Chaos Zero Nightmare (CZN)KhalipeBuild and Guide

Note

For every Epiphany, we're colored their name based on how useful we think it is compared to the other variants. Here's the key to the colors:

• Epiphany Name - the best variant,
• Epiphany Name - a good variant,
• Epiphany Name - a niche variant.

Recommended Loadout

Other 4-PC Sets

• 

  Line of Justice [4-PC]

  - +20% Crit Chance for all of Khalipes 2 cost or higher abilities, which is a lot of them. A reasonably strong option, but notably doesn’t affect Silver Veil or Khalipe’s Ego Skill - the former of which is a large part of her total damage potential, diminishing the benefit of this set somewhat and putting it behind running 4P Instinctual Growth.

Weapon

• 

  Mutant Predator Spike
• 

  Chimeranite
• 

  Gastronomicon
• 

  Obsidian Sword
• 

  W-52 Dopamine Injector

Armor

• 

  Wings of Freedom
• 

  Fragment of the Empty Void
• 

  Rocket-Adorned Cape
• 

  Incomplete Carapace
• 

  Lush Seaweed Armor

Trinket

• 

  Superconductive Protein
• 

  Source of the Forbidden
• 

  Emblem of an Exceptional Entity
• 

  Amorphous Cube
• 

  Heart of the Jewel
• 

  Absolute Zero Tetrahedron
• 

  Hyperimmunity Hormone

Comments - Weapons

1. 

   Mutant Predator Spike
   - Grants +30% (multiplicative) damage to all damage while holding four or more cards in hand. Khalipe has many ways to retain cards, allowing her to sustain high hand sizes in most scenarios, ensuring this weapon is online most turns. Khalipe lacks multiplicative scaling in her kit, making this one of her top options.
2. 

   Chimeranite
   - Grants the wearer a +35% (multiplicative) damage on all their damage for one turn after they use a draw card themself. Khalipe can draw cards through Rally, making it possible to maintain this weapon's buff, but unless you draw and use it every turn, it won't be consistent, hurting the potential of this choice. If you don’t have another way to draw on Khalipe or the ability to use Rally each turn, it loses power compared to other options on this list.
3. 

   Gastronomicon
   - A solid damage and utility option for Khalipe, allowing all her 2-cost attacks to apply one stack of Agony that lasts 3 turns, equal to 150% fixed damage total on all targets hit. The damage from this weapon is solid enough, but what makes it a notable choice is its ability to activate the 2P Cursed Corpse memory set bonus for Khalipe, and if running her with other DPS, them as well.
4. 

   Obsidian Sword
   - Grants +12% (multiplicative) damage to all abilities. Lacks the maximum damage potential of a lot of S1 weapons, but is always active and the most consistent choice. Usually not the best, but an option if nothing else is available.
5. 

   W-52 Dopamine Injector
   - Offers a stackable +20% (multiplicative) damage boost whenever the wearer draws a card by an ability (a card that draws 2 is 2 stacks), capping out at 2 stacks (40%) and lasting one turn. Shares all the same issues of Chimeranite but requires two draws per turn instead of 1, which is even harder for Khalipe to consistently achieve, making this weapon, while powerful, tough to use on her, lowering its value.

Comments - Armor

1. 

   Wings of Freedom
   - Every time the team is hit, it grants a stacking +10% (multiplicative) damage boost for the rest of the fight, up to 3 stacks (30%). The clear best damage-focused choice for Khalipe.
2. 

   Fragment of the Empty Void
   - If you don’t want more damage or shielding, Fragment of the Empty Void is a powerful utility choice, allowing up to 3 cards in your opening hand to be redrawn.
3. 

   Rocket-Adorned Cape
   - If neither of the options above is available, Rocket-Adorned Cape is also a solid choice, giving you an extra draw at the start of combat and also 1 damage reduction stack. Depending on your needs, the extra draw can sometimes outperform the re-draw from Fragment when it comes to utility.
4. 

   Incomplete Carapace
   - If you’d rather improve Khalipe’s shielding capabilities, this armour, which offers 140% fixed shield, allows her to apply a sizable shield each turn, essentially for free. Aassuming you’re able to maintain 5+ cards in hand at the end of the turn, which endgame Khalipe decks shouldn’t be hard.
5. 

   Lush Seaweed Armor
   - As an alternative shielding option, if you don’t want to worry about hand sizes or if you’re able to play 4 or more shielding cards a turn, Lush Seaweed Armor can be a superior choice as it essentially adds +30% shield multiplier to all your shielding abilities, including Vulture Launch.

Comments - Trinkets

1. 

   Superconductive Protein
   - If damage options don’t appeal to you, Superconductive Protein is a top utility pick and can be used to gain additional momentum for Khalipe and her team on turn 1 by discounting one card in your opening hand to 0.
2. 

   Source of the Forbidden
   - When hit, inflicts either Vulnerable, Weaken, or Impair randomly to the attacker up to 3 times per turn. Having two of this equipment doesn’t let you inflict two debuffs per enemy attack, though. For more utility-focused Khalipe builds, this can be a top choice, especially if you’re not worried about her personal damage as much.
3. 

   Emblem of an Exceptional Entity
   - A +30% (additive) bonus to all abilities, making it the best personal pure damage option for Khalipe if you’re not interested in any form of utility.
4. 

   Amorphous Cube
   - Slightly worse than Emblem, but far easier to get boosting damage by +25% (additive) instead of 30%.
5. 

   Heart of the Jewel
   - Causes Khalipe’s Absolute Protection to always be cast as though it was used with 1 extra AP. This doesn’t let a 1 AP use of this ability trigger Celestial, but it does improve Khalipe’s overall shielding capabilities. If you want extra shields from Khalipe, you can consider this accessory, although there are many other options for boosting them.
6. 

   Absolute Zero Tetrahedron
   - Grants a +20% additive bonus to all of Khalipe’s shield abilities, boosting their potency by a strong amount, especially those that had a small multiplier to begin with. If you need bigger shields, this should definitely be a consideration from the shop.
7. 

   Hyperimmunity Hormone
   - An alternative shielding option that grants +25% (additive) shielding multiplier to all shielding abilities when Khalipe draws with her own abilities for 1 turn, stacking up to 2 times. Far more powerful than Tetrahedron in theory, but outside of Rally Khalipe has no other forms of draw, making it hard to consistently keep both or even one stack/s of this accessory active when you need it.

Important!

CZN is a game of randomness; sometimes you’ll be offered generic or Divine epiphanies that are stronger than a character's standard five options. In these cases, breaking the listed build can result in an even more powerful save. Adjust as you see fit!

Build Comments

Khalipe currently has two slightly different build paths depending on how you’re using her. The only difference between the styles is that one uses Rally III and the other uses Rally II. Check the Epiphany Alternatives section to understand the differences and trade-offs between the two builds.

Card Removal Priority

When playing Chaos or Zero System, most of Khalipe’s cards are very solid early in runs; the information below refers to endgame min-maxed Khalipe decks. Keeping her starter cards around, especially early, is fine.

• Lashing: A low-quality card compared to the rest of Khalipe’s kit, which also doesn’t trigger Celestial. First priority for removal in endgame Khalipe decks.
• Tyr’s Vow: Much weaker than all of Khalipe’s other shielding cards, and cannot trigger Celestial. Remove it as your next priority.
• Upward Slash: A very strong basic card for Khalipe’s strategy and one that is absolutely fine to keep even in endgame Khalipe decks. With that said, it is still outshone by Greatsword Aquila in every way, especially with Epiphanies factored in. The best Khalipe decks may remove this, especially when pairing her with another 2+ cost character.

Card Dupe Priority

Dupe Priority

Vulture Ejection III

Khalipe has many good cards, but the card you absolutely want to dupe above all others is Vulture Ejection, as it’s responsible for the majority of Khalipe’s damage and a substantial part of her shielding, all while being triggerable off of other high-cost character cards. Whether you’re playing her as a sub DPS shielder or a main DPS, this is the card to go for in as many copies as possible.

Epiphany Alternatives

• Vulture Ejection: Vulture Ejection III is always generically good and the best choice among Khalipe’s 5 signature options. But there are many other fantastic options among the generic card pool that can outperform it, but are harder to track down. Keep a lookout for Vulnerable on hit and Counter Attack on use.
• Overpower: If you’re okay with giving up the extra tenacity damage, you can gain significantly larger shields by using Overpower IV instead of III. Alternatively, if you value the Weaken debuff, II can also be chosen instead.
• Greatsword Aquila: For all-around use, Greatsword Aquila III offers the best “effective damage” as the Silver Veil stack is worth ~133% DEF-based damage. But if you want an upfront benefit in exchange for AP V, it can be used thanks to its spammability through its Retrieve effect.
• Rally: Rally II is best for ensuring you have good access to maximum copies of Vulture Ejection every turn, as it can even pull copies of it out of discard. But Rally III can be used for free thanks to having Celestial, which synergizes better when playing Khalipe with another high-cost DPS, but the downside is that the card it searches won't always be Vulture Ejection.

Khalipe’s shielding is great enough that she is a solid choice in any team that can support the up-front AP costs required to trigger Celestial. Because of this, she’s fairly universal and makes for a great survivability boost to any composition with the resources to spare. With that said, here are a few notable synergies with her:

Mika

• Has a Retain and upgrade card, which, after set-up (and if held) makes cycling the remainder of her deck very quick.

Veronica

• Offers a very AP-efficient card draw costing either 1 or 0, which is perfect for churning the deck to gain access to your Celestial cards for big combos.
• Outside of her basics (which you can remove) and draw cards, the rest of her cards are all upgrades, making her deck (if built correctly) a pure draw engine.
• Deals solid damage every turn without fail, meaning even on turns you need to fully dedicate to shielding or set up, you’ll still be attacking.
• Requires no AP for herself after being fully set up, leaving it all for Khalipe.

Haru

• Has strong 2AP cost cards that activate Celestial.
• Supplements Khalipe’s damage with their own kit without disrupting her game plan.
• Takes advantage of Khalipe’s shielding to form more robust teams.

Beryl

• Has strong 2AP cost cards that activate Celestial.
• Supplements Khalipe’s damage with their own kit without disrupting her game plan.
• Takes advantage of Khalipe’s shielding to form more robust teams.

Kayron

• Has strong 2AP cost cards that activate Celestial.
• Supplements Khalipe’s damage with their own kit without disrupting her game plan.
• Takes advantage of Khalipe’s shielding to form more robust teams.

Important!

If you’re losing runs when playing a damage-focused composition either to sanity or dying, consider using a team with more defensive characters - so including both a shielder and healer. This is especially important in the Zero System mode.

Double High Cost Team

Thanks to Celestial Khalipe works alongside most high-cost DPS, as using their core damage cards will trigger a lot of her core strategy.

Damage / Defense

Support

Damage

Flex Team

Khalipe + Mika is a core that is strong alongside any character, as shielding, healing, and damage are mostly covered. Bring more damage or more support - either works.

Damage / Defense

Support

Flex

Anything