria Housekeeping Coupon, which can be obtained by raising the License Level in Hollow Zero: Lost Void and completing Bounty Commissions. After completing Routine Cleanup stages, Proxies can use Victoria Housekeeping Coupons to directly claim Drive Disc rewards for the corresponding difficulty level.
• Adds street corner random encounters to HAND Headquarters.
• Adds new battle stages and event maps.
• Adds a new themed map, "Melinoe," available in the "Into That Pale Wasteland" event.
• Adds new missions to "Ridu Weekly" (the total number of weekly missions remains unchanged). Proxies can view the week's missions after Ridu Weekly is refreshed every Monday at 04:00 (server time).
• After progressing the main plot in Chapter 5: A Storm of Falling Stars, Officer Mewmew will arrive at Port Elpis. Chat with Officer Mewmew to get Mewmew's Port Elpis Notes, and complete Mewmew challenges to earn each corresponding medal. Challenges consist of City side missions, Bangboo repairs, finding mini cargo trucks, and earning commemorative coins.
• A "Very Low" option for FX Quality has been added to the PC client Options.
• If Proxies manually adjusted the FX Quality setting on the PC client before the Version 1.4 update, the setting will be reset to its default after the update.
• The PC, PS5, and PS5 Pro versions now feature scratch effects when Agents attack enemies. For the PC version, enable this effect by selecting "High" for "FX Quality" in Options.

Adjustments

• Adjusts the Agents' display for certain angles: When viewed from specific angles, the Agent will appear faded.
• Optimizes the 3D model and special effects for Agent Hoshimi Miyabi.
• Optimizes the video animations in the Agent Story UI menu.
• Optimizes the model precision for Tsukishiro Yanagi, Hoshimi Miyabi, Asaba Harumasa, Soukaku, Caesar, Lighter, Burnice, Belle, and Wise in the PC version of the game. When the "High-Precision Character Animation" option is enabled in Options > Graphics, more detailed Agent models will be displayed in the Agent screen, during free city exploration when switching Agents through the "Character Selection" feature, and during story playback.
• Optimizes the model precision for Tsukishiro Yanagi, Hoshimi Miyabi, Asaba Harumasa, Soukaku, Caesar, Lighter, Burnice, Belle, and Wise on the PS5™ and PS5™ Pro versions of the game. More detailed Agent models will be displayed in the Agent screen, during free city exploration when switching Agents via the "Character Selection" feature, during story playback, and in combat.
• Optimizes the lighting effects for certain enemies.
• Optimizes the interaction logic for W-Engine enhancement and Drive Disc upgrade. "Enhance" and "Overclocking" features for W-Engines are now integrated into the "Enhance" button in the lower-right corner. Tap "Enhance" to directly upgrade Drive Discs.
• Adjusts Main Commission content from Prologue to Chapter 3 for a better experience.
• Optimizes the W-Engine Channel interface by adding demonstration videos for W-Engine effects.
• Optimizes the "Character Details" viewing feature in some storyline and trial character interfaces.
• Casper's Association Supplies store at Scott Outpost now offers a new item, "Hidden Treasure," for exchange and Reserved Relic is removed. If you have unused Reserved Relics, you can choose the new selectable reward "Sycophant's Refinement." When exchanging Hidden Treasure using Z-Merits, Proxies can directly select and exchange the desired Precious Relic (Core Skill enhancement materials).
• Optimizes the travel and teleporter functions. Some store teleport points now have a selectable option, "Open the Function interface directly (first time each day)." When enabled, the corresponding store interface will automatically open upon the Proxy’s first teleport to the store each day.
• Ray Tracing is now supported on PS5 and PS5 Pro. The feature is enabled by default on PS5 Pro and can be manually toggled in Options > Graphics for PS5 (default: off).
• Optimizes the display order of rewards in challenges with double drops.
• Optimizes the display of stage details in Compendium - Tactics.
• Optimizes the layout of Compendium: Combat - Hollow Zero.
• Adds a quick jump to "Deadly Assault" in Compendium - Combat.
• Optimizes the red dot display logic for the Title system.
• Optimizes the Badge system with the new badge "Deadly Assault: Line Breaker," which can be displayed upon unlocking "Deadly Assault."
• Adds a lineup-saving feature to Critical Node. After deploying characters on the Select Squad screen, Proxies will have the option to save the current lineup before returning to the stage screen.
• Optimizes the combat experience in Combat Simulation by granting Agents a fixed amount of Energy at the start of each challenge.
• Optimizes the camera function. When the Proxy takes photos in the city, some NPCs within a certain angle will now look at the camera.
• The coffee shop content has been streamlined, reducing the variety of available coffees. After the Version 1.4 update, Novice Proxies can order Espresso, while Certified Proxies can order both Espresso and Tin Master Specials.
• Espresso Effect: Restores 60 Battery Charge and grants the buff: Combat Simulation drops increased by 100% for 1 Enemy Card.
• Tin Master Specials Effect: Restores 80 Battery Charge.
• Due to adjustments in the main storyline, after the Version 1.4 update, the achievement "Effective Utilization" can no longer be unlocked using the previous method. The requirements for this achievement have been adjusted.
• Before: Push the box to the trigger switch in The Ultimate Collectibles.
• After: Find the W-Engine in "The Ultimate Collectibles."
• Adds an auto-save function to the arcade game "Bizarre Brigade." If Proxies haven't completed the previous round, you can choose to either "Load Save File" or "Abandon Save File" from the shop at the most recent rest point when re-entering the arcade game.
• Optimizes certain in-game art assets across all platform clients, reducing the storage space required. On the PC client, the quality of some scene textures may slightly decrease.
• Optimizes the issue where vehicle license plates in the traffic flow on Lumina Square streets would repeat.
• Optimizes visuals of some scenes in the Simulated Battle Trial.
• Optimizes the projection effects for Wise, Belle, and Agents' models.
• Optimizes the 3D models and art design for some NPCs.
• Adjusts the unlock requirements for Simulated Battle Trial – before: Reach Inter-Knot Lv. 36 and complete Main Story Chapter 3 "The Midnight Pursuit"; after: Complete Main Story Chapter 3 "The Midnight Pursuit".

Optimizes the Decibels mechanics. After the Version 1.4 update, the Decibels Agents obtained will be calculated individually with the following adjustments:

1. Increases the Decibels gained from hitting enemies or other actions, while reducing the Decibels obtained from applying Attribute Anomaly and Disorder effects to normal and elite enemies. A portion of the Decibels obtained from hitting enemies will be transferred to other squad members.
2. The Assist Points restored when an Agent uses an Ultimate have been reduced from 3 to 1 point.
3. When an Agent uses an Ultimate, besides enemy actions, buff timers, and stage timers, the actions of other Agents and allied units will be paused until the Ultimate animation ends.
4. Adjusts the order of the "Skill Upgrade Suggestions" for certain Agents.
5. The effect range of some Decibels-related Resonia will now only apply to a single Agent. Detailed adjustments can be checked in-game.
6. The W-Engine Slice of Time's "restores energy" effect will remain only effective for the equipper, while the "gains additional Decibels" effect will only apply to the Agent who activates the skill.

Optimizes the Trust system:

1. Adds a quick jump to the Partner Archive on the DM interface.
2. Adds a quick jump button, "Go Invite," to the Agent screen of the Partner Archive.
3. Optimizes the requirements for Trust level increase events. Once the conditions are met, Proxies can trigger the event directly on Inter-Knot when sending a DM invitation to the Agent, without waiting until the next day.
4. Adds a new daily mission, "Complete an Agent Invite event," to the Compendium - Daily. Completing it will grant 200 Engagement points.

Fixes

• Fixes an issue where, under certain circumstances, Agent Tsukishiro Yanagi's Mindscape Cinema "Know Thy Self, Know Thy Enemy" would incorrectly consume the "Clarity" effect.
• Fixes an issue where, when Agent Lighter performs a Shuffle Dodge after a Dodge Counter or Quick Assist, the hit count of his follow-up Basic Attack is abnormal.
• Fixes an issue where, when Agent Lighter dodges, if Basic Attack is not pressed during the Dodge or Dash, pressing it after the Dodge ends skips the 1st hit and directly performs the 2nd hit.
• Fixes an issue where when Agent Lighter has applied Collapse to a target, if Freeze is triggered on the same target, it does not pause the Collapse effect timer.
• Fixes an issue where Agent Rina does not correctly gain Decibels when attacking enemies with EX Special Attack, Ultimate, and other skills that interrupt enemy attacks through summoned creatures.
• Fixes an issue where the visual effects of Agent Ellen's tail do not display correctly when she exits the Roaming state.
• Fixes an issue where Agent Lycaon's skin tone does not display correctly under certain circumstances.
• Fixes an issue where when an Agent's Anomaly Proficiency reaches 600, further increases to the stat are less effective than intended.
• Fixes an issue where the eyes of Exploreboo are abnormal.
• Fixes an issue where the eyes of Luckyboo sometimes do not display correctly.
• Fixes an issue where Bangboo cannot properly follow in front of the stairs in certain scenes.
• Fixes an issue where, in Controller Mode, button prompts on certain interfaces are abnormal.
• Fixes an issue where, in Controller Mode, switching screens in "Special Episode" does not function correctly.
• Fixes an issue where, in Controller Mode, the selection window does not function correctly when entering Partner Archive.
• Fixes an issue in the arcade game "Bizarre Brigade" where the relic "Despair" has unusual effects.
• Fixes an issue where Bangboo sound effects may be abnormal during the preparation phase of the Simulated Battle Trial.
• Fixes an issue where abnormal models may appear in the air in certain scenes.
• Fixes an issue where the walls in some scenes are abnormal on certain devices.
• Fixes an issue where the rendering of Agents, scenes, and other content may appear abnormal on some Android devices.
• Fixes typos found in some in-game text.
• Adjusts, improves, and fixes the in-game text for some languages. These changes will not affect gameplay or functions.