Chaos Zero Nightmare (CZN)CassiusBuild and Guide

Note

We have given a star rating for each Epiphany, showing how strong and useful it is - with 1★ being the lowest rating and 5★ the highest.

Card 1

Neutral Epiphany

★

0

Pop Eyed Popper I

Upgrade

[Initiation]

Start a random 1 out of 4 Quests.

Show Effects

★★★★

0

Pop Eyed Popper II

Upgrade

Start a random 1 out of 4 Quests.
Create Quest Card, remove Ephemeral, apply Retain.

Show Effects

★★

0

Pop Eyed Popper III

Upgrade

Start a random 1 out of 4 Quests.
When the Quest is completed, create a stronger Quest Card.

Show Effects

★★★

0

Pop Eyed Popper IV

Upgrade

Choose 1 out of 4 Quests to start.

★★★★★

0

Pop Eyed Popper V

Upgrade

Start a random 1 out of 4 Quests.
When the Quest is completed, replace it with another random Quest.

★

Epiphanies:

• Neutral [★] - The Neutral versions of this do nothing to improve the card itself and the benefits of whatever Neutral Epiphany you get will likely be outweighed by RNG elements you introduce by not taking an Epiphany that offers more consistency or buffs.
• Pop Eyed Popper I
  [★★★★] - In content where you can quickly reset, this can be equal to or better than Pop Eyed V, as both of them usually warrant resetting for the feature that the other gives. However, it can be vastly worse than Pop Eyed IV in scenarios where resetting takes a long time, such as when Cassius is used in second-phase content, where resetting requires you to go through the first phase once again.
• Pop Eyed Popper II
  [★★] - [Retain] is added as a tag and the quests no longer [Exhaust] themselves, which can be situationally useful when you would like to keep a card for a future turn, but in well-built teams will often be the equivalent of no Upgrade at all.
• Pop Eyed Popper III
  [★★★] - This Epiphany still contains the RNG elements of the base card, but it has the benefit of upgrading your quest cards to be noticeably stronger. The only reason it isn’t recommended as resetting for its ideal conditions can be extremely time-consuming and not worth it for most players.
• Pop Eyed Popper IV
  [★★★★★] - Being able to choose your quest is an incredible QoL improvement and will save you a vast amount of time that you would need to reset for the others. Thus, it is our top recommendation.
• Pop Eyed Popper V
  [★] - Never take this unless you truly love to gamble.

Divine Epiphanies:

Which Divine Epiphany to go for will depend on what your team needs and which Epiphany you chose, but here are the main ones to look out for if you have spare Save Data: Morale/Resolve.

Card 2

Neutral Epiphany

★★★★★

1

Devil Dice I

Attack

200% Damage.
Create 1 Quest Card(s).

Show Effects

★

1

Devil Dice II

Attack

[Retrieve 3]

160% Damage.
Draw 1.

Show Effects

★★★

1

Devil Dice III

Attack

160% Damage to all enemies.
Draw for each target hit.

★★

1

Devil Dice IV

Attack

240% Damage.
Draw 2.
Discard 2.​

★★

0

Devil Dice V

Attack

Draw 1.
80% Damage to all enemies equal to that card's cost.​

★★★★★

Epiphanies:

• Neutral [★★★★★] - Target Neutral Epiphany: Morale 2.
  Cassius has access to high-value Neutral Epiphanies alongside his ability to draw off Quests, combined with the card itself. Devil Dice with Neutral Morale +2 Epiphany can enable him to give +11 Morale (+3 from Quests) off of just Quests and Devil Dice alone.
• Devil Dice I
  [★] - 3-in-4 chance of a Draw as 3 of the Quest Cards have a Draw effect, but why gamble on the odds when you can guarantee it?
• Devil Dice II
  [★★★] - One of the best Draws in the game *for one-turn*, as [Retrieve 3] counts down by 1 with every use until the card becomes a Base Devil Dice effectively. Amazing for OTK, especially with Cost Reduction, but not especially strong outside of it.
• Devil Dice III
  [★★] - This can be an amazing Draw card, as it could scale up to a theoretical 10-draw per card (if there were 10 targets), but it's conditional for multi-target bosses or multiple enemies. Much lower value outside of AOE.
• Devil Dice IV
  [★★] - This one is especially great with other forms of Draw or if you need a way to get cards out of hand, since it can help to cycle cards. In well-optimized decks, it’s typically not going to net you much value over other options, but can be great in certain scenarios where bosses create Status Ailments in hand, for example.
• Devil Dice V
  [★★★★★] - The go-to Devil Dice with no Divine Epiphanies, as it is base 0-cost. It has access to +1 AP Divine and Divine Vulnerable (AOE), as well, making it an all-around amazing card.

Divine Epiphanies:

Which Divine Epiphany to go for will depend on what your team needs and which Epiphany you chose, but here are the main ones to look out for if you have spare Save Data: +1 AP (Devil Dice III), -1 Cost Reduction, Vulnerable 2.

Card 3

Neutral Epiphany

★★★★★

1

Shuffle I

Skill

[Exhaust 2]

Discard all cards in hand.
Draw for each.

Show Effects

★★★

1

Shuffle II

Skill

[Exhaust]

Discard any number of cards from hand.
Draw same number of cards.

Show Effects

★★★★

1

Shuffle III

Skill

[Exhaust]

Move all cards from hand and Discard to Draw Pile, then Draw 5.

Show Effects

★★★★★

0

Shuffle IV

Skill

[Exhaust]

Choose up to 5 cards from Discard Pile to place on top of Draw Pile.

Show Effects

★★★

0

Shuffle V

Skill

Draw 3.
If the total Cost of those cards is 4 or less, Discard them all.

★★

Epiphanies:

• Neutral [★★★★★] - Target Neutral Epiphany: +1 AP.
  Neutral Epiphanies on Shuffle have similar or better effects to Divines on it and will not cost you faint, e.g. there is a 1 AP Neutral Epiphany it can get which effectively makes it free to use without needing a Cost Reduction Divine.
• Shuffle I
  [★★★] - Because Shuffle’s primary value comes from Turn 1 re-draw, changing it to [Exhaust 2] tends to be situational. It could end up being an effectively dead card you can’t afford to play if you didn’t factor the context for it well.
• Shuffle II
  [★★★★] - This Epiphany is a pure Upgrade off the base version, allowing you to keep certain cards in hand rather than re-drawing the entire hand entirely.
• Shuffle III
  [★★★★★] - Incredibly strong draw, you just leave it in hand until all other cards are played and get 5 draws from it and a free deck re-shuffle.
• Shuffle IV
  [★★★] - Because of its base 0-cost, this can be a great option if AP is tight. Its effect is situationally very beneficial, allowing you to manipulate up to 5 cards at the top of your draw. and it has strong synergy with other effects that allow you to interact with the top of the Draw Pile, like Nia’s G-Chord.
• Shuffle V
  [★★] - This loses the [Exhaust] tag and can potentially net you a ton of draw, but more often than not, it’ll be equivalent to 3 Discards – unless you are playing with a ton of high-cost cards or some way to guarantee high-cost cards into the top of the Draw Pile.

Divine Epiphanies:

Which Divine Epiphany to go for will depend on what your team needs and which Epiphany you chose, but here are the main ones to look out for if you have spare Save Data: -1 Cost Reduction, Vulnerable 2, 1 AP (Echo V).

Card 4

Neutral Epiphany

★★★★★

2

Dice Trick I

Attack

360% Damage.
Reduce 1 Morale for 1 turn.
Decrease Cost by the number of completed Quests.

★

2

Dice Trick II

Attack

300% Damage to all enemies.
Reduce 1 Morale for 1 turn.
Decrease Cost by the number of completed Quests.

★

0

Dice Trick III

Attack

80% Damage.
+80% Damage Amount for each completed Quest (max 5 times).

★★

2

Dice Trick IV

Upgrade

[Unique]

When using Quest Card, Heal 100%, 100 Fixed Damage to a random enemy.

Show Effects

★★

2

Dice Trick V

Upgrade

[Unique]

At the start of the turn create 1 empowered Quest card.

Show Effects

★★★★

Epiphanies:

• Neutral [★★★★★] - Target Neutral Epiphany: +1 AP, Draw 1, Morale 3.
  Dice Trick has Neutral pool for 2-3 cost cards, but it effectively becomes 0-cost quite fast. This allows you to get effects like +3 Morale/Fortitude, +1 AP, +1 Draw, etc. on a 0-cost card for no Faint cost.
• Dice Trick I
  [★] - This increases the damage of Dice Trick, but Dice Trick damage is still not great and more utility-based effects would likely be preferred.
• Dice Trick II
  [★] - This increases Dice Trick damage and turns it into an AOE, but similar to Dice Trick I, it probably isn’t worth taking damage on this card over Supportive alternatives that still do only a little less damage.
• Dice Trick III
  [★★] - This starts at base 0-cost, which, with certain Divine Epiphanies like Vulnerable or AP, can allow it to be used more fluidly in Turn 1 when it can be hard to reduce the cost of Dice Trick. The damage is hard-capped, not at any significant bonus over other options, though.
• Dice Trick IV
  [★★] - This offers a non-negligible amount of additional healing and is certainly an option for a healing-based build, but it being locked to [Unique] and Quests being hard-capped makes him often not the ideal choice for a healer.
• Dice Trick V
  [★★★★] - This is an amazing option for an additional +1 Draw ¾ of the time after Turn 1, since 3 out of 4 quests have a Draw feature.

Divine Epiphanies:

Which Divine Epiphany to go for will depend on what your team needs and which Epiphany you chose, but here are the main ones to look out for if you have spare Save Data: Vulnerable 2.

Recommended Loadout

When playing Cassius as a support, if possible, we recommend building him toward having 701+ HP in the character screen so that his Potential 7 is fully active and grants Fortitude every time a Quest is activated. This isn't a mandatory stat goal, but in certain Cassius builds and encounters is an incredibly potent defensive tool.

Weapon

DPS

• -

Support

• 

  Tentacles of Chaos
   
• 

  Pale Eternal Flame
   
• 

  Harp of Conflict
   
• 

  Harpoon Case of Broken Resolve
   

Armor

DPS

• -

Support

• 

  Star-Lit Cloak
   
• 

  Vine Camouflage
   

Trinket

DPS

• -

Support

• 

  Sphere of Randomness
   
• 

  Shining World Tree Stem
   

Comments - Weapons

• 

  Tentacles of Chaos
   - Provides 8% Combat Attack to all operators in the team making it the go-to support weapon for most characters not acting as the main DPS when supporting Attack scaling carries providing the Mythic slot isn't required elsewhere.
• 

  Pale Eternal Flame
   - A potent supportive weapon card for any character ok with giving up their weapon slot for support and who can consistently generate new exhaust cards each turn in order to re-trigger this equipments effect. Grants 10% (multiplicative) damage to the whole team for 1 turn whenever a card is exhausted. Can only be acquired by giving up the copy option though making it hard to include in many support builds.
• 

  Harp of Conflict
   - A rare but powerful supportive option that grants the entire team 15% (multiplicative) card damage for 1 turn after you've both shielded, healed and dealt damage in the turn. This conditional effect isn't easy to activate for all teams, plus this weapon only comes from Arena Events in S2. When combined this leads to this weapon being strong but both hard to get and only useful in certain teams.
• 

  Harpoon Case of Broken Resolve
   - An Arena Event exclusive weapon which grants you a card every other turn which costs 0, deals some damage but more importantly applies a stack of Vulnerable, Agony and Weaken enabling many set and equipment effects while also boosting damage. Usually not a competitive pure damage option but a solid supportive pick-up for the debuffs it provides assuming you have the hand space.

Comments - Armor

• 

  Star-Lit Cloak
   - A generic defensive option usable by all combatants making it a fine supportive addition if no other options are found. However not generally as enticing as direct damage or more immediate utility options for most builds.
• 

  Vine Camouflage
   - An easy to get and nice inclusion for teams that have use for a powerful (but conditional) survival mechanic. Usually not the most optimal choice within the armor slot for most characters but if you miss no all other options is very easy to pick up as a fall-back.

Comments - Trinkets

• 

  Sphere of Randomness
   - An exceptionally powerful generic support trinket that grants both 1 draw and 1 AP at the start of battle turbo charging your early game. Is a Mythic item meaning it wont be suitable for every character, but on those who can afford to run it and don't need other accessories in this slot is well worth slotting in if it comes up in your runs.
• 

  Shining World Tree Stem
   - An option for those looking to increase the total healing output of their team. Not usually favored over more immediately impactful accessory options, but can still be a fine pick-up if nothing else presents itself.

Build Comments

• Morale Buffer - Cassius has some very high neutral Epiphanies for Morale, specifically Morale 2 on Devil Dice and Morale 3 on Dice Trick. While Dice Trick is easier to build, requiring no divines, it is generally recommended to hunt for the Devil Dice alternative as it will still give a lot of morale while simultaneously allowing Cassius to act as a draw unit. For comparison sake, this build is similar to higher value to the best Rei buffing builds while he still maintains his draw past turn-1 (unlike her) and costs 0AP for all the buffs (with Divines).
• Vulnerable Debuffer (D+N) - Devil Dice V hits in AOE and has draw 1, which makes it an extremely efficient way of applying vulnerable to enemies via Divine Vulnerable 2.
• AP+Draw Dual Support - Cassius’ ability to get AP divine on a draw 1 and make quests that draw 1 allows him to net enough draw for most teams to get consistent cycling out of, on top of him also getting 1 AP neutral on Dice Trick, which can allow him to give 5 total AP on top of his draw.

Removal

• Card
   
  Wild Card
   
  Mana Field
   - Removed in basically any Cassius deck.

Conditional Removal

• Dice Trick
   - Dice Trick is removed in many builds because it allows his draw to be more easily successful. However, it is also a center of some builds based around its neutral or Divine Epiphanies, or if you are playing the upgrade, which gives an extra Quest card. So, it is very dependent on the Epiphany you hit with it, and if it synergizes with the rest of your build.
• Shuffle
   - Much like Joker, this card is generally removed in teams that are already self-sufficient draw-wise. However, it differs in that it is valuable for turn-1 draw, so it is only removed if draw is sufficient after setup and during.
• Joker
   - Much like Shuffle, this card is generally removed in teams that are already self-sufficient draw-wise. It differs in that it is often kept for when the order of card play matters, as it increases the odds of landing the correct order by +1. An example of this would be with Selena, where you want to play her coordinated attack skills *before* your actual attacks, so Joker enables you to increase the odds of landing the correct order.

Copying

• Devil Dice
   - The go-to copy, if you have a good Epiphany on it, then it is almost never a bad option to copy; however, many of its Epiphanies can be hard to play when copied without divine cost-reduction.
• Dice Trick
   - If playing around morale buffing, Dice Trick with the 3-Morale neutral it has access to can become a 3-Morale for 0-cost card, which is quite a good deal. However, it often can struggle during setup turn-1 because it lacks the cost-reduction, or if you need Cass to double as a draw unit, since it cancels out other forms of draw he gets.

• Cassius can help her break the boss’s Tenacity Bar.
• He can give her a really high amount of additive buffs that she scales with and if you have AP Sereniel (Divine AP on Homing Laser), she makes the requirements for his build way lower than alternative options.
• Because Sereniel herself generally has a very low draw requirement in an optimized build, his low but decent net draw is typically very well-suited for her needs to a tee.

• He can create up to 4 skill cards per turn very consistently, which allows Hugo’s Commence the Hunt uptime to be easier.
• Most of his cards double as attacks for proc’ing Hugo Commence the Hunt.
• His buffs are extremely high value on Extra Attackers, like Hugo, since additive buffs are multiplied by the Extra damage% mechanic.

• Joker has the ability to target her order-dependent cards to get more value out of them.
• They both have high synergy with Sereniel, making them even more synergistic wholistically.
• Much like Hugo, Extra Attacks benefit from additive buffs even more than most other units, especially ones who do as many Extra Attacks as she or Hugo can.

Chaos Teams

Generic - Chaos

DPS

Flex

Support

Healer

Flex

Because his main healing comes from Pop-Eyed, which is still RNG, whether it gets an option that works for your team or not (without Epiphanies). It is generally not recommended to solo heal with him unless you enjoy the challenge.

Save Teams

Generic - Buff/Draw

Multi-Hit DPS

Flex

Flex

Flex

Support

Generally speaking, Cassius will be a premier option for Multi-hit DPS because of the sheer amount of Morale buffs he can put out through his high Neutral Morale Epiphany options. However, his builds can also change a lot depending on the teammate, so it’s important to consider who you’re playing him with or build your carry first, then tailor Cassius build to that.

Sereniel / Cassius / Selena

DPS

Support

Support DPS

Incredibly strong team that is very mapped out and defined, even after Cassius’ nerfs, he’s still one of, if not the, best 3rd for Sereniel+Selena. It relies on Sereniel funding you AP to play Neutral Morale Epiphany Devil Dice or Dice Tricks to get a whopping 11-20 Morale every turn. It can be hard to play around him without Divine AP Sereniel; however, it’s often harder to play around *anyone* without AP Sereniel.

Hugo-Cassius Flex

Support DPS

Flex

Flex

Support

Worth mentioning separately from generic teams as their synergy, both being on units that attack many times, allows them to backpack most units with a substantial number of Attack Cards.