Chaos Zero Nightmare (CZN)MagnaBuild and Guide
Best guide and build for Magna from Chaos Zero Nightmare (CZN). Magna is a 5✦ character from the Vanguard class and Justice attribute, who belongs to the Stella Familia [White Altair] faction.
Last review update
Season 0
Last build update
Season 0
Last profile update*
6.11.2025
*Profile update means updates done to reviews/builds/gear within a season - showing the last date we changed anything on this page.
To learn more about Magna check the sections below. Use the tabs to quickly switch to the kind of information you're looking for.
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Review
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Deck & Teams
Profile
Starting Cards:
Frozen Fist
Frost Shield
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Ice Fragment
At the start of the turn, 1 Counterattack
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Epiphany Cards:
Glacial Iron Fist
Gain Fixed Shield equal to 50% Damage dealt (cannot exceed 20% of Max HP).
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Ice Wall
2 Counterattack.
For 1 turn, Counterattack applies to all enemies.
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Frost Charge
2 Vulnerable to all enemies.
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Storm of Bitter Cold
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Ego Skill:
Absolute Zero
Ego Skill
Increases Damage Amount by 20% for each Counterattack on this unit
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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. There are also Divine variants of Epiphany cards, but we're still working on gathering them.
Ice Fragment I
At the start of the turn, 1 Counterattack
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Ice Fragment II
At the start of the turn, 2 Counterattack
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Ice Fragment III
At the start of the turn, 1 Counterattack
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Ice Fragment IV
At the start of the turn, 200% Defense-based Damage to all enemies.
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Ice Fragment V
Increases Damage Amount of the next Counterattack by 30%.
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Glacial Iron Fist I
Gain Fixed Shield equal to 50% Damage dealt (cannot exceed 20% of Max HP).
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Glacial Iron Fist II
3 Vulnerable.
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Glacial Iron Fist III
When Shield is held, increases Damage Amount by 50%.
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Glacial Iron Fist IV
Gain Fixed Shield equal to 50% Damage dealt (cannot exceed 20% of Max HP).
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Glacial Iron Fist V
Gain Fixed Shield equal to 50% Damage dealt (cannot exceed 20% of Max HP).
For 1 turn, Retain Shield 1.
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Ice Wall I
3 Counterattack.
For 1 turn, Counterattack applies to all enemies.
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Ice Wall II
3 Counterattack.
For 1 turn, Counterattack applies to all enemies.
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Ice Wall III
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Ice Wall IV
Damage to all enemies equal to Shield owned.
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Ice Wall V
2 Counterattack.
For 2 turns, Counterattack applies to all enemies.
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Frost Charge I
2 Vulnerable to all enemies.
For each enemy, +50% Shield gain.
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Frost Charge II
3 Vulnerable to all enemies.
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Frost Charge III
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Frost Charge IV
To struck targets, 1 Vulnerable.
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Frost Charge V
2 Counterattack.
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Epiphany Bonus
Potential 1
Basic Card Upgrade
Potential 2
Common Card Upgrade
Potential 3
Basic Card Proficiency
Potential 3-1
Unique Card Upgrade
Potential 4
Critical Chance Proficiency
Potential 5
Basic Card Proficiency
Potential 5-1
If Magna’s Defense is higher than 250, the value is further increased by +5%.
Health Proficiency
Potential 6
Unique Stat Upgrade
Potential 7
For every 10 Defense exceeding that value, +2% (up to an additional +10%).
Sleeping Memory
Manifest Ego 1
Awakening Memory
Manifest Ego 2
Freeze: When taking damage from Magna’s Attack Card, adjacent monsters take 50% Defense-based Damage, Freeze is removed upon the effect’s activation.
Vivid Memory
Manifest Ego 3
Inner Memory
Manifest Ego 4
Complete Memory
Manifest Ego 5
Liberated Memory
Manifest Ego 6
Enhanced Counterattack: Increase Counterattack Damage Amount by 30%.
Enhanced Counterattack is removed upon the effect’s activation (max 2 stacks).
Review
Magna is primarily a Shielder but is also capable of solid single-target and AoE damage by stacking and buffing Counter. Outside of shielding and countering, Magna has excellent access to the Vulnerable debuff and can also apply Crystallization for automatic shielding every turn. Magna has many strong cards, but they are very expensive baseline without certain Epiphanies or AP generation.
Pros
Good shielding with reasonable damage output after set-up and when being attacked frequently.
Strong access to the Vulnerable debuff.
Nice AoE potential while Ice Wall is active.
Grants Crystalization for constant shielding without needing to draw or use AP for it.
Cons
Has many expensive cards and is incredibly AP hungry.
Counter Attacks (and damage) are far less effective in fights where enemies hit not often.
The ratings below are based on the Basin of Hyperspace Dimensional Twilight game mode and the Chaos Manifestation mode. Each of the modes values different mechanics, so some characters may shine in one of the, while being underwhelming in the other.
- Defense Scaling: Like other Vanguards, all of Magna’s damage-dealing abilities scale off both DEF and ATK (DEF is more important). This allows her to improve her damage and shielding capabilities all at once, on top of improving the team's general tankiness.
- Crystallization: A stackable and persistent defensive buff that grants 20% Fixed Shield (not modifiable with bonuses) to the team at the end of the turn per stack.
- Counterattack: After taking damage and while the stack of the Counterattack buff is active the owner of the buff performs a Counterattack on the assailant equal to 100% Defense Based damage, and if the attack is completely blocked by a shield, it will deal 150% damage instead. After each counter a stack of the buff is lost. A max of 10 stacks of Counterattack can be held at a time.
- Multi hit enemy attacks trigger multiple instances of Counterattack as long as you have the stacks.
Absolute Zero
Ego Skill
Increases Damage Amount by 20% for each Counterattack on this unit
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Absolute Zero
Magna’s Ego Skill is a really strong nuke that deals more damage per Counterattack stack she possesses.
Frozen Fist
Frozen Fist
Magna’s basic Attack deals solid damage but more importantly after potentials also grants 1 stack of Counterattack after each use.
Frost Shield
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Frost Shield
Magna’s basic Shield isn’t special outside of the fact it too also grants 1 Counterattack stack thanks to potentials on use but is still one of her most important cards due to her role as a shielder and vanguard.
Ice Fragment
At the start of the turn, 1 Counterattack
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Ice Fragment
An upgrade card that grants 2 [Crystallization] stacks on use one time. Magna also gets 1 [Counterattack] stack at the start of every turn thereafter. Great for deck thinning, which helps with deckbuilding, and provides some passive Shields and damage.
Glacial Iron Fist
Gain Fixed Shield equal to 50% Damage dealt (cannot exceed 20% of Max HP).
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Glacial Iron Fist
A 2-cost Attack card that deals 210% Defense-based damage, and converts 50% of the damage dealt to Fixed Shields up to a cap of 20% of the teams max HP. A great mix of offense and defense that makes great use of damage buffs but can be a little hard to use baseline due to its very high cost.
Ice Wall
2 Counterattack.
For 1 turn, Counterattack applies to all enemies.
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Ice Wall
A 2-cost Skill card that grants some Shield, 2 [Counterattack] stacks, and more importantly converts all [Counterattacks] into AoE attacks for the turn. Magna’s main source of AoE. Very expensive for a 1 turn buff, but well worth it if you’re using her as a Counterattack-based DPS.
Frost Charge
2 Vulnerable to all enemies.
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Frost Charge
A 1-cost Skill card that shields and applies 2 stacks of [Vulnerable] to all enemies. A very powerful utility card that can boost the team’s damage considerably.
Storm of Bitter Cold
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Storm of Bitter Cold
A strong but again very expensive upgrade costing 2AP to use but which grants Magna 1 Counterattack stack every time shield is gained via an ability. Ensures Counterattack stacks are always high but can be difficult to use without giving up significant tempo. Has the Lead tag to give it a discount lessening its burden a bit.
Magna’s Signature Potentials are must haves for improving her performance in her role and for the additional functionality they provide.
- 3-1: Adds the [Counterattack] tag to her starter Attack and Shield cards boosting their power and her access to Counterattack considerably.
- 5-1: Increases the Shield gain of her basic Shield Skill card by 5%. Increases by another 5% if her Defense is higher than 250.
- 7: Increases her Justice Attribute Damage by 5% if her Defense is higher than 350, increasing by 1% per 10 points of Defense up to a total of 15% at 450.
There are two main ways to play Magna:
Shield Bot
By avoiding the [Counterattack] cards when possible, prioritizing Glacial Iron Fist and Frost Charge for maximum Shield Gain. Usually, the default way to play Magna when running her with a dedicated damage dealer. Try to remove her Freezing Fist card asap and use Magna for her Shields while dealing damage with other characters. Frost Charge can also help your main carry deal more damage.
Sub-DPS
By focusing on the [Counterattack] cards instead, prioritizing Ice Wall and Storm of Bitter Cold. Can be paired up with another [Counterattack]-based Shielder to double down on the strategy of turtling up and killing enemies through [Counters]. Try to maintain your stacks and use Ice Wall in fights with multiple mobs for some AoE coverage.
Dupes review aren't available yet. We will add them soon!
Best Cards
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.
Magna best epiphanies aren't available yet. They will be added soon.
Gear
Magna Gear guide isn't available yet. It will be added soon.
Deck & Teams
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
- Frozen Fist: Since we are running Magna as the main shielder, we want to get rid of pure damage cards, such as her basic attack. Remove when possible.
- Storm of Bitter Cold: While this card is nice to have for the extra damage, it is not strictly necessary for the shielder role aside from improving Ice Wall shield gain. Remove if you find this card to be bricking your hand often.
- If you pick the equipment, it will auto-use the card for free at the start of the battle (at E1). In that case, keep it in your deck.Multifaceted Parallel Universe Nexus
![Equipment]()
- Glacial Iron First: A little expensive for what it does, can be removed or exhausted if you don’t have the AP to spare.
Card Dupe Priority
Dupe Priority
Ice Fragment I > Frost Charge I
Ice Fragment I being a cheap upgrade, is the best card in the deck to duplicate, as it grants free shields and counter stacks for the rest of the fight. But Frost Charge I is also a viable choice for shield consistency.
Epiphany Alternatives
- Ice Fragment: For a shielder-first role, Ice Fragment I is by far the best option, as it offers the most shielding. Ice Fragment IV can be a good alternative if you are running a single-target DPS carry and want some extra AoE damage coverage.
- Glacial Iron Fist: Glacial Iron Fist V was chosen for this deck for the exhaust tag, to be used as a big burst of Shield, and then be removed from the deck for the rest of the fight, as it is quite expensive to use purely for shielding purposes. If you prefer to keep the card, then Glacial Iron Fist IV is the best option for a shielder, as most corridor fights feature multiple enemies, and it can provide a good amount of shields.
- Ice Wall: Ice Wall II provides the best shielding potential, with some counterattack synergy. Ice Wall V is also a viable choice if you need extra AoE damage and have enough counter stack generation.
- Frost Charge: Frost Charge I offers up to 350% Shield in AoE scenarios for 1 AP, making it a really good Shield card and our first choice when running Magna as a shielder. Frost Charge II can be picked if you want more Vulnerable stacks and are not running other sources of it, taking a large hit in shielding potential for it.
Magna is a universal shielder that works in most teams, assuming you can support her relatively high costs, and is able to help or single-handedly keep the team alive while dealing solid supplementary damage herself. If your team is having trouble with sanity or staying alive, trading support or a sub-DPS for Magna can be a viable upgrade. Here is why she’s so good:
- Consistent and continuous shielding all fight long with Ice Fragments and the Crystalization buff,
- Strong single-target and AoE Sub DPS potential through her counters,
- Has access to good 1 cost shielding to fit alongside other characters' combos,
- Able to consistently and easily apply Vulnerable debuff to all enemies, offering a massive damage boost to low hit count teammates.
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.
Generic Magna Shielder Team
