Should you pull Mercuria?

While Mercuria is far from a must-pull, especially since she’s a 6-star and there are many support options in the game, she is still a very strong support character. She has a unique mechanic that allows her Incantations to be considered one rank higher (doesn’t affect actual multipliers), which she uses to apply significant damage buffs. The sheer potential of her buffs makes her worth considering on that basis alone. She can also provide critical rate boosts and healing. Like many other support characters in the game, she is very good, but whether you should build her depends on what you want to achieve. If you plan to use Lucy, you will likely want Mercuria as they have near-perfect synergy with each other.

When she was just a girl, Mercuria left the orphanage with nothing but a map and the clothes on her back. She’s been wandering the world ever since. She never stops too long, never gets too attached. She simply lets the universe guide her to her next destination. This is a journey destined to be walked alone, so few are given the opportunity to experience the gentleness behind her cold appearance.

Mercuria’s lifestyle has fostered a deep internal spiritual connection, allowing her to connect and make use of the flowing energy of the universe. When she comes across someone surrounded by negative energy, she blesses them with a pendulum or herbs. But even without these tools, people flock to her, finding her presence alone to be a source of healing.

Under the shining light of the mirror ball, Mercuria comes alive. Moved by the music, she often dances into the night. In fact, it’s how she makes her living. As she immerses herself in the beat, she becomes the focus of the crowd, attracting everyone’s attention with her vibrant movements. In these moments, it’s as if the city of San Francisco lives within her.

Mercuria is a 6 star rarity character from the Spirit afflatus who deals Mental damage and belongs to the Support class. Mercuria is one of the many support characters in the game who is extremely effective, and in this case, she comes with a unique new effect. Her Ultimate, “Morning Star for the Night”, is a mass attack that dispels buffs from enemies, deals damage, and grants allies a new status called [Rank Up] for 2 rounds. This status essentially increases your Incantation rank by 1; however, it doesn’t actually affect the Incantation’s effects and multipliers. The rank-up is purely for triggering effects that reference Incantation ranks. She also has self-synergy thanks to her passive ability, “Lengthy Journey”.

She gains 8 stacks of [Cosmic Energy] when entering battle, which is important to note as it forms a crucial part of her gameplay. A P0, Cosmic Energy increases the party's damage by 2% per stack, up to a maximum of 25 stacks, and these stacks cannot be dispelled. This means that with a high number of stacks, you can deal a significant amount of damage. Additionally, with her first passive ability, aside from gaining stacks when entering battle, she also gains them whenever allies use Incantations. The higher the Incantation rank, the more [Cosmic Energy] stacks she will receive. This creates synergy with her own Incantation rank-up effects. It should be noted that [Cosmic Energy] gained only lasts 2 rounds, independent of each other.

Another bonus of her passive is that she can also gain Moxie based on the number of allies with natural Afflatuses (Plant, Beast, Mineral, Star), up to 3. This is very flexible, allowing you to benefit from this when using any of those 4 types in your teams, which is likely. Her damage buffs and powerful passives don't end there, as her Insight III provides further benefits. If her stacks of [Cosmic Energy] are above 9, all allies gain 30% Crit DMG, and if 16 stacks or more are reached, all allies receive +20% Incantation Might. Furthermore, if allies have used two or more rank 3 Incantations, her own Moxie will increase.

With that aside, her actual Incantations are pretty easy to understand. “Restless Souls” is a simple single-target attack that also restores the HP of the ally with the lowest HP. Her other Incantation, “Self Focusing” is a mass critical rate buff that also gains 4 [Cosmic Energy]. Mercuria is a fairly easy character to fit into most teams thanks to her high damage buff, and since most teams will have some critical-based characters, her crit rate buff will almost always be useful.

One important thing to take note, and also one of Mercuria’s biggest downsides, is that at P0 she can be a bit clunky to play. To the point that you can get a more stable performance from her buffs if she doesn’t act at all. A core part of her gameplay being locked behind Portraits made her a quite controversial character. Regardless if you choose to invest on Portraits or follow the P0 and not acting patch, it’s possible to make good use of her kit if you keep these distinctions in mind.

Pros & Cons

Unfortunately, Mercuria requires Portraits if you want her buff cycling to work properly. P1 has the highest cost-benefit as it lowers the requirements for her passive to grant her Moxie, but P5 is her best Portrait since it extends the duration of [Cosmic Energy], making it easier to keep it up at max stacks. If you like her but don't want to invest, you can keep her at P0 and just avoid acting.

Great synergy overall with Lucy.

Lucy is a high damage dealer whose follow-up attacks are counted as rank 2 Incantations, allowing Mercuria’s damage stacks to proc extremely quickly. Additionally, with Lucy already dealing significant damage on their own, they are a perfect match for each other. Marcus is the next obvious pick thanks to her self Empower Incantation passives, allowing her to use high rank incantations consistently with ease, thus also proccing Mercuria’s buffs.

Mercuria will generally have an easy time fitting into most team setups, even if they don’t focus on crit. Her damage buffs will be sufficient to make her effective.

Here are the best Psychubes you can use on Mercuria:

Starlight Wellspring

Balance, Please

Her Second Life

Level 7

Level 9

Level 10

Resonance Pattern Recommendations:

“Stupefaction” gives significantly more HP, ATK and Crit. Rate for Mercuria. All which are her most valuable stats.

“Hyperphrenia” is the best choice if you want to ensure more survival to Mercuria while not handicapping her other main stats.

A few suggestions are listed below. 3-People teams are highlighted, with the 4th slot added at the side to provide a 4-P variation of the same team or even insights on possible variations of the 3-P team.

Standard Teams

Lucy’s New Upgrade[GLB]

Damage Dealer

Support

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• 4th slot options: Any Units with Eureka
• This team is likely not the most optimal for Lucy at 3 members, but you can still fill the 4th slot with someone who has Eureka. Lucy’s follow-up attacks will count as Rank 2 Incantations, building up Mercuria’s damage buff extremely fast. This will make Lucy’s already great damage even higher. Kakania ensures the team’s survival while providing ATK support that doesn’t overlap with Mercuria and brings Lucy’s bursts to the next level. Any unit with Eureka could work for the last slot, like 37, Getian, etc. Healers are also welcome if you’re struggling with survival.

One More Dance[GLB]

Damage Dealer

Support

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• 4th slot options: Kakania, 6
• As mentioned in the team building section, Marcus’ consistent self Empower Incantation greatly helps to maximize the potential of Mercuria’s passives, which in return increases Marcus’ explosive Incantation Might potential even further. Passive buffers like Kakania and 6 who don’t overlap with Mercuria and Vila serve as great options for the fourth slot.

Free Characters[GLB]

Damage Dealer

Support

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• 4th slot options: Sonetto, Lorelei
• Let's be honest, if you have Mercuria, you likely have more than just these characters. But assuming, somehow, that all you have is Mercuria and the free characters, voilà- you've got a team. For the most part, aside from raids and upper-tier content, this should clear most event story missions without much trouble. Mercuria's support works well with any damage dealer, and her critical rate boost can also benefit Eagle, a low-rarity, low-investment damage dealer.