Luke Best Team and Build
NEW: Season 2: Seed of Karmic Fire
┗ Refinement | Arena
✪ Nine: Build | Combatant Guide | Banner
★ Alcea: Partner Guide | Banner
☆ Tier Lists: Character | Partner | Cards
This is a guide for the best teams and loadout for Luke in Chaos Zero Nightmare (CZN). Learn which combatants are best to pair with Luke, as well as recommended cards, partners, and equipment.
| Luke Guides | |
|---|---|
| Team and Build | Cards and Materials |
List of Contents
Best Luke Build
| Click on a Link to Jump to a Section! | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Summary |
 Best Team |
 Best Cards |
 Best Partner |
||||||||
 Memory Fragment |
 Equipment |
 Playstyle |
|||||||||
Build Overview
※ Hover over equipments, memory fragments and cards to see effects
| Character | Partner | Equipment |
|---|---|---|
|
|
 Dagger That Tricked The Shadow Dagger That Tricked The Shadow +12% Critical Damage  Fairy King's Crown Fairy King's Crown +6% Critical Chance  Verdant Shackles Verdant Shackles +12% Attack, +12% DEF |
| Refinement: ・Increase Damage Amount of Exhaust cards by 25% |
||
| Memory Fragments and Stat Priorities | ||
 Black Wing Set Black Wing Set +12% Attack  Cursed Corpse Set Cursed Corpse Set Increases damage dealt to targets inflicted with Agony by 10%.  Executioner's Tool Set Executioner's Tool Set +25% Critical Damage |
1. Order Damage % 2. Crit Chance % (At least 50%) 3. Crit Damage % 4. Attack 5. Attack % |
|
| Cards and Epiphanies | ||
 Rapid Fire (Luke) 2
AP Cost: 1 Type:  Attack ・30% x 3 Damage ・Create Handgun Bullet equal to number of Critical Hits ・+50% Critical Chance Rapid Fire (Luke) 2
AP Cost: 1 Type: Attack ・30% x 3 Damage ・Create Handgun Bullet equal to number of Critical Hits ・+50% Critical Chance Rapid Fire (Luke) 2
AP Cost: 1 Type: Attack ・30% x 3 Damage ・Create Handgun Bullet equal to number of Critical Hits ・+50% Critical Chance Rapid Fire (Luke) 2
AP Cost: 1 Type: Attack ・30% x 3 Damage ・Create Handgun Bullet equal to number of Critical Hits ・+50% Critical Chance 
 Dance of the Demon 1
AP Cost: 1 Type: Attack ・75% Damage ・+1 hit equal to the number of Bullet cards used this turn |
||
| Note: Luke's performance significantly improves if Rapid Fire has Reduce the cost of this card by 1 Divine Epiphany. | ||
Luke's best build focuses on generating as many bullet cards as possible through critical strikes from his Rapid Fire to fuel his Dance of the Demon that deals a ton of damage to a single-target enemy. His kit contains a lot of attack cards with low damage multipliers so he wants teammates that can provide him additive buffs so that his bullets can deal more damage.
He is best suited with the 2/2/2 set consisting of Black Wing, Cursed Corpse and Executioner's Tool to further enhance the damage of his cards with buffs to his stats instead of his cards that has low damage multipliers.
His favored chaos zone is Swamp of Judgment to get her best equipment such as Dagger That Tricked The Shadow for a 12% critical damage buff. Fairy King's Crown to get a 6% critical chance increase and Verdant Shackles to get an attack and defense boost to further enhance the damage of all his cards.
| Date | Changes |
|---|---|
| 02-11-2026 | ・Updated build overview ・Changed best team from Cassius to Hugo ・Added Narja and Cassius to alternative team members ・Changed best cards for team members ・Added Serithea and Akad as alternative partner ・Changed best equipment to Swamp of Judgment ・Changed alternative budget equipment ・Changed playstyle and build tips |
| 01-12-2026 | ・Updated build overview ・Changed best team to Cassius and Rei ・Added more alternative team members ・Changed best cards to reflect the new best team ・Changed best memory fragment to 2/2/2 ・Added stat priority ・Changed best equipment to Laboratory 0 ・Added alternative budget equipment ・Changed best playstyle and build tips |
| 11-18-2025 | ・Added Luke build overview ・Revised Luke build page layout |
Luke Best Team
| Click on a Link to Jump to a Section! | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summary |
Best Team |
Best Cards |
Best Partner |
||||||||
| Memory Fragment |
Equipment |
Playstyle |
|||||||||
| Sub-DPS | Support |
|---|---|
 Hugo
|
 Rei
|
In Season 2, Luke's best team is Hugo and Rei. Hugo will help on follow-up damage with his Commence the Hunt while providing card draw for Luke to utilize with his 0-cost attack cards that has low damage multipliers which Rei can significantly increase with her additive buffs alongside passive heals and draw cards too.
Alternative Team Members
| Character | Explanation |
|---|---|
 Cassius
|
Can replace Hugo or Rei as the Sub-DPS. After the Season 2 Balance he can still complete his quest cards and provide a lot of card draw, heals and morale buffs but you can only complete 3 quests per turn. This lowers his viability especially against Rei but still usable if you don't have the best option. |
 Lucas
|
Can replace Hugo as the Sub-DPS as he can also do follow-up attacks specifically on bullet attack cards. He also has access to more bullet cards and AoE damage which Luke lacks. |
 Mika
|
Can replace Hugo or Rei as another Support if you ever want more AP recovery and survivability for your team especially if you are running chaos. |
 Owen
|
Can replace Hugo or Rei as another Support. His job is to reduce the fortitude of enemies with his Break Armor for an 80% additive damage buff against that enemy. However, that's his only useful card and he also need card draw that he cannot provide. |
 Nia
|
Can replace Hugo or Rei as another Support as she can provide targeted draw with her cards and allows Luke to take the Dimensional Cube equipment to get more additive damage buffs after discarding cards which Nia specializes. However, after the changes in the Season 2 Balance Patch, Dimensional Cube has lesser effect on Luke. |
Luke Best Cards
| Click on a Link to Jump to a Section! | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summary |
Best Team |
Best Cards |
Best Partner |
||||||||
| Memory Fragment |
Equipment |
Playstyle |
|||||||||
| Card | Epiphany Effect |
|---|---|
|
Rapid Fire (Luke)
|
AP Cost: 1
・30% x 3 Damage ・Create Handgun Bullet equal to number of Critical Hits ・+50% Critical Chance |
|
Stealth Reload
|
AP Cost: 1
・Create 3 Handgun Bullet |
|
Seize the Opportunity
|
AP Cost: 1
Tags: Lead ・+30% Handgun Bullet Card Damage |
|
Dance of the Demon
|
AP Cost: 1
・75% Damage ・+1 hit equal to the number of Bullet cards used this turn |
The most important cards for Luke would be Rapid Fire and Dance of the Demon as these are his bread and butter for consistently executing Bullet attacks with high Critical chance. Rapid Fire works best when used with higher hit counts to generate more Bullets so we recommended getting the 30% x 3 Damage epiphany.
His choice for Stealth Reload is the epiphany that gives the the most bullet when used that is not an exhaust. This way he can still generate more bullets in later turns. While Seize the Opportunity should be the upgrade version so that you only need to play it once. However, you can use the +70% damage amount to bullets for 1 turn epiphany if you have the AP and card draw for it.
Lastly, the final core of this build is Dance of the Demon. This enables Luke to do an attack that scales the hit count based off how many bullet cards were used in that turn. When buffed, this can deal a ton of damage to a single-target enemy.
Essential Team Cards and Epiphanies
| Card | Explanation |
|---|---|
 Hunting Instincts
|
AP Cost: 1
Type:
Tags: Initiation
 Upgrade
・When another combatant uses an Upgrade or Skill Card, 1 Commence the Hunt ・If Commence the Hunt is triggered, 50% chance of a random ally performing a Coordinated Attack on the target |
 Quick Fix
|
AP Cost: 1
Type:
Tags: Haste
Attack
・100% x 2 Damage ・If in Commence the Hunt, Draw 2 |
 Dingo Howling
|
AP Cost: 1
Type:
Upgrade
・Upon gaining Commence the Hunt, Draw 1 Attack Card(s)(1 per turn) |
 Resonating Darkness
|
AP Cost: 1
Type:
Tags: Unique
Upgrade
・+40% Damage of cards with cost 1 or below |
 Snack Time
|
AP Cost: 0
Type:
Tags: Exhaust
 Skill
・Select 1 card(s) from hand to Exhaust ・Heal 200% ・Draw 1 Note: Aim for Morale 1 standard epiphany instead of one of her 5 epiphany options. |
 Dark Condensation
|
AP Cost: 1
Type:
Skill
・Choose 1 Attack Card(s) in hand, +150% Damage for 1 turn |
 Ebony Lumen
|
AP Cost: 3
Type:
Tags: Exhaust
Skill
・Incinerate: Draw 3, then create 1 Broken Ebony Lumen |
 Spore Harvester
|
AP Cost: 0
Type:
Tags: Retain, Exhaust
Skill
・Incinerate: Create 2 Contaminated Spore ・ Retain: Create 1 Contaminated Spore |
In Season 2, Hugo replaces Cassius. Luke's playstyle remains the same but what Hugo offers is extra damage after each attack as long as he can maintain his Commence the Hunt stacks. He can also draw cards with Quick Fix or Dingo Howling making it easier to get your cards each turn.
Rei's goal is to have the epiphanies that can buff Luke's bullets as well because all of her buffs are additive which he likes. So she needs to have the epiphany for Resonating Darkness to be the version that includes 0-cost AP cards as well while Dark Condensation should be the +150% version and must always target Dance of the Demon and nothing else.
A new card is needed for this team called the Spore Harvester. You need this card on Rei so that she can start duplicating it on your hand and using it to refresh the stacks of Commence the Hunt given that you will have a hard time playing skill cards without Spore Harvester in this team.
Luke Best Partner
| Click on a Link to Jump to a Section! | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summary |
Best Team |
Best Cards |
Best Partner |
||||||||
| Memory Fragment |
Equipment |
Playstyle |
|||||||||
| Partner | Details |
|---|---|
 Janet
|
Passive Effect: Ultimate Missle Turret - The assigned Combatant’s Attack is increased by 8% +9% Critical Chance of the assigned combatant's attack cards costing 1 or less. When the assigned combatant uses 5 Bullet cards, generate a random Handgun Bullet card. The generated card deals +50% damage. Ego Skill: Understanding and Ideas - 150% Damage to all enemies For 1 turn, +20% Designated Combatant's Bullet Card Damage |
The best Partner for Luke would be Janet since she increases your Critical Chance and helps generate more Bullet cards. This is especially useful for Luke as he requires a good amount of Critical Chance to maximize his damage output.
Additionally, her Ego Skill provides us with an AoE Damage option while also increasing our Bullet Damage at the same time.
Alternative Viable Partner
| Partner | Explanation |
|---|---|
 Serithea
|
After the Season 2 Balance, Serithea is now a viable partner you can use if you do not have Janet. She can provide an attack boost to Luke, critical chance and stacking critical damage. |
 Akad
|
As a 4-Star Hunter partner, Akad is now a viable partner after the Season 2 Balance that can compete against Serithea and Janet when he is at max manifest ego. He can buff the damage of Luke's bullet cards and for a turn with his skill can buff Luke's critical chance significantly. |
Alternative Budget Partner
| Partner | Explanation |
|---|---|
 Yuri
|
Yuri is a great 3-star Partner alternative since her Ego Skill allows you to Draw 2 cards to help Luke setup his Bullets early and also provide an increase on his base attack stat. |
Luke Best Memory Fragments
| Click on a Link to Jump to a Section! | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summary |
Best Team |
Best Cards |
Best Partner |
||||||||
| Memory Fragment |
Equipment |
Playstyle |
|||||||||
|
Black Wing Set Black Wing Set +12% Attack |
Cursed Corpse Set Cursed Corpse Set Increases damage dealt to targets inflicted with Agony by 10%. |
Executioner's Tool Set Executioner's Tool Set +25% Critical Damage |
Since Luke works best when dealing Critical Hits and with additive damage buffs, we recommend getting the Executioner's Tool Set to further increase his Critical Damage by 25%, Black Wing Set for more attack stats and Cursed Corpse Set for 10% more damage boost against targets with agony even if it is a multiplicative damage buff.
Despite looking like Bullet of Order Set is tailored for him, it takes up 4 memory fragment slots and gives multiplicative damage buffs which is not great for him hence why 2/2/2 is the best for Luke.
Stat Priority
| Main Stats | Recommended Substats |
|---|---|
|
Ideal: Critical Chance % Desire: Order Damage % Imagination: Attack % |
・Critical Chance % (At least 50%) ・Critical Damage % ・Attack ・Attack % |
For both main stats and substats, aim for Order Damage, Critical Chance, Critical Damage and Attack. Luke's damage relies heavily on dealing crit chance with his Rapid Fire to create bullet cards. Make sure you reach at least 50% critical chance to activate his last potential node and guarantee critical strikes when using Rapid Fire then fill the rest with either critical damage or attack.
Luke Best Equipment
| Click on a Link to Jump to a Section! | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summary |
Best Team |
Best Cards |
Best Partner |
||||||||
| Memory Fragment |
Equipment |
Playstyle |
|||||||||
| Weapon | Armor | Accessory |
|---|---|---|
|
Dagger That Tricked The Shadow Dagger That Tricked The Shadow +12% Critical Damage |
Fairy King's Crown Fairy King's Crown +6% Critical Chance |
Verdant Shackles Verdant Shackles +12% Attack, +12% DEF |
| Refinement: ・Increase Damage Amount of Attack Cards by 20% ・Increase Damage Amount of Exhaust cards by 25% |
||
Luke's best equipment can only be found in Swamp of Judgment with Mutant Predator Spike giving him 30% more damage for all of his attacks as long as you have 4 or more cards in hand. Wings of Freedom for 10% more damage each time your team gets hit up to 3 times. Emblem of an Exceptional Entity for an unconditional 30% additional damage to all of his attacks.
As for the refinements, there are only two you can get that can significantly benefit Luke's damage. The first is a 20% buff to all attack cards and another is a 25% buff to all exhaust cards. However, these two buffs are multiplicative but this is the best he can get and any additional damage is welcome.
Dimensional Cube if You Use Nia or Cassius Instead
 Dimensional Cube Dimensional Cube When discarding a card, +15% Damage for 1 turn (max 3 stacks) |
Dimensional Cube for a 15% additional damage to all his attacks up to 45% after Nia, Cassius or any of his party member discards a card that lasts for 1 turn. This can now only stack up to 3 times with the recent Season 2 Balance change but the buff will only last for 1 turn and will reset the next turn.
Do take note that you need to reach exploration level 30 on Blue Pot to make this equipment appear in any chaos zone.
Alternative Budget Equipment
| Weapon | Armor | Accessory |
|---|---|---|
 Bone Cutter Bone Cutter When hitting a target under Weakened status, +30% Damage |
 Incomplete Carapace Incomplete Carapace At the end of the turn, if you have 3 or more Cards in hand, +140% Fixed Shield |
 Amorphous Cube Amorphous Cube +25% Damage |
If you aren't able to get the best, you can settle for these equipment that can be found in any chaos zones inside shops. Bone Cutter adds 30% additive damage to all of Luke's cards as long as the target has the Weaken debuff. Titan Combat Suit for a heal after getting hit once every turn and Amorphous Cube gives a permanent +25% additive damage to all his attacks.
Luke Build Tips and Playstyle
| Click on a Link to Jump to a Section! | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summary |
Best Team |
Best Cards |
Best Partner |
||||||||
| Memory Fragment |
Equipment |
Playstyle |
|||||||||
|
|
Dance of the Demon ComboDance of the Demon Combo
Dance of the Demon is one of Luke's highest damaging card in his kit and benefits entirely from the amount of bullet cards you used during your turn. With that, we want to use as much bullet cards and buff it with Rei as we can before we start using Dance of the Demon to maximize its damage output. Follow these steps to execute his combo:
- Have Hugo and Rei play all of their upgrade cards.
- To begin with the combo, make sure that you have Resonating Darkness and Dance of the Demon in hand.
- Draw all the possible cards from Hugo and Luke as you can if you haven't already.
- (Optional) If you have the AP for it, use Predator's Blade to get more morale buffs.
- Use Rapid Fires and Stealth Reloads to create and play a lot of bullet cards.
- Make sure to always keep watch of your hand size and use any Contaminated Spores to refresh Hugo's Commence the Hunt stacks.
- (Optional) Use Dark Condensation to buff Dance of the Demon's damage if you have the AP for it.
- With at least 1 AP, use Dance of the Demon to deal a high-amount of single target damage especially if you've stacked a lot of morale buffs with Rei.
Keep Track of Hand Size Before Creating Bullets
To start setting up Luke's playstyle, you will need to constantly use Rapid Fire whenever you can to generate 0-cost Bullet cards every time you deal a critical strike. However, you only have a 10 card hand limit so make sure that you have enough space for your bullets before generating it because excess generated exhaust cards will vanish instead of going back to your draw pile.
Attack Cards From Other Characters Counts in Dance of the Demon
One epiphany for Dance of the Demon says that it will also include attack cards and not only bullet cards. After testing, attack cards from other combatants fulfills its condition. For example, Cassius Triple 0 quest cards, Rei's Predator Blade or Hugo's attack card counts towards Dance of the Demon.
Chaos Zero Nightmare (CZN) Related Guides
5 Star Character Builds
 Chizuru
|
 Haru
|
Hugo
|
 Kayron
|
 Khalipe
|
 Luke
|
 Magna
|
 Mei Lin
|
 Narja
|
 Nine
|
 Orlea
|
 Renoa
|
 Rin
|
 Sereniel
|
 Veronica
|
 Yuki
|
4 Star Character Builds
 Amir
|
 Beryl
|
Cassius
|
 Lucas
|
 Maribell
|
Mika
|
|
Nia
|
Owen
|
Rei
|
 Selena
|
 Tressa
|
Author
Luke Best Team and Build
Premium Articles
Rankings
Gaming News
![Animal Crossing: New Horizons Review [Switch 2] | Needlessly Crossing Over to a New Generation](https://img.game8.co/4391759/47d0408b0b8a892e453a0b90f54beb8a.png/show)
Popular Games
Genshin Impact Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Honkai: Star Rail Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Arknights: Endfield Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Umamusume: Pretty Derby Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Wuthering Waves Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Pokemon TCG Pocket (PTCGP) Strategies & Guides Wiki
Abyss Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Zenless Zone Zero Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Digimon Story: Time Stranger Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Recommended Games
Fire Emblem Heroes (FEH) Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl (BDSP) Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Monster Hunter World Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Persona 3 Reload Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
All rights reserved
© Smilegate. All Rights Reserved.
The copyrights of videos of games used in our content and other intellectual property rights belong to the provider of the game.
The contents we provide on this site were created personally by members of the Game8 editorial department.
We refuse the right to reuse or repost content taken without our permission such as data or images to other sites.
I don't understand why all your memory fragment recs include cursed corpse even when Agony isn't even part of anyone's kit, can you explain?