ZZZ Free Characters — How to Get Every Free Agent | Zenless Zone Zero

This is the easiest group — every player gets them without spending anything:

• Anby Demara (Stun · Electric), Nicole Demara (Support · Ether) and Billy Kid (Attack · Physical): granted after you finish the Prologue "Business x Strangeness x Justness". All three are members of the Cunning Hares.
• Ben Bigger (Defense · Fire): unlocked once you reach Inter-Knot Level 26 and continue the Main Story, then open Ben's message.

These four form your starter core and can carry you through the early game before you touch the gacha.

Beyond the story, two more A-rank Agents are handed out separately:

• Soukaku (Support · Ice): given through the Eridu Frontier event after you clear Shiyu Defense Stable Node: Third Frontier. She's a strong Ice support for mono-element teams.
• Corin Wickes (Attack · Physical): a pre-registration reward delivered via in-game mail. As a launch reward, accounts created after the pre-registration window may no longer get her this way — check your mailbox and any active login events.

The biggest highlight right now: Pyrois (S-rank · Ether · Attack) is given free to every player who completes the Version 3.0 Main Story quest A Sleepwalker's Confession.

The gift is unusually generous — it includes his signature W-Engine Sol Exuvia for free. His upgrades (Mindscapes) and the signature W-Engine can all be earned for free through Season 3 content; two Mindscapes can be unlocked during 3.0 itself by collecting Pixel Fairy Tales. In short, just by playing you get a fully built S-rank without spending Polychrome.

The Star-Studded Cast standard banner (Stable Channel) never rotates out, so it's your long-term source of free S-ranks:

• First 50 pulls: a guaranteed S-rank. This bonus can only be claimed once; afterwards the S-rank counter resets to 90 and your next S-rank may be an Agent or a W-Engine.
• 300 pulls: you get a selector to choose 1 of 6 S-ranks: Grace, Rina, Koleda, Nekomata, Soldier 11 and Lycaon.

Official rates: base S-rank rate 0.6%, hard pity at 90 pulls; per community data, the rate ramps up (soft pity) from around pull 75. You pull this banner with Polychrome or Master Tapes.