Quick answer: Almost every ZZZ pity guide explains one channel — the debut agent banner — and stops there. Line all six Signal Search channels up next to each other and the picture inverts. Ranked by the worst-case number of pulls needed to guarantee the exact thing you are aiming at, the order is: Bangboo Channel 80 = W-Engine Reverberation 80 < Exclusive Rescreening 90 < W-Engine Channel 160 < Exclusive Channel 180 < Stable Channel 300. The debut-agent banner that the entire community tells you to save for is the most expensive guarantee of any limited channel — 2.25 times the cheapest — and exactly one channel in the whole game runs a 50/50 on its S-Rank. Hard pity is only half the system; the rule that decides what you get when hard pity fires is the half that actually costs you.
This guide covers Version 3.2 "Their Secret Histories", which launched on 2026-09-09 (06:00, UTC+8) and runs until 2026-10-21. Rates and guarantee rules below come from the in-game Signal Search details screens; channel dates and channel-specific rules from HoYoverse's official notices on HoYoLAB. Where a number is a community estimate instead, this guide says so out loud.
What is the pity system in Zenless Zone Zero?
ZZZ calls its gacha Signal Search, and it runs three stacked guarantees rather than one.
The first is the A-Rank guarantee: go nine Signal Searches without an A-Rank or better and the tenth is guaranteed to be at least A-Rank. It is published on all four channel types that print full rules — Exclusive, W-Engine, Bangboo and Stable.
The second is the S-Rank guarantee, the thing people mean by "pity": go a set number of searches without an S-Rank and the next is guaranteed to be one. That number is 90 on agent channels and the Stable Channel, 80 on W-Engine and Bangboo channels. The counter resets the moment any S-Rank drops on that channel type, wanted or not.
The third is the one most guides treat as a footnote: the target guarantee, which decides which S-Rank you get. This is where the channels stop resembling each other, and it is where the real cost of a banner lives.
One structural rule matters before any of the numbers: counters do not pool across channel types. Exclusive Channels share a count with each other, W-Engine Channels with each other, and the Stable, Bangboo, Exclusive Rescreening and W-Engine Reverberation channels each state their own independent count. Spending 80 pulls on a W-Engine moves you zero steps closer to the agent who uses it.
How many pulls guarantee the exact agent or W-Engine you want?
"Worst case" here means the maximum Signal Searches needed to be certain you walk away with your specific target, assuming the worst outcome at every branch.
| Channel | Hard pity | Target rule | Worst case for your target | Currency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| An Outstanding Partner (Bangboo) | 80 | Every S-Rank is your selected Bangboo | 80 | Boopon |
| W-Engine Reverberation (W-Engine rerun) | 80 | First S-Rank is your selected W-Engine | 80 | Encrypted Master Tape |
| Exclusive Rescreening (agent rerun) | 90 | First S-Rank is your selected agent | 90 | Encrypted Master Tape |
| W-Engine Channel (debut W-Engine) | 80 | 75% promotional | 160 | Encrypted Master Tape |
| Exclusive Channel (debut agent) | 90 | 50% promotional | 180 | Encrypted Master Tape |
| Star-Studded Cast (Stable Channel) | 90 | Additional Recruitment: pick 1 of 6 S-Rank agents at 300 cumulative pulls | 300, once per account | Master Tape |
Two footnotes. The rerun channels discount the first 10-pull of each period by 20%, so their real worst case is 88 and 78 tapes, not 90 and 80. And neither rerun channel prints a pity count of its own: the 90 and the 80 are inherited from the agent and W-Engine channels they mirror — working figures, not published ones.
Three readings fall straight out of that table.
The debut agent banner is the most expensive guarantee of any limited channel. 180 pulls is 2.25 times the 80 a W-Engine Reverberation target costs you in the same currency, and double the 90 of an Exclusive Rescreening agent. The "save for the debut or take the rerun" question treats those as comparable prices. They are not.
The Stable Channel's 90 has no target, but its 300 does. Hitting 90 there guarantees an S-Rank, not a specific one — so "I'm at 85, I'll push" is not a plan. But Additional Recruitment at 300 cumulative pulls lets you select one bonus S-Rank agent from Grace Howard, Alexandrina Sebastiane, Koleda Belobog, Nekomiya Mana, Soldier 11 and Von Lycaon — and that list is the channel's entire S-Rank agent pool. Any one of them is therefore obtainable on demand — but strictly one, once, permanently. The six S-Rank W-Engines in that pool are not covered by it at all; the Signal Shop is their route, one of each per month at 600 Residual Signal apiece.
The dedicated rerun channels are structurally cheaper, not just cheaper on average. Exclusive Rescreening and W-Engine Reverberation both guarantee that your first S-Rank is the one you selected. There is no coin flip to lose on the way to that first S-Rank. Waiting for one of those windows is not patience — it is a 50% cut to the worst case.
Why does the Exclusive Channel 50/50 cost double?
The Exclusive Channel is the agent banner — in Version 3.2 Phase I that is Bloodmoon Rising, featuring Claret, alongside Axiom of Captivation for Nangong Yu.
One disambiguation first, because it is where pull budgets go wrong. A returning agent on an Exclusive Channel, like Nangong Yu right now, is still a 50/50 at 180 worst case — a different thing from the Exclusive Rescreening channel, its own type with its own counter and a guaranteed target at 90. "Rerun" means both. Only the second is cheap.
The Exclusive Channel's own S-Rank guarantee is 90, and when it fires there is a 50% chance the agent is the promotional one. Lose that flip and the next S-Rank on an Exclusive Channel is guaranteed to be promotional — which is why the true ceiling is 90 + 90 = 180.
The A-Rank layer has the same shape and gets overlooked: the guaranteed A-Rank at 10 pulls has a 50% chance of being one of the featured A-Ranks, same fallback, so 20 pulls guarantees a featured A-Rank. Note the wording — one of the rate-ups, not the one you wanted. No pull count owes you a specific A-Rank.
HoYoverse's own notice for the current channels states the counter rule plainly:
"'Bloodmoon Rising' and 'Axiom of Captivation' are Exclusive Channels. The search count for guaranteed signals is cumulative across all Exclusive Channels, but is independent of and unaffected by other types of channels."
— HoYoverse, V3.2 Limited-Time Channels (Phase I) on HoYoLAB
That answers the most common Version 3.2 question: pity does not reset when a phase ends. Pulls you spend on Claret in Phase I carry into Phase II. If you are 60 deep on Claret and you stop, you start Roxy's banner at 60, not at zero. The Phase I channels close on 2026-09-30 at 11:59 server time — note 11:59, not the 03:59 that several third-party trackers list — and your count survives the handover. Our ZZZ 3.2 banner guide covers the phase schedule itself in detail.
What happens when you lose the 50/50 in ZZZ?
Here the game is more generous than its peers, through a feature that is easy to never open.
S-Rank Signal Customization lets you nominate six S-Rank agents — and six S-Rank W-Engines on the W-Engine Channel — as your customized picks, and those six then follow the same drop rules as the non-featured S-Ranks on that channel. The official Version 3.2 Phase I notice describes it as letting Proxies "select 6 S-Rank Agents/W-Engines as their customized Agents/W-Engines".
So the loss is only a loss if you let it be one: set your six and the 50/50 you drop becomes a redirect into a pool you chose. Setting it costs nothing.
The W-Engine Channel is the other half of the story. Its promotional chance is 75%, not 50% — a distinction worth internalising before the next signature W-Engine tempts you. With 80 hard pity, the worst case is 160 and the expected cost is meaningfully better than the agent banner. Choosing between one more copy of an agent and their signature W-Engine? The W-Engine is the cheaper guarantee. Which engines are worth that spend is covered in our ZZZ W-Engine tier list.
Which ZZZ channels have no 50/50 at all?
At the S-Rank layer, every one except the Exclusive Channel — it is the only channel that publishes a coin flip on its S-Rank guarantee. (The A-Rank layer is a separate story: both the Exclusive and W-Engine channels run a 50% featured-A-Rank guarantee.) Three channels replace the S-Rank coin flip with an outright guarantee, and those three are the ones players treat as afterthoughts.
An Outstanding Partner, the permanent Bangboo Channel, is the cleanest guarantee in Zenless Zone Zero. You select one S-Rank Bangboo before pulling, and every S-Rank signal on that channel is guaranteed to be the one you selected. Not the first one — every one. The pool holds 21 S-Rank Bangboo and no S-Rank agents or W-Engines at all, so there is nothing else for the guarantee to give you. You can also switch your selected target at any time without resetting the counter, so an 80-pull investment is never stranded. Our ZZZ Bangboo tier list covers which of the 21 is actually worth aiming at.
Exclusive Rescreening and W-Engine Reverberation are the rerun channels, and both run a mechanic called the Special Guarantee: the first S-Rank you obtain during that period is guaranteed to be your currently selected limited agent or W-Engine. Each period offers three to choose between, and switching tabs resets nothing. Both also discount the first 10-pull of the period by 20%, to 8 Encrypted Master Tapes instead of 10.
Two traps: the Special Guarantee triggers once per period and does not carry over, and its counter is tracked separately from the standard guarantee count. Also, neither rerun channel is running right now — the last Exclusive Rescreening ran 2026-08-19 to 2026-09-08, ending the day before Version 3.2 launched.
Is soft pity in ZZZ official?
No — and this is where most pity guides quietly cross a line.
HoYoverse publishes exact rates for the Stable Channel: S-Rank agent or W-Engine at 0.6% base, 1.6% average including the guarantee; A-Rank at 9.4% base, 14.4% average; B-Rank W-Engines at 90% base, 84% average. Those averages are themselves proof a ramp exists — a flat 0.6% across 90 pulls cannot average 1.6%.
What HoYoverse has never published is where the ramp starts or how steep it is. The widely repeated figure — that the S-Rank rate begins climbing around pull 74 or 75 and reaches roughly 6.6% per pull — is community-derived from datamined samples, not an official number. Probably close to correct; still not a published rate.
Either way: on a 90-pity channel, budgeting for the full 90 rather than a hoped-for 75 is the only version of the plan that cannot fail.
What does a guaranteed pull actually cost in Polychrome?
Signal Search items convert at a fixed rate in the Signal Shop: Encrypted Master Tape and Master Tape both cost 160 Polychrome, unlimited. Run the worst cases through it:
| Target | Worst-case tapes | Polychrome at 160 each |
|---|---|---|
| Debut agent (Exclusive Channel) | 180 | 28,800 |
| Debut W-Engine (W-Engine Channel) | 160 | 25,600 |
| Rerun agent (Exclusive Rescreening) | 88 | 14,080 |
| Rerun W-Engine (W-Engine Reverberation) | 78 | 12,480 |
The rerun rows are 88 and 78 rather than 90 and 80 because the first 10-pull of each rerun period is 20% off.
And one channel will not convert at all: Boopon cannot be bought with Polychrome. The Signal Shop sells it for Bangbuck only — 20 each for the first five per month, 40 each after. So the Bangboo Channel's cheap 80-pull guarantee sits on a separate economy entirely. Being Polychrome-rich does not make you Bangboo-rich — which is why an account can field a deep agent roster and a thin Bangboo bench at the same time.
Pulls also come back as Residual Signal from duplicates: 8 per duplicate A-Rank, 40 per duplicate S-Rank, rising to 20 and 100 once that agent's Mindscape Cinema is complete — W-Engine duplicates stay at 8 and 40 forever. Twenty buys a tape, uncapped, so a maxed S-Rank duplicate funds five pulls.
What should a new account pull on first?
Two once-per-account guarantees, both easy to waste. The New Player Discount makes your first five consecutive 10-pulls on the Stable Channel cost 8 Master Tapes instead of 10 — 50 pulls for the price of 40. The New Player Guarantee delivers your first Stable Channel S-Rank within 50 searches and guarantees it is an Agent, not a W-Engine.
Clear those 50 discounted pulls first — they are the cheapest guaranteed S-Rank agent in the game — then take your Polychrome to whichever limited channel matches the team you want. Our ZZZ tier list for September 2026 and ZZZ best teams guide are the pages to read before committing 180 pulls to anything.
What is not confirmed yet
- Exact soft pity curve. Community datamining puts the ramp at roughly pull 74–75 rising to about 6.6%. HoYoverse has not published it. A strong estimate, not a rate.
- Whether Version 3.2 runs an Exclusive Rescreening at all. None appeared in Phase I and none is announced for Phase II. The last one ended 2026-09-08.
- Phase II channel details. Roxy, the "Cindernight Respite" channel and the Crimson Moon Casket W-Engine are first-party. The second Phase II agent and the 2026-09-30 to 2026-10-20 window are third-party reporting only; rules and open times land with the Phase II notice.
- Anything past Version 3.2. Circulating rate-up lists are leaks, not sources. Nothing here is based on them.
FAQ
Does ZZZ pity carry over between banners? Yes, within the same channel type. Exclusive Channel pulls accumulate across all Exclusive Channels, including the Phase I to Phase II handover in Version 3.2. They do not carry to the W-Engine, Bangboo or Stable channels, which each track their own count.
What is hard pity in ZZZ? 90 Signal Searches on the Exclusive Channel and Stable Channel; 80 on the W-Engine Channel and Bangboo Channel. At that count the next search is a guaranteed S-Rank. The two rerun channels do not publish a pity count of their own — 90 and 80 are inherited from the channels they mirror.
Is the W-Engine banner really 75/25? Yes — 75% chance the guaranteed S-Rank is the promotional W-Engine, versus 50% on the agent Exclusive Channel. With 80 hard pity, the worst case is 160 pulls.
Do I keep my pity if I lose the 50/50? The S-Rank counter resets when any S-Rank drops, but you gain a guarantee: the next S-Rank on an Exclusive Channel is certain to be the promotional agent. That is what caps the worst case at 180.
Can I buy Bangboo pulls with Polychrome? No. Boopon is sold for Bangbuck only — 20 each for the first five per month, then 40 each. Polychrome converts to Encrypted Master Tapes and Master Tapes at 160 apiece, and neither works on the Bangboo Channel.
When do the Version 3.2 Phase I channels end? 2026-09-30 at 11:59 server time, per the official channel notice. Version 3.2 itself runs until 2026-10-21 (06:00, UTC+8).
Sources: in-game Signal Search channel details, the official Zenless Zone Zero site and HoYoverse's V3.2 Limited-Time Channels (Phase I) notice. Verified 2026-09-19 against Version 3.2 "Their Secret Histories".
