Chaos Zero Nightmare hero character tier list [Version 1.0]

Just when you thought another gacha RPG couldn’t possibly get any leverage in today’s gaming landscape, Chaos Zero Nightmare came out swinging. It turns out that there was still a little bit of a gap in this market, and it was ready to be filled by a deck-building, card-battling, roguelike dungeon-crawling tale of sci-fi dystopia which even boasts a branching story.

Unlike many other gacha titles, CZN’s launch version features a hero roster where 5-Star and 4-Star units aren’t obviously delineated by ability; there are plenty of 4-Stars near the top of the meta, and a few unfortunate 5-Stars who aren’t faring so well despite their innate advantages. With this in mind, read our Chaos Zero Nightmare 1.0 tier list for ideas on who to pull for and which teams to assemble.

Chaos Zero Nightmare 1.0 hero character tier list

S Tier

Characters in Chaos Zero Nightmare’s S-Tier are the most powerful in the game at launch. While there are a lot of factors at play and it’s not always simple to determine who’s objectively the very best character, there are a couple of strong candidates already.

Few will argue against Hugo (5-Star Order Ranger) deserving a spot near the very top of the list. A versatile DPS specialising in single-target attacks and who can easily earn extra turns thanks to his powerful passive, he’s well-suited for almost any team comp. Also vying for the crown though is Khalipe (5-Star Instinct Vanguard), a powerful tank who combines high defense with a brutal AoE attack. Some of her strongest moves can be somewhat costly, but she’s largely an easy-to-use character who just needs a good support teammate to counterbalance the riskier elements of her deck.

Perhaps the biggest surprise in V1.0’s S-Tier is Mika (4-Star Justice Controller). Despite there being a premium alternative for the healer class already in the form of Orlea, Mika nevertheless stands out as the best support character in the game thanks to her frankly OP healing buffs and bonus ability that enables AP recovery, suiting her for practically any team comp.

Two more DPS candidates round out the S Tier. Mei Lin (5-Star Passion Striker) is a single-target specialist who’s self-sufficient enough to fit into almost any team comp, although pairing her with a support who shares her Passion attribute takes her already powerful kit to the next level. Meanwhile, Kayron (5-Star Void Psionic) is a multi-specialist DPS who can stack huge amounts of damage thanks to his ability to buff himself, and can pair easily with almost any support character to enhance these effects even further.

A Tier

The A-Tier is currently the most populous in Chaos Zero Nightmare, as this game really has launched with a strong roster of units.

Somewhat surprisingly, this is where we find Haru (5-Star Justice Striker), CZN’s first limited-time banner character. Debut premium characters in gacha games are often designed to be head and shoulders above the rest, but Haru instead focuses on being an easy-to-use multi-purpose DPS with a simple yet oddly AP-costly deck, the latter factor keeping her out of the S-Tier.

Nia (4-Star Instinct Controller) earns her high place in this tier despite having relatively limited innate damage potential thanks to being one of the most desirable support characters in the game. Her ability to grant stackable Extra Attack to the entire team means she’s well-suited to almost any composition, and it certainly helps that she thus provides particularly useful support to meta DPS characters like Hugo.

If you’re looking for a suitable sub-DPS, you’ll rarely go wrong with Veronica (5-Star Passion Ranger), who primarily deals damage with her unique summons whose attacks proc at the end of the turn. In fact, no-one else has a deck anything like this yet, meaning that she’s more or less the only game in town if you want a dedicated, powerful sub-DPS.

For a shield specialist, there are a couple of good options to choose from here. Magna (5-Star Justice Vanguard) is a very powerful tank who can stack shields and debuff enemies with ease, mostly making up for the fact that her offense is surprisingly weak. Alternatively, Maribell (4-Star Passion Vanguard) has a very similar kit but with somewhat better attack capabilities. Ultimately they both work well when paired with other tanks for massive shield stacks, making them great early-game choices, even if you might want to replace them and play less defensively further down the line.

The remainder of the A-Tier is made up of oddballs, in the most complimentary sense. These characters are highly situational but nevertheless very powerful when deployed wisely. Take Rin (5-Star Void Striker), a boss killer who’s hard to get the hang of, but very powerful when played expertly – so long as you pair her with two supports, since she doesn’t work well with other DPS’ cards. Selena (4-Star Passion Ranger) is a good all-rounder with both DPS and support capabilities, elevated by how powerful her (already strong) debuffs become when she’s paired up with a Passion DPS like Mei Lin. And Tressa (4-Star Void Psionic) is one of the best early-game freebie units, whose surprisingly good DoT and general utility make her a highly suitable F2P sub-DPS option – just so long as you don’t allow her to become overwhelmed in a crowd of enemies, where she admittedly struggles.

B Tier

Usually the B-Tier in a gacha game character list is mostly made up of the better 4-Star units, but CZN doesn’t play by those simplistic rules. B-Tier characters in this game are still by and large very powerful – just held back by some quirks that make them a little too difficult to always play optimally.

Prime examples are Cassius (4-Star Instinct Controller) and Orlea (5-Star Instinct Controller), both of whom have a lot of potential as support units, and are only held back by a slight overreliance on RNG. Players wanting to make the most of Cassius will need to learn how to manage their deck very precisely, but he has huge potential to buff and debuff when played correctly. Orlea, meanwhile, is one of the best all-round support characters in the game thanks to her versatile shield/heal/buff kit, simple gameplay style in contrast to Cassius, and stacking summon powers – but, like Cassius, it’s ultimately up to the RNG and not the player’s ability whether she meets her potential in practice.

Renoa (5-Star Void Hunter) is in a similar situation. She absolutely has the potential to be one of the most effective DPS units in the game and is surprisingly easy to get to grips with, but requires a sometimes brutal combination of precise timing, optimised support, and literal luck of the draw to ensure her unique Dirge Bullets deal their maximum damage.

Beryl (4-Star Justice Ranger) has very strong potential as a DPS, tempered by the fact that her cards require multiple turns to charge, requiring both a good shield/support team composition and precise timing on the part of the player to carry off her most powerful attacks. Similarly, Lucas (4-Star Passion Hunter) is one of the best F2P DPS options in the game and a rare AoE specialist at that, held back only by his inability to stack enough bullets at a time to fire off a properly satisfying barrage.

Finally we have Rei (4-Star Void Controller), another freebie character unlocked at the very beginning of the game. Rei’s situation is slightly odd as she’s a highly versatile heal/buff support specialist who can do a bit of everything, even DPS in a pinch. The downside is that she’s ironically best-suited to buffing her own simple deck, and thus struggles in team compositions where other characters’ kits have more complex requirements.

C Tier

It doesn’t feel quite right to assign any CZN characters to the C-Tier, since this is a game where characters’ strengths and weaknesses can vary widely across different situations, team compositions, and player skill. However, a few characters have emerged as representing the bottom level of the meta at launch, even if you could argue that this is more of a B-minus type situation than a true C-Tier.

Luke (5-Star Order Hunter) is a frankly weird example of a character so laser-targeted to endgame activities that he sometimes can’t cope with the theoretically easier parts of the game, meaning that you’ll have to invest quite a lot in building him before you start to see appreciable returns. He needs very high Crit Chance to continue to create the Handgun Bullets that are the core of his DPS deck, and so before you’re in a position to reliably apply that, you might struggle to trigger his powerful effects.

Meanwhile, Owen (4-Star Passion Striker) is a freebie starting unit who’s perfectly respectable at everything he does, which includes versatile DPS options as well as shielding his team. As expected of a starter character he’s easy to use, and really his only downside is that he doesn’t excel at anything when compared to either DPS or shield characters nearer the top of the meta.

Unfortunately, Amir (4-Star Order Vanguard) – the preregistration reward character who is one of the few guaranteed freebies in the game – sits right at the bottom of the meta at the moment. She’s actually very decent as a shielder, but is far less effective at damage-dealing, and thus struggles to fulfil her intended role of a tank who can do both, especially when so many other Vanguard characters are there to replace her in your team.