Developer Note (2026/01/26): Season 2, Balance Adjustments

As Galactic Disaster Season 1 draws to a close, the Chaos Zero Nightmare development team has detailed a series of pivotal balance adjustments for the upcoming Season 2 update designed to restore meta diversity and reduce player fatigue. These changes move the game away from the rigid, "optimal" deck-building strategies of the past by overhauling the Save Data system to be more intuitive and rebalancing dominant combatants like Tressa and Cassius. By shifting from process-based calculations to result-based rewards and easing growth barriers, the team aims to foster a more dynamic roguelite experience where strategic discovery takes precedence over manual tracking.

The Save Data system is the mechanical heartbeat of Chaos Zero Nightmare, determining the strength and efficiency of your future runs. However, the complexity of calculating "Faint Memories" has long been a barrier for Protos looking to optimize their rosters. For Season 2, the development team is implementing a sweeping overhaul to the underlying math, shifting the focus from tedious calculation to intuitive gameplay.

The primary driver behind these changes is the realization that the Season 1 storage rules were unintuitive and often required players to rely on external spreadsheets or community-made tools to "fish" for the perfect 100-point Save Data. This "process-based" approach meant that the specific order in which you acquired cards or made choices during a run could drastically change your final result, even if two players ended with the exact same deck. This created a high level of "calculation-driven stress" that detracted from the core roguelite experience.

To fix this, the storage rules are moving toward a result-based valuation. This means the final value of your Save Data will be determined by what you have in your deck at the end of the run, rather than the path you took to get there. This transparency allows players to focus on strategic choices and immersion rather than manual tracking.

The following adjustments outline the new numerical logic and mechanical limits for generating Save Data in Season 2:

The development team is addressing specific combatants whose synergy and power levels became so dominant during Season 1 that they effectively "fixed" the meta. By reworking these characters, the goal is to restore strategic diversity, ensuring that no single combination of units feels mandatory for high-level Chaos runs or the Spiral Tower.

Tressa is being reworked primarily due to her overwhelming influence on the Season 1 meta as a Psionic DoT specialist. Additionally, her "Agony" mechanic created significant HUD clutter, with individual stacks appearing as separate debuffs that made it difficult for players to intuitively track damage output and enemy status.

Cassius is being reworked because his quest rewards were disproportionately powerful compared to their completion difficulty. This led to a "dominant strategy" where players felt forced to pick specific Epiphanies and builds, stifling the adaptive decision-making that his multi-quest design was originally intended to encourage.

Flash of Possibility is a powerful new consumable currency designed to provide players with more control over their end-game builds. This item can be used on a completed Save Data to allow players to reroll or specifically edit the Epiphanies of their stored cards, effectively saving a run that might have otherwise been "bricked" by poor RNG.

To compensate for the sweeping changes to the Save Data system and character balances, three (3) copies of Flash of Possibility will be distributed to all players via the in-game mailbox alongside the Season 2 launch. Going forward, Flash of Possibility will be integrated into the game's regular reward structure. Players will be able to obtain these items through high-level play in the Spiral Tower of Screams, as milestones on the Season Board, and through participation in special seasonal events.

The implementation of this system is a direct response to player fatigue regarding the difficulty of obtaining "perfect" Save Data. For players who find the Tressa and Cassius reworks too significant for their playstyle, the Character Recall (Growth Reset) system will also be available, providing a full refund of all invested growth materials.

In addition to the major reworks applied to dominant meta-defining Combatants, Season 2 introduces a wide range of targeted improvements aimed at raising the baseline usability of underperforming Combatants and mechanics. These adjustments primarily focus on enhancing healing reliability, stabilizing Controller roles, and improving damage consistency for Combatants whose identities were not fully expressed in the Season 1 environment.

While this Developer Note outlines only select highlights, the development team confirms that additional Combatants will also receive balance improvements, with full numerical details scheduled for release in a follow-up notice on February 3.

Counterattack mechanics will be adjusted to improve the effectiveness of Vanguard-class Combatants in the current fast-paced combat environment. As encounters increasingly reward rapid clears, shield-based reactive damage has struggled to keep pace. This adjustment increases the damage dealt when an attack is fully blocked, improving the combat contribution of shield-focused units without altering their core defensive identity.

Nia will receive improvements aimed at strengthening her healing output and better supporting her deck-cycling–focused playstyle. Her previous reliance on rapid card flow was not sufficiently rewarded in Chaos content due to limited sustain. These changes add healing to her core mechanics and improve synergy across her supporting cards.

Rei’s improvements focus on increasing her contribution to party sustain without over-reliance on Ego Manifestation. By replacing a low-impact basic card effect and enhancing her healing-oriented skills, Rei will be able to provide more consistent recovery throughout combat.

Orlea will receive several systemic improvements designed to stabilize her early-game performance and improve the usability of her Creation-based mechanics. Changes to her base deck composition and Creation values aim to better align her with other Controller Combatants and enhance her overall support reliability.

Haru’s adjustments aim to improve her effectiveness as a single-target specialist by strengthening Anchor Shot and reducing friction tied to its repeated use. These changes improve damage consistency and usability, particularly when transitioning into Ego Manifestation Stage 2.

Yuki’s fast-paced playstyle remains popular, but her damage output has lagged behind other options. These improvements increase damage across her core cards and enhance underutilized Epiphanies, allowing her to perform more effectively in both multi-target and single-enemy encounters.

Chizuru’s unique mechanics previously imposed strict operational constraints that limited build flexibility. These improvements ease several of those restrictions while enhancing damage scaling, allowing her to better express her intended role as a high-impact single-target damage dealer.

Khalipe’s adjustments are aimed at improving her performance in higher-difficulty Chaos content. While effective in early progression, her impact diminished later in runs. These changes enhance both offensive and defensive scaling to improve consistency across combat scenarios.

Magna’s improvements reinforce her identity as a reactive damage Combatant by strengthening both her counterattack-related damage and defensive tools. These changes complement the broader Counterattack adjustments introduced in Season 2.

Hugo’s reliance on specific early-turn strategies limited build diversity. By adding Initiation effects to Hunting Instinct–related Epiphanies, these improvements reduce dependence on a single opening pattern and improve overall flexibility.

Rin’s adjustments address constraints introduced by Dark Mist–related Epiphanies that reduced gameplay flexibility. These changes restore stance access, enhance damage scaling, and remove hit-count limitations, increasing her overall combat potential.

Certain equipment pieces demonstrated disproportionately high defensive value when paired with high-frequency card draw or exhaust mechanics, allowing sustained shield generation far beyond intended limits. To address this, the following adjustments introduce per-turn activation caps, limiting repeated triggers while preserving each item’s core functionality within its original design intent.

Neutral cards play a critical role in shaping Chaos runs by filling gaps in deck functionality and enabling flexible responses to unpredictable encounters. However, during Season 1, certain neutral options either became overly dominant or failed to see meaningful adoption. To address this, Season 2 introduces targeted adjustments to both shoppable neutral cards and Monster cards, with the goal of expanding viable choices while preventing specific cards from overshadowing others.

Several shoppable neutral cards demonstrated either excessive efficiency compared to alternatives or low adoption due to limited impact. These adjustments aim to rein in dominant effects through added restrictions while improving the usability and appeal of underperforming options, encouraging more diverse deck-building decisions during Chaos runs.

With the revision of Save Data storage rules in Season 2, Monster cards will be reclassified from their previous Unique status into Common, Rare, and Legendary tiers. While the effects of most Monster cards will remain unchanged, this reclassification ensures consistency with the updated Save Data valuation system. As part of this process, one Monster card (Spirit Kefox) will receive a direct effect adjustment to better align with its new rarity.

With Season 2 on the horizon, Chaos Zero Nightmare is entering a defining transition shaped by the lessons of Galactic Disaster Season 1. These balance adjustments collectively reinforce the developers’ commitment to long-term meta health by reducing runaway scaling, dismantling fixed optimal paths, and encouraging broader experimentation across Combatants, Equipment, and Neutral Cards. From reworked keystone characters and capped defensive engines to refined Neutral Card roles that better align with the revised Save Data framework, the changes signal a shift toward clarity, flexibility, and strategic discovery at every stage of a Chaos run. Season 2 is a big update as preview from this Developer Note and the previous (2026/01/20). Team Tiertactix will be updating the wiki database with the updated effects and build. stay tuned.