Tressa Best Build Guide

Last updated: 24/May/2026

Introduction

Best guide and build for Tressa from Chaos Zero Nightmare (CZN). Tressa is a 5✦ character from the Psionic class and Void attribute, who belongs to the Terrascion [Planet-Born] faction.

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

Cards

Starting Cards:

Dagger Throw

Attack

100% Damage.

Touch of Darkness

Skill

Heal 100%.

Show Effects

Unsheathe Dagger

Skill

Create 2 Shadow Dagger.

Epiphany Cards:

Curse

Skill

For 1 turn, when using Attack Cards, 1 Agony.

Show Effects

Shadow Reload

Skill

Heal 100%.
Create 1 Advanced Shadow Dagger.

Show Effects

Vital Attack

Attack

80% x 3 Damage
If the target is in Agony, +50% Damage.

Show Effects

Cursed Gouge

Skill

Activates this unit’s Agony applied to the target.

Show Effects

Generated Cards:

Shadow Dagger

Attack

[Exhaust]

80% Damage. 1 Agony.

Show Effects

Advanced Shadow Dagger

Attack

[Retain][Exhaust]

2 Agony.
50% Damage, +10% Damage Amount for each Agony on target.

Show Effects

Ego Skill:

Wave of Darkness

Ego Skill

Create 2 Shadow Dagger.

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.

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

The Dagger Throw card gains the effect 2 Agony.

Unique Card Upgrade

Potential 4

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

Critical Chance Proficiency

Potential 5

+2/10% Critical Chance.

5-1

Basic Card Proficiency

Potential 5-1

+5% Damage for Tressa's Dagger Throw.
If Tressa’s Damage over Time is greater than 15% 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 Damage Proficiency

Potential 6

+2.4/12% Critical Damage.

Unique Stat Upgrade

Potential 7

+4% Void Attribute Damage.
If Tressa's Damage over Time is greater than 30%, +4% to that value.

Manifest Ego (dupes)

Sleeping Memory

Manifest Ego 1

Decrease the cost of Cursed Gouge cards by 1.

Awakening Memory

Manifest Ego 2

When using the Shadow Dagger card on a target with Agony, damage is increased by +20%.

Vivid Memory

Manifest Ego 3

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

Inner Memory

Manifest Ego 4

The Wave of Darkness card increases Agony by 2.

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

When defeating an enemy with Agony, create Shadow Dagger card x1.

Stats (level 60)

333

DEF

158

ATK

414

Gallery

Introduction

Performance Profile

ST Damage [2/5]

AoE Damage [1/5]

AP Efficiency [3/5]

Utility [1/5]

Tressa is a Void attribute Psionic Combatant who specializes in both dealing damage over time via Agony and high-frequency attacks achieved through Shadow Dagger generation and spam.

Shadow Daggers are 0-cost attacks with [Exhaust], which most of her abilities either generate, upgrade or scale. Generating and using maximum daggers per turn is the goal of most Tressa decks thanks to the fact that they scale well with buffs and each applies Agony, which is crucial for Tressa’s core game plan.

Agony itself is the heart of Tressa’s kit and deals its damage traditionally at the end of the turn, dealing 50% Fixed Damage per stack of Agony, unique to each Combatant - up to a maximum of 20 stacks. When Agony activates, half of the current stacks on the enemy unit will be removed, rounding down. So when played optimally, Tressa can inflict 1000% Fixed Damage each turn via Agony, assuming she max stacks it every turn.

Where Tressa makes her mark as an Agony specialist, though, is that she has a way to bypass the standard Agony activation requirements via her "Cursed Gouge" skill.

Outside of her own damage and Agony synergies, Tressa doesn’t bring much else to the team though. Meaning the main reason to bring Tressa is if you’re looking for a DPS to play.

When aiming to maximize Tressa’s power, she’s looking for Draw Power to churn through her deck and access all her Shadow Dagger generation. Tressa would also ideally like to play alongside a Morale or Additive Damage buffing support to boost the low damage but high hit count Shadow Dagger spam Tressa unleashes each turn.

Tressa stands out as one of the characters with the highest access to 0-cost attack skills in the game, making her synergistic with many other Combatant playstyles. That aside, Tressa is perfectly functional by herself. When playing Tressa with a focus on her own kit, your goal should be to maximize Agony application by aligning Shadow Dagger use with Curse if possible. Outside of this, leverage her high AP efficiency cards when available and use her Agony payoff cards when you can.

Pros & Cons

Pros

Applies frequent Agony (DoT) which deals Fixed Damage, ignoring Damage Reduction.
Generates an absurd amount of 0-cost Exhaust Attack Cards, which are beneficial for certain synergies
High hit count playstyle scales well with Morale and additive damage boosts

Cons

Very limited AoE only accessible via Epiphanies.
Agony damage is backloaded and takes time to deal its full damage.
Incredibly high action count can accelerate enemy actions.

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.

T1.5

Chaos Mode

Season Save Data

Great Rift

Key Mechanics

Agony: Where the majority of Tressa’s damage scaling stems from. Agony is a debuff applied to enemies that will deal 50% Fixed Damage per stack of Agony on the target at the end of the turn and will then half the amount of Agony the target has, that is 20 stacks will go to 10, 10 will go to 5 etc. Agony has a hard limit cap of 20 stacks per enemy, per Combatant. If you have 3 Combatants who can all apply Agony, you could reach up to 60 Agony stacks on each enemy.
Fixed Damage: Fixed Damage cannot be increased or decreased by the usual additive or multiplicative +% bonuses.
Shadow Dagge: The basic version of Tressa’s Shadow Daggers, which most of her abilities generate cost 0 AP to use, have [Exhaust], deal a small amount of damage, but most importantly, they also apply 1 Agony.
Advanced Shadow Dagger: A harder-hitting version of Shadow Dagger, which inflicts 2 stacks of Agony instead of 1. In addition, it also has the [Retain] tag, which allows you to save it between turns. Advanced Shadow Dagger gains a +10% additive damage multiplier per stack of Agony on the target. This does include all sources of Agony, including those from other Combatants, up to a theoretical maximum of +600%.

Potential

3-1: A must-have Potential Node when playing Tressa. Causes Dagger Throw to apply 2 Agony to the target on use. This is a huge upgrade to Tressa’s Basic Attack and gives them far more value in Chaos based game modes and even some play Potential in Save as well.
5-1: Adds +5% extra damage to Dagger Throw. Additionally, if Tressa’s Damage Over Time is greater than 15%, an additional +5% is added. A standard Base Damage increase to Tressa’s Basics is welcome, but not a game-changer like her 3-1 Potential. If you have the materials and you want a boost in Chaos or if you’re using Basics in Save Data game modes, you can pick it up, but it’s not a must-have node.
7: Grants +4% Void Attribute Damage when unlocked. If Tressa’s Damage Over Time is greater than 30%, another +4% is added. This is another must-have Potential Node for all Tressa builds.
- Note: The Void Attribute Damage stacks additively with Void Attribute DMG% from Memory Fragments.

Dupes Review

Base

Base performance of the character.

100.00%

Ego 1

Tressa’s first Ego node reduces the cost of Cursed Gouge from 1 to 0. This is a solid first Ego node that removes some AP pressure on Tressa to be able to cycle through all of her cards in a turn.

103.52%

Ego 2

Her second Ego node provides a +20% additive damage buff to both her Shadow and Advanced Dagger cards to enemies when they're inflicted with Agony. This is also a decent node that provides a moderate damage increase to her Dagger cards.

104.95%

Ego 3

This node increases the base and maximum level of their [Basic Card Upgrade], [Unique Card Upgrade] and [Common Card Upgrade] Potentials by 3. Provides a small increase to damage and healing.

104.95%

Ego 4

Tressa's E4 increases the amount of Agony her Ego skill applies. It adds 2 Agony stacks to the target you use this skill on, which increases the total Agony applied from 4 to 8 total. This is a great 4th node for Tressa, which further enhances her ability to apply Agony to targets.

106.37%

Ego 5

This node again increases the base and maximum level of their [Basic Card Upgrade], [Unique Card Upgrade] and [Common Card Upgrade] Potentials by 3. Provides another small increase to damage and healing.

106.37%

Ego 6

Tressa's last Ego node now allows Tressa to create Shadow Dagger cards when defeating an enemy that is inflicted with Agony. This will also create a Shadow Dagger if you killed the target with a card that would inflict Agony if they had no prior Agony stacks inflicted. If an enemy is killed whilst they have Agony at the end of the turn, the dagger created will also stay in your hand until the next turn. A very good Ego node for Tressa.

Cards & Ego Skill

Wave of Darkness

Ego Skill

Create 2 Shadow Dagger.

Wave of Darkness

On use, Wave of Darkness costs 5 Ego Points, creates 2 Shadow Daggers and applies 2 stacks of Agony twice, for a total of 4. Not a game-changing Ego skill by any stretch, but still a solid damage cooldown to use when extra Agony generation or some extra attacks are needed.
Note: Becomes a lot stronger thanks to Ego Points that boost its capabilities.

Dagger Throw

Attack

100% Damage.

Dagger Throw

Tressa’s Basic Attack is mostly standard but becomes far stronger than most Combatants’ thanks to her Potential that allows it to apply Agony. Thanks to this, it becomes a serviceable tool for Tressa’s strategy, even though in the late game, you’ll likely still remove it.

Touch of Darkness

Skill

Heal 100%.

Show Effects

A 0-Cost Skill card that bypasses the end-of-turn requirement for Agony to activate. Cursed Gouge, when activated, will cause Agony to activate, dealing 50% Fixed Damage per Agony stack and then removing half of the stacks on the target, rounding down. While powerful, to fully take advantage of this card, you’ll need enough Agony generation to reach max stacks multiple times in a turn to reap maximum benefit.

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

★★★★

Unsheathe Dagger I

Skill

Create 2 Shadow Dagger.

★★★★

Unsheathe Dagger II

Skill

Create 3 Shadow Dagger.

★★★★★

Unsheathe Dagger III

Upgrade

Create 1 Shadow Dagger.
At the start of the turn, create 1 Shadow Dagger.

★★★

Unsheathe Dagger IV

Skill

Create 2 Shadow Dagger.
Increase the Agony effect of the created Shadow Dagger by 2.

Show Effects

★

Unsheathe Dagger V

Skill

[Exhaust]

Create 4 Shadow Dagger.

Show Effects

★★★

Epiphanies:

Neutral [★★★★] - Target Neutral Epiphany: 1 AP.
With AP Neutral, you can get similar value as Divines without accruing higher save data point cost, which can be very valuable if the QoL of either of these features is more important than the higher damage/generation Unsheath Dagger II can provide in your Tressa team’s deck.
Unsheathe Dagger I
[★★★★] - Changes to 0-cost. This is essentially equivalent to Neutral Epiphany, as it can give some decent QoL, but will fall behind in potential compared to Unsheath Dagger II.
Unsheathe Dagger II
[★★★★★] - Now creates 3 Shadow Daggers. This is the go-to Epiphany for most Tressa builds that are used to drive Hugo, or other units that can thrive off 0-cost attack spam (like pre-nerf Cassius), as it can allow for her highest amount of consistent Shadow Dagger generation.
Unsheathe Dagger III
[★★★] - Becomes an Upgrade that makes 1 Shadow Dagger at the start of the turn. This can be a great option in builds that don’t care about making a lot of Agony, such as some Vital Attack IV builds, which only need 3 Agony for its additional effect.
Unsheathe Dagger IV
[★] - The Shadow Daggers now give 2 additional Agony. This can help for hitting the 20-Agony cap a bit faster, but Tressa can already hit the Agony cap quite easily just via Curse; moreover, Agony-based builds tend to underperform compared to other playstyles post-nerfs (Season-2 Agony Changes that hard-capped it to 20-stacks).
Unsheathe Dagger V
[★★★] - Gains the [Exhaust] tag but now makes 4 Shadow Daggers. This is a great option for Hugo-Tressa OTK as it makes more attacks than any other option can for one turn. However, it will give no value after its first use, so it is not recommended outside of OTK.

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.

Card 2

Neutral Epiphany

★★★

Curse I

Skill

For 1 turn, when using Cards, 1 Agony to random enemies.

Show Effects

★★★

Curse II

Skill

For 2 turns, when using Attack Cards, 1 Agony.

Show Effects

★★★

Curse III

Skill

[Lead]

4 × 2 Agony to random enemies.

Show Effects

★★★

Curse IV

Upgrade

[Initiation]

2 Agony to all enemies.
At the start of turn, 2 Agony to all enemies.

Show Effects

★★★★★

Curse V

Upgrade

When inflicting Agony with a card, add 1 Agony to the target.

Show Effects

★★★★

Epiphanies:

Neutral [★★★] - Target Neutral Epiphany: N/A.
There is no target Neutral, but if you’re considering any option between I, II, III, or Neutral–odds are all of them will be able to hit Agony cap (20-stacks) in one turn, so a Neutral Epiphany is fine to take in circumstances you would take others. This is a decent Agony application and is worth considering if you want to apply more Agony quickly, but the Agony cap being only 20 means that most popular Tressa builds (post-nerfs) basically do not need to optimize their Agony a ton to reach the cap after 1-2 turns, even without options like this.
Curse I
[★★★] - Now works for all cards, not just Attack Cards. This is a decent Agony application and is worth considering if you want to apply more Agony quickly, but the Agony cap being only 20 means that most popular Tressa builds (post-nerfs) basically do not need to optimize their Agony a ton to reach the cap after 1-2 turns, even without options like this.
Curse II
[★★★] - It is now a 2-turn duration instead of a 1-turn duration effect. This is a decent Agony application and is worth considering if you want to apply more Agony quickly, but the Agony cap being only 20 means that most popular Tressa builds (post-nerfs) basically do not need to optimize their Agony a ton to reach the cap after 1-2 turns, even without options like this.
Curse III
[★★★] - Becomes 4 Agony x 2, essentially 8 Agony. This is a decent Agony application and is worth considering if you want to apply more Agony quickly, but the Agony cap being only 20 means that most popular Tressa builds (post-nerfs) basically do not need to optimize their Agony a ton to reach the cap after 1-2 turns, even without options like this.
Curse IV
[★★★★★] - Changes to an Upgrade that adds 2 Agony at the start of the turn. This is by far the preferred option for Vital Attack IV builds, which are popular for Tressa carry (post-nerfs), as it allows you to hit the 3 Agony minimum for the Vital Attack IV condition with little effort. Even in other builds, it's still a great option since Tressa easily hits the Agony cap (20-stacks) with or without optimizing Agony a ton via Curse.
Curse V
[★★★★] - Now a 2-cost Upgrade that adds an additional 1 Agony when Tressa applies Agony. This is a great option for Unsheath Dagger builds used to drive units like Hugo, as it will passively guarantee max Agony stacks with little effort; however, its cost of 2 can make it harder to justify over Curse IV, which allows you to do the same but with a 1-cost Upgrade.

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: Draw 1, Morale/Resolve (Curse IV, Curse V).

Card 3

Neutral Epiphany

★★★

Shadow Reload I

Attack

[Retain]

80% Damage to all enemies, 2 Agony.
Exhaust all Shadow Dagger in hand, repeat equal to that number

Show Effects

★★

Shadow Reload II

Skill

Heal 10%.
Create 1 Advanced Shadow Dagger.

Show Effects

★★★

Shadow Reload III

Skill

Heal 100% × X.
Create X cards, each randomly chosen to be either Shadow Dagger or Advanced Shadow Dagger.

Show Effects

★★★★

Shadow Reload IV

Skill

Exhaust all Shadow Dagger, then create Advanced Shadow Dagger for each Exhausted.

Show Effects

★★★★

Shadow Reload V

Skill

[Exhaust 2]

Discard all cards.
Create Shadow Dagger equal to that number.

Show Effects

★

Epiphanies:

Neutral [★★★] - Target Neutral Epiphany: 1 AP.
Neutral Epiphanies on this can make it more worth keeping because they can make it more or less ‘free’ to use in many teams, and it's a decent additional damage, but simply 1 Advanced Dagger is nothing to write home about.
Shadow Reload I
[★★] - Is now an AOE attack that [Exhausts] all Shadow Daggers in hand and hits equal to the number exhausted. While the AOE is a bit nice, it essentially is using a separate attack to [Exhaust] your Shadow Daggers for around the same value as just playing them. The AOE could be better in some niche scenarios, but it falls behind basically any actual AOE unit in potential use, so it’s not recommended to play around with it.
Shadow Reload II
[★★★] - Changes to a 0-cost. Basically the same value as Neutral Epiphany–it makes the card ‘free’ to use and thus more justifiable as a keep rather than a remove.
Shadow Reload III
[★★★★] - Now, an X-cost that makes Shadow Daggers = to AP consumed, some will randomly be Advanced Shadow Daggers. This is a great card to take in optimized Tressa builds that will have additional AP leftover, since it's just a few more attacks and maybe some Advanced Shadow Daggers as well.
Shadow Reload IV
[★★★★] - [Exhaust] all Shadow Daggers and create Advanced Shadow Daggers = to the amount exhausted. This will exhaust Shadow Daggers that aren’t in hand, so it is by far the best way to generate Advanced Shadow Daggers, but it is still rather finicky to use.
Shadow Reload V
[★] - Changed to: discard all cards and create a Shadow Dagger for each card discarded, [Exhaust 2]. This is a weird card since it has good potential as a set-up card for longer fights, yet also has the [Exhaust 2] tag. The anti-synergy between it being a set-up card that doesn’t work well in low-turn counts, but it exhausting itself makes it a low recommendation.

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: Draw 1.

Card 4

Neutral Epiphany

★

Vital Attack I

Attack

[Lead]

150% x 3 Damage.

Show Effects

★

Vital Attack II

Attack

120% x 3 Damage
If the target is in Agony, +70% Damage.

Show Effects

★

Vital Attack III

Attack

80% x 3 Damage.
2-6 Agony.

Show Effects

★★

Vital Attack IV

Attack

200% x 2 Damage.
If target's Agony is 3, or more, trigger 1 more time.

Show Effects

★★★★★

Vital Attack V

Attack

150% x 3 Damage.
+10% Damage per target's Agony.

Show Effects

★★

Epiphanies:

Neutral [★] - Neutral Epiphanies are not recommended since Vital Attack IV is substantially stronger than the base Epiphany and if you are not offered Vital Attack IV, it is probably better to consider removing the card altogether in many builds.
Vital Attack I
[★] - Loses its previous damage buff but gains [Lead]. This falls behind in use-cases and damage compared to Vital Attack V, let alone Vital Attack IV, so it is not recommended. This is basically just a worse version of Vital Attack III.
Vital Attack II
[★] - If there is any Agony on target, gain a 70% additive buff. This falls behind in use-cases and damage compared to Vital Attack V, let alone Vital Attack IV, so it is not recommended.
Vital Attack III
[★★] - Is now a 1-cost that applies 2-6 Agony but loses its previous damage buff. This falls behind in use-cases and damage compared to Vital Attack V, let alone Vital Attack IV, so it is not recommended; however, it does have the advantage of being 1-cost, so it’s easier to keep in your deck.
Vital Attack IV
[★★★★★] - Changes to be a 2-hit with effect: If there is at least 3 Agony on the target, now *activate* one more time. The keyword here is ‘activate’ as an additional activation will also proc any additional effects attached to using the card, such as Divine Epiphanies like Vulnerable or Hugo’s Commence the Hunt. This is by far her go-to Vital Attack post-nerfs, as the double-activation effect has a lot of synergy with any attack-use effects and Divines.
Vital Attack V
[★★] - Now gains an additive 10% buff for every Agony on the target. Without Divine Epiphanies or many external buffs, this will perform similarly in damage (from itself) as Vital Attack IV. However, it is still not recommended as it falls behind with external buffers and does not have the double-activation synergies that IV can abuse.

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: Vulnerable 2.

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]

Cursed Corpse [2-PC]

Tressa consistently applies Agony which activates 2P Cursed Corpse elevating 2/2/2 above all other damage options for her making it her clear best choice.

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.

Crit Variant

Ideal

CRIT Rate > CRIT DMG

Desire

Void DMG% > ATK%

Imagination

ATK%

Substats:

CRIT Rate% = CRIT DMG% > ATK > ATK% = DoT DMG%

Pure Attack

Ideal

ATK%

Desire

Void DMG% > ATK%

Imagination

ATK%

Substats:

DoT DMG% > ATK > ATK% > CRIT Rate% = CRIT DMG%

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 116.06%

Anteia(E4)

5 Turns 110.02%

Eloise(E4)

5 Turns 107.33%

Anteia(E0)

5 Turns 100.65%

Eloise(E0)

5 Turns 100.00%

Zatera(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

Intellect of Discord
Tentacles of Chaos
RFS-17
Dagger That Tricked the Shadow
Sword Reflected in the Lake
Obsidian Sword

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.
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.
RFS-17
- One of the strongest Legendary Weapons for any combatant that deals the majority of their damage via 0 cost abilities either naturally or as a result of discounts.
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.

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

Tressa Builds

Check the best builds for Tressa below.

Vital Attack Multi-Hitter

Hugo Driver

Setup Summary

Character

Partner

Equipment

Fragments

No Fragments

Cards Summary [6 selected]

Unsheathe Dagger III

Upgrade

Create 1 Shadow Dagger.
At the start of the turn, create 1 Shadow Dagger.

Curse IV

Upgrade

[Initiation]

2 Agony to all enemies.
At the start of turn, 2 Agony to all enemies.

Show Effects

Vital Attack IV

Attack

200% x 2 Damage.
If target's Agony is 3, or more, trigger 1 more time.

2 Vulnerable to the target

Show Effects

Deck Explanation

Vital Attack Multi-Hitter - After her rather extensive nerfs, one of Tressa’s most successful teams has been built around using her multi-activation 2 x 2 multihit (4 hits). Because it is a 2-hit activated a second time for another 2-hit, instead of a plain 4-hit, it actually benefits from Divine Epiphany and any other on-activation effect (like Hugo/Selena’s extra attacks) twice per-use. Moreover, a 4-hit card is capable of performing decently well with enough buffs, typically from additive buffers like Cassius or Rei.
Hugo Driver - Following her nerfs, she is not able to drive Hugo to the same level she was previously, but she is still able to make a relatively high number of Attack Cards through skill cards, which can still drive Hugo’s Commence the Hunt very well.

Card Removal Priority

Dagger Throw
,
Touch of Darkness
- Removed in basically any Tressa deck.

Conditional Card Removal

Shadow Reload
,
Cursed Gouge
- In the multi-hit Vital Attack build, you do not need to make an excess amount of Agony, so it is typically removed. For more Agony-based playstyles, it can be kept, but these builds can be hard to utilize to a high degree after Agony nerfs.

Card Copying Priority

Vital Attack
- Vital Attack will be her main source of damage, so it is one of her strongest dupes following her Agony nerfs.
Unsheathe Dagger
- The go-to choice when playing her to drive Hugo, as it doubles as a skill card use and 2-3 Attack Cards.

Best Synergies

Cassius

Through neutral Morale Epiphanies on cards like Devil Dice or Dice Trick, Cass can give high additive buffing with little cost.
Cassius can also apply additional Agony through neutral Epiphanies, as well, should you orient yourself towards a more Agony-based playstyle instead.
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.

Rei

Rei can give many different buffs that all work well with Tressa, including but not limited to: 1-cost card additive buffs, void card buffs, 4P Glory Reign and generic additive buffs (Morale).

Hugo

Tressa is able to do a relatively high number of attacks, allowing him to drive Hugo’s Extra Attacks well.
Hugo is able to supplement her as a draw unit, on-top of using her as a driver for his own damage.
Tressa makes her attacks primarily through skill cards, which activates Hunting Instincts Commence the Hunt effect for his Extra Attacks.

Neutral [★★★★] - Target Neutral Epiphany: 1 AP.
With AP Neutral, you can get similar value as Divines without accruing higher save data point cost, which can be very valuable if the QoL of either of these features is more important than the higher damage/generation Unsheath Dagger II can provide in your Tressa team’s deck.

[★★★★] - Changes to 0-cost. This is essentially equivalent to Neutral Epiphany, as it can give some decent QoL, but will fall behind in potential compared to Unsheath Dagger II.

[★★★★★] - Now creates 3 Shadow Daggers. This is the go-to Epiphany for most Tressa builds that are used to drive Hugo, or other units that can thrive off 0-cost attack spam (like pre-nerf Cassius), as it can allow for her highest amount of consistent Shadow Dagger generation.

[★★★] - Becomes an Upgrade that makes 1 Shadow Dagger at the start of the turn. This can be a great option in builds that don’t care about making a lot of Agony, such as some Vital Attack IV builds, which only need 3 Agony for its additional effect.

[★] - The Shadow Daggers now give 2 additional Agony. This can help for hitting the 20-Agony cap a bit faster, but Tressa can already hit the Agony cap quite easily just via Curse; moreover, Agony-based builds tend to underperform compared to other playstyles post-nerfs (Season-2 Agony Changes that hard-capped it to 20-stacks).

[★★★] - Gains the [Exhaust] tag but now makes 4 Shadow Daggers. This is a great option for Hugo-Tressa OTK as it makes more attacks than any other option can for one turn. However, it will give no value after its first use, so it is not recommended outside of OTK.

Neutral [★★★] - Target Neutral Epiphany: N/A.
There is no target Neutral, but if you’re considering any option between I, II, III, or Neutral–odds are all of them will be able to hit Agony cap (20-stacks) in one turn, so a Neutral Epiphany is fine to take in circumstances you would take others. This is a decent Agony application and is worth considering if you want to apply more Agony quickly, but the Agony cap being only 20 means that most popular Tressa builds (post-nerfs) basically do not need to optimize their Agony a ton to reach the cap after 1-2 turns, even without options like this.

[★★★] - Now works for all cards, not just Attack Cards. This is a decent Agony application and is worth considering if you want to apply more Agony quickly, but the Agony cap being only 20 means that most popular Tressa builds (post-nerfs) basically do not need to optimize their Agony a ton to reach the cap after 1-2 turns, even without options like this.

[★★★] - It is now a 2-turn duration instead of a 1-turn duration effect. This is a decent Agony application and is worth considering if you want to apply more Agony quickly, but the Agony cap being only 20 means that most popular Tressa builds (post-nerfs) basically do not need to optimize their Agony a ton to reach the cap after 1-2 turns, even without options like this.

[★★★] - Becomes 4 Agony x 2, essentially 8 Agony. This is a decent Agony application and is worth considering if you want to apply more Agony quickly, but the Agony cap being only 20 means that most popular Tressa builds (post-nerfs) basically do not need to optimize their Agony a ton to reach the cap after 1-2 turns, even without options like this.

[★★★★★] - Changes to an Upgrade that adds 2 Agony at the start of the turn. This is by far the preferred option for Vital Attack IV builds, which are popular for Tressa carry (post-nerfs), as it allows you to hit the 3 Agony minimum for the Vital Attack IV condition with little effort. Even in other builds, it's still a great option since Tressa easily hits the Agony cap (20-stacks) with or without optimizing Agony a ton via Curse.

[★★★★] - Now a 2-cost Upgrade that adds an additional 1 Agony when Tressa applies Agony. This is a great option for Unsheath Dagger builds used to drive units like Hugo, as it will passively guarantee max Agony stacks with little effort; however, its cost of 2 can make it harder to justify over Curse IV, which allows you to do the same but with a 1-cost Upgrade.

Neutral [★★★] - Target Neutral Epiphany: 1 AP.
Neutral Epiphanies on this can make it more worth keeping because they can make it more or less ‘free’ to use in many teams, and it's a decent additional damage, but simply 1 Advanced Dagger is nothing to write home about.

[★★] - Is now an AOE attack that [Exhausts] all Shadow Daggers in hand and hits equal to the number exhausted. While the AOE is a bit nice, it essentially is using a separate attack to [Exhaust] your Shadow Daggers for around the same value as just playing them. The AOE could be better in some niche scenarios, but it falls behind basically any actual AOE unit in potential use, so it’s not recommended to play around with it.

[★★★] - Changes to a 0-cost. Basically the same value as Neutral Epiphany–it makes the card ‘free’ to use and thus more justifiable as a keep rather than a remove.

[★★★★] - Now, an X-cost that makes Shadow Daggers = to AP consumed, some will randomly be Advanced Shadow Daggers. This is a great card to take in optimized Tressa builds that will have additional AP leftover, since it's just a few more attacks and maybe some Advanced Shadow Daggers as well.

[★★★★] - [Exhaust] all Shadow Daggers and create Advanced Shadow Daggers = to the amount exhausted. This will exhaust Shadow Daggers that aren’t in hand, so it is by far the best way to generate Advanced Shadow Daggers, but it is still rather finicky to use.

[★] - Changed to: discard all cards and create a Shadow Dagger for each card discarded, [Exhaust 2]. This is a weird card since it has good potential as a set-up card for longer fights, yet also has the [Exhaust 2] tag. The anti-synergy between it being a set-up card that doesn’t work well in low-turn counts, but it exhausting itself makes it a low recommendation.

Neutral [★] - Neutral Epiphanies are not recommended since Vital Attack IV is substantially stronger than the base Epiphany and if you are not offered Vital Attack IV, it is probably better to consider removing the card altogether in many builds.

[★] - Loses its previous damage buff but gains [Lead]. This falls behind in use-cases and damage compared to Vital Attack V, let alone Vital Attack IV, so it is not recommended. This is basically just a worse version of Vital Attack III.

[★] - If there is any Agony on target, gain a 70% additive buff. This falls behind in use-cases and damage compared to Vital Attack V, let alone Vital Attack IV, so it is not recommended.

[★★] - Is now a 1-cost that applies 2-6 Agony but loses its previous damage buff. This falls behind in use-cases and damage compared to Vital Attack V, let alone Vital Attack IV, so it is not recommended; however, it does have the advantage of being 1-cost, so it’s easier to keep in your deck.

[★★★★★] - Changes to be a 2-hit with effect: If there is at least 3 Agony on the target, now *activate* one more time. The keyword here is ‘activate’ as an additional activation will also proc any additional effects attached to using the card, such as Divine Epiphanies like Vulnerable or Hugo’s Commence the Hunt. This is by far her go-to Vital Attack post-nerfs, as the double-activation effect has a lot of synergy with any attack-use effects and Divines.

[★★] - Now gains an additive 10% buff for every Agony on the target. Without Divine Epiphanies or many external buffs, this will perform similarly in damage (from itself) as Vital Attack IV. However, it is still not recommended as it falls behind with external buffers and does not have the double-activation synergies that IV can abuse.

Tressa Best Build Guide

Kit

Review

Epiphanies

Gear

Deck & Teams

Starting Cards:

Epiphany Cards:

Generated Cards:

Ego Skill:

Epiphany Variants:

Performance Profile

Pros

Cons

Wave of Darkness

Dagger Throw

Touch of Darkness

Unsheathe Dagger

Curse

Shadow Reload

Vital Attack

Cursed Gouge

Note

Card 1

Card 2

Card 3

Card 4

Recommended Loadout

Crit Variant

Pure Attack

Weapon

Armor

DPS

Support

Trinket

DPS

Support

Comments - Weapons

Comments - Armor

Comments - Trinkets

Tressa Builds

Setup Summary

Character

Partner

Equipment

Fragments

Cards Summary [6 selected] Compact

Deck Explanation

Card Removal Priority

Conditional Card Removal

Card Copying Priority

Cassius

Rei

Hugo

Chaos Teams

Generic - Chaos

Save Teams

Hugo Driver Tressa

Tressa Hyper-Carry

Tressa Best Build Guide

Kit

Review

Epiphanies

Gear

Deck & Teams

Starting Cards:

Epiphany Cards:

Generated Cards:

Ego Skill:

Epiphany Variants:

Performance Profile

Pros

Cons

Wave of Darkness

Dagger Throw

Touch of Darkness

Unsheathe Dagger

Curse

Shadow Reload

Vital Attack

Cards Summary [6 selected]

Cards Summary [6 selected]