Hugo Best Build Guide

Last updated: 22/May/2026

Introduction

Best guide and build for Hugo from Chaos Zero Nightmare (CZN). Hugo is a 5✦ character from the Ranger class and Order attribute, who belongs to the Stella Familia [Azure Merchant Guild] faction.

To learn more about Hugo check the sections below. Use the tabs to quickly switch to the kind of information you're looking for.

Update tracker

Last review update

Season 2

Last build update

Season 2

Last profile update*

15/Mar/2026

*Profile update means updates done to reviews/builds/gear within a season - showing the last date we changed anything on this page.

Kit

Review

Epiphanies

Gear

Deck & Teams

To learn more about Hugo check the sections below. Use the tabs to quickly switch to the kind of information you're looking for.

Cards

Starting Cards:

Throw Dagger

Attack

100% Damage.

Defense System

Skill

100% Shield.

Show Effects

Hunting Instincts

Upgrade

[Initiation]

When an Upgrade or Skill Card of another Combatant is used, 1 Commence the Hunt.

Show Effects

Epiphany Cards:

Fan of Daggers

Attack

[Haste]

60% x 3 Damage to random enemies.
Commence the Hunt for each target hit.

Show Effects

Quick Fix

Attack

[Haste]

80% x 2 Damage.
If in Commence the Hunt, Draw 1 Attack Card(s).

Show Effects

Dingo Howling

Skill

100% Shield.
2 Commence the Hunt.

Show Effects

Fixer's Approach

Upgrade

[Unique]

Increase Extra Attack Damage Amount of Commence the Hunt by 40%.

Show Effects

Ego Skill:

Last Resort

Ego Skill

250% Damage to all enemies.
Increase Damage of Commence the Hunt by+30%.

Show Effects

Epiphany Variants:

Epiphany cards are special evolutions for the cards you can obtain while playing the roguelike mode. Only some cards in the character's deck can get Epiphany effects. Since there's quite a lot of them, we don't display them by default - press the button below to show them.

Hunting Instincts I

Upgrade

[Initiation]

When an Upgrade or Skill Card of another Combatant is used, 1 Commence the Hunt.

Show Effects

Hunting Instincts II

Upgrade

[Initiation]

When another combatant uses an Enhanced or Skill card, 1 Commence the Hunt.
50% chance of gaining an additional 1 Commence the Hunt.

Show Effects

Hunting Instincts III

Upgrade

[Initiation]

When another Combatant uses an Upgrade or Skill card, 1 Commence the Hunt.
If Commence the Hunt is triggered, 50% chance of a random ally performing a Coordinated Attack on the target

Show Effects

Hunting Instincts IV

Skill

Commence the Hunt equal to the number of Skill Cards in hand.

Show Effects

Hunting Instincts V

Upgrade

[Initiation]

When using an Enhance or Skill Card, 1 Commence the Hunt.

Show Effects

Fan of Daggers I

Attack

[Haste]

90% x 3 Damage to random enemies.
Commence the Hunt for each target hit.

Show Effects

Fan of Daggers II

Attack

[Haste]

90% x 3 Damage.
2 Commence the Hunt.

Show Effects

Fan of Daggers III

Attack

[Haste]

250% Damage.
When Damage is dealt, 100% chance of a random ally performing a Coordinated Attack on the target.

Show Effects

Fan of Daggers IV

Attack

[Haste]

90% Damage × 3 to random enemies.
If in a Commence the Hunt state, increase Damage Amount by 100%.

Show Effects

Fan of Daggers V

Upgrade

[Unique]

At the start of the turn, 60% x 2 Damage to random enemies.
Commence the Hunt equal to the number of targets hit.

Show Effects

Quick Fix I

Attack

[Haste]

120% x 2 Damage.
If in Commence the Hunt, Draw 1 Attack Card.

Show Effects

Quick Fix II

Attack

[Haste]

80% Damage × 2.
If in a Commence the Hunt state, add 1 Hit(s).

Show Effects

Quick Fix III

Attack

[Haste]

100% x 2 Damage.
If in Commence the Hunt, Draw 2.

Show Effects

Quick Fix IV

Attack

[Haste]

100% Damage × 3.
If in a Commence the Hunt state, increase Action Count of all enemies by 2.

Show Effects

Quick Fix V

Attack

[Haste]

120% Damage.
Add 1 Hit for each Commence the Hunt.

Show Effects

Dingo Howling I

Skill

150% Shield.
3 Commence the Hunt.

Show Effects

Dingo Howling II

Skill

150% Shield.
If under Commence the Hunt +50% Shield.
2 Commence the Hunt.

Show Effects

Dingo Howling III

Upgrade

Upon gaining Commence the Hunt, Draw 1 Attack card(s) (1 per turn).

Show Effects

Dingo Howling IV

Skill

2 Commence the Hunt.
Combo: Add another 2 Commence the Hunt.

Show Effects

Dingo Howling V

Skill

2 Commence the Hunt.
Draw 2 attack card(s).

Show Effects

Potential

Epiphany Bonus

Potential 1

When entering Chaos, obtain 1 random Rare Card with an activated Epiphany.

Basic Card Upgrade

Potential 2

Increase Damage, Shield, and Healing Amounts of Basic Cards by 2/20%.

Common Card Upgrade

Potential 3

Increase Damage, Shield, and Healing Amounts of Common Cards by 2/20%.

3-1

Basic Card Proficiency

Potential 3-1

When you play a Throw Dagger card, 50% chance to gain 1 Commence the Hunt.

Unique Card Upgrade

Potential 4

Increase Damage, Shield, and Healing Amounts of Unique Cards by 2/20%.

Critical Damage Proficiency

Potential 5

+2.4/12% Critical Damage.

5-1

Basic Card Proficiency

Potential 5-1

+5% Damage for Hugo's Dagger Throw.
If Hugo's Attack is greater than 500, an additional +5% to that value.

5-2

Divine Epiphany Adaptation

Potential 5-2

Increases the chance for a Divine Epiphany to appear by 25%.

Critical Chance Proficiency

Potential 6

+2/10% Critical Chance.

Unique Stat Upgrade

Potential 7

If Hugo's Attack is greater than 700, +4% Additional Damage.
For every 50 Attack exceeding that value, +1% (up to an additional +8%).

Manifest Ego (dupes)

Sleeping Memory

Manifest Ego 1

+10% to the Damage Amount Increase effect of Commence the Hunt for the Fixer's Approach Card.

Awakening Memory

Manifest Ego 2

For every 2 times Commence the Hunt is activated, deal 40% x 2 Extra Damage to random enemies.
If the same target is attacked, gain 1 Commence the Hunt. This effect activates once per turn.

Vivid Memory

Manifest Ego 3

When using Last Resort card, the max stacks of Commence the Hunt increases by 1.

Inner Memory

Manifest Ego 4

Whenever Commence the Hunt is triggered, gain 1 Arbiter's Wrath.
Arbiter's Wrath: For 1 turn(s), Hugo's damage +10% (Max 4 stacks).

Complete Memory

Manifest Ego 5

Increase the level of [Basic Card Upgrade], [Unique Card Upgrade], and [Common Card Upgrade] in Potentials by 3.

Liberated Memory

Manifest Ego 6

At the start of the turn, apply 1 Hunting Mark to a random enemy.
Hunting Mark: When hit by the effect of Commence the Hunt gain 1 Morale for 1 turn.
Removed when triggered or when Hunting Mark is applied to another target.

Stats (level 60)

320

DEF

146

ATK

505

Gallery

Voice Actors

Eui Joo Rim

jpn

Yuichi Nakamura

Introduction

Performance Profile

Damage [5/5]

AP Efficiency [4/5]

Draw [4/5]

Utility [1/5]

Hugo is a Ranger class Combatant who belongs to the Order attribute, who teams up with his allies to deal damage with Extra Attacks whenever a targeting Attack Card is used.

Hugo's Signature mechanic is called "Commence the Hunt". Commence the Hunt can stack up to 5 times, gaining stacks whenever an Upgrade or Skill card of another Combatant is used whilst under the effect of his own "Hunting Instincts" Upgrade card or via multiple of his own cards. Whenever a targeting Attack Card is used, Hugo will launch his own Extra Attack to that same target, dealing 50% Extra Attack Damage, which increases by 30% damage per stack of Commence the Hunt owned.

Hugo can function as a Primary DPS or a Sub-DPS thanks to being able to passively generate Commence the Hunt from other units using cards. Hugo is looking to be paired with other units that have low-cost targeting Attack Cards to ensure you're using as many Hunt stacks per turn as possible to maximize damage.

Hugo greatly benefits from Morale due to the number of attacks he can potentially launch at his enemies, best pairing him with units who can provide consistent Morale. He also requires a decent amount of Skill cards in his teammates' decks to ensure he can maintain as many Hunt stacks as possible.

As Hugo does heavily rely on his Upgrade cards to get going, he can require a bit of upfront AP investment to ensure he can function as effectively as he can. Hugo also lacks AoE damage outside of his Ego skill, but makes up for it with his huge single-target damage.

Playing Hugo efficiently is all about balancing your Commence the Hunt stacks to deal as much damage as possible, weaving in various Skill Cards and Attack Cards to ensure you're not Overcapping your Hunt stacks.

Pros & Cons

Pros

Absurd sustained single target damage throughout the entire fight.
Strong built-in scaling thanks to Commence the Hunt stacking damage multiplier.
Incredible Card Draw options for a DPS.
Upgrade-based playstyle - can operate without needing to draw specific combo pieces after being initially established.

Cons

Limited AoE, only accessible via Ego Skill.
Must be paired with allies that attack frequently to maximize Commence the Hunt triggers.
Commence the Hunt does not trigger unless the abilities target.

Ratings

The ratings below are based on the Season Save Data, Chaos Manifestation, and Great Rift modes. Each of the modes values different mechanics, so some characters may shine in one of them, while being underwhelming in the other.

Chaos Mode

Season Save Data

Great Rift

Key Mechanics

Commence the Hunt: Hugo’s unique mechanic, Commence the Hunt, is a stackable buff that allows him to trigger Additional Attacks each time a card that targets a single enemy is used by him or allies (AoE and randomly targeting abilities do not work). Commence the Hunt is gained via the majority of Hugo’s cards and is stackable up to 5 times and after it’s triggered, Commence the Hunt’s stack size is reduced by 1. When triggered, it deals 50% of Hugo’s ATK plus an extra 30% per stack up to 200%.

Tip: Something that’s important to know is that all the damage, including the stack damage, is base damage, meaning it is multiplied by multiplicative +% damage bonuses.

Potential

Hugo’s Signature Potentials offer significant damage boosts as well as some additional functionality, making them a high priority to unlock.

3-1: Adds a 50% chance to gain Commence the Hunt when using Hugo’s Basic Attack Throw Dagger, helping with stack generation in Zero System runs. Not too relevant in endgame builds though.
5-1: Increases Throw Dagger’s base damage multiplier by +5% and if ATK is higher than 500, an additional +5% is added. Also not hugely impactful in endgame Hugo decks and is more for early Zero System power.
7: Improves the Additional Damage multiplier by +4% while Hugo’s ATK is 700 or higher. Also grants an extra +1% for every 50 ATK over that, up to 8%. A nice damage boost overall and definitely worth picking up.

Dupes Review

Base

Base performance of the character.

101.42%

Ego 1

Hugo’s first Ego node increases the damage buff on his “Fixer’s Approach” card by +10%. A decent first node to unlock that boosts his damage output.

109.06%

Ego 2

His second Ego point is a passive buff that activates once per turn. For every 2 times Commence the Hunt is activated, Hugo deals 40% Extra Attack Damage twice to random enemies. If hitting the same enemy twice, Hugo gains 1 stack of Commence the Hunt. A great second node for Hugo that allows him to maintain his Hunt stacks without generating them via Skill cards and also provides some extra damage for free.

111.03%

Ego 3

His third Ego node provides an additional effect to his Ego Skill “Last Resort”. When used, it will also increase the maximum amount of Commence the Hunt stacks he can hold by 1. This is a great unlock for Hugo’s Ego Skill, increasing the value provided and further increasing his Potential damage output.

120.72%

Ego 4

The fourth unlock for Hugo’s Ego is a passive effect that grants Hugo a buff whenever Commence the Hunt is triggered. When triggered, Hugo gains 1 stack of Arbiter’s Wrath for the turn, up to a maximum of 4 stacks. Hugo’s damage is increased by +10% per stack. A very easy to maintain buff that again, further elevates Hugo’s damage output.

120.85%

Ego 5

This node increases the base and maximum level of their [Basic Card Upgrade], [Unique Card Upgrade] and [Common Card Upgrade] Potentials by 3. This node is less impactful on Hugo compared to some other characters, as the majority of their damage source is coming from their Extra Attacks and not directly from their Attack Cards.

125.70%

Ego 6

Hugo’s final unlock is another passive effect that kicks in at the start of each turn, applying “Hunting Mark 1” to a random enemy. When an enemy affected by this debuff is hit by the effect of Commence the Hunt, gain 1 Morale for 1 turn and the debuff will be removed. This is a decent final node for Hugo that provides his team with Morale, but as it only generates a single stack once per turn, it’s not a game-changer but simply a nice added effect.

Cards & Ego Skill

Last Resort

Ego Skill

250% Damage to all enemies.
Increase Damage of Commence the Hunt by+30%.

Show Effects

Last Resort

Costs 6 EP, deals a large amount of AoE damage and applies a permanent 30% damage boost to all Commence the Hunt damage on use. It should be used as early as possible to activate the buff to maximize Hugo’s damage output.

Throw Dagger

Attack

100% Damage.

Throw Dagger

Hugo’s Basic Attack starts standard, but can be upgraded via Potentials to have a 50% chance to grant a stack of Commence the Hunt, boosting its value in the early game. Despite this, it is still a target for removal in endgame Hugo builds, but is still serviceable in Zero System.

Defense System

Skill

100% Shield.

Show Effects

Defense System

Hugo’s basic shield is completely standard and doesn't have any extra synergy with his kit, a high-priority target for removal.

Hunting Instincts

Upgrade

[Initiation]

When an Upgrade or Skill Card of another Combatant is used, 1 Commence the Hunt.

Show Effects

Hunting Instincts

A 1 AP Upgrade with [Initiation], meaning it will start in your hand. This is the main way Hugo maintains high Commence the Hunt stacks. After activation, whenever another Combatant’s skill or upgrade is used, Hugo gains 1 Commence the Hunt. This card is the backbone of all of Hugo’s best builds, with many aiming for multiple copies to make maintaining high Commence the Hunt effortless.

Fan of Daggers

Attack

[Haste]

60% x 3 Damage to random enemies.
Commence the Hunt for each target hit.

Show Effects

Fan of Daggers

Fan of daggers is a 3-hit random targeting ability that grants Commence the Hunt stacks equal to the number of enemies hit. A good way to accumulate stacks early on in Zero System runs, but not a core part of Hugo’s best endgame builds.

Quick Fix

Attack

[Haste]

80% x 2 Damage.
If in Commence the Hunt, Draw 1 Attack Card(s).

Show Effects

Quick Fix

A single targeted attack that hits twice and if Commence the Hunt is active, draws an Attack Card from the deck. Hugo’s best personal Commence the Hunt trigger card, which replaces itself on use, making it a staple include and high upgrade priority in most Hugo decks.

Dingo Howling

Skill

100% Shield.
2 Commence the Hunt.

Show Effects

Dingo Howling

An enhanced shielding Card that shields and grants 2 Commence the Hunt on use. Not a must-have at baseline, but it gains some incredibly powerful Epiphany options, making it a strong inclusion in Hugo’s best strategies.

Fixer's Approach

Upgrade

[Unique]

Increase Extra Attack Damage Amount of Commence the Hunt by 40%.

Show Effects

Fixer's Approach

Another Upgrade card for Hugo, this time with the [Unique] Tag. While active, it increases the damage of Commence the Hunt Extra Attacks multiplicatively by +40%. An excellent damage increase to a major part of Hugo’s total damage output. Note: Here is how it works with max Commence the Hunt Stacks and no other multipliers. (50% + 150%) x 1.4 = 280%.

Best Epiphanies

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

★★★

Hunting Instincts I

Upgrade

[Initiation]

When an Upgrade or Skill Card of another Combatant is used, 1 Commence the Hunt.

Show Effects

★★★

Hunting Instincts II

Upgrade

[Initiation]

When another combatant uses an Enhanced or Skill card, 1 Commence the Hunt.
50% chance of gaining an additional 1 Commence the Hunt.

Show Effects

★★★★

Hunting Instincts III

Upgrade

[Initiation]

When another Combatant uses an Upgrade or Skill card, 1 Commence the Hunt.
If Commence the Hunt is triggered, 50% chance of a random ally performing a Coordinated Attack on the target

Show Effects

★★★★★

Hunting Instincts IV

Skill

Commence the Hunt equal to the number of Skill Cards in hand.

Show Effects

★

Hunting Instincts V

Upgrade

[Initiation]

When using an Enhance or Skill Card, 1 Commence the Hunt.

Show Effects

★★★

Epiphanies:

Neutral [★★★] - Target Neutral Epiphany: Agony 2 at the start of every turn.
The Agony Epiphany on this can give guaranteed uptime on the popular 2P Agony set for both Hugo and any units he is being played with, which can be nice. However, this will likely pale in value compared to just gaining another Extra Attack, which Hunting Instinct III does.
Hunting Instincts I
[★★★] - Now a 0-cost. This is great QoL and can make it easier to build Hugo quickly; however, this will likely pale in value compared to just gaining another Extra Attack, which Hunting Instinct III does.
Hunting Instincts II
[★★★★] - Now have a 50% chance to gain 1 additional Commence the Hunt. While this is not recommended to be prioritized over Hunting Instincts III, it does have a lot of synergy WITH Hunting Instincts III (or any other Instincts for that matter) as it can allow you to cut down 1 dupe. Thus, it is worth considering Meditating one of your dupes in a 2-3 Instinct build to this, to lower the amount of Instincts you need (and free up your Turn 1 draw).
Hunting Instincts III
[★★★★★] - Gains an additional Extra Attack on every Commence the Hunt; do note this Extra Attack does not receive Commence the Hunt buffs. This is the go-to Epiphany, as it basically makes it so Hugo does 2 Extra Attacks for any attack an ally does, so long as he has Commence the Hunt stacks.
Hunting Instincts IV
[★] - Becomes a 0-cost skill that gives 1 Commence the Hunt stack for every Skill Card in hand when played. This is extremely hard to get full value out of and because Commence the Hunt stacks are capped at 5 (6 with E3 Ego Skill), it basically lowers the amount of Commence the Hunts you get from basically limitless (capped based on the number of skills you can play x2-4) to a measly 5-6.
Hunting Instincts V
[★★★] - Hugo’s skills now count towards Commence the Hunt stacks. Similar to Hunting Instincts II, this provides value not by competing against III but rather supporting it in a dual Epiphany build. However, this is more situational in value compared to Hunting Instincts II, as Hugo does not tend to play a lot of skills in most decks.

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.

Card 2

Neutral Epiphany

★★★★★

Fan of Daggers I

Attack

[Haste]

90% x 3 Damage to random enemies.
Commence the Hunt for each target hit.

Show Effects

★

Fan of Daggers II

Attack

[Haste]

90% x 3 Damage.
2 Commence the Hunt.

Show Effects

★★★★★

Fan of Daggers III

Attack

[Haste]

250% Damage.
When Damage is dealt, 100% chance of a random ally performing a Coordinated Attack on the target.

Show Effects

★★★

Fan of Daggers IV

Attack

[Haste]

90% Damage × 3 to random enemies.
If in a Commence the Hunt state, increase Damage Amount by 100%.

Show Effects

★★

Fan of Daggers V

Upgrade

[Unique]

At the start of the turn, 60% x 2 Damage to random enemies.
Commence the Hunt equal to the number of targets hit.

Show Effects

★★

Epiphanies:

Neutral [★★★★★] - Target Neutral Epiphany: Draw 1, 1 AP.
With Draw 1 or 1 AP Neutral, the card basically becomes free, which makes it easy to justify keeping and doesn’t require any save data points for the QoL (which Divines would).
Fan of Daggers I
[★] - Slightly higher base damage. The damage increase on this is negligible and the damage from Hugo's attacks themselves will almost always be vastly outshone by his Extra Attacks, making it not a high consideration.
Fan of Daggers II
[★★★★★] - Card now is a target-card (no longer random) and gives 2 Commence the Hunt. The change to it being a target card is of considerable note, since this means the card itself will now trigger Commence the Hunt – meaning it is a card that will give you +2 Commence the Hunt and activate a Commence the Hunt, which is incredibly valuable and efficient. If your deck can afford to keep it, then this is generally the one that will be kept.
Fan of Daggers III
[★★★] - Now, a target card that triggers an ally's Extra Attack as well. This can be nice when used alongside a second Extra Attacker like Selena; however, this is a rather niche scenario. Still, it being a target-attack means one more Commence the Hunt hit, which is still of significant value over all Epiphanies besides Fan II. This Epi will generally be worse than Fan II because Fan II gives you additional Commence the Hunt stacks on top of activating one while Fan III does not.
Fan of Daggers IV
[★★] - Attack receives a +100% additive buff if in a Commence the Hunt state. The condition on this is extremely easy to activate and is decent damage; however, you will likely notice that the target-attack function on Fan II or Fan III will actually net you much higher damage than the attack from this card itself, so it is not recommended in most optimized setups.
Fan of Daggers V
[★★] - Becomes a 2-cost Upgrade which hits 2 random enemies and will give you a Commence the Hunt stack for each hit. This can be an expensive Upgrade to play, especially since Hugo tends to be rather low AP-cost and thus not have high AP from teammates, but it’s a solid card that will usually just be +1 Commence the Hunt stack per turn with no downsides (after being played), if you can play it.

Divine Epiphanies:

Divine Epiphanies provide negligible value on this card; therefore, an Epiphany that synergizes with your build should be prioritized over Divines.

Card 3

Neutral Epiphany

★★★★★

Quick Fix I

Attack

[Haste]

120% x 2 Damage.
If in Commence the Hunt, Draw 1 Attack Card.

Show Effects

★★

Quick Fix II

Attack

[Haste]

80% Damage × 2.
If in a Commence the Hunt state, add 1 Hit(s).

Show Effects

★

Quick Fix III

Attack

[Haste]

100% x 2 Damage.
If in Commence the Hunt, Draw 2.

Show Effects

★★★★★

Quick Fix IV

Attack

[Haste]

100% Damage × 3.
If in a Commence the Hunt state, increase Action Count of all enemies by 2.

Show Effects

★★

Quick Fix V

Attack

[Haste]

120% Damage.
Add 1 Hit for each Commence the Hunt.

Show Effects

★★★★

Epiphanies:

Neutral [★★★★★] - Target Neutral Epiphany: Draw 1.
Draw 1 Neutral gives more or less the same value as Quick-Fix III, situationally slightly better or worse depending on whether drawing 1 attack is good or bad, which makes it a premier choice when offered.
Quick Fix I
[★★] - Does slightly more base damage. Once again, the damage from Hugo will primarily come from his Extra Attacks, making slight increases in Attack Card damage extremely negligible and seldom preferred over very strong QoL options in Neutral or Quick-Fix III.
Quick Fix II
[★] - Now hits 3 times if in Commence the Hunt, but loses its draw. While this makes the card itself do a decent amount more damage, once again, the damage from Hugo will primarily come from his Extra Attacks, making slight increases in Attack Card damage extremely negligible and seldom preferred over very strong QoL options in Neutral or Quick-Fix III.
Quick Fix III
[★★★★★] - Changes its additional effect to just ‘Draw 2’. This is incredibly strong and makes it so Hugo can act as both a Sub-DPS and a Draw Support simultaneously. While not on the levels of Veronica or Renoa Draw Support, this allows levels of draw equal to most Draw Supports currently in the game, on top of being a decent attack that can also trigger Commence the Hunt.
Quick Fix IV
[★★] - Card now does a bit more damage, hits 3x and increases Action Count by 1. While this makes the card itself do a decent amount more damage, once again, the damage from Hugo will primarily come from his Extra Attacks, making slight increases in Attack Card damage extremely negligible and seldom preferred over very strong QoL options in Neutral or Quick-Fix III.
Quick Fix V
[★★★★] - Card now does a multi-hit based on number of commence the hunt. Previously, this consumed commence the hunt stacks and was capped at 5 (so it actively hurt your extra attack damage and didn’t proc it, itself), but it now is a rather strong attack card that is definitely worth considering if you already have enough draw or are using Hugo as your main carry.

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.

Card 4

Neutral Epiphany

★★

Dingo Howling I

Skill

150% Shield.
3 Commence the Hunt.

Show Effects

★

Dingo Howling II

Skill

150% Shield.
If under Commence the Hunt +50% Shield.
2 Commence the Hunt.

Show Effects

★

Dingo Howling III

Upgrade

Upon gaining Commence the Hunt, Draw 1 Attack card(s) (1 per turn).

Show Effects

★★★★★

Dingo Howling IV

Skill

2 Commence the Hunt.
Combo: Add another 2 Commence the Hunt.

Show Effects

★

Dingo Howling V

Skill

2 Commence the Hunt.
Draw 2 attack card(s).

Show Effects

★★★★

Epiphanies:

Neutral [★★] - Target Neutral Epiphany: Draw 1.
While this is nice, its basically just a worse version of Dingo Howling V making it not a high recommendation.
Dingo Howling I
[★] - Now gives 3 Commence the Hunt and a bit more shield. The additional 1 Commence the Hunt is definitely a good thing, but probably not needed with a decent skill setup and hard to justify over the extremely good QoL offered by Dingo III or Dingo V.
Dingo Howling II
[★] - Now gives double the base shield of the base Epiphany. If you really want to build a shield Hugo, this is probably your card–but shielding is not Hugo’s strong point, nor is it a recommended build path for optimized setups.
Dingo Howling III
[★★★★★] - Changes to an Upgrade that Draws 1 Attack on first Commence the Hunt activated, once per turn. This essentially is just 1 Draw every single turn with very few contingencies. The go-to Epiphany for basically any Hugo build.
Dingo Howling IV
[★] - Now gives 4 Commence the Hunt if the previous card was an Order Card. The additional 2 Commence the Hunt is definitely a good thing, but probably not needed with a decent skill setup and hard to justify over the extremely good QoL offered by Dingo III or Dingo V.
Dingo Howling V
[★★★★] - Gains ‘Draw 2 Attack Card’ effect, enabling it to act as a Draw card now. This is essentially the same net value as Dingo III, but requires you to play 1 AP every turn (without Divines). However, it is situationally a superior Draw Card when giving Divine Draw, as it is one of the few Draw Cards in the game that can also get Divine Draw on it as well.

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, Draw 1.

Memory Fragments

The Memory Fragments & Equipment suggestions below are based on calculations we did. If you want to check the damage formula and how scaling the damage works in CZN, check this guide.

Recommended Loadout

100.00%

Executioner's Tool [2-PC]

Black Wing [2-PC]

Flex

The go-to set option for Hugo given most of his damage comes from Hunt Commence which doesn't have a cost and also isn't considered a "card" as it comes from an upgrade. These facts rule out the 4P order set and most other 4P sets from being as effect as 2/2/2 as they don't apply to the majoirty of his damage.

For more damage use 2P Cursed Corpse (if you can keep Agony on targets at all times). Alternatively for stronger Chaos starts try 2P Seth's Scarab, or if you want more survivability use 2P Healer's Journey. If none of that appeals, you can use any 2 strong sub/main stat pieces instead of a final 2P set bonus as well.

Main and sub-stats

In a lot of cases, flat sub-stats are better than percentage ones when it comes to HP, ATK and DEF. The reason behind this is that in CZN the characters stats are pretty low and you get more value from flat bonus rather than percentage one based on calcs.

Ideal

CRIT Rate > CRIT DMG

Desire

Order DMG% >= ATK%

Imagination

ATK%

Substats:

Extra ATK DMG% > CRIT Rate% = CRIT DMG% > ATK > ATK%

Getting as close to maxing out Hugo's Potential 7 as possible is incredibly important for pushing his damage as high as you can. As a starting point, aim to hit at least 701 ATK to activate its initial effect, but after that, try to push it as high as you can without sacrificing optimal main stats or too many sub stats. It's very unlikely you'll be able to fully cap out this passive, as it requires 1100 ATK, but each breakpoint of 50 is a nice damage increase for Hugo.

Partners

Our best Partner recommendation try to balance both the raw damage boost they provide based on our calculations with the additional utility provided by the skill - combined with how it interacts with the character's kit. We have rated each Partner based on how much additional damage and the utility they provide. Read the comments under each Partner to better understand our reasoning.

No calculations in Chaos Zero Nightmare are completely accurate for all scenarios, including the ones below. What team, decks, epiphanies, gear, equipment, and enemies you're facing all impact them. Because of this, take the results as guidelines and combine them with the explanations to make your decisions. Calculations use endgame save data set-ups, including 5 turns of combat using the whole deck with all Ego skills unless otherwise stated.

5 Turns 138.02%

Tina(E4)

5 Turns 122.00%

Tina(E0)

5 Turns 117.04%

Solia(E4)

5 Turns 108.60%

Rosaria(E4)

5 Turns 106.71%

Solia(E0)

5 Turns 100.01%

Rosaria(E0)

5 Turns 100.00%

Nakia(E4)

Equipment

In the Zero System, it's incredibly easy to access all items acquirable via the shop thanks to the five free refreshes you get each shop node - that's why the recommendations below are limited to them only. ATTENTION! Area-specific items can sometimes be more powerful than shop items, but are far less consistent to get or require running a specific world or giving up certain event options. Use the shop list as a starting point for building up your deck saves.

The equipment recommendations are based on items obtainable in Season 2’s Chaos - Burning Life. If you’re running content outside of Season 2, it’s possible some options may not be available for acquisition, or that other options not obtainable in Burning Life may be better.

We're currently working on updating all builds for Season 3.

Weapon

DPS

Intellect of Discord
Second Method
Dagger That Tricked the Shadow
Sword Reflected in the Lake
Obsidian Sword

Support

Tentacles of Chaos

Armor

DPS

Fairy King's Crown
Mask of Flames

Support

Star-Lit Cloak
Vine Camouflage

Trinket

DPS

Amorphous Cube
Quantum Collector

Support

Sphere of Randomness

Comments - Weapons

Intellect of Discord
- Offers a huge 18% Combat Attack passively which for most Attack scalers makes this weapon the defacto best in slot weapon if you're able to acquire it alongside the correct save and don't have another better Mythic equipment options.
Second Method
- A generically strong and accessible legendary equipment for all combatants that deal the majority of their damage via Extra Attacks thanks to its +35% (Additive) Extra Attack bonus. Usually never best in slot, but always an acceptable pick-up for how common it is to find.
Dagger That Tricked the Shadow
- 12% Crit DMG is always a competitive option if you can find it in your runs and nothing better turns up or is required for your build.
Sword Reflected in the Lake
- A generic weapon that provides a large 25% (Multiplicative) damage boost but only while you hold 6 cards or more. This is a strong legendary equipment providing you can satisfy its conditions while using the majority of your highest damaging abilities, but this is much easier said than done making it only situationally good in certain decks.
Obsidian Sword
- Very easy to find and grants 12% (Multiplicative) damage to everything. It's never the best, but if you have nothing else you should definitely grab it.
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.

Comments - Armor

Fairy King's Crown
- The Crit Rate this armour provides is almost always in demand and a competitive option making it a piece worth seeking out unless you're able to obtain better more specialized options.
Mask of Flames
- Provides a 35% (Multiplicative) damage boost against enemies which are vulnerable. Powerful on characters that value multiplicative damage boosts (less so on those that don't) but only so long as you can consistently keep Vulnerable applied.
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

Amorphous Cube
- The go-to generic damage accessory for most characters that is trivially easy to use and always for the most part a solid addition for any character that can make use of additive damage. Wont beat out more specialized options but always a great fallback.
Quantum Collector
- Grants 20% (multiplicative) damage to the wearer any time any combatant uses an upgrade card (no limit) but only for 1 turn. In specific teams targetting low turn count kills this can be the best accessory available, but in longer fights, or low upgrade teams it loses a lot of its appeal.
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.

Recommended Build

Hugo Builds

Check the best builds for Hugo below.

Extra Attacker

Draw Hugo

Setup Summary

Character

Partner

Equipment

Fragments

No Fragments

Cards Summary [8 selected]

Hunting Instincts III

Upgrade

[Initiation]

When another Combatant uses an Upgrade or Skill card, 1 Commence the Hunt.
If Commence the Hunt is triggered, 50% chance of a random ally performing a Coordinated Attack on the target

Show Effects

Hunting Instincts II

Upgrade

[Initiation]

When another combatant uses an Enhanced or Skill card, 1 Commence the Hunt.
50% chance of gaining an additional 1 Commence the Hunt.

Show Effects

Quick Fix III

Attack

[Haste]

100% x 2 Damage.
If in Commence the Hunt, Draw 2.

Reduce the cost of this card by 1.

Show Effects

Dingo Howling III

Upgrade

Upon gaining Commence the Hunt, Draw 1 Attack card(s) (1 per turn).

Show Effects

Fixer's Approach

Upgrade

[Unique]

Increase Extra Attack Damage Amount of Commence the Hunt by 40%.

Show Effects

Quick Shelling

Attack

80% Damage.
Draw 1.

Ranger, Hunter only

For 1 turn, gain 1 Morale

Deck Explanation

Extra Attacker - Hugo is primarily used as an extra-attacker via his main card ‘Hunting Instinct’ with 2-3 copies. Basically, Hunting Instincts are used turn-1 which allows you to then make ‘Commence the Hunt’ stacks for every skill-card of an ally played. This allows Hugo to do 2 extra attacks for every attack another unit played, making Hugo especially strong alongside units who do many attacks like Luke, Sereniel and Tressa. The way extra attacks scale, also make him especially synergistic with buffers like Cassius and Rei.
Draw Hugo - While it is not common to use him primarily as a draw unit, he still has rather high draw Potential via Quick-Fix. Essentially, you will eliminate most cards besides Quick-Fix from his deck and use it to draw. It is recommended to only consider this when you have cost-reduction, as it can be extremely expensive to play without.

Card Removal Priority

Throw Dagger
,
Defense System
- Removed in basically any Hugo deck.

Conditional Card Removal

Fan of Daggers
- This card has Epiphanies that can give a bit extra Commence the Hunt, if you need it, but it tends to be removed because Hugo has other ways to circumvent his commence the hunt needs quite easily.

Card Copying Priority

Hunting Instincts
- This is copied based on how many you need to reliably have 100% up-time on your Commence the Hunt for attacks played by the carry you are playing him with. This can be very build-dependent so it is generally recommended to have an idea of the number of skill cards your allies will be able to play in the team, since saving your hand-space from extra Hunting Instincts turn-1 can increase Hugo’s ability to be played well in turn-1 scenarios drastically.
Quick Fix
- This is copied when you want Hugo to be doing more draw and is generally the secondary copy choice when you have copied your Hunting Instinct the desired number of times.

Best Synergies

Luke

He can do a large quantity of attacks (around 25-30 a turn), which allows him to drive Hugo’s many Extra Attacks.
They are both Order units, which can have great synergy when we get access to an Order Weakness Imprint (ability to add Weakness Attack / Elemental Advantage to Order units).

Tressa

She can do a high quantity of attacks and generally does so through the use of a skill (Unsheathe Dagger), which doubles as Commence the Hunt stacks.

Sereniel

She can do a high quantity of attacks and is generally played with Selena, who also does Extra Attacking and plays around 6 skill cards a turn to fund Hugo’s Commence the Hunt well.

Cassius

Through neutral Morale Epiphanies on cards like Devil Dice or Dice Trick, Cass can give high additive buffing with little cost.
However, it’s worth noting that Cass can be difficult to play with her without Divine Epiphanies, as he generally wants cost-reduction on Devil Dice (with neutral Morale 2 Epiphany) so he can act as both draw and buffer together.
Hugo scales especially well through buffers because of how the Extra Attack damage formula works, since Extra damage% multiplies buffs as well.
Cassius can make skill cards via Quests for more Commence the Hunt stacks.

Tiphera

Tiphera can make an unchecked, absurd number of skill cards that can allow you to easily keep max stacks on Hugo’s Commence the Hunt.
Tiphera can give high AP-generation, which can allow Hugo to not be as reliant on divines for value on his draw cards like Quick-Fix.
However, Tiphera’s buffs are not especially synergistic with Hugo, so in many teams, even though she will make it much easier to play him to full value, there will be some loss in value compared to more optimized setups with buffers like Cassius.

Heidemarie

Heidemarie can activate Hugo commence the Hunt stacks at max value for a total of 5-hits off Sword Rain III (does not decrease commence stacks until AFTER all 5-hits are done, so all 5 get full value).
Sword Rain III is able to drive Hugo very efficiently, alongside it being a skill itself.

Best Teams

Chaos Teams

Generic - Chaos

Support DPS

Flex

Healer

Save Teams

Hugo Dual Carry

Support DPS

DPS

Flex

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Neutral [★★★] - Target Neutral Epiphany: Agony 2 at the start of every turn.
The Agony Epiphany on this can give guaranteed uptime on the popular 2P Agony set for both Hugo and any units he is being played with, which can be nice. However, this will likely pale in value compared to just gaining another Extra Attack, which Hunting Instinct III does.

[★★★] - Now a 0-cost. This is great QoL and can make it easier to build Hugo quickly; however, this will likely pale in value compared to just gaining another Extra Attack, which Hunting Instinct III does.

[★★★★] - Now have a 50% chance to gain 1 additional Commence the Hunt. While this is not recommended to be prioritized over Hunting Instincts III, it does have a lot of synergy WITH Hunting Instincts III (or any other Instincts for that matter) as it can allow you to cut down 1 dupe. Thus, it is worth considering Meditating one of your dupes in a 2-3 Instinct build to this, to lower the amount of Instincts you need (and free up your Turn 1 draw).

[★★★★★] - Gains an additional Extra Attack on every Commence the Hunt; do note this Extra Attack does not receive Commence the Hunt buffs. This is the go-to Epiphany, as it basically makes it so Hugo does 2 Extra Attacks for any attack an ally does, so long as he has Commence the Hunt stacks.

[★] - Becomes a 0-cost skill that gives 1 Commence the Hunt stack for every Skill Card in hand when played. This is extremely hard to get full value out of and because Commence the Hunt stacks are capped at 5 (6 with E3 Ego Skill), it basically lowers the amount of Commence the Hunts you get from basically limitless (capped based on the number of skills you can play x2-4) to a measly 5-6.

[★★★] - Hugo’s skills now count towards Commence the Hunt stacks. Similar to Hunting Instincts II, this provides value not by competing against III but rather supporting it in a dual Epiphany build. However, this is more situational in value compared to Hunting Instincts II, as Hugo does not tend to play a lot of skills in most decks.

Neutral [★★★★★] - Target Neutral Epiphany: Draw 1, 1 AP.
With Draw 1 or 1 AP Neutral, the card basically becomes free, which makes it easy to justify keeping and doesn’t require any save data points for the QoL (which Divines would).

[★] - Slightly higher base damage. The damage increase on this is negligible and the damage from Hugo's attacks themselves will almost always be vastly outshone by his Extra Attacks, making it not a high consideration.

[★★★★★] - Card now is a target-card (no longer random) and gives 2 Commence the Hunt. The change to it being a target card is of considerable note, since this means the card itself will now trigger Commence the Hunt – meaning it is a card that will give you +2 Commence the Hunt and activate a Commence the Hunt, which is incredibly valuable and efficient. If your deck can afford to keep it, then this is generally the one that will be kept.

[★★★] - Now, a target card that triggers an ally's Extra Attack as well. This can be nice when used alongside a second Extra Attacker like Selena; however, this is a rather niche scenario. Still, it being a target-attack means one more Commence the Hunt hit, which is still of significant value over all Epiphanies besides Fan II. This Epi will generally be worse than Fan II because Fan II gives you additional Commence the Hunt stacks on top of activating one while Fan III does not.

[★★] - Attack receives a +100% additive buff if in a Commence the Hunt state. The condition on this is extremely easy to activate and is decent damage; however, you will likely notice that the target-attack function on Fan II or Fan III will actually net you much higher damage than the attack from this card itself, so it is not recommended in most optimized setups.

[★★] - Becomes a 2-cost Upgrade which hits 2 random enemies and will give you a Commence the Hunt stack for each hit. This can be an expensive Upgrade to play, especially since Hugo tends to be rather low AP-cost and thus not have high AP from teammates, but it’s a solid card that will usually just be +1 Commence the Hunt stack per turn with no downsides (after being played), if you can play it.

Neutral [★★★★★] - Target Neutral Epiphany: Draw 1.
Draw 1 Neutral gives more or less the same value as Quick-Fix III, situationally slightly better or worse depending on whether drawing 1 attack is good or bad, which makes it a premier choice when offered.

[★★] - Does slightly more base damage. Once again, the damage from Hugo will primarily come from his Extra Attacks, making slight increases in Attack Card damage extremely negligible and seldom preferred over very strong QoL options in Neutral or Quick-Fix III.

[★] - Now hits 3 times if in Commence the Hunt, but loses its draw. While this makes the card itself do a decent amount more damage, once again, the damage from Hugo will primarily come from his Extra Attacks, making slight increases in Attack Card damage extremely negligible and seldom preferred over very strong QoL options in Neutral or Quick-Fix III.

[★★★★★] - Changes its additional effect to just ‘Draw 2’. This is incredibly strong and makes it so Hugo can act as both a Sub-DPS and a Draw Support simultaneously. While not on the levels of Veronica or Renoa Draw Support, this allows levels of draw equal to most Draw Supports currently in the game, on top of being a decent attack that can also trigger Commence the Hunt.

[★★] - Card now does a bit more damage, hits 3x and increases Action Count by 1. While this makes the card itself do a decent amount more damage, once again, the damage from Hugo will primarily come from his Extra Attacks, making slight increases in Attack Card damage extremely negligible and seldom preferred over very strong QoL options in Neutral or Quick-Fix III.

[★★★★] - Card now does a multi-hit based on number of commence the hunt. Previously, this consumed commence the hunt stacks and was capped at 5 (so it actively hurt your extra attack damage and didn’t proc it, itself), but it now is a rather strong attack card that is definitely worth considering if you already have enough draw or are using Hugo as your main carry.

Neutral [★★] - Target Neutral Epiphany: Draw 1.
While this is nice, its basically just a worse version of Dingo Howling V making it not a high recommendation.

[★] - Now gives 3 Commence the Hunt and a bit more shield. The additional 1 Commence the Hunt is definitely a good thing, but probably not needed with a decent skill setup and hard to justify over the extremely good QoL offered by Dingo III or Dingo V.

[★] - Now gives double the base shield of the base Epiphany. If you really want to build a shield Hugo, this is probably your card–but shielding is not Hugo’s strong point, nor is it a recommended build path for optimized setups.

[★★★★★] - Changes to an Upgrade that Draws 1 Attack on first Commence the Hunt activated, once per turn. This essentially is just 1 Draw every single turn with very few contingencies. The go-to Epiphany for basically any Hugo build.

[★] - Now gives 4 Commence the Hunt if the previous card was an Order Card. The additional 2 Commence the Hunt is definitely a good thing, but probably not needed with a decent skill setup and hard to justify over the extremely good QoL offered by Dingo III or Dingo V.

[★★★★] - Gains ‘Draw 2 Attack Card’ effect, enabling it to act as a Draw card now. This is essentially the same net value as Dingo III, but requires you to play 1 AP every turn (without Divines). However, it is situationally a superior Draw Card when giving Divine Draw, as it is one of the few Draw Cards in the game that can also get Divine Draw on it as well.

Hugo Best Build Guide

Kit

Review

Epiphanies

Gear

Deck & Teams

Starting Cards:

Epiphany Cards:

Ego Skill:

Epiphany Variants:

Performance Profile

Pros

Cons

Last Resort

Throw Dagger

Defense System

Hunting Instincts

Fan of Daggers

Quick Fix

Dingo Howling

Fixer's Approach

Note

Card 1

Card 2

Card 3

Card 4

Recommended Loadout

Weapon

DPS

Support

Armor

DPS

Support

Trinket

DPS

Support

Comments - Weapons

Comments - Armor

Comments - Trinkets

Hugo Builds

Setup Summary

Character

Partner

Equipment

Fragments

Cards Summary [8 selected] Compact

Deck Explanation

Card Removal Priority

Conditional Card Removal

Card Copying Priority

Luke

Tressa

Sereniel

Cassius

Tiphera

Heidemarie

Chaos Teams

Generic - Chaos

Save Teams

Hugo Dual Carry

Hugo Best Build Guide

Kit

Review

Epiphanies

Gear

Deck & Teams

Starting Cards:

Epiphany Cards:

Ego Skill:

Epiphany Variants:

Performance Profile

Pros

Cons

Last Resort

Throw Dagger

Defense System

Hunting Instincts

Fan of Daggers

Quick Fix

Dingo Howling

Cards Summary [8 selected]

Cards Summary [8 selected]