ZZZ Mindscapes Explained — M0-M6 & Mindscape Tier List | Zenless Zone Zero

Mindscapes (full name Mindscape Cinema) are the duplicate system for Agents in Zenless Zone Zero — the equivalent of Constellations in Genshin or Eidolons in Honkai: Star Rail. When you own an agent, they sit at M0. Every extra copy of that same agent you pull raises their Mindscape by one level.

• M0 = base character, no duplicates.
• M6 = the max level, requiring 6 extra copies (7 total pulls of the same agent).

Each level unlocks a different effect, and the character portrait fills in with color as you progress: from a two-tone greyscale look at M0, to full color at M3, and a new second visual unlocking from M4 onward.

The exact effects differ per agent, but there's a shared skeleton: M3 and M5 always add 2 levels to the agent's attacks (Basic Attack, Dodge, Assist, Special Attack and Chain Attack), while M1, M2, M4, M6 are agent-specific effects.

For an agent's exact M1-M6, check that specific agent's build page.

General community guidance:

• M0 covers ~95% of content. Every tier list ranks agents at M0, so an S-tier agent is still strong with zero dupes.
• The best breakpoint is usually M1. Many agents jump a tier at M1 (per community evaluation, Ye Shunguang spikes hardest at M1 and M6, and Cissia's M1 is seen as the sensible stopping point).
• M6 is the strongest but the most expensive — reserved for heavy spenders or big fans.
• Some agents barely need dupes at all (e.g. Yixuan is already very strong at M0).

Bottom line: don't chase Mindscapes for hype. For f2p players, keeping a wide roster at M0 almost always beats funneling dupes into one agent.

Mindscapes come straight from gacha — each dupe is another agent hit, meaning a lot of Polychrome. So ask yourself before chasing dupes:

• Do you have their signature W-Engine yet? For most agents, a good W-Engine gives far more power than the first dupe. Get the W-Engine first, Mindscapes later.
• Does the agent have an M1 breakpoint? If so and they're genuinely your main carry, M1 is a reasonable investment.
• Is your roster thin? If you're short on agents, saving to pull new ones beats stacking Mindscapes on one.

For budget players: the safe target is M0 + a fitting W-Engine on your carry, and save Mindscapes for when resources are spare.

For most Agents, Mindscape simply amplifies existing strengths (more damage, shorter cooldowns, higher stats) without changing their role — a DPS at M0 is still a DPS at M6, just stronger. But a handful of special cases have a specific Mindscape level that unlocks an entirely new mechanic, shifting how the Agent is played, such as adding a team-support effect that simply doesn't exist at M0.

This is why, when reading build guides, it's worth checking the description of each Mindscape level rather than only looking for "which M is strong enough" — sometimes M1 or M2 doesn't just raise numbers, it fundamentally changes how that Agent is used in a team.

This is the classic budgeting question for F2P players: with a fixed amount of Polychrome, should you push Mindscapes on an Agent you already have, or save up for a new banner? The general rule: an Agent's Mindscape is only worth it if that Agent already is, and will continue to be, a core pillar of your team for the long haul. If you're still unsure whether you'll keep using this Agent long-term, putting resources toward a new Agent that fills a missing team role usually pays off more.

On the other hand, if you've already settled on an Agent as your "backbone" — say, the main DPS you run in every team — then pushing their Mindscape up to whatever level the tier list flags as "worth it" is usually a better use of resources than spreading thin on a new Agent that may not even fit your current lineup.

In-game Mindscape descriptions are often quite technical and easy for new players to misread. A few things to watch for: 1) distinguish "increases Skill damage %" from "increases overall damage %" — the two stack differently and don't always apply to the same final number; 2) check the activation condition — many Mindscape effects only apply under specific circumstances (e.g. only during a Chain Attack combo, or only at full energy), not as a permanent buff; and 3) distinguish self-buffs from team-wide buffs — some Mindscapes at higher levels shift from buffing only the Agent to buffing the whole team, which meaningfully changes their value in a lineup.

If you're unsure, the safest approach is to check an accurate data source (such as a character detail page) rather than guessing from an effect's short display name, since in-game names are often abbreviated and can be misleading.