Zenless Zone Zero – Lycaon build and promotion guide

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

Keep things orderly with the best Zenless Zone Zero Lycaon build and throw out the trash. This Ice Stun Agent not only excels at inflicting Daze on enemies to initiate Chain Attacks, but deals considerable damage in the process.

  • Role: Stun
  • Damage Type: Ice
  • Faction: Victoria Housekeeping Co.
  • Rarity: S-Rank

Von Lycaon is a relatively straightforward Agent to play, as his key mechanic merely requires you to hold the Basic Attack button to charge this move up. Fully charging his Basic Attack will make it inflict additional Daze and thus contribute to quickly stunning the enemy.

Lycaon’s second gameplay pillar consists of his EX Special Attack and Assist Follow-Up Attack, which reduce the enemy’s Ice DMG RES. This not only allows Lycaon himself to deal additional damage, but paves the way for an Agent like Ellen to do her worst. Speaking of teamwork: When Lycaon is paired with a fellow Victoria Housekeeping Co. member or Ice Agent, hitting stunned targets increases their Stun DMG multiplier and makes them even more vulnerable in this state.

Obtaining duplicates of Lycaon allows you to fill out his Mindscape Cinema and bolster his skills further. Level 1 boosts the Daze inflicted by his EX Special Attack, especially when it’s charged fully. Level 2 enables the Agent to recover some Energy when stunning an enemy or taking part in a Chain Attack, while Level 4 provides a shield to Lycaon when he’s attacked during his Basic Attack or Special Attack. Level 6 increases the damage Lycaon deals to a target after hitting it with a charged up Basic Attack – this effect can stack, essentially allowing Lycaon to focus on a single target and deal lots of damage to it.

ZZZ – Lycaon: best W-Engines

Being a S-Rank Agent, Lycaon possesses a signature W-Engine tailored to his needs – The Restrained. It provides additional Impact and comes with a passive effect that lets the wearer stack more Daze infliction and a damage bonus with every hit. Lycaon, being a rapid attacker, can make full use of this effect.

Best W-Engines for Lycaon:

  • The Restrained (S-Rank)
  • Hellfire Gears (S-Rank)
  • Steam Oven (A-Rank)
  • Six Shooter (A-Rank)
  • Precious Fossilized Core (A-Rank)
  • [Vortex] Arrow (B-Rank)
Zenless Zone Zero Lycaon ultimate animation screenshot.
Lycaon is always ready to kick out unwanted guests. / HoYoverse

ZZZ – Lycaon: best Drive Discs

As a Stun Agent, Lycaon benefits greatly from additional Impact. Due to his high attack speed and good damage capabilities, you should definitely invest into further offensive stats like CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, and ATK to boost this aspect of the Agent.

Best Drive Disc sets for Lycaon:

  • Shockstar Disco (4) + Polar Metal (2): +6% Impact, +20% Daze inflicted by Basic Attacks, Dash Attacks, and Dodge Counters, +10% Ice Damage.
  • Shockstar Disco (4) + Swing Jazz (2): +6% Impact, +20% Daze inflicted by Basic Attacks, Dash Attacks, and Dodge Counters, +20% Energy Regen.

Best Drive Disc stats for Lycaon:

  • 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 % (Primary), CRIT DMG %, ATK %, PEN, Anomaly Proficiency
  • Partition 5 – Ice DMG % (Primary), CRIT Rate %, CRIT DMG %, ATK %, PEN
  • Partition 6 – Impact (Primary), CRIT Rate %, CRIT DMG %, ATK %, PEN
Zenless Zone Zero Lycaon artwork.
Lycaon has seemingly seen some rough times, but today he's the epitome of elegance and manners. / HoYoverse

ZZZ – Lycaon: best team comps

Thanks to Lycaon’s high damage output, he can play the central role in an Ice team – but without any Mindscape Cinema levels his best performance comes as a Sub DPS for damage dealers.

  • Ellen (Main DPS), Lycaon (Sub DPS), Soukaku (Support)
  • Bangboo: Sharkboo

This pure Ice team focuses on exactly one thing: Enabling Ellen to deal as much damage as she can. Lycaon can reduce the enemy’s Ice DMG RES and stun them, while Soukaku provides an Ice DMG buff to the entire team and bolsters the ATK of allies participating in Chain Attacks she initiated. Altogether, these abilities greatly enhance Ellen’s damage output when she enters the fray.

If you wanted to play Lycaon as a Main DPS, Soukaku would still be the prime choice as Support with Rina or Nicole filling the third slot – while their teamwork skills won’t work or won’t matter for this composition, their regular Core Skills can still improve Lycaon’s damage output.

Zenless Zone Zero Lycaon ultimate animation screenshot.
Lycaon would probably be decent at soccer. / HoYoverse

ZZZ – Lycaon: promotion materials

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

  • Basic Stun Certification Seal x4
  • Advanced Stun Certification Seal x32
  • Buster 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 Lycaon up is only half the game, though – you’ll want to upgrade all of his skills as well to get the most out of his performance in battle. Here are the materials required to max out his 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 move:

  • Basic Freeze Chip x25
  • Advanced Freeze Chip x75
  • Specialized Freeze 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 level up his Core Skill six times to make Lycaon stronger, for which you need the following materials:

  • Higher Dimensional Data: Ethereal Pursuit x60
  • Finale Dance Shoes x9
  • Dennies x405,000

Higher Dimensional Data: Ethereal Pursuit is available from the Expert Challenge: Notorious – Armored Hati, while Finale Dance Shoes must be acquired through Notorious Hunt: Twin Marionettes.


Published |Modified
Marco Wutz

MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg