Various characters from the standard banners striking battle-ready poses
Screenshots by Siliconera

Should You Pull on the Zenless Zone Zero Star-Studded Cast Banner?

The Star-Studded Cast banner is Zenless Zone Zero’s standard gacha banner, working similarly to Genshin Impact‘s Wanderlust Invocation and Honkai: Star Rail‘s Stellar Warp ones. It features a roster of S-Rank characters that will always be available like Lycaon, Nekomata, and Grace, and it is the best way to obtain them. However, should you pull on it or the limited ones that appear twice every update?

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Screeshot by Siliconera

How does the Star-Studded Cast banner work in Zenless Zone Zero?

The Star-Studded Cast banner is a permanent banner in Zenless Zone Zero. You can spend Master Tapes that you’ve accumulated over your journey or purchased in the in-game shop in exchange for chances to obtain A-Rank and S-Rank characters and W Engines (equipment for your characters to wield).

For every ten pulls you do on the Star-Studded Cast banner, you are guaranteed at least one A-Rank character or W Engine. For every 90 pulls on this banner, you are guaranteed an S-Rank character or W Engine. When you reach 300 total pulls on the Star-Studded Cast banner, you’ll be able to select one S-Rank character of your choice. The Agents you can choose from are Grace, Koleda, Lycaon, Nekomata, Rina, and Soldier 11. So if you’ve been wanting a certain standard character on the banner, but haven’t obtained them yet, you’ll be guaranteed to bring them home if you keep pulling.

Unlike the featured banner, which changes its featured characters every few weeks, the Star-Studded Cast banner never changes. However, HoYoVerse could decide to add more characters to it in the future. (This happened in Genshin Impact with Tighnari.)

Note that Star-Studded Cast A and S-Rank characters are also available on limited-time featured character banners. When you pull an S-Rank character on these featured character banners, you have a 50% chance of pulling the featured S-Rank Agent or one of the Star-Studded Cast ones. Pulling on the Star-Studded Cast banner gives you a much better chance of you pulling a specific standard character or W Engine.

All A-Rank characters and W Engines are available on the banner at standard rates. Unlike the limited-time banners, you have an equal chance at pulling all A-Rank items. In limited banners, two A-Rank Agents will be focus units.

Koleda wrapping something around her hands. The colours in the art are inverted.
Screenshot by Siliconera

Why should I pull on the Star-Studded Cast Banner?

As a brand new Zenless Zone Zero player, you can pull on the Star-Studded Cast banner at a discounted price for your first five 10-Searches pulls. So for those initial ten-pulls, you only need eight Master Tapes instead. You’re also guaranteed to get one S-Rank character within the first 50 pulls.

Getting an S-Rank character this early in the game gives you a huge boost in combat, so it’s definitely worth pulling on the Star-Studded Cast banner while pulls are discounted. You’ll also get to build up your A-Rank character and weapon repertoire, which helps give your account a solid foundation for future teams and builds. The game also gives out Master Tapes more readily than Encrypted Master Tapes (which are used to pull on the featured banner), so it’s pretty easy to gather the Master Tapes you’ll need for this banner. Once you’ve done 50 pulls and gotten your S-Rank character, the Star-Studded Cast banner will return to its regular rates of one guaranteed S-Rank pull within 90 pulls.

If you really want a specific S-Rank character that’s featured on the Star-Studded Cast banner, go ahead and pull for it. Just be careful, as the chances of you pulling a specific character can be pretty slim due to it being a 1-in-6 chance.

Lycaon, a wolf man with a fluffy tail, looks sad in a splashart image with inverted colours
Screenshot by Siliconera

Why shouldn’t you pull on The Star-Studded Cast Banner?

The Star-Studded Cast banner is the only place where you use Master Tapes, so after a point you should probably only go to it to spend those. Encrypted Master Tapes are only for the limited banner and are shorter, so you should save up your Polychromes for that one instead.

Furthermore, the S-Rank characters you can get from the Star-Studded Cast banner can also be obtained by losing your 50/50 chance at getting an S-Rank featured Agent on other time-sensitive banners. If there aren’t any S-Rank standard characters that you want, you should wait to obtain them from losing your 50/50s.

Lastly, if there’s an A-Rank character that you have your eye on, it’s best to wait until they become featured on the limited-time banner. Your chance at pulling them on the Star-Studded Cast banner is really small.

A lineup of the featured S Rank characters
Screenshot by Siliconera

Which characters can I get The Star-Studded Cast banner in Zenless Zone Zero?

The following S-Rank Agents are available on the Star-Studded Cast banner:

  • Grace – Belobog Heavy Industries, Electric Type, Anomaly Agent
  • Koleda – Belobog Heavy Industries, Fire Type, Stun Agent
  • Lycaon – Victoria Housekeeping, Ice Type, Stun Agent
  • Nekomata – Cunning Hares, Physical Type, Attack Agent
  • Rina – Victoria Housekeeping, Electric Type, Support Agent
  • Soldier 11 – Obol Squad, Fire Type, Attack Agent

You can also get the following A-Rank Agents from this banner:

  • Anby – Cunning Hares, Electric Type, Stun Agent
  • Anton – Belobog Heavy Industries, Electric Type, Attack Agent
  • Ben – Belobog Heavy Industries, Fire Type, Defense Agent
  • Billy – Cunning Hares, Physical Type, Attack Agent
  • Corin – Victoria Housekeeping, Physical Type, Attack Agent
  • Lucy – Sons of Calydon, Fire Type, Support Agent
  • Nicole – Cunning Hares, Ether Type, Support Agent
  • Piper – Sons of Calydon, Physical Type, Anomaly Agent
  • Soukaku – Section 6, Ice Type, Support Agent
All the W Engines in a player's storage
Screenshot by Siliconera

Which W Engines can I get from the Star-Studded Cast Banner?

The S-Rank W Engines you can get are:

  • Brimstone (Soldier 11’s signature Engine)
  • Fusion Compiler (Grace’s signature Engine)
  • Hellfire Gears (Koleda’s signature Engine)
  • Steel Cushion (Nekomata’s signature Engine)
  • Restrained (Lycaon’s signature Engine)
  • Weeping Cradle (Rina’s signature Engine)

The A-Rank W Englines available are:

  • Bashful Demon
  • Big Cylinder
  • Bunny Bad
  • Demara Battery Mark II
  • Drill Rig – Red Axis
  • Housekeeper
  • Original Transmorpher
  • Precious Fossilized Core
  • Rainforest Gourmet
  • Slice of Time
  • Street of Superstar
  • Starlight Engine
  • Starlight Engine Replica
  • Steam Oven
  • Vault
  • Weeping Gemini

Zenless Zone Zero is available on the PS5, PC, and mobile devices.


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Author
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Bailey Vanderlee
Bailey Vanderlee is a Canadian writer at Siliconera, a audio post-production editor everywhere else, and local cryptid in the making. They love RPGs more than anything else and delight in maining the characters everybody hates. They are a graduate from the RTA School of Media with experience writing everything from articles to podcasts to screenplays. Currently, they can be found writing about video games around the internet, or if you're lucky enough to spot them in real life, designing costumes for conventions they will never attend.