The new Deadly Assault rotation in Zenless Zone Zero 3.2 puts a level 70 boss in front of a three-agent squad and asks you to burn it down fast enough to hit the score ceiling. The lineup drawing the most attention right now pairs Claret with Norma Hollowell and Alexandrina Sebastiane, and at full investment it does exactly that.
Quick answer: A Mindscape 6 Claret with a fully refined Crimson Thirst, alongside Norma Hollowell on Chief Sidekick and Alexandrina on Weeping Cradle, clears Kusarikku’s Rift Assault in 1 minute 26 seconds for an S rank at 65,000 points — 60,000 damage points plus 5,000 performance points.
What a 65,000-point Deadly Assault score is made of
Deadly Assault splits its score into damage points and performance points. Damage points top out at 60,000, so once you have enough raw output to reach that number, the only variable left is how cleanly you play — perfect dodges, perfect assists and quick swaps feed the performance side. The 65,000 result means both halves were maxed in the same run.
| Result line | Value |
|---|---|
| Rank | S |
| Total Score | 65,000 |
| Damage Points | 60,000 |
| Performance Points | 5,000 |
| Total Time | 00:01:26 |
For contrast, a much lower-investment version of the same core team — Claret and Norma at Mindscape 0 with base W-Engines, joined by Roxy — still earned an S rank against the level 70 Infernal Revenant, but finished at 36,209 total with 31,209 damage points over 3 minutes and 2 seconds. S rank is reachable well before the ceiling is.
Boss mechanics you have to answer
The 3.2 stages each gate your damage behind a scripted interruption, and none of them can be ignored on a scoring run. Every one costs you time if you fumble it, which is where clear attempts separate from slow ones.
| Boss | Mechanic and required response |
|---|---|
| Kusarikku’s Rift Assault | Chain defenses and perfect dodges during its pressure phases; swap agents to keep assist attacks flowing. |
| Infernal Revenant | Control Skill’s first phase must be avoided with a Perfect Dodge or Perfect Assist. Its Fire Rain state grants 50% damage reduction until you shatter flints for shields. |
| Integrated – Scorched Horizon | Miasmic Vortex requires chained defensive inputs to knock it down. Flash attacks prompt repeated square presses for a Chain Parry. |
The Infernal Revenant stage lists Wind and Ice as its recommended attributes, and stage buffs are picked before entry. On the Scorched Horizon stage those options appear as Sharp Rift, Corrodeash and Sunfrost. One buff seen in testing gave agents +25% Sharp DMG and +20% DEF, with EX Special or Ultimate use granting 20% Electric RES ignore for 20 seconds.
How the Claret, Norma and Rina rotation works
Claret is the damage anchor. The loop stuns the boss into Shutdown with dodge counters, converts that into a chain attack, and then spends Claret’s Ultimate inside the window. On the longer clears, Claret’s Ultimate goes off three or more times, with Norma’s mech Ultimate filling the gaps between stun cycles.
Norma Hollowell and Alexandrina are not passengers. Both are swapped in specifically to trigger support effects and chain defenses, then rotated back out so Claret keeps the field during high-damage windows. Assist attacks are the connective tissue here, and they double as the safest way to eat a telegraphed hit.
Note: in the earlier 3.2 beta build, Claret’s control skill skip was not yet functional, so runs from that period had to play out the boss’s control phases manually.
Builds used for the 65,000 clear
All three agents are level 60 with maxed skill trees. Claret is at Mindscape 6/6 with every node from A through F unlocked, which is the single biggest reason the run lands at the ceiling rather than near it.
| Agent | W-Engine | Drive Discs |
|---|---|---|
| Claret | Crimson Thirst (5-star, Lv. 60) | 4-piece Thorned Rose |
| Norma Hollowell | Chief Sidekick (5-star, Lv. 60) | King of the Summit, with Woodpecker Electro |
| Alexandrina Sebastiane | Weeping Cradle (5-star, Lv. 60) | Moonlight Lullaby |
Claret’s build page shows her core skill, Pale Blood Feast, alongside the Thorned Rose pieces. Variations exist depending on the stage — some runs pair Thorned Rose with Puffer Electro or Soul Rock instead of running the full four-piece.
Alexandrina’s setup leans on Moonlight Lullaby, sometimes split with Puffer Electro, and her Weeping Cradle W-Engine. A separate build note from testing ran her as a four-piece Moonlight Lullaby with a two-piece PEN set, which is the flexible slot if your disc pool is thin.
How to confirm you hit the score cap
The boss dying triggers a WIPEOUT flash followed by the Investigation Complete transition. From there the Challenge Results screen lists your rank, Total Score, Damage Points, Performance Points and Total Time. If Damage Points reads 60,000, you have maxed the damage half of the stage; anything below that means the clear was a damage check, not an execution one.
Runs that fall short of 65,000 generally do so for one of two reasons. Either the damage total never reached 60,000, or performance points were lost by eating the Control Skill’s first phase instead of dodging it, or by letting a damage-reduction state such as Fire Rain run its full course rather than shattering flints to end it early.
Investment scales this fight sharply. A Mindscape 6 Claret with a maxed signature W-Engine turns the encounter into a 90-second routine, while a Mindscape 0 version of the same team still clears comfortably at S rank on double the clock. Both outcomes are worth knowing before you decide how deep to pull.
