Adelheid Build Guide – Best Build & Team Comps | Chaos Zero Nightmare

Adelheid arrived in Chaos Zero Nightmare's mid-season update as one of the most unusual Vanguards released so far: a character who barely wants to attack, barely needs a healer, and turns her entire deck into a self-sustaining draw engine built on a single keyword — Blessing. If you were expecting another shield-stacker who punches hard, she will surprise you. If you build her correctly, she makes your whole team hit harder while absorbing punishment and keeping your deck cycling every single turn.

This guide covers her full card kit with epiphany breakdowns, the Clara partner, recommended team comps, investment tiers, and a practical combat loop.

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Adelheid Overview

Rare: 5-Star | Class: Vanguard | Attribute: Void

Adelheid operates as a tank-support hybrid. Her shielding is substantial turn-over-turn from Teddy and Garden of Secrets. In the right team, she replaces both a dedicated shield unit and a healer. 

Base Stats

	ATK	DEF	HP	Crit Chance	Crit Damage
Lv. 1 / P0 / E0 / A1	135	55	102	3%	125%
Lv. 60 / P7 / E6 / A40	446	211	496	3%	125%

A few things stand out here. Adelheid's base Crit Chance and Crit Damage receive no natural scaling — they stay at 3% / 125% regardless of level or Ego Manifestation. This means crit investment on gear is purely additive from zero, and a crit-focused Doggie build requires deliberate stamping to be reliable. Her DEF at max is 211, which is the stat that scales her damage cards (Doggie, Truth Behind a Story). More DEF investment = both more damage and more shield value from Teddy and Garden of Secrets simultaneously, which is why DEF is the premier stat for almost every build.

 

Core Mechanic: Blessing

Blessing is the keyword that ties Adelheid's entire kit together.

• Certain cards carry the Blessing keyword.
• When a Blessing card moves from your hand to the Graveyard, it triggers a 60% Fixed Shield — but only if your current shield is below 30% of your max HP.
• Adelheid's cards either apply Blessing to other cards in your Draw Pile, or create new Blessing cards directly into your hand.
• The goal: fill your deck with Blessed cards, cycle through them efficiently, and generate shields every turn while keeping your hand full.

Shield Retention Change (This Patch): Shield retention is no longer additive between sources. Only the highest retention value applies. Adelheid's Garden of Secrets provides 25% retention — that is your ceiling unless a future unit exceeds it.

 

Skills & Card

Starting Cards

Card	Cost	Effect
Gather Around	1	100% Defense-Based Damage
Fairy's Protection (x2)	1	100% Shield
Once Upon a Time	1	[Exhaust 2] Apply Blessing to 2 random cards in Draw Pile, Draw 1 of those cards

Once Upon a Time is Adelheid's only starting Epiphany card. The two copies of Fairy's Protection form your early shield floor before Teddy and Garden of Secrets come online.

Epiphany Cards

Once Upon a Time

1-cost skill — Exhaust 2. Apply Blessing to 2 random cards in Draw Pile, Draw 1 of those cards.

Default: E2 — Becomes zero-cost with Initiation, tutoring any card from your Draw Pile and applying Blessing to it. Two free guaranteed draws across two turns with no AP investment. This is the card that makes her cycle engine feel smooth.

If running discard synergy (Nia, Haidomari): E3 — Discard a card to apply Blessing to 3 of that combatant's cards. Enables discard-triggered Blessing shields on demand.

Protect Us

1-cost skill — Blessing. For the next 2 Blessing cards activated, Draw 1 Blessing card.

Default: E4 — Becomes zero-cost. Draw 1; if that card is a Blessing card, draw 1 more. A free cantrip with no setup requirement that pairs directly with Once Upon a Time E2 to chain draws without spending AP.

If running high-cost teammates (Rita, Nine, Kron): E3 — Draw 3 and reduce those cards' cost to zero for one turn. Better value when your teammates' cards are expensive.

If focusing Doggie damage: E5 — Draw 2 Blessing cards and increase their damage and shield amounts by 60% for one turn. Amplifies Doggie's hits on the same turn.

Friends from Fairy Tales

1-cost upgrade — Unique. Select and create 1 Doggie or Teddy.

Doggie — Zero-cost, Haste, Blessing. Defense-Based Damage 60% x4. Teddy — Zero-cost, Haste, Blessing. 200% Shield, 2 Damage Reduction.

Default (tank/support): E2 — Teddy — When damage is taken, Teddy moves to hand once per turn regardless of where it is in the deck. Your free 200% shield source is never locked in a bad draw.

If building for damage: E1 — Doggie — Doggie gains +20% damage per Blessing card in hand, up to 15 stacks. Scales 60% x4 into meaningful burst with a full Blessing hand.

If running counterattack teams (Nine, Magna): E4 — Teddy — Using Teddy grants 1 counterattack and retains all counterattacks for one turn.

Truth Behind a Story

1-cost attack — Haste. 200% Defense-Based Damage. +100% Damage taken by target for 1 turn.

The damage taken debuff is what makes Adelheid a team multiplier. Combined with Nar's +100% defense-based damage taken, the primary target takes 200% increased damage from all sources that turn.

Default: E2 — Moves 2 Blessed cards from Discard Pile to hand. Recursion keeps Blessing triggers available every turn and enables looping your best cards without running dry.

If building Doggie damage: E3 — Increases Doggie and Teddy damage and shield amounts by 100% for one turn. Stacks directly on top of E1 Doggie for burst.

If building OTK: E4 — Changes to 2-cost, gains Quietest, loses Haste. Higher base damage with +30% per Blessing card in hand. Only viable in a dedicated nuke deck built around maximum Blessing count; the loss of Haste is a real tradeoff.

Garden of Secrets

1-cost upgrade — Unique. 200% Shield, 25% Shield Retention.

No Epiphany options — always take. The 25% Shield Retention is the current ceiling with retention now non-stacking, and it compounds meaningfully across a long fight.

 

Generated Cards

Both are zero-cost and carry Blessing, meaning every time they move to the Graveyard below the 30% HP shield threshold, they trigger a 60% Fixed Shield on top of their primary effect. Teddy is the default for shield-focused play; Doggie is your damage option.

 

Ego Skill: Happy Ending

6 EP — 300% Shield + Fixed Heal equal to Shield in possession (does not exceed 30% max HP)

At 6 EP this is an expensive button, but the healing component makes Adelheid partially self-sufficient without a dedicated healer. Use it when HP is at risk and your shield has already built up — the heal scales with your current shield value, so higher shield = bigger heal. The 30% HP cap on healing keeps it from being overpowered but it is still meaningful in most fights. With Vivid Memory (E3 Ego Manifestation), the cap raises to 50% max HP and shield gain is increased by 200%.

 

 

Stat Priority

Because Doggie (60% x4) and Truth Behind a Story (200%) both scale from DEF, and Teddy's shield (200%) also benefits from higher DEF, every build converges on the same primary stat.

For support/tank builds (Teddy path):

1. DEF — scales shield generation and Truth Behind a Story damage simultaneously
2. HP — raises the 30% threshold at which Blessing shield triggers; higher HP = more room before Blessing activates
3. Speed — more turns = more draw cycles and more shield events per fight

For damage-focused builds (Doggie path):

1. DEF — Doggie's damage is 60% x4 defense-based; this is your primary damage stat
2. Crit Rate — base is 3% with no natural scaling; needs gear investment to be reliable
3. Crit Damage — base 125%; each point here is amplified by DEF scaling

Avoid ATK investment. Adelheid's damage cards do not use the ATK stat.

 

Adelheid Best Partner

Clara

Clara is Adelheid's five-star partner and one of the strongest partners released to date.

With Clara, Adelheid no longer requires a dedicated healer teammate. The passive healing triggers every time a Blessed card is used — with Teddy, Doggie, Protect Us, and Truth Behind a Story all carrying Blessing, this fires constantly. The 20% team damage amplification at 4 Prism stacks stacks additively with E2's Bliss of Dreams effect.

Clara's ego skill is also a 3-EP tutor that fetches your two best Blessing cards on demand — often better value than Happy Ending in a low-HP pinch when you need specific cards more than raw shield.

 

Best Team Compositions

1. Damage Amplification Core

Adelheid / Narja / Amir

Adelheid

Narja

Amir

• Narja applies +100% defense-based damage taken to the target.
• Adelheid's Truth Behind a Story applies +100% damage taken to the target.
• Combined: the primary target takes 200% increased damage from all sources that turn.
• Amir unloads metal stacks into this window for extreme burst.

This is currently the highest-ceiling team for single-target boss damage. With Clara as Adelheid's partner, healing is covered and both Amir and Narja can focus entirely on offense.

2. Draw Engine Control

Adelheid / Cassius / flexible attacker

Adelheid

Cassius

flexible attacker

Cassius is a draw enabler who synergizes directly with Adelheid's Blessing cycle. Together they can loop through an entire deck in a single turn in optimal conditions. This team excels in Great Rift where deck control and consistency matter more than raw burst.

Note: Cassius does want copies (E6 for full value), but a base Cassius is functional and is obtainable from Adelheid's own banner.

3. Double DPS Support

Adelheid / Amir / Yuki (with Clara partner)

Adelheid

Amir

Yuki

With Clara handling passive healing, both Amir and Yuki operate freely as damage dealers. Adelheid sustains the team, applies the damage taken debuff via Truth Behind a Story, and enables draw cycling. Strong for Sortie where healer slots are limited.

4. Future: Adelheid / Fei (July 8th)

Adelheid

Fei

Both characters feature X-cost card mechanics and draw-heavy playstyles designed in close proximity. Adelheid's deck cycling supports Fei's feather dance chains; Truth Behind a Story's damage taken debuff applies to Fei's burst turns. Full evaluation pending Fei's release, but this team is worth planning toward.

Final Verdict 

Adelheid is the kind of character who rewards experimentation — her Epiphany combinations open up more build directions than most Vanguards, and the Blessing engine interacts differently depending on who you pair her with. There is no single correct way to run her. Whether you need a reliable draw engine, an unbreakable tank, or a damage amplifier for your best DPS, she delivers. Invest in her base copy, choose your Epiphany path wisely, and let the Blessings do the rest.