Evelyn is set to be the deadliest attacker in all of ZZZ and with the right build, she’s capable of dominating any Shiyu Defense or Deadly Assault battles.
Zenless Zone Zero looked to be heading in a very specific direction with regards to team compositions. The introduction of Jane Doe, Tsukishiro Yanagi, Burnice, and Hoshimi Miyabi in quick succession pointed to anomaly-based DPS compositions. A-rank attackers like Anton, Corin, and Billy were quickly power crept out of relevance. Even S-rank attackers like Nekomata and Soldier 11 found themselves unable to keep up with the numbers put up by anomaly teams.
Ellen was the only real exception to this, but even she found herself slipping down the tier list. But a new hope has arrived for attacker-focused team compositions. Evelyn has a kit that can tackle all of Zenless Zone Zero’s game modes.
Full Evelyn build guide
How to play Evelyn in Zenless Zone Zero
Evelyn is a fairly straightforward attacker that has the ability to build up damage in her special attack.
What really sets Evelyn apart from other attacker units in ZZZ is her ability to deal massive damage against both groups and and single targets. While this might sound like something that should exist in Zenless Zone Zero, characters like Nekomata and Soldier 11 have had fairly intense positioning requirements that make it difficult to deal sustained heavy damage.
On the flipside, Evelyn has a straightforward moveset. She attacks to charge her Burning Embers meter and can group enemies. She can then expend that meter to both group together enemies and deal massive AOE damage. She’s strong individually, but with the right team compositions, Evelyn can be the best damage dealer in all of Zenless Zone Zero.
Best Drive Disc builds for Evelyn in ZZZ
Evelyn’s best Drive Disc build is a combination of Woodpecker Electro and Inferno Metal, though the best set bonuses depend on her team composition.
Evelyn is a pure DPS option and there are many different agents that can support her effectively. Depending on who players plan to pair her with, they may prefer to go for a four-piece Woodpecker Electro with two-piece Inferno Metal, or vice versa.
In terms of Evelyn’s stat priorities, here are the best main stats for each Drive Disc slot:
- HP
- Attack
- Defense
- Crit Rate
- Fire Damage
- Attack
Four-piece Woodpecker Electro, two-piece Inferno Metal
Four-piece Woodpecker Electro with two-piece Inferno Metal is an excellent catch-all Drive Disc build for Evelyn. Regardless of who players are putting alongside her, this combination is going to give her a significant damage boost.
Crits are valuable for any given DPS unit, and the flat 10% boost to fire damage from two-piece Inferno Metal gives her more numbers to work with. For players that are looking to put her on mixed attribute teams, this is likely to be the best setup for her. However. It’s not the only way to build Evelyn.
Four-piece Inferno Metal, two-piece Woodpecker Electro
Many players erroneously default to the four-piece Drive Disc set for their agent’s attribute. That’s very rarely the best way to approach things but for Evelyn, this works when putting her on a mono-fire team or alongside Burnice.
Evelyn should be built for damage rather than anomaly buildup, so she relies on her allies to proc burns. If players have a composition that can reliably proc burn, however, Evelyn gets a major boost from four-piece Inferno Metal.
Best Evelyn W-Engines
Evelyn can benefit from a variety of different attacker A-rank and S-rank W-Engines, but her best option is the Heartstring Nocturne.
Unlike Hoshimi Miyabi, who is an anomaly agent that awkwardly scales on crit rate, Evelyn has no trouble finding a W-Engine that complements her kit. Whether they pull for her limited S-rank engine, happen to have an S-rank engine lying around, or want to make an A-rank engine work, there are plenty of options for her. Here are the best, and why they work.
Heartstring Nocturne
Unsurprisingly, Evelyn’s signature W-Engine is the best in-slot option for her and a key part for any fully optimized build. Heartstring Nocturne offers a huge 713 attack and 24% crit rate when fully upgraded. This W-Engine in particular is made for Evelyn, as it also improves her crit damage and lowers enemy fire resistance.
Unlike some other S-rank W-Engines, Heartstring Nocturne is quite niche in its usefulness. While others like Soldier 11’s The Brimstone is a great W-Engine for any attacker that wants field time, Heartstring Nocturne is only really optimal on fire attackers. Still, for Evelyn, it’s absolutely perfect.
Cannon Rotor
Players who dug around in the Astra Yao story missions may have noticed that Evelyn is equipped with the Cannon Rotor. There’s a reason for that.
The battle pass-exclusive W-Engine boosts her damage significantly, and is the best A-rank W-Engine option for ehr. It’s not radically better than the event-exclusive Marcato Desire, but it does provide her with attack, crit rate, and enormous bonus crits every eight seconds.
Street Superstar
Street Superstar is the best craftable A-rank W-Engine for Evelyn. It doesn’t offer any help when it comes to crits, but its stats are a double whammy of attack boosts.
The real value of the Street Superstar is that it lets Evelyn absolutely nuke enemies with her ultimate. The Starlight Engine may be preferable for team compositions where Evelyn isn’t getting as much field time, but Street Superstar is preferred in almost all situations.
Best Evelyn team compositions
Evelyn fits in as the DPS mono-fire team compositions or as a hypercarry with high-level supports, though ZZZ players will want to adjust her Drive Disc build accordingly.
Zenless Zone Zero will still be less than a year old upon Evelyn’s release, but she somehow feels like a throwback. Disorder teams have become so thoroughly standardized and the second limited S-rank attacker Harumasa felt so underwhelming that it seemed like these team compositions were doomed. Now, they’re back and feels great. That said, here are the definitive best team compositions for Evelyn in ZZZ:
Mono-fire Evelyn whale team: Lighter, Burnice, Evelyn (Rocketboo)
For this team composition, or any team composition that pairs Burnice and Evelyn together, players will want to use the four-piece Inferno Metal Drive Disc build.
Lighter offers fire resistance shred for team compositions, which helps enable both Burnice and Evelyn. Meanwhile, Burnice has little trouble proccing burns on enemies. This allows Evelyn to jump in and absolutely melt opponents.

Stars of Lyra plus one: Astra Yao, Evelyn, Lucy/Caesar/flex (Snap)
Astra Yao and Evelyn were built to work together and the team composition can be rounded out with basically anyone. A properly built Astra Yao with Lucy or Soukaku makes for a quick, effective hypercarry team. Nicole offers defense shred, Caesar offers shields and buffs, Koleda can quickly build to a stun, and the list goes.
There isn’t really a wrong answer, since everyone has something to offer Evelyn’s damage output.
Best Evelyn free-to-play team: Evelyn, Nicole, Lucy (Rocketboo)
There are a few different options when it comes to building out an Evelyn hypercarry team using permanent banner components. Nicole, Anby, and Evelyn works reasonably well, and those who happen to pull Koleda can run a Koleda, Ben, Evelyn squad for a solid mono-fire team.
An Evelyn hypercarry team that’s both powerful and intuitive is putting her next to Nicole and Lucy. By building Lucy with an Astral Voice Drive Disc set and putting her with Nicole, players can rapidly layer multiple buffs onto Evelyn while also lowering enemies’ defenses. Plus, chaining together assists with consecutive EX special attacks just feels good.