Chaos Zero Nightmare (CZN)MikaBuild and Guide

• Wave: Wave is Mika’s signature mechanic and unique resource gauge that can be viewed below the team HP bar in combat. 3 Wave can be held at once, and once fully capped, it will be consumed in exchange for 1 AP automatically.

6

Surge

Ego Skill

Create 2 Source of Water card(s), grant Exhaust to it.​

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Surge

Costs 6EP to activate and generates 2 “Source Water” cards with Exhaust on use. This EP skill is equivalent to gaining 2 AP immediately while also delivering some nice heals. Outside of the fact that the Source Water cards exhaust, meaning they won't be added back to your deck, they operate no differently.

1

Water Arrow

Attack

100% Damage.​

Water Arrow

Mika’s basic attack is completely standard and doesn't have any extra synergy with her kit.

1

Water Barrier

Skill

Heal 100%.​

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Water Barrier

Mika’s basic Heal doesn’t contribute to her AP-generating identity but scales well with potentials, making it valuable if you need a lot of healing.

0

Source of Water

Skill

Heal 100%.
Gain 1 AP.

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Source of Water

One of, if not, Mika's best cards. Costs 0 AP, heals, and grants an action point, elevating your usual 3 to 4, allowing for far more comboing and action potential in a turn. Additional copies of this card are generated temporarily through Mika’s Ego Skill.

1

Blessing of Waves

Skill

[Retain]

Heal 100%.
Increase Heal Amount by 30% for each AP.

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Blessing of Waves

Mika’s biggest healing card, which heals a certain amount but has that healing amplified based on how many AP you have when using it (scales per each AP). Also has the Retain tag, allowing it to be saved for when the healing is actually needed. Not always a must-have in every Mika deck, but potent if you need more healing.

0

Tactical Analysis

Skill

1 Wave.
For 1 turn, +50% Healing.​

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Tactical Analysis

A 0 AP skill that generates Wave and boosts healing by +50% for the turn. A little underwhelming baseline, but due to its 0AP cost and its potential synergy with the rest of Mika’s kit and Epiphanies, it's still a strong inclusion in many decks. Becomes far stronger with epiphanies.

2

Whirlpool

Attack

200% Damage to all enemies.
Heal 50% for each target hit.

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Whirlpool

Mika’s only non-starter damage option costs 2AP, deals damage to all enemies on use, and heals based on the number of targets hit. Mika doesn’t deal enough damage to take this for offensive reasons, and the healing is lower compared to other options. Baseline, this card is usually a bit expensive for something Mika doesn’t often need.

1

Deluge

Upgrade

[Unique]

1 Wave.
At the start of the turn, 1 Wave.

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Deluge

An upgrade containing the Unique Tag, which costs 1 AP to use, grants 1 Wave immediately and another Wave at the start of every turn after that. Gains significant value in longer fights but offers less in very short ones.

Mika’s Signature Potentials all primarily boost her healing, making them optional if that’s not something you need more of.

• 3-1: Offers a large healing multiplier increase to Water Barrier.
• 5-1: More healing for Water Shield with an additional multiplier after reaching 30 Ego Recovery.
• 7: A healing multiplier boost for Essence of Water, with further improvements offered for every 2 Ego Recovery exceeding 40.

Standard Playstyle

Mika is a trivially easy character to play. Almost her entire kit is either healing-based, which you use when you need it. Or AP generation-based, which you’ll be using every time you draw it, thanks to it costing 0 AP to activate, allowing you to accelerate your plays. The only nuance to playing Mika is knowing when the best time to use her Ego Skill is and understanding which cards to remove or add when to best tailor her kit to the team and content you’re playing.

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

2-PC Bonuses

• 

  Tetra's Authority [2-PC]

  - 12% defense passively, which boosts healing a good amount but also contributes to the whole team's tankiness. Best 2P option for Mika.
• 

  Healer's Journey [2-PC]

  - A solid boost to overall team survivability via a 12% HP boost, not game-changing, but will help survive large one shots.
• 

  Seth's Scarab [2-PC]

  - Boosts Basic Heal, Shield, and Damage cards by +20% multiplicatively. Strong if you’re leaving in any of Mika’s basic cards, but solid even if you’re not when playing Zero System. Mainly used because there are very few viable set options left.

Weapon

• Flex

Armor

• 

  Reinforced Combat Suit
• 

  Assault Boots
• 

  Survivor's Hood
• 

  Standard Gas Mask

Trinket

• 

  Water Drops of the Goddess
• 

  Grey Orb
• 

  Magic-Infused Sapphire

Comments - Weapons

1. Flex - As a Support not focused on damage, most of the shop weapons lack much impact or synergy with Mika’s kit. Instead, this slot is ideally taken up by an Event/World item, but if you don’t find any, feel free to fill it with any equipment you see fit.

Comments - Armor

1. 

   Reinforced Combat Suit
   - Grants a 60% fixed shield at the end of every turn as long as you have no shield before clicking the end turn button. Solid for granting a little extra sustain every turn in shieldless teams. Multiple instances of this equipment also work and stack together, allowing for up to 180% end-of-turn fixed shield. Useless when run with active shielders, though.
2. 

   Assault Boots
   - Deploys a 200% fixed shield on the 2nd turn of combat. A strong one-off shielding option that triggers on a turn when enemies are very likely to be attacking you. An okay option in short fights, but loses value in longer ones.
3. 

   Survivor's Hood
   - Offers a 140% fixed shield on the 1st turn of combat. A smaller shield than Assault boots, which, when combined with the fact that many enemies use their first turn to buff themself or debuff you, makes it slightly less appealing. Still a reasonable choice, though, and better than nothing.
4. 

   Standard Gas Mask
   - A non-shield option that grants 1 stack of immunity, blocking a debuff incoming from enemies. If you’re having no issues with survivability, it can actually be more beneficial than shielding, also stacks with other characters using it, granting up to 3 immunity at the start of battle.

Comments - Trinkets

1. 

   Water Drops of the Goddess
   - Applies one stack of the Save buff at the start of battle, which preserves AP for as long as it persists, but one stack is removed at the end of each turn you conserve any AP. Unless you always perfectly spend your AP will eventually net you at least 1 spare AP. It can also be stacked if you have it on multiple characters, allowing you to start with multiple save stacks, therefore saving AP across multiple turns.
2. 

   Grey Orb
   - An always useful option which grants you 3 stacks of damage reduction at the start of the fight, reducing the first 3 hits you take by 15%. Strongest against single-hit bosses, not as useful against many small or multi-hit foes.
3. 

   Magic-Infused Sapphire
   - Inflicts 1 full bar of Tenacity to all enemies at the start of the battle, assuming you have an Initiation card in your hand, regardless of which combatant it belongs to. A good way to accelerate breaking enemies and accessing extra AP, also stacks between multiple combatants, allowing you to inflict up to 3 bars at the start of the battle if all your characters have it. Ideal on Mika as her Deluge card triggers 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!

Card Removal Priority

• Water Arrow: Mika’s damage isn’t why she’s in the team. Remove this card as the first priority.
• Whirlpool: This card conflicts with Mika’s role as a healer and AP generator due to its high cost and, in most cases, lackluster healing. The exception to this is if you upgrade it to Whirlpool II, but even then, most endgame Mika decks aim to remove this card.
• Water Barrier: Mika’s basic heal heals a strong amount, but doesn’t do anything outside of that. Unless you specifically need more healing in your deck, this is also usually high up on the removal list if you have any save data left to do so.

Depending on your runs, you may not be able to remove Water Arrow, Whirlpool, and both Water Barriers while duplicating/adding the cards you want, so strategize accordingly.

Card Dupe Priority

Dupe Priority

Source of Water

Source of Water is Mika’s best card and the reason most bring her to the team so your goal should be to duplicate it as many times as possible.

Epiphany Alternatives

• Source of Water: Source of Water II has a huge upside compared to alternatives, but requires you to recover life or have 1 AP to activate it. If your deck is top decking with 0AP a lot, this may not be ideal. In these cases, you can swap it out for Source of Water I or other options of your liking.
• Tactical Analysis: There are three strong choices for Tactical Analysis, which have merit. The first is Analysis V, which grants 2 Wave, giving you most of an additional AP while costing 0 and being an upgrade that increases healing for the rest of the fight. This choice is strong as it thins the deck. The other options are Tactical Analysis III or II, which also grant 2 Wave but aren’t upgrades, and which give temporary healing boosts. These can be used as an additional source of AP generation, but ultimately aren’t as strong as the Source of Water, making them a little less appealing.

Mika is a universal support that can fit into most teams as an AP battery and healer, making her teams and synergies “everyone”. The reason she’s so good and universal after optimal deckbuilding is:

• She possesses multiple 0AP skill cards, which can act as combo pieces for other combatants.
• Has tremendous healing enough to keep the team alive even in the endgame herself.
• Has a retain and upgrade card, which, after set-up, and if held, makes cycling the remainder of her deck very quick.
• Absurd AP generation massively fuels any and all strategies.

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.