Chaos Zero Nightmare (CZN) Damage, Shielding & Healing Formula

Before we delve into the damage/healing/shielding formulas, we need to go over how each of the main stats - so ATK, DEF and HP - are calculated.

Here's how the formulas look like:

Final ATK/DEF/HP formulas

Final ATK = ( BASE ATK x ( 1 + ATK% INCREASE) + PARTNER ATK + GEAR FLAT + AFFECTION FLAT ) x ( 1 + PARTNER ATK% + EQUIPMENT ATK% ) + EQUIPMENT FLAT

Final DEF = ( BASE DEF x ( 1 + DEF% INCREASE) + PARTNER DEF + GEAR FLAT + AFFECTION FLAT ) x ( 1 + PARTNER DEF% + EQUIPMENT DEF% ) + EQUIPMENT FLAT

Final HP = ( BASE HP x ( 1 + HP INCREASE) + PARTNER ATK + GEAR FLAT + AFFECTION FLAT ) x ( 1 + PARTNER ATK% + EQUIPMENT ATK% ) + EQUIPMENT FLAT

And here's the explanation of the various elements within the formulas:

• Base ATK/DEF/HP is the stats your character gains via level up and ascension.
• ATK/DEF/HP% Increase can be found on memory fragments as a main stat and sub-stat.
• Partner ATK/DEF/HP are the base stats of your chosen partner.
• Gear Flat is the flat stats gained via memory frags as main and sub stats.
• Affection Flat is the stat you gain from raising your affection with a character.
• Partner ATK/DEF/HP% are the percentage stat increases that can be found on partners. These are different than the memory fragment versions.
• Equipment ATK/DEF/HP% are the three slots you can fill with gear in Chaos/Zero System runs. The % stats on these stacks additively with the partner stats.
• Equipment Flat is the flat stats granted by equipment from Chaos/Zero System runs.

Next, we need to explain how the final damage value that's visible on cards is calculated. Here's how it looks:

DMG card multiplier formula

Final Card Multiplier = ( ( ( Base Multiplier + Potential Flat Base Multiplier ) x ( 1 + Potential Multiplicative Multiplier) ) x ( Generic Multiplicative Multiplier ) + Generic Flat Multiplier ) x ( 1 + Elemental Advantage Multiplier ) x ( 1 + Vulnerable Multiplier ) x ( 1 - Enemy Damage Reductions) x ( 1 - Weakness Multiplier )

Now let's go over each of the elements within the formula:

• Base Multiplier is the original multiplier of the card before any modification at all.
• Potential Flat Base Multiplier is almost always found exclusively on a character’s signature potential nodes and directly adds onto the character's Base Multiplier.
• Potential Multiplicative Multiplier is found on every character’s potentials and multiplies Basic, Neutral, and Unique card base multipliers by 1.2 times.
• Generic Multiplicative Multipliers are found across card effects, gear set bonuses, partners, and more. Unfortunately, in the English localization, there is no way to distinguish between this stat and the next stat, Generic Flat Multiplier, without in-game testing. The key thing to know is that this multiplies the result of the above three stats.
• Generic Flat Multiplier is found in all the same places but works differently. This stat simply adds its listed value onto the card's multiplier with no concern for its base multiplier at all.
• Elemental Advantage multiplier is a bonus to the card damage you gain when actively using cards against enemies you hold the elemental counter to. It is 1.25 times baseline, but it is a stat listed in the character page that can be improved.
• Note: Non-active damage, such as Veronica’s extra attack crossbow bolts, does not get this bonus even if you have elemental advantage.
• Vulnerable multiplier is a debuff you can apply to enemies, which multiplies all card damage discussed so far by 1.5 times for a set amount of hits.
• Weakness is a debuff on your team, which does the same thing as vulnerable in reverse at a rate of 0.75 multiplier of your damage.
• Enemy Damage Reduction can be found on some boss-type enemies and elites and operates like Weakness, directly multiplying your card's damage negatively.

Note: Fixed damage ignores all multiplication, positive or negative, mentioned in the above formula and will instead simply scale as listed. While no generic multipliers work on Fixed Damage, there are some rare exceptions, but they’re always mentioned specifically on the cards or items that break this rule.

Now that we have all the important parts out of the way, we can move to the true formulas for damage. Here's how they look:

ATK-Based Damage Formula

Final Damage = ATK Based Final Card Multiplier x Final ATK x 0.35 x ( 1 + Elemental DMG% Boost ) x ( 1 + Mechanic DMG% Boost ) x ( Enemy Defense Multiplier ) x ( 1 + Crit DMG )

DEF-Based Damage Formula

Final Damage = DEF Based Final Card Multiplier x ( ( Final ATK x 0.3 ) + ( Final DEF x 2.1 ) ) x 0.35 x ( 1 + Elemental DMG% Boost ) x ( 1 + Mechanic DMG% Boost ) x ( Enemy Defense Multiplier ) x ( 1 + Crit DMG )

And here's the explanation of the new elements within the formula:

• Mechanic DMG% Boosts are special damage increases found almost exclusively on Memory Fragments. The most common examples of this are Extra DMG% and DoT DMG%, which can be found as sub stats
• Elemental DMG% Boosts are primarily found as main stat options on the Ideal Memory Fragment slot and boost a specific elemental damage type, e.g., Instinct DMG%.
• Enemy Defense varies from encounter to encounter, but it will always become more crippling the higher-level enemies you are facing. How much defense each enemy has varies, but the general rule is that harder content = you do less damage because of this. There are no ways to interact with enemy defense currently in the game.

Now let's discuss healing and shielding formulas, starting with the final multiplier you can see on the cards. Here's the formula:

Shield/Heal Card Multiplier Formula

Final Card Multiplier = ( ( ( Base Multiplier + Potential Flat Base Multiplier ) x ( 1 + Potential Multiplicative Multiplier) ) x ( Generic Multiplicative Multiplier ) + Generic Flat Multiplier )

Shield & Heal Formula

The shield and heal formula is nowhere near as simple, unfortunately. Both healing and shielding scale off of defense, but value Base and Added defense at different rates, making the math of it all quite convoluted. To put it simply, Added Defense is half as efficient as Base Defense for the purpose of healing/shielding.

Before that, it’s vital to understand what is “Base DEF” and what is “Additional DEF” in the defense formula. Here it is again color color-coded so it’s easy to understand.

DEF Formula

( BASE DEF x ( 1 + DEF% INCREASE) + PARTNER DEF + GEAR FLAT + AFFECTION FLAT ) x ( 1 + PARTNER DEF% + EQUIPMENT DEF% ) + EQUIPMENT FLAT

The thing that makes this confusing is that any defense gained, even as a result of multiplying base DEF via partner or gear % increases, is still treated as additional DEF. With that in mind, here is how healing and shielding are calculated.

Shielding and Healing Formula

( Base DEF + ( Additional DEF x 0.5 ) ) x 0.3 x Final Shield/Heal Card Multiplier