MarcusBuild and Guide

Introduction

Marcus is a 6✦ rarity character from the Plant afflatus who deals Mental damage and belongs to the Damage class.

Marcus excels at dealing damage with a barrage of high-ranking incantations. At the start of battle, Marcus automatically inflicts an enemy with the [Annotate] debuff, which grants her Eureka she can spend on upgrading her incantations at the start of each round. With 3 or more Plant, Spirit, or Intellect teammates, Marcus gains [Perusal], which gives her Moxie when casting rank 2/3 incantations. Although she has rather strict teambuilding constraints, Marcus has steadily gained a plethora of synergistic potential teammates since her release.

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

Last updated

Marcus profile was last updated on August 8th, 2025.

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

Profile

Review

Stats & Build

Synergy & Teams

Lore

Specialties

Burst DMG

DPS

Skills

Next Chapter

Mass attack. Deals 250% Mental DMG to all enemies and Mental DMG +200% to the target with [Annotate] status. Gain 1 stack of [Preparation - Marcus], and grant Eureka +2 to self.

"Ф When she reads, even an eternity seems like an instant."

Annotate:

When taking an action, grants Eureka +1 to the user, triggers up to 3 times per round (undispellable).

Preparation - Marcus:

At the start of the next round, generates one rank 1 Precast Incantation: Reading Class. Each round, Marcus can only gain 1 [Precast Incantation] through Preparation.

Reading Class

✦✧✧

[Attack]

1-target attack. Deals 200% Mental DMG.

"Ф Focus."

✦✦✧

[Attack]

1-target attack. Deals 330% Mental DMG.

"Ф Focus. Mark the sentence."

✦✦✦

[Attack]

1-target attack. Deals 450% Mental DMG; Penetration Rate +30% for this attack.

"Ф Focus. Mark the sentence, and the next one."

From the Lantern

✦✧✧

[Attack]

Mass attack. Deals 130% Mental DMG to 2 enemies. Deals Mental DMG +30% to the target in the [Annotate] status.

"Ф She searches the waters."

✦✦✧

[Debuff]

Mass attack. Deals 200% Mental DMG to 2 enemies. Inflicts 1 stack of [Weakness] on the targets hit. Deals Mental DMG +40% to the target in [Annotate] status.

"Ф She searches the waters, looking for shadows."

✦✦✦

[Debuff]

Mass attack. Deals 300% Mental DMG to 2 enemies. Inflicts 1 stack of [Weakness] on the targets hit. Deals Mental DMG +75% to the target in [Annotate] status.

"Ф She searches the waters, looking for shadows to reveal with light."

Annotate:

When taking an action, grants Eureka +1 to the user, triggers up to 3 times per round (undispellable).

Weakness:

Neg Status. When the caster attacks, DMG Bonus -25% (-1 stack after trigger).

Inheritance

Read the Page

Insight I

Max Eureka +1. At the start of the round, if no enemy has the [Annotate] status, inflict [Annotate] on an enemy, prioritizing bosses. At the start of the round, if holding 2 or more Eureka, spend as many Eureka as possible to randomly upgrade own incantations, using 2 Eureka to upgrade from rank 1 to 2, and 3 Eureka to upgrade from rank 2 to 3, prioritizing lower ranked incantations.

Materials

Sharpodontyx18000
Page of Plantal Vimenx6
Trembling Toothx5
Cicada Wingsx6

Read the Page

Insight II

ATK +5% when the caster enters battle.

Materials

Sharpodontyx40000
Scroll of Plantal Vimenx10
Solidusx3
Prophetic Birdsx6

Read the Page

Insight III

When entering battle, gain Eureka +1. At the start of the round, gain Eureka +1. When entering battle, if there are 3 or more Plant, Spirit, and/or Intelligence allies, gain the [Perusal] status. Whenever the requirements are not met, the [Perusal] status is removed.

Materials

Sharpodontyx200000
Tome of Plantal Vimenx16
Golden Compassx5
Fruit of Good and Evilx3

Special effects

Annotate:

When taking an action, grants Eureka +1 to the user, triggers up to 3 times per round (undispellable).

Perusal:

When casting a rank 2/3 incantation, grants Moxie +1 to self (undispellable).

Euphoria

Marcus has one or more Euphoria upgrades available that amplify their base skills.

Preciousness of the Past

Euphoria upgrade

Tier I

[Perusal] New Effect Added: After an allied rank 2/3 incantation is cast, Marcus gains 1/2 stacks of [Life Experience]. At the start of the round, consumes 1/2 stacks of [Life Experience] to generate 1 rank 1/2 Precast Incantation - From the Lantern if there is [Life Experience] left.
- [Life Experience]: Special. Generates Precast Incantations or enhances incantations.

Tier II

[Next Chapter]: All the Preparation · Marcus gained become rank 2 Precast Incantation - Reading Class.
When attacking, consumes 2 stacks of [Life Experience] to enhance incantation effect: [Reading Class]: Mental DMG Dealt +100%. At rank 3 incantation, Penetration Rate +30%.
[From the Lantern]: Mental DMG Dealt +100%. If the target is in the [Annotate] status, deal an additional 600% Mental DMG.

Tier III

Enemies in the [Annotate] status no longer recover Eureka for Marcus when they take action. Instead, when Marcus attacks an enemy in the [Annotate] status, excess Critical Rate is converted to Critical DMG, and recovers 1 Eureka for Marcus.

Tier IV

At the end of the round, upon gaining 8 stacks of [Life Experience], gains [Continuous Action I] for 1 round.

Portray

Marcus Portray

Portray details

Lv. 1:

Read the Page: When entering battle, the Eureka gained is increased to 3.

Lv. 2:

Read the Page: Now only costs 2 Eureka to upgrade incantations from rank 2 to rank 3.

Lv. 3:

From the Lantern: At incantation rank 1/2/3, the Mental DMG is increased to 160/270/420%.

Lv. 4:

Read the Page: At the start of the round, the Eureka gained is increased to 2.

Lv. 5:

Reading Class: At incantation rank 1/2/3, the Mental DMG is increased to 230/380/520%.

Gallery

Insight 0

Insight 2

Review

Marcus is a 6-star character from the Plant Afflatus, a Mental Damage dealer. Her mechanic revolves around the new [Annotate] mechanic and its gain of [Eureka]. To give a simple explanation of [Annotate] first: it’s an ability you’ll need to inflict on your enemy, in this case through your passive. At the start of the round, if no enemies have the [Annotate] status, it’ll be inflicted on an enemy, prioritizing a boss. Every time they take an action, you, the caster, will gain one [Eureka], up to 3 times. It’s not the only way you gain [Eureka]; you also get it from your Ultimate. If you have more than 2 [Eureka], you will spend all of it to randomly enhance your own incantations. It’s also worth noting that the enemy with [Annotate] will take more damage, as almost all of your skills and your Ultimate deal extra damage to enemies with [Annotate].

Her general damage is already really high, and with the consistent upgrades to her own incantations and boss-like killer gameplay thanks to [Annotate], she’s one of the best characters available for raids, especially of the Plant afflatus. She also possesses great synergy with Plant, Spirit, and Intellect arcanists thanks to her third passive, giving her [Perusal] if you have 3 or more of the teammates with those Afflatuses. It gives you 1 Moxie to yourself when you cast a rank 2 or 3 incantation, which you will be doing a lot. To round out the review, we'll take a quick overview of all her skills in specific. Her ultimate, “Next Chapter”, is a mass attack ultimate that deals a lot of damage, extra to enemies with [Annotate] and it even grants yourself +2 Eureka. Another thing it does that I haven't mentioned is you gain a stack of [Preparation - Marcus], which will give you an extra card that can be used or mixed similar to Spathodea. Reading Class is a basic single target damage skill. From the Lantern is a mass attack that does additional damage to enemies with [Annotate] status and inflicts weakness. Marcus is a high-damage dealer who prioritizes inflicting [Annotate] on one enemy to deal extra damage, typically the boss, to also enhance her damage to the next level through self-buffing herself via incantation rank ups.

Pros & Cons

Pros

High burst potential, optimized for bosses thanks to her [Annotate] mechanic.
Great synergy with most Plant, Spirit, and Intellect characters.
Self-contained kit, making her a versatile pick and easy to slot in teams.
Has some support capability in the form of consistent application of [Weakness] on enemies.

Cons

Team building can be tricky on 3-People content, since she needs specific Afflatuses on the team to trigger her passive.

Ratings

Overall

Resonance Builds

Build 1 - Marcus – Balanced DPS

Level

R10 - Genuinity (Incantation Might/Penetration Rate)

Code

AiUANBE5AjQFOxM8MC9AL0IvRCZQPGP4JA

A mix of Critical Rate, Critical DMG, DMG Bonus, and ATK.

If you don’t have Resonance Patterns unlocked, try this build with Placidity:

ACUANBE5AjQFOxM8MC9AL0IvRCZQPGP4JA

Psychubes

Another Story

Blasphemer of Night

His Bounden Duty

Never-Ending Q&A

Comments

Another Story is Marcus' signature psychube; it gives 18% Ultimate Might, 8–24% DMG bonus, and 10–18% Incantation Might for a well-rounded boost to her DPS. This remains her best option after her Euphoria buff, too.

Since her [Annotate] debuff is a [Neg Status], Marcus can reliably proc Blasphemer of Night with the right teammates, like Argus and Euphoria 2 Druvis III.

His Bounden Duty's high base ATK and 12% DMG Bonus makes it a good general option for any damage dealer.

Since her Euphoria buff gives her a truly hilarious amount of Critical Rate, Euphoria Marcus can make use of Never-ending Q&A's 18–36% Critical DMG. The 10% ATK also boosts her damage output.

Stats

STAT

Base

Level 1

Level 30

Insight 1

Level 1

Level 40

Insight 2

Level 1

Level 50

Insight 3

Level 1

Level 60

ATK

261

396

435

664

703

989

1025

1163

1419

2154

2375

3611

3832

5385

5587

6336

Reality DEF

116

176

193

294

311

438

454

515

Mental DEF

116

176

193

294

311

438

454

515

Critical Technique

218

247

276

305

Critical Rate

7.3%

8.2%

9.2%

10.2%

Critical DMG

140.9%

142.3%

143.8%

145.3%

Teams

The teams below come from our Teams database and showcase ANY team with Marcus present within in all content available in the game.

A+

Dogwater Type Coverage

Niche 1: Plant || Niche 2: Upgrade

Characters

About the team

A mono-Afflatus Plant team. With Marcus(E1) now finally giving her some Crit stats on top of proactively gaining Eureka, extra DMG and [Continuous Action I]; Vila(E1) making her a proper healer that can focus on supporting the team and supporting all of this with Druvis(E2) giving her access to extra Crit debuffs and various offensive buffs through [Circle of Life]. The last unit is quite flexible here, Hissabeth is nice for being AP+ and letting Marcus cast all she wants while other options such as Mercuria, Lopera and Argus still remain.

Benefit From Reading

Niche 1: Upgrade || Niche 2: -

Characters

About the team

Marcus has a great frequency of both high-rank cards and Ultimate spam, making her a solid AoE Carry and a great damage dealer for all stages of content. She is one of the few units able to keep Mercuria's [Cosmic Energy] at high stacks and benefit from the entire array of offensive buffs it provides. The defensive core of is solid, with Kakania as star of the show while Vila supports Marcus through [Song of Passion]. Interestingly, [Rusalka] is also easier to cycle as you can funnel the Moxie cards into Vila with no loss. Kakania can be traded for Argus.

If you're looking for more team information, check our Team Database:

Team Database

Synergy

Marcus Synergy information aren't available yet. They will be added soon!

Lore

Marcus Lore information aren't available yet. They will be added soon!