Reverse: 1999 Guide | Mercuria

Mercuria is a highly capable support character who you’ll find particularly effective in specialized team setups. She is designed around a unique mechanic called Cosmic Energy, and this lets her grant a lot of extensive buffs to her team.

However, without the right structure and strategy, it might become quite a pain to unlock her full potential. If she’s set up correctly, Mercuria will prove to be the best support in certain lineups due to all her buffing capabilities.

Mercuria’s Core Mechanic: Cosmic Energy

Cosmic Energy is at the heart of Mercuria’s abilities. It functions quite similarly to other leadership mechanics, but it has a distinct twist. For every stack of Cosmic Energy she accumulates, she grants her team a 2% damage bonus, which can rise up to 50% if you’re able to 25 stacks, which is the maximum. 

Moreover, Mercuria will be able to provide different buffs depending on the number of Cosmic Energy stacks she has at the beginning of each turn:

• 9+ stacks: Granting the team a 30% critical damage boost for a single turn.
• 16+ stacks: Grants the team 20% incantation might for 2 turns.
• Skill 2 Buff: Grants a critical rate buff between 20% to 30%

Keep in mind that achieving and maintaining these buffs isn’t so simple. Your team must actively generate and maintain Cosmic Energy at high levels for her full impact.

Generating Cosmic Energy

There are multiple methods through which Mercuria is able to gain Cosmic Energy.

• Casting Incantations: Each cast grants 2-4 Cosmic Energy, depending on the incantation’s rank.
• Skill 2 Activation: You’ll be granted 4-6 Cosmic Energy while using this skill.
• Start of Combat: Mercuria begins each battle with 8 Cosmic Energy.

Challenges with Cosmic Energy

It is difficult to maintain the buffs consistently due to the limited duration of Cosmic Energy stacks (two turns). You also often require multiple high-stack incantations, as teams must stack 9-16 Cosmic Energy within a single turn to activate the critical damage and incantation buffs.

Optimal Teams for Mercuria

• Incantation Rank-Up Team: This team includes Marcus, Argus, and Villa, who synergize well with Mercuria by providing additional Cosmic Energy.
• • Marcus: Uses self-rank-up skills and generates Cosmic Energy every turn.

• • Argus: Gains bonus incantations and follow-up attack at each turn’s end, which provides Mercuria with around 4-5 Cosmic Energy per turn.

• • Villa: Benefits from Mercuria’s rank-up adjustments, enhancing Villa’s incantation multiplier buff.
• Lucy and Mercuria Team: Lucy’s follow-up attacks, which are classified as rank 2 skills, enable more frequent Cosmic Energy gains, especially when faced with multiple enemies. Cosmic Energy is also added when Lucy’s ultimate skill triggers follow-up attacks.
• The Broken Team: The team features Anala and Argus paired with Mercuria. When Anala is contracted with Mercuria, each rank 1 follow-up skill Anala uses generates additional Cosmic Energy. This allows Mercuria to sustain her critical damage, incantation might, and critical rate buffs with high uptime.

Additional Tips for Maximizing Mercuria’s Performance

1. Ultimate Rank Boost: Mercuria’s ultimate ability increases the rank of incantations for calculation purposes. This rank boost enhances the effectiveness of various buffs and Cosmic Energy generation.
2. Portraits: Mercuria’s Portrait 1 boosts support during her ultimate, and it helps sustain Cosmic Energy as well. However, this portrait may not be as necessary as this is a team that only focuses on Mercuria and Anala’s synergy.
3. P5 resonance: This level greatly enhances Mercuria’s versatility by extending the duration for Cosmic Energy stacks to three turns, which allows her to maintain buffs consistently with minimum effort

Also, check our Reverse: 1999 review and other guides below:

• Reverse: 1999 Guide | Kakania
• Reverse: 1999 Guide | Lucy
• Reverse: 1999 Guide | Windsong
• Reverse: 1999 Guide | Charlie
• Reverse: 1999 Guide | Isolde
• Reverse: 1999 Guide | Jessica
• Reverse: 1999 Guide | Kaalaa Baunaa
• Reverse: 1999 Guide | Shamane
• Reverse: 1999 Guide | Ezra