Zenless Zone Zero: How to use Tuning Calibrators

Tuning Calibrators are extremely rare items that can be used in Bardic Needle during Advanced Disk Drive Tuning. These items let you choose the main stat of your Disk Drive (on top of always being able to choose the set in Bardic Needle) which is very valuable for disk drive slots 4,5 and 6 which have many options.

You can purchase one Tuning Calibrator per month from the Association Supplies shop in Scott Outpost for 2000 Investigation Merits. You can earn these merits from the weekly bosses in Notorious Hunt and the stable or monthly rotations of Shiyu Defense. These Merits are very limited and the Tuning Calibrator is your highest priority purchase. 

You can also earn a Tuning Calibrator from the Battle Pass each month. 

Your first few Tuning Calibrators should be used to secure S-rank main stat Disk Drives for your main damage dealers. 

Tuning Calibrators are never used for slots 1-3. Since these slots only have 1 option for their main stat, it is very easy to farm good pieces from random slot tuning or from Routine Cleanup. Slots 4-6 have many more main stat options, so it will be much tougher to acquire the right ones without using Tuning Calibrators. 

Slot 5 is the ideal slot to target since there are 9 different main stat options, making it the hardest slot to farm. You should also match the DMG% bonus to the set bonus for your damage dealer’s element. For example, if you pulled Ellen during the launch of the game and are using her as your Ice damage dealer, you should craft an Ice DMG% piece for slot 5 of the Polar Metal set. This will be perfect for Ellen and can even be transferred to other Ice agents in the future if you get a stronger piece. 

Slot 4 is a reasonable option as well, since you could craft a Crit RATE% piece for the biggest possible damage boost at the start of the game when agents are lacking in it. (Note: if you pulled Ellen’s signature W-engine, she would be better with a Crit DMG% piece). The only downsides here are that there are many sets where Crit RATE% is good, and there are only 6 different main stat possibilities for this slot compared 9 for slot 5 so it will be much easier to get good pieces for it: for Ellen for example she could use Woodpecker Electro, Polar Metal, Puffer Electro, etc. 

Slot 6 is a good option for your later Tuning Calibrators. Like slot 4, there are 6 main stat options to choose from. An ATK% piece in the right set for your damage dealers is a strong option, or you can go for Impact% on Shockstar Disco, Energy Regen on Swing Jazz, or Anomaly Mastery on Freedom Blues. These options are great for your supporting agents but you should prioritise your damage dealers first.