How to Get Polychromes in Zenless Zone Zero

Belle sitting with a Bangboo on her lap and Wise standing with his hand on another Bangboo's head in Zenless Zone Zero key art.
Credit: HoYoverse.

Belle sitting with a Bangboo on her lap and Wise standing with his hand on another Bangboo's head in Zenless Zone Zero key art.
Credit: HoYoverse.

Is there an upcoming S-Rank Agent that you absolutely must have on your account? This guide on how to get Zenless Zone Zero Polychromes can help you raise the odds of bringing them home. Pulling a powerful new character is what gacha games are all about, after all.

Polychrome is a precious resource in Zenless Zone Zero, so you won’t want to pass up any opportunities to grab some for free. To help you map out how you want your account to look going forward, be sure to read up on all the different characters in the game and see how they stack up to each other by checking out our Zenless Zone Zero tier list.

How to Get Polychromes in Zenless Zone Zero

There are eight main ways to get Polychromes in Zenless Zone Zero:

  • Commissions
  • Proxy Primers
  • Achievements
  • Events
  • Howl’s News Stand
  • Dailies
  • Hollow Zero
  • Shiyu Defense

This may seem like there are plenty of Polychromes to go around, but like other gacha titles, you’ll find premium currency to become quite scarce the further you get in the game. This can be rather frustrating as it's key to gearing up in the ZZZ endgame activities Shiyu Defense and Hollow Zero.

While not Polychromes, you can get free Master Tape from promoting characters to levels 20, 40, and 60, as well as raising your Inter-Knot Level. Master Tape can be used for Stable Channel Signal Searches. In other words, this will save you from having to spend your Polychromes on standard pulls.

Likewise, you can spend Residual Signal in the Signal Shop to get five Encrypted Master Tape and five standard Master Tape each month. This will also save you from having to spend quite so much Polychromes.

A screenshot of a story commission message in Zenless Zone Zero showing the various rewards.
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Credit: HoYoverse. Screenshot taken by GfinityEsports.

Commissions

Commissions are Zenless Zone Zero’s version of quests. So, by going through the game’s main story, you can obtain a substantial amount of Polychromes. However, after completing the latest chapter of the Zenless Zone Zero story, you’ll have to wait for the next major update before you’re able to continue.

It's worth pointing out that during the TV mini-game section of Commissions, you can increase the rewards you earn by collecting all the Hollow Observation Data packets. This includes bonus Polychrome.

Some side quests in the game will also reward you with Polychromes. But just like with the main storyline, you can run out of side quests to keep you busy and then it’s back to waiting for the next patch.

A screenshot of the Proxy Primer page in Zenless Zone Zero, which rewards Polychromes for challenge completions.
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Credit: HoYoverse. Screenshot taken by GfinityEsports.

Proxy Primers

Proxy Primers in Zenless Zone Zero are sets of objectives that players can complete to progress through tiers to earn rewards. It’s very much like an achievement system that rewards you with completing specific tasks, akin to Genshin Impact's Adventure Book.

Not all Proxy Primers will reward you with Polychromes though, and these achievements can only be completed once as you progress through the available tiers. Other rewards from this system include Inter-Knot XP and Dennies.

A screenshot of the 'Life' tab in the Achievements page in Zenless Zone Zero and the rewards associated with each objective.
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Credit: HoYoverse. Screenshot taken by GfinityEsports.

Achievements

Alongside the Proxy Primer system, ZZZ also has an Achievement feature which rewards you with small amounts of Polychrome for each one you complete. While you don't earn much from each individual Achievement completion, there are a lot of Achievements, so it adds up in the end.

Events

Every now and again, Zenless Zone Zero will hold special events to keep players engaged and reward them with a bunch of different items including Polychromes. These events can range from anything between simple login campaigns to challenging boss encounters, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for any announcements.

Belle standing in front of Howl's Newsstand in Zenless Zone Zero.
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Credit: HoYoverse.

Howl’s Newsstand

Howl is an adorable dog NPC that owns a newsstand on Sixth Street. You can visit this stand to purchase a scratch card once a day. You can win some Polychromes from these scratch cards, but it is still up to chance.

Aside from these sources, you can also buy Polychromes using real money. Just remember to spend wisely.

Dailies

The best way to get Polychromes in ZZZ is by completing your dailies each and every day. These are short and simple missions that will reward you will up to 60 Polychrome each day before they refresh at the daily ZZZ reset time.

While 60 Polychrome per day doesn't sound like much, that equals 420 Polychromes per week, or 1680 Polychrome per month completely free.

Hollow Zero

Hollow Zero is a challenging endgame activity unlocked after completing the Earlybird Ticket to Safety commission. By progressing through Hollow Zero, you will earn Polychrome alongside various other resources (including Boopon) based on your performance.

Shiyu Defense

Shiyu Defense is the other endgame activity in ZZZ. It has two nodes, Stable and Critical, which function slightly differently. The most important difference is that the Stable Node Shiyu Defense are permanent levels with first-time clear rewards. On the other hand, Critical Nodes reset weekly, giving you a chance to earn Polychrome and other rewards based on your performance each week.

What Are Polychromes Used for in Zenless Zone Zero?

Polychromes are primarily used to pull for new Agents and W-Engines in Zenless Zone Zero. You can also use Polychromes to restore Battery Charge, the game’s form of energy, to continue farming for upgrade materials.

Bangboos have their own separate banner that uses a different kind of currency, so you don’t have to worry about saving Polychromes for these adorable android companions.

Best Way to Get Polychrome in Zenless Zone Zero

Early on, the best way to get Polychrome is to complete the main story missions, as this will reward you with large amounts of Polychrome and is an easy way to tick off simple Achievements and Primer objectives at the same time.

Once you have completed all the main (and side) missions, however, collecting all your daily mission rewards is the best, most consistent method of earning Polychrome. While you should always be aiming to complete your daily missions for maximum rewards, it's even more important when you have beaten all the commissions for the current update and are waiting for the next content drop.

And that’s our guide on how to get Polychromes in Zenless Zone Zero. For more on the action RPG, be sure to check out what you can get from the Zenless Zone Zero battle pass or find out which characters are featured on the current and next ZZZ banners.