Zenless Zone Zero Nekomata Overview
Welcome to our Zenless Zone Zero character guide, where we cover everything you need to know about Nekomata.
Nekomata (Nekomiya Mana) is an S Rank Agent from the Cunning Hares Faction with the Physical Attribute and Attack Fighting Style. Nekomata is a Standard Agent, meaning you can obtain Nekomata on any character Banner through the Gacha System.
As an Attack Style Agent, Nekomata is designed to deal as much damage as possible with her kit. This means she doesn’t provide much utility to the rest of the team, and instead focuses on her personal damage.
Since Nekomata is from the Cunning Hares Faction, building a team around her is quite easy since you get 3 free Cunning Hares Agents when you start the game.
Other Agents open up more possibilities for her team, but having something usable off the bat is definitely a bonus.
Nekomata |
Cunning Hares |
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S Rank |
Physical |
Attack |
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Nekomata Skills/Abilities
Basic Attack 
Basic Attack: Kitty Slash
Press Basic Attack to activate. Unleashes up to 5 slashes, dealing Physical DMG. On the last hit, there is a 33.33% chance to repeat this hit 3 times.
Basic Attack: Crimson Blade
Hold down Basic Attack during the first 3 hits of Nekomata’s Basic Attack to activate. Slashes enemies in front and passes through them, dealing Physical DMG. Upon activation, there is a 33.33% chance to repeat this attack 3 times.
Dodge 
Dodge: Can’t Touch Me-ow
Press Dodge to activate. A rapid dodge. Character is invulnerable while using this skill.
Dash Attack: Over Here!
Press Dodge during a dodge to activate. Slashes enemies in front, dealing Physical DMG.
Dodge Counter: Phantom Claws
Press Dodge during a Perfect Dodge to activate. Slashes enemies in front, dealing Physical DMG. Character is invulnerable while using this skill.
Special Attack 
Special Attack: Surprise Attack
Press Special Attack to activate. Unleashes a downward strike, dealing Physical DMG. Anti-Interrupt level is increased while using this skill.
EX Special Attack: Super Surprise Attack!
When Nekomata has enough Energy, press Special Attack to activate. Unleashes a powerful falling slash that deals massive Physical DMG. Character is invulnerable while using this skill.
Chain Attack 
Chain Attack: Claw Swipe
When a Chain Attack is triggered, select the character to activate. Unleashes a powerful slash at enemies ahead in a large area, dealing massive Physical DMG. Character is invulnerable while using this skill.
Ultimate: Claw Smash
When Decibel Rating is at Maximum, press Chain Attack to activate. Unleashes powerful slashes at enemies ahead in a large area, dealing massive Physical DMG. Character is invulnerable while using this skill.
Core Skill 
Core Passive: Stealthy Paws
When Nekomata’s Dodge Counter or Reactive Assist hits an enemy, her DMG increases by 30% for 6s.
Additional Ability: Catwalk
When another character in your squad shares the same Attribute or Faction:
After any character inflicts Assault, increases the DMG of Nekomata’s next EX Special Attack by 35%, stacking up to 2 times.
Reactive Assist: Cat’s Paw
When the on-field character is launched, press Assist to activate. Slashes enemies in front, dealing Physical DMG. Character is invulnerable while using this skill.
Defensive Assist: Desperate Defense
When the character on the field is about to be attacked, Press Assist to activate. Parries the enemy’s attack, inflicting massive Daze. Character is invulnerable while using this skill.
Assist Follow-Up: Shadow Strike
Press Special Attack after a Defensive Assist to activate. Charge and slash enemies in front, dealing Physical DMG. Character is invulnerable while using this skill.
Nekomata Talents
| A | Cat & Mouse: When there’s only one enemy on the field and Nekomata is in combat, her Energy Generation Rate is increased by 25%. |
| B | Bird Hunter: When Nekomata hits an enemy from behind, she ignores 16% of her target’s Physical RES. If the enemy is Stunned, all Nekomata’s attacks are considered back attacks. |
| C | Curious Left Tail: Basic Attack, Dodge, Special Attack, and Chain Attack Lv. +2 |
| D | Sharpen Claws: When Nekomata uses her EX Special Attack, her CRIT Rate increases by 7% for 15s, stacking up to 2 times, with each stack’s duration being calculated separately. |
| E | Lucky Right Tail: Basic Attack, Dodge, Special Attack, and Chain Attack Lv. +2 |
| F | Predator Lineage: When Nekomata launches a Chain Attack or uses her Ultimate, her CRIT DMG increases by 18%, stacking up to 3 times, and expiring when she leaves battle. This effect gains max stacks immediately on defeating an enemy. |
Zenless Zone Zero Nekomata Build Guide Overview
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| Main Stat | Substats | ||
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As with all Attack Agents, building up Nekomata’s personal damage will be the main goal. There are lots of ways to scale damage in this game with things like Crit, PEN, ATK, DMG bonuses, etc.
Anomaly is difficult to assess without more testing. Nekomata does gain a damage bonus when someone applies Assault (Physical Attribute Anomaly), but her damage still scales well with the usual Crit/ATK stats.
Because of this, Nekomata will pair well with another Physical Agent to focus on Assault, while Nekomata deals more damage herself with Crit stats.
Even still, Nekomata will contribute some damage to Assault, so having extra Anomaly stats here or there won’t be terrible.
Nekomata W-Engines
Steel Cushion |
ATK: 46/684 | Crit Rate: 9.6%/24% Increases Physical DMG by 20/25/30/35/40%. The equipper’s DMG increases by 25/31.5/38/44/50% when attacking the enemy from behind. |
Cannon Rotor |
ATK: 40/594 | Crit Rate: 8%/20% Increases CRIT Rate by 8/9.2/10.4/11.6/12.8%. Attacks that land a CRIT on an enemy will inflict an additional 275% of ATK as DMG. This effect can only be triggered once every 8/7.5/7/6.5/6s. |
When it comes to W-Engines in ZZZ, every Agent has a signature weapon. You can definitely tell as one W-Engine will match the aesthetic and kit of every character.
For Nekomata, her signature W-Engine is Steel Cushion. This gives high Base ATK, solid Crit, a free Physical DMG bonus, and an extra DMG passive.
This passive will activate when attacking from behind, which synergizes with Nekomata’s Basic Attack chain. Other Physical Attack Agents won’t be able to utilize this part Steel Cushion as well, but the base stats are still high simply because of the S Rank.
If you don’t have Steel Cushion, most other A Rank Engines will suffice.
Cannon Rotor is an example of a flexible Attack Engine. The passive applies to basically every Attack Agent, making it a solid universal option. Any other A Rank Engine with a usable passive will work as well.
Nekomata Drive Discs
Woodpecker Electro |
(2): Increases CRIT Rate by 8%. (4): Triggering a critical hit with a Basic Attack, Dodge Counter or EX Special Attack increases the equippers ATK by 9% for 6s. The buff duration for different skills are calculated separately. |
Fanged Metal |
(2): Increases Physical DMG by 10%. (4): Whenever a squad member inflicts Assault on an enemy, the equipper deals 35% increased damage to the target for 12s. |
When it comes to Drive Discs for Attack characters, it’s generally quite simple. You have an Attribute based set (Fanged Metal) and a general Crit stat set (Woodpecker Electro).
Woodpecker Electro is a strong and universal choice for any DPS Agent. Fanged Metal will shine if you are specifically using Nekomata is a Physical team. This will ensure you apply Assault often enough for the 4-piece passive to have good uptime.
More testing will need to be done to see which option performs better, but both combinations of 4/2 work just fine. Woodpecker Electro (4) will likely perform better if you don’t focus on Physical/Assault and simply run an Attack/Stun/Support lineup.
Nekomata Drive Disc Stats
Main Stats
- (4) Crit Rate%/Crit DMG%
- (5) PEN Ratio%/Physical DMG%
- (6) ATK%/Energy Regen%
When it comes to Main Stats, every piece is important to further increase the damage of Attack Agents.
Crit Rate and DMG are ideal for Partition IV, since the other two Partitions can’t have Crit Main Stats. Physical DMG and PEN Ratio are two more strong offensive Main Stats for Partition V. Lastly, you have the option of ATK% or Energy Regen% for Partition VI. Both are good, but more testing will be done to see which is better.
Substats
- Crit Rate%/Crit DMG%
- PEN
- ATK%
- Anomaly*
When it comes to Substats, things are mostly the same. Crit, PEN, and ATK are all great Substats to increase the personal damage of Nekomata.
Anomaly can be a nice bonus, but shouldn’t take priority over Crit/ATK/PEN stats.
Nekomata Skill Priority
Once the game releases, we’ll update this section. In general, leveling up an Agent’s Core Passive is the most effective, as this levels up their Core Passive, Additional Ability, and Assist Moves.
Nekomata Teams
As with all characters, Nekomata pairs best with other Agents that are either the same Attribute or Faction. This activates her Additional Ability, which provides strong passive buffs.
Hoyoverse recently revealed Piper Wheel, a new Agent that is Physical/Anomaly. Piper wasn’t present in CBT, but her reveal makes Nekomata more interesting team wise. Previously, the options were quite limited with Cunning Hares and Billy/Corin (Physical Attack Agents).
However, at time of writing, we don’t know if Piper will be present upon release, or in a later update (Version 1.1). Either way, since they already revealed so many details, it should be sooner than later.
Nekomata Cunning Hares Free Team
Nekomata, Anby, Nicole
This first team is the free Cunning Hares team you get upon starting the game. It’s a nice start because it has the complete team breakdown you would need. Billy is an Attack Agent, Anby is Stun, and Nicole is Support.
This gives you a balanced team to start out with, and gives you an idea of how to team build. For the purposes of our guides, we will call this type of team “Hyper Carry.” This is because you focus on the damage of the Attack character (Billy), with the Stun and Support character buffing them up with their kits.
Mono Physical Assault Team
Nekomata, Piper, Billy/Corin
This team uses all Physical Agents and focuses on dealing damage with the Assault Attribute Anomaly. We have the recently revealed Piper who can hold the Freedom Blues set and focus on Anomaly (as is her Fighting Style)
In general, the third slot of the team is flexible, you can run another Physical Agent like Billy/Corin to stay in theme, but having two Attack Agents on the team is a bit redundant.
Nekomata, Piper, Lucy
In the future, when a Physical Support/Stun Agent is released, this type of team will definitely become better. In the meantime, the third slot is flexible. To maximize Faction bonuses, you’ll want to have your third slot either be Cunning Hares or Sons of Calydon. This limits your options to: Nicole, Anby, and Lucy. (Support, Stun, Support respectively)
Lastly, you can always forgo Faction/Attribute bonuses if you account can’t assemble these teams. Having an Attack + Stun + Support is a simple blueprint for a solid team.
Closing Words
This wraps up our guide for Nekomata in Zenless Zone Zero. Nekomata is one of the Standard S Rank Agents. When looking at Genshin/Honkai Star Rail, these characters generally get powercrept the fastest.
However, having different Agents with different Attributes/Factions can help you gain bonuses in the endgame content. Nekomata is also very new player friendly, as you have the tools to build a solid team right from the start.
With more characters like Piper, your team flexibility increases further. The same can be said for any other future Physical/Cunning Hares Agent.
Her playstyle can also be something to enjoy. You get to swipe and slash through enemies, which can be very satisfying. While she may not be one of our top picks to get out of the Standard pool, she definitely has many positive aspects, for both your account and while in combat.
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