The microstructure and varistor characteristics of ZnO-Pr$_{6}$O$_{11}$-CoO-Cr$_2$O$_3$-Dy$_2$O$_3$(ZPCCD)-based ceramics were investigated with Dy$_2$O$_3$ content in the range of 0.0∼2.0 mol%. As Dy$_2$O$_3$ content is increased, the average grain size was decreased in the range of 18.6∼4.7 $mu$m and the density was decreased in the range of 5.53∼4.34 g/cm$^3$. While, the varistor voltage was increased in the range of 39.4∼436.6 V/mm and the nonlinear exponent was in the range of 4.5-66.6 with increasing Dy$_2$O$_3$ content. The addition of Dy$_2$O$_3$ highly enhanced the nonlinear properties of varistors, compared with the ceramics without Dy$_2$O$_3$ Particularly, the ceramics with Dy$_2$O$_3$ content of 0.5 mol% exhibited the highest nonlinearity, in which the nonlinear exponent is 66.6 and the leakage current is 1.2 $mu$A.A.A.