📦 Material Farming Routes — Daily Priority & Stamina Efficiency

📋 Farming Overview

Efficient farming in Zenless Zone Zero is all about knowing what to farm and when to farm it. With a daily stamina cap of 240 (plus reserve recharge), every point of Battery Charge matters. This guide maps out the optimal farming routes for every material type, the best days to farm specific items, and the stamina value of each activity.

Core Principles:

• Never farm at a discount: Always wait for the correct day of the week to farm skill materials (daily rotation). Never use a material conversion item if you can wait a day
• Only farm what you need: Pre-farming is useful, but don't farm materials for characters you won't build for 3+ months — the material economy shifts with new patches
• Prioritize weekly bosses: Weekly Notorious Hunts have a limited number of attempts (3 per week). Always use all 3 attempts before spending stamina on anything else
• Use stamina efficiently: Higher-difficulty domains give better material-to-stamina ratios. Always run the highest level you can clear

⭐ Daily Priority List (Every Day)

Here is the order in which you should spend your stamina every day for maximum efficiency:

Important: Always check the day's rotation before spending stamina on skill materials. If today is the wrong day for the materials you need, prioritize EXP/Dennies/Drive Discs instead.

📅 Weekly Farming Schedule

Skill material domains rotate daily. Here is the schedule:

Weekly Boss Priority: You have 3 Notorious Hunt attempts per week. Always use them before Sunday reset. The materials you get (Hammer, Plume, etc.) are used for Core Skill upgrades (the outermost skill node). Each character needs 9 of their corresponding weekly boss material to max their Core Skill. With 3 attempts per week at 60 stamina each, you need 3 weeks to max one character's Core Skill.

Weekend Strategy: Friday-Sunday are the best farming days because all domains are open. Plan your weekly stamina budget to save 240-360 stamina for weekend farming. Use your battery reserves on these days for maximum value.

🧑 Character Ascension Materials

Each character needs specific materials to ascend past level 20/40/50/60. These are divided into three categories:

1. Elemental Crystals (by Faction/Element): Each character uses a specific type of crystal based on their in-game faction (not element). The four crystal types are:

• Cunning Hares Crystal: Used by Nicole, Anby, Billy, Nekomiya
• Housekeeping Crystal: Used by Corin, Ellen Joe, Lycaon, Rina
• Obol Squad Crystal: Used by Soldier 11, Trigger
• Sons of Calydon Crystal: Used by Caesar, Burnice, Lucy, Piper
• Section 6 Crystal: Used by Miyabi, Soukaku, Yanagi, Harumasa

2. Enemy Drop Materials: Common materials dropped by enemies in the overworld and Hollow Zero. These stack as follows: Basic Chip → Advanced Chip → Specialized Chip. Each ascension tier requires a higher-tier chip.

3. Boss Materials: Dropped by specific world bosses and Notorious Hunts. Each character needs 1 material from a specific elite enemy (e.g., Dead End Butcher drops for Cunning Hares agents, Marionette drops for Victoria Housekeeping agents).

Efficient Farming Route: The most stamina-efficient way to farm ascension materials is to run the highest-level Combat Simulation domain you can clear. At level 50+, the guaranteed Advanced Chip drops make this significantly more stamina-efficient than farming lower-level domains. For boss materials, track which boss your target character needs and farm that boss exclusively during double-drop windows.

📖 Skill Upgrade Materials

Skill materials are gated by day of the week. Each skill material type has three rarity tiers: Green → Blue → Purple.

Core Skill Priority: Always upgrade the Core Skill (the outer ring) first. It provides the highest stat gains per material spent. The Core Skill requires weekly boss materials, so plan ahead — you'll need 3 weeks of consistent farming to fully max one character's Core Skill.

Skill Priority for Most DPS Characters: EX Special (highest damage contribution) > Basic Attack (consistent DPS) > Ultimate (costly to upgrade, moderate gain) > Dodge (survivability, lower priority). For support characters: EX Special > Dodge (iframes) > Ultimate > Basic Attack. For stun characters: EX Special > Basic Attack > Dodge > Ultimate.

⚙️ W-Engine Ascension Materials

W-Engines require their own ascension materials separate from character materials. These are farmed from the Recon Expedition domain.

Material Types:

• Scrap/Synthesized Chip: Common material used for all W-Engines at low ascension tiers
• Energy Module: Mid-tier material, needed from ascension 2+
• Specialized Core: High-tier material, needed from ascension 4+

Farming Strategy: W-Engine materials are not day-gated — you can farm them any day. However, they should be a lower priority than character ascension and skill materials. Only farm W-Engine materials when you have a specific W-Engine you plan to max. The rule of thumb: level your main DPS W-Engines to 60, supports and stunners to 40-50. Going beyond that has diminishing returns for the stamina cost.

Efficiency Note: The higher Recon Expedition domains give exponentially better material-to-stamina ratios. The Level 60 domain guarantees 2 Purple materials per run (plus a chance at 3). The Level 40 domain gives mostly Blue materials. Always run the highest level you can clear.

💿 Drive Disc Farming

Drive Discs are ZZZ's relic/artifact system. They are the primary endgame stamina sink and the main source of character power after leveling.

Where to Farm: Drive Discs are farmed from the Routine Cleanup domain. There are multiple branches, each dropping specific Drive Disc sets:

• Branch 1: Woodpecker Electro (ATK set) + Hormone Punk (ATK set)
• Branch 2: Chaotic Metal (Ether set) + Puffer Electro (10% team ATK on field)
• Branch 3: Freedom Blues (Anomaly set) + Thunder Metal (Electric set)
• Branch 4: Shockstar Disco (Stun set) + Swing Jazz (Support set)
• Branch 5: Polar Metal (Ice set) + Soul Rock (Defense set)
• Branch 6: Scorching Metal (Fire set) + Proto Punk (Enemy set, ATK on assist)

Farming Priority:

1. Only farm Drive Discs after your main team reaches level 55+ with level 10+ skills
2. Use custom farming (target slot) to farm slot 4/5/6 main stats — these are much harder to get than slot 1/2/3 flat stats
3. Once you have a usable main stat on each slot (not perfect, just correct main stat), move on to your next character
4. Only chase perfect substats after your entire team is functional

Custom Farming: At Inter-Knot level 40+, you unlock custom farming which lets you choose which Drive Disc set you get. This is 5x more efficient than random farming — always use it. The custom farming costs 10 more stamina per run but guarantees your target set.

⚡ Stamina Efficiency Table

Here is the complete stamina efficiency ranking for all domain types. Higher rank = better value per stamina spent:

The 80/20 Rule for Stamina: In the early game (Inter-Knot level 1-40), spend 80% of stamina on character EXP and Dennies, 20% on skill materials. In mid-game (IK 40-55), shift to 50% skill materials, 30% EXP/Dennies, 20% W-Engine. In endgame (IK 55+), spend 50% on Drive Discs, 30% on skill materials, 20% on everything else. This distribution ensures you never hit a bottleneck where you have characters but can't level their skills.

❓ FAQ