Every major story arc inZenless Zone Zeroends with a climactic boss fight against a powerful Ethereal, and you can take on these challenges again as part of the Notorious Hunt activity. You’ll need to do so multiple times to completely upgrade a character — Notorious bosses drop special materials found nowhere else in the game.

These repeatable encounters can also be much harder than the story fights, as you don’t have access to characters not already in your party. Thankfully, they come in a variety of difficulties, and we’ll go over all that and more today.

Belle standing near Ophelia and the Notorious Hunt access point in Zenless Zone Zero.

How To Unlock Notorious Hunts

You earn the right totake on Notorious Huntsafter reachingtwo milestones:

Once you’ve met both requirements, you’ll get anin-game text from Rolandat Scott Outpost. Visit him, and he’ll walk you throughRoutine Cleanup,theDrive Disc farmingactivity. You’ll also be introduced to Ophelia.

After unlocking Routine Cleanup and meeting Ophelia,return to Sixth Streetandunlock Tuningat the Bardic Needle Music Store. From there,wait one in-game dayandreturn to Opheliato participate in Notorious Hunts.

The Dead End Butcher with its axe in the Hollow in Zenless Zone Zero.

You’ll haveaccess to all Notorious Huntsas soon as you unlock the activity, which unfortunately comes with somefairly significant story spoilers.Ifyou want to upgradethe likes ofMiyabi, Harumasa, or Astra Yao, that’sthe priceyou pay.

All Notorious Hunt Bosses And Rewards

Thebossesyou fight inNotorious Huntare muchmore complexthan those you face in theExpert Challenge, befitting their position as story capstone encounters. That complexity ensuresthere are fewer of them, and as of update 1.5,there are five Notorious bossesto fight.

Each Notorious enemyawards a boss-specific material, which you’ll use toupgrade specific character Passive Skillsto their maximum level. You’llneed nine Notorious boss materialsper character you’re upgrading.

The Twin Marionette Notorious Hunt screen in Zenless Zone Zero.

You havethree “free” Hunts every week;the only cost is the time and effort you spend beating the boss. After that, you can toggle the Pursuit to the Depths slider tospend 60 Battery Charge per Huntand getadditional rewards.

Each Hunt hasfive difficulties, placing the enemylevel at30, 40, 50, 60,and65. If you only want theunique materials, fight the level 30 versionfor thefastest possible farm.

Miyabi, Yanagi, and Astra Yao in a team in Zenless Zone Zero.

Beyond their unique material,Notorious Hunt bossesalso all provideInter-Knot Credit, Master CopyTuning materials, andDenniesin various amounts.

Lastly, before each boss, you can choosebetween three Resonia, buffs to your team, or debuffs to the boss, making the fights a bit more comfortable. You’ll also get a single usage ofEther Droplets to revive a characterif they go down.

All characters who use Twin Marionette materials in Zenless Zone Zero.

Increase Agent Ice damageby 15 percent.

Enemies arestunned 10 percent longer.

Perfect Assistsincrease all characters' Anomalybuildup by 20 percent for ten seconds.

Audio Booster Master Copy: 5-11 (Levels 30 and 40)

Increase Agent Electric damageby 15 percent.

Perfect Assistsincrease all characters' Anomaly buildupby 20 percent for ten seconds.

Increase Agent Ether damageby 15 percent.

Increase Agent Fire Anomaly buildupby 30 percent.

Perfect Assistsincrease all characters' Anomaly buildup by 20percent for ten seconds.

Dennies: 3,000-4,500

Best Teams For All Notorious Hunt Bosses

Notorious Hunt bossescan be more difficultthan thestory fightsthey emulate, especially atendgamewhen your characters can befive levels below the boss. For that reason, andto make farming them as painlessas possible, you’ll want tobring a good team. If they can exploit the boss’s weakness, that’s even better.

Brute forcinga Notorious fightisn’t recommended, but it’s doable if you aren’t fighting a resistance. If you only have one team to farm with,you may need to knuckle downuntil you have a second one to farm more consistently with.

Sub-DPS: Lycaon

Support: Nicole

Ellen Joe was the main Ice DPSwhen the Dead End Butcherboss first appearedandhas remained a solid option since. She’s gotgood damage, is easy to play and build, and isconsistent no matter what activityshe’s in.

There’sno more accessible top-tier Stun unit than Lycaon, and that’s not his only benefit. He can alsoincrease the Stun window damage bonusand reduce enemy Ice resistance.

We’veswapped Soukaku for Nicolehere to bring in abit of Ether damage, additional debuffs, and the non-zerochance for a Disorderactivation for even more damage.

Sub-DPS: Burnice

Support: Lucy

Grace wasa preview of what an Anomaly S-Rankcharacter could be, and she still maintains that status. She can alsoapply Shock Anomalyto multiple legs, making breaking them a bit easier.

Burniceimmediately shot tothe top of the Anomaly chartswhen she was released, and combining herpassive Burn applicationwith Grace’s more active Shock makes fortons of Disordersand, thus, tons of damage.

Lucycanenable both Grace and Burnicewith someadditional damagefollowing a quick swap, and she can adda bit more Burn Anomalyif you need it.

Sub-DPS: Qingyi

UsingZhu Yuanagainst the Marionettes is a treat. She’smore an Ether damaging single-target specialistwithhuge Stun window damage, a bit more mechanical depth, but still straightforward gameplay.

Qingyiis a naturalpairing with Zhu Yuan, primarily because of her ability toincrease the Stun window damage bonusto a higher level than any other unit in the game. She also addsthe same faction bonus to the team.

Nicole offersa few things to this team:Defense debuffs,additional Ether damagefrom her Skill, andincreased Ether damagefor herself and Zhu Yuan via her other core passive.

Sub-DPS: Lighter

Pompey makes the argument formain DPS Burnicea bitmore believable, especially with her and the rest ofthis team’s ability to apply Burn Anomalyor otherwise boost Burnice’s damage potential.

Lighter’s abilitiesbuff Fire(and Ice) damage, and he’s one ofthe best Stun units in the game.Swappingbetweenhim and Burnicefor DPS is a workable strategy in this fight.

Lucygrantseasy quick swapping, Attack bonuses, and evenmore Fire damage and Anomaly buildup.

Sub-DPS: Yanagi

Support: Astra Yao

UsingMiyabi against Bringeris more than just a lore accurate fight, it’s alsothe best way to take him down. Her colossal Ice damage, ability to quicklyshredthrough hissecond-phasecharging arm, and mobility all add up to makeMiyabi the ultimate Bringer-destroyer.

Yanagiis afantastic DPSon her own, but in a Miyabi team, she getsmore opportunities to create Disorders, which powers Miyabi’s kit.

Astra Yao is an S-tier Supportunit for any team, and she takes theMiyabi/Yanagi combo to new heights. MassiveAttack buffs,healing, quick-swapsynergybetween the Section 6 characters — Astra provides all that and more.

All Characters And Their Linked Notorious Hunts

Every characterin the game uses aunique Notorious Hunt materialto upgrade their passive skills. And even thougheach character needs nineof their particular material,you will only get one at a time, no matter the difficulty of the mode you choose. Specifically: