Zenless Zone Zero 3.0 Banner Breakdown: Velina, Norma, and a Free S-Rank Proxy Agent

Zenless Zone Zero 3.0 Banner Breakdown: Velina, Norma, and a Free S-Rank Proxy Agent

Save your Polychromes now, because the 3.0 patch is shaping up to be one of the heaviest banner cycles since launch. Version 3.0 skips 2.9 entirely and follows directly after the 2.8 patch, which means a brand-new region, a brand-new faction, and what looks like three new meta-defining agents are all landing at once. On top of that, the storyline hands you a free S-tier Proxy combat form. I went through everything that has leaked so far and stacked it against the official drip marketing so you know exactly where to commit your pulls.

The Patch Window and What 3.0 Actually Is

3.0 is expected to release in June following the standard six-week patch cycle, though the exact release date and time remain unknown pending the official livestream. If you want to be ready, remember that pre-installation is typically available 48 hours before server maintenance, so clear some drive space the week before.

The teaser for this season already has a name and slot. The Season 3 teaser, titled "Before the Wind Rises," is scheduled for April 30 at 12:00 PM UTC+8. Anybody chasing the new Wind agent will want to watch that drop live — character details and the 300 Polychrome livestream codes always come from that window, and the codes expire fast.

There's also a quietly major technical addition: the 3.0 Beta includes RTX support and a "Diffuse_RTX" implementation. ZZZ has always leaned into a stylized comic-book look, so seeing ray tracing arrive at the same time as a new map suggests the engine is being pushed harder for Roscaelifer's scenery.

Speaking of which — the new region itself is what ties the patch together. Roscaelifer is introduced as a new location in Season 3, and it features Singularity Leakage exploration events with shifting layouts, puzzles, and Ethereal enemy encounters. Shifting layouts is the headline phrase there; this isn't another static Hollow grid, and the Ethereal enemy type is going to matter for team composition going forward.

Phase 1: Velina Airgid and the First Wind Anomaly

Phase 1 of 3.0 features Velina (Wind Anomaly, S-Rank) alongside Pyrois (Ether Attack, S-Rank). Velina is the headliner and she's a first of her kind. She's an S-Rank Agent, the first playable Wind-attribute agent in the game, with Anomaly specialty. If you've been waiting for a new element to break the elemental rotation, this is the one.

Her in-world role is just as central as her kit. Velina is the Head of Roscaelifer External Strategy Department, described as a highly efficient problem solver, and she serves as the guide once you step into the new region. Visually, she's tall with long gray hair, a white bow, gold jewelry, and a folding fan, which fits the executive-but-deadly archetype she's clearly going for.

Mechanically she's an Anomaly powerhouse, not a slow burner. Her kit focuses on constant Wind DMG, Wind Anomaly buildup, summoning Cyclones, and enabling Abloom reactions while reducing enemy Anomaly RES. The numbers worth flagging:

What this actually means at the table: she keeps a cyclone running on the field, dyes it to whatever element your teammates are inflicting, then drops Abloom explosions on top. Her Additional Ability adds 12% Windswept/Vortex DMG with another Anomaly or same-attribute teammate, the Ultimate grants 2 Wind Erosion, and she also has an extra 8% Anomaly RES reduction, +30% Daze, and +15% Anomaly Buildup from cyclones. She's a dyer, a stacker, and a debuffer at the same time.

Her signature engine pushes that even further. It grants +60 Anomaly Proficiency, the EX Special boosts Vortex/Windswept DMG by 9% (40 s, 2 stacks), and at 2 stacks the whole squad gains +60 Anomaly Proficiency for 40 s, with only one instance allowed per squad. Squad-wide proficiency is the kicker — that's why her teammates matter.

Velina's Mindscape Cinema, Ranked

Velina's Mindscapes have a clear ordering of value, and I'd rank them like this for most players:

1. C2 — Windswept grants Wind Erosion on a 5 s cooldown, and dyed cyclones accumulate Anomaly Buildup without triggering Anomaly DMG. The biggest functional unlock in her cone.
2. C1 — +20% Daze on Wide-Area Cyclone and 18% All-Attribute RES on Vortex/Windswept.
3. C6 — Hold Normal after certain moves to trigger an Assist Follow-Up, Abloom on Wind-Anomaly enemies with a 120% multiplier, +20% Anomaly Buildup on Wind-Anomaly hits, and Windswept DMG scales with remaining duration up to +36%.
4. C4 — +10% ATK and Vital View restores 1 Assist Point.

C0 is already a complete kit because she dyes off whatever Anomaly your second slot brings. She works with Wind teammates such as Promeia, but the dye mechanic explicitly opens her to non-Wind anomaly partners — that's the whole point of the design.

Phase 2: Norma Hollowell, the Bangboo Builder

Phase 2 of 3.0 features Norma (Fire Stun, S-Rank). Her official English name is Norma Hollowell, and her concept is one of the more unusual ones the game has shipped. She's the Chief Technician of the External Strategy Department, a Bangboo builder by trade, and she carries a mysterious Bangboo pendant made of Flint Porcelloy material.

Where she breaks the Stun mold is that she's not stuck in the front seat. She deals on-field and off-field Fire DMG via missiles to rapidly build enemy Daze, trigger Quick Assists, and enable Chain Attacks. Compare that to existing Stun agents. The known Stun roster — Qingyi, Koleda Belobog, Von Lycaon, Anby Demara — all excel at control and Daze buildup to stun foes, but Norma turns that role into something closer to a persistent turret station.

Her EX kit explains it. The Mmhm Barrage turret fires Armor-Piercing rounds with high Daze on non-Stunned targets, or High-Explosive rounds with increased Fire DMG on Stunned targets; it also grants 20% Personal Resources and enters Firepower Barrage for 40 s, deploying two auto-turrets, and you can hold to extend duration up to +2 s while consuming Energy. The on/off-Stun toggle means the same button is your Daze tool and your damage tool depending on the enemy state.

The Core Passive is where the math gets really interesting. She gains +1% CRIT DMG per 1% CRIT Rate up to 90%, plus +0.7% Daze on EX Special, Assist Follow-Up, and Ultimate per 1% CRIT Rate up to 63%; she starts with 50% Personal Resources (once per 180 s in Investigation Zones); at 80% resources or higher, Quick Assist becomes Chain Attack; and ATK scales with Sheer Force at +1.25 ATK per point up to +1,200. CRIT Rate is doing double duty — it juices both her damage and her Daze output, which is unheard of for a Stun agent.

Her Additional Ability needs the right partner. It requires an Attack or Rupture teammate, applies Weakened stacks at +3% Stun DMG Multiplier each (max 10), Stunned enemies with Weakened gain +3 s Stun duration, and during Firepower Barrage she gets +35 ATK scaling with level up to +920 plus +30% squad DMG. +30% team damage during her burst window is the kind of multiplier you build whole rotations around.

For Mindscapes, C1 is probably the sweet spot if you can afford it. It adds +4 s missile bay duration and makes Armor-Piercing/High-Explosive hits reduce All-Attribute RES by 15% for 15 s. C6 is theatrical: the Ultimate triggers a 12 s missile barrage at 0.75 s intervals, each missile dealing 330% ATK Fire DMG considered Ultimate DMG.

Her signature engine has built-in team value. It grants +12% Impact, Fire DMG 20% Fire RES, and EX Special Attack Fire DMG grants +10% squad DMG for 8 s up to 3 stacks (resets on trigger), with one instance per squad.

Pyrois and the Free S-Rank Proxy Form

This is the part of the patch nobody should sleep on. Pyrois is an Ether Attack agent, a masked warrior known as the Etheric Other, tied to Helios Academy and the hidden power of the Phaethon siblings, Belle and Wise. He's the first Phaethon faction character and he debuts in 3.0, paired with Proxy Belle or Wise.

The key fact: he is expected to be unlocked for free through the Version 3.0 story. Whether he ends up A-Rank or S-Rank is still up in the air — the community is debating between A-Rank and S-Rank since the drip marketing used a static image, which is typical of A-Rank agents — but the kit description and lore weight both lean S-tier in feel.

What he changes about the actual game loop is bigger than his combat sheet. Pyrois serves as the combat manifestation of the hidden power within the Phaethon siblings, a legacy of Helios Academy, and his arrival marks the first time the Proxy gains a direct physical presence in Hollow combat. The Proxy fighting in person, after running the operations chair for the entire game so far, is a real narrative shift.

He's also a traversal upgrade, not just a brawler. He can perceive everything within the Proxy's senses, fight in combat, monitor the Proxy's condition, and unlock special movement and exploration techniques. The Movement Vehicles system adds upgraded traversal options, explicitly including the Etheric Other's special movement abilities.

In terms of element coverage, he's the second Ether Attack agent after Zhu Yuan, which is a long overdue addition to that niche.

How the Three New Agents Stack Up

The three new units do not compete with each other — they slot into different roles. Here's how I'd describe them side by side:

Pros and cons if you only have pulls for one:

Velina pros — first Wind anomaly, dyes off any partner, squad-wide proficiency from signature, C0 already complete. Cons — needs Anomaly or same-attribute teammates to maximize the Additional Ability, Kazahana management has a learning curve.

Norma pros — off-field damage and Daze at the same time, CRIT Rate doubles as Daze stat, +30% squad damage window during Firepower Barrage. Cons — Additional Ability gated to Attack or Rupture partners, Personal Resources timer in Investigation Zones limits early bursts.

Pyrois pros — free, story-integrated, unlocks new traversal, fills the empty second slot in Ether Attack. Cons — rarity unconfirmed, kit details still sparse compared to the other two.

Rerun Speculation and Save Strategy

The video creator's read is that both phases will pair the new S-Rank with a Wind- and Fire-focused rerun. The dossier confirms what each new agent is built around — it doesn't lock in which legacy unit reruns alongside them — so treat the matchups as a working theory based on team synergy rather than confirmed banners.

Velina's pairing logic is the cleaner one. Her kit reduces both Wind and dyed-attribute Anomaly Buildup RES by 8% for 35 s on Contaminated enemies, so any Anomaly support that hasn't had a rerun in a while is on the table. The Additional Ability rewards another Anomaly or same-attribute teammate with +12% Windswept/Vortex DMG, so an Anomaly-system support agent makes the most sense as the half-banner partner.

Norma's pairing logic points at Attack. Her Additional Ability explicitly requires an Attack or Rupture teammate, and she converts Quick Assists into Chain Attacks at high Personal Resources while extending Stun windows via Weakened. That means whichever Attack DPS gets the rerun slot will be a direct beneficiary of her Stun extension.

If you're rationing Polychromes, prioritize like this:

• Pulling for Velina at C0 with her signature is the safest pick for long-term Anomaly teams.
• Norma is the pick if you're tired of being locked to the same four Stun agents and want an off-field option that doesn't eat your field time.
• Don't pull for Pyrois — wait for the story unlock and save the currency.
• Keep at least one 50/50 buffer for whichever rerun ends up aligning with your existing teams, because official stats and exact schedules remain subject to final confirmation and the actual rerun lineup will only be locked in at the livestream.

3.0 looks like a big-spending patch on paper. The good news is it's also one where the free roster gets meaningfully stronger by itself, so even a no-pull run still walks away with a new S-class Proxy form and a new region full of Singularity Leakage events to dig through.