Zenless Zone Zero Alice Build Guide–best W-Engines, Drive Discs, and teams

Potential Miyabi power creep? Alice makes asymmetry deadly with stylish moves... though whether she can outpace the Void Hunter is yet to be proven.

Zenless Zone Zero’s newest Physical Anomaly agent, Alice Thymefield has arrived as part of the second half of Version 2.1.  Some players are already calling her the “Physical Miyabi,” which might make her a tempting use of your hard-earned Polychromes! 

So, if you’re planning to pull for her or just want to know what she brings to the table, we’ve got you covered. This guide breaks down her skills, builds, W-Engines, Drive Discs, team comps, Bangboos, and combat strategy, helping you fully optimise her kit.

Combat kit overview: Blade Etiquette and Starshine Waltz

Alice’s playstyle revolves around building up Anomaly and chaining combos in rapid succession. While her design may appear symmetrical, her gameplay is anything but; built for imbalance and explosive bursts of damage.

The centrepiece of her kit is Blade Etiquette, a unique gauge that maxes out at 300 and glows gold when full. 

This fuels her key move: Starshine Waltz, a charged Basic Attack with three stages. The first two levels deal minor damage, but the third is where the magic happens: it consumes all of Blade Etiquette, grants brief invincibility, and unleashes Polarized Assault, a special type of Anomaly damage.

Unlike regular Anomaly effects, Polarized Assault doesn’t require you to fill the enemy’s status bar to trigger. It can activate instantly and even stack with standard Assault effects. 

If timed right, Alice can trigger full Disorder in a single strike. On top of that, she passively inflicts Physical DoT every 0.95 seconds on enemies marked with Assault, giving her strong sustained pressure in longer fights.

Generating Blade Etiquette

Alice’s entire kit revolves around generating and spending Blade Etiquette efficiently. Her Basic fifth Attack is a key generator, especially if it follows an Assault trigger, unlocking a stronger version that builds more Blade Etiquette.

Her EX Specials come in two variants:

• Aurora Thrust: Northern Cross: fast, forward lunge.
• Aurora Thrust: Southern Cross: slower, stronger, triggered while stationary or moving back.

Both cost 40 Energy and can be followed by Basic Attack five, offering synergy and decent Blade Etiquette return. They also double as dodges, granting 10 Blade Etiquette on successful evasion.

Additional Blade Etiquette generation:

• Assist Follow-Up: Generates approximately 80 Blade Etiquette.
• Chain Attack: Grants around 40 Blade Etiquette.
• Ultimate: Instantly provides the full 200 Blade Etiquette required for a Disorder trigger.

Her Core Passive boosts team-wide Assault Disorder damage (up to 34%) and increases her Anomaly Proficiency when Anomaly Mastery exceeds 140. She gains even more value when paired with another Anomaly agent, making team synergy essential.

How to play Alice: Core combo loop

Alice excels when chaining specials, basic attacks, and dodges into a seamless loop. A standard cycle looks like this:

1. Open with a Dodge Counter: great for energy gain and enemy control.
2. Use EX Special: Starshine Waltz, wait for the final hit before swapping to trigger Polarized Assault.
3. Follow up with Basic 5 or another Special: to keep building Polarization.
4. Swap to another agent when Disorder triggers: ideally with a different element to double-dip on Anomaly effects (e.g. Fire, Electric).

This loop enables Alice to maintain pressure while constantly feeding into Anomaly triggers and combo extensions.

Tips, tricks, and swap cancel timing

• Only swap after the final hit of Starshine Waltz to ensure Polarized Assault triggers.
• Basic Attack 5 and EX Specials are reliable swap points; use them to extend chains or rotate in supports.
• Dodge Counter is a safe, effective opener and swap tool.

Advanced trick: Double Disorder Burst

By default, enemies have a 2-second cooldown between different Anomaly procs. But Alice’s Level 3 Starshine Waltz bypasses this, letting her trigger Disorder twice nearly back-to-back.

If another element is present (like Shock or Fire), Polarized Assault and standard Assault can each cause their own Disorder effects, resulting in a huge damage spike if timed correctly.

Talent Priority

When upgrading Alice’s talents, prioritise her Core Passive first. This significantly boosts her Physical Anomaly Buildup Rate and improves her Proficiency scaling. 

Next, level up her Basic Attack chain, which unlocks a powerful fifth hit that not only deals high damage but also restores Blade Etiquette. 

Her Special and Chain Attacks come next, as they’re essential to maintaining her combo flow and generating Etiquette. 

After that, upgrade her Ultimate, which provides a burst of 200 Blade Etiquette and enables rapid Polarized Assaults. 

The Dodge skill can be upgraded for added utility, though it’s not essential. Finally, her Assist talent offers the least impactful scaling and should be upgraded last.

Best W-Engines for Alice

Practiced Perfection

Alice’s best-in-slot W-Engine is Practiced Perfection. It grants 60 Anomaly Mastery (boosted to 96 Proficiency via her passive) and increases Physical Damage by 40%. Perfectly tailored for her kit, it ensures consistent, top-tier damage.

Weeping Gemini

The best free-to-play alternative. This craftable W-Engine excels in high Anomaly stacking scenarios and performs well without needing investment. Great for players skipping her signature gear.

Sharpened Stinger

Jane Doe’s W-Engine can work in a pinch. It boosts damage after dash attacks, but with Alice not relying on those, synergy is limited.

Fusion Compiler

Playable with heavy refinement, but it's geared toward special attacks. Adjusting her playstyle around it feels clunky and sub-optimal.

In short, if you don’t have Practice Perfection, go with Weeping Gemini. Anything else drops off significantly in performance.

Best Drive Disc sets

Fanged Metal (4-piece) + Freedom Blues (2-piece)

This is Alice’s top-performing combo, increasing Physical DMG and granting a buff whenever an ally triggers Assault.

Phaethon’s Melody (4-piece) + Chaos Jazz (2-piece)

Offers bonuses to Anomaly Mastery and Proficiency. While Alice won’t benefit from Ether DMG boosts, the rest of the set still synergises well with her kit.

Main Stats:

• Slot 4: Anomaly Proficiency
• Slot 5: Physical DMG % or Penetration Ratio (based on enemy resistance)
• Slot 6: Anomaly Mastery

Sub-stats:

• Anomaly Proficiency
• ATK %
• Penetration
• Avoid: Crit Rate / Crit DMG

Best teams for Alice

Alice thrives in team compositions that can consistently trigger Disorder, as her kit heavily rewards frequent procs. 

When an ally applies a Disorder effect, Alice gains +30 Blade Etiquette, significantly speeding up her Ultimate rotation. Her Anomaly Proficiency also scales with Anomaly Mastery. 

When it exceeds 140, she gains bonus stats, making dual-Anomaly or Physical Disorder setups ideal.

Anomaly-Centric Team 

• Alice (Anomaly)
• Vivian (Anomaly): High-speed, multi-hit attacks rapidly build up Anomaly
• Yuzuha (Support):  Boosts Physical Anomaly damage and synergises directly with Alice’s passive
• Bangboo: Miss Esme
• Alternatives: Bangvolver, Knightboo, Robin

This team maximises Anomaly scaling and status application. Vivian excels at fast Anomaly buildup, while Yuzuha provides Physical Anomaly support that directly enhances Alice’s output. Miss Esme complements the setup with Anomaly-triggering support and additional synergy with Vivian’s rapid hits.

Other viable Anomaly agents for this setup include Yanagi, Burnice and Grace, depending on elemental weakness of the enemy.

Support alternatives include Lucy, Rina, Nicole, Astra Yao and Caesar. You can even run double support with Astra Yao and Yuzaha to hyperbuff Alice.

Physical Double Disorder team (supposed Miyabi powercreep)

• Alice (Anomaly)
• Yuzuha (Physical Support)
• Jane (Anomaly)
• Bangboo: Miss Esme

This setup is designed to maximise Disorder uptime through rapid chaining of Assault effects. Jane’s kit enables frequent double Assaults, creating windows where Alice and Yuzuha can stack and detonate Anomaly damage in quick succession. Esme’s SP generation further supports this loop, giving the team a consistent tempo in longer engagements.

The build demands tight execution and synergy between agents, but when timed correctly, it creates near-constant burst cycles. Some players speculate that this combination could powercreep Miyabi-based teams in sustained fights, though this remains unconfirmed and highly situational.

 Free-to-play 

• Alice (Anomaly)
• Corin (Attack): Boosts Physical DMG and frequently triggers Assault
• Nicole (Support): Applies field-wide debuffs and helps control enemy positions
• Bangboo: Luckyboo
• Alternatives: Bagboo, Magnetiboo, Knightboo

This composition is the most viable F2P option and leans into consistent Assault and Disorder uptime without relying on premium units. Nicole’s debuffs increase uptime for enemy status vulnerabilities, allowing Alice to cycle her Blade Etiquette more quickly.

Free-to-play (Sons of Calydon)

• Alice (Anomaly)
• Piper (Anomaly)
• Lucy (Support)
• Bangboo: Red Moccus
• Alternatives: Magnetiboo, Knightboo

This Physical Anomaly F2P option is also feasible, although less powerful than the previous F2P option.

Stun-based experiment:

• Alice (Anomaly)
• Yanagi (Anomaly)
• Anton (Stun)
• Bangboo: Miss Esme
• Alternatives: Bagboo, Magnetiboo, Knightboo

This experimental team uses stun setups for timing-based bursts. Results may vary, but remain viable.

Alice is one of the highest-ceiling Anomaly agents in Zenless Zone Zero. With the right team and gear, she can consistently chain Assaults into Disorder for devastating burst damage. Her kit rewards precise timing and aggressive play, making her a thrilling pick for players who enjoy high-reward, mechanic-heavy gameplay.