1
Epiphany Bonus
When entering Chaos, obtain 1 random Rare Card with an activated Epiphany.
Loading content...
Best Build Guide
Order
RangerLast updated: 15/March/2026
Check all the starting cards & the EGO Card available for Hugo
Throw Dagger
Attack
Defense System
Skill
Show Effects
Hunting Instincts
Upgrade
Show Effects
Last Resort
Ego Skill
Show Effects
Check all the epiphany cards available for Hugo
Fan of Daggers
Attack
Show Effects
Quick Fix
Attack
Show Effects
Dingo Howling
Skill
Show Effects
Fixer's Approach
Upgrade
Show Effects
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Hunting Instincts III
Upgrade
Show Effects
Hunting Instincts II
Upgrade
Show Effects
Quick Fix
Attack
Show Effects
Dingo Howling V
Skill
Show Effects
Fixer's Approach
Upgrade
Show Effects
Persona
Attack
Show Effects
Passion Order
Instinct
Instinct
Instinct Order Order Instinct Instinct
Order Order Instinct Order Instinct
Justice Order
Void
Order
Void Order Instinct Order Void InstinctTinaE4TinaE0
NakiaE4
CRIT Rate > CRIT DMG
Order DMG% >= ATK%
ATK%
Extra ATK DMG% > CRIT Rate% = CRIT DMG% > ATK > ATK%
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.
Introduces Desire Cards. Desire Cards are cards that primarily exist to give a strong passive buff from meeting certain Desire Thresholds (3/5/7) which can only be done by having multiple ally decks also made in Season-4.
For Desire Threshold, it’s common to run 1 Claim / 1 Survival / 1 Inquiry for use in a variety of builds; however, it's also common to just do 3 ‘X’ to meet effect easier or do 2 'X' / 1 Inquiry (to keep Sample Collection as Card Effect). This is extremely dependent on ally desire cards and individual team building goal.
’X’ refers to a ‘Placeholder for Specific Desire Threshold Goal’, i.e. if you are building your team for 7 Claim then you might do 2 Claim / 1 Inquiry.
Introduces Persona Cards and Engravings. Persona Cards are powerful cards that introduce new playstyles or ways of buffing/debuffing. Engravings are effects that can be applied to both the Persona Cards and Equipment, functioning near identically to Refinements of Season-2 but with new effects.
The most common Card Engraving to take for Attack Persona Cards is [For each Lux Engraving, 1 Mark to random enemies ] or [Attunement: Decrease Cost by 1 until used].
The most common Equipment Engraving to optimize for is [When 5 or more cards have been created through abilities by allies, +30% Damage Amount to Extra Attacks of this unit (1 time per turn)]. This effect stacks. But, other damage increase effects are viable just significantly worse for Extra Attack units than the dedicated Engraving.
Introduces Refinements, effects on Equipment that allow one to get additional Equipment effects for no Faint-Cost (post-S2), and God’s Hammer, a powerful effect that gives a random copy of any other Equipment effect on-top of current Equipment but costs 10 Faint Memory and is only gained from the Boss.
Increase Damage Amount of Extra Attacks by 25%.
Because God’s Hammer is completely RNG at the end of the run, we do not have a specific recommendation since the player has very little control over the decision but for ATK-based Attackers usually ATK% gear is considered best and DEF-based Attackers DEF% gear is considered best.
Introduces Forbidden Cards, powerful cards that create new synergies and can only be acquired once per run (can be duped at one event or via save data editing).
Forbidden: Gesture of Freedom. Permanent Cost-Reduction to one card, can be manipulated.
Forbidden: Portrait of Fury. ++Draw, +Damage
Forbidden: Ecstasy of Violence. +Damage
Forbidden: Eternal Hunger. +Draw, ++AP (Ally Reliant)
Hunting Instincts
Upgrade
Show Effects
Hunting Instincts I
Upgrade
Show Effects
Hunting Instincts II
Upgrade
Show Effects
Hunting Instincts III
Upgrade
Show Effects
Hunting Instincts IV
Skill
Show Effects
Hunting Instincts V
Upgrade
Show Effects
Fan of Daggers
Attack
Show Effects
Fan of Daggers I
Attack
Show Effects
Fan of Daggers II
Attack
Show Effects
Fan of Daggers III
Attack
Show Effects
Fan of Daggers IV
Attack
Show Effects
Fan of Daggers V
Upgrade
Show Effects
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.
Neutral: Target Neutral Epiphany: Draw 1,.
With Draw 1 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).
Divine: Divine Epiphanies provide negligible value on this card; therefore, an Epiphany that synergizes with your build should be prioritized over Divines.
Quick Fix
Attack
Show Effects
Quick Fix I
Attack
Show Effects
Quick Fix II
Attack
Show Effects
Quick Fix III
Attack
Show Effects
Quick Fix IV
Attack
Show Effects
Quick Fix V
Attack
Show Effects
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.
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.
Divine: 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.
Dingo Howling
Skill
Show Effects
Dingo Howling I
Skill
Show Effects
Dingo Howling II
Skill
Show Effects
Dingo Howling III
Upgrade
Show Effects
Dingo Howling IV
Skill
Show Effects
Dingo Howling V
Skill
Show Effects
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.
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.
Divine: 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.
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.
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.
Divine: 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.