Mercedes

Preferred IV: +SPD or +ATK / -DEF

• As a heavily offensively oriented set, this build benefits best from boosts to offensive stats.

Weapon: Wrathful Pain+ / Dazzling Pain+ / Wrathful Gravity+ / Dazzling Gravity+

• Pain+ is a fantastic staff that combos particularly well with Savage Blow (both the C skill and Sacred Seal), since it results in the enemy team taking a massive 24 points of damage, in addition to whatever damage Mercedes dealt to her target (+10 more from Pain+). This is a great way to set up KOs with either Mercedes herself on subsequent combats or for teammates.

• Alternatively, Mercedes’ base Gravity can work great for shutting down enemy movement. This is significantly more difficult to pull off in Aether Raids offense due to the prevalence of Rally traps and Refreshers, so is best utilized in other game modes like Arena or the various PvE game modes. 

• The choice of the Wrathful or Dazzling refine for the weapon is entirely dependent on the B skill available; i.e. use the Wrathful refine if inheriting Dazzling Staff. Alternatively, if opting to use Vantage, then Wrathful is the refine of choice.

Assist: Restore+ / Martyr+

• Mercedes’ choice of Assist is entirely up to player preference, though generally speaking Restore has vastly more utility than the other options due to offering more than just raw healing.

Special: Miracle

• Healers have few options for Specials, but Miracle is the only one they have access to with direct combat relevance. This can be freely replaced to suit the team, as the other unique healer Specials have varying amounts of utility.

Passive A: Atk/Spd Solo / Atk/Spd Bond / Close Counter

• Another issue plaguing healers is their lack of access to the wide variety of A skills available to most other units, but they do have strong offensive options in Atk/Spd Solo and Atk/Spd Bond. Atk/Spd Solo is generally a bit better due to offering more offensive stats as well as a slightly easier to maintain condition for an offensive unit, but ultimately the choice is mostly up to preference and availability.

• Alternatively, Close Counter is a strong option when paired with Pain+ and Vantage, as it allows Mercedes to inflict extreme amounts of AoE chip damage to enemy teams. With the right support, it’s possible for her to sweep entire teams as a result.

Passive B: Dazzling Staff / Wrathful Staff / Vantage

• As previously mentioned, the choice of Dazzling/Wrathful Staff is entirely up to availability, since Mercedes can combine the two regardless of which is chosen as her B skill due to weapon refining.

• Vantage is best combined with a Wrathful Pain+ and Close Counter for a strong AoE chip damage sweeper, which can be particularly potent in Aether Raids.

Passive C: Savage Blow / Flexible

• Savage Blow combos particularly well with Pain+, since the chip damage stacks and can inflict significant damage to enemy teams.

• However, Savage Blow is not completely vital to the build and can be replaced as needed to suit the team.

Sacred Seal: Savage Blow / Flexible

• Stacking double Savage Blow with Pain+ results in huge amounts of chip damage.

• However, as previously mentioned this isn’t critical to the build and can also be replaced as needed to suit the team.

Preferred IV: +ATK / -DEF

• While this is a purely support oriented build, a +ATK Asset is still ideal to maximize Mercedes’ healing output. Otherwise, her IVs aren’t particularly important for this build.

Weapon: Dazzling Gravity+ / Flexible

• The nature of a full support build means that it’s entirely up to player preference what the specifics entail. Mercedes’ base Gravity+ can work well in some game modes, but healers have access to many other fantastic options (most of which tend to unfortunately be locked behind seasonals, such as Grandscratcher+ or Witchy Wand+). 

• If access to both Wrathful and Dazzling Staff is unavailable, then the Dazzling refine alone is generally ideal to ensure that Mercedes can attack (potentially applying debuffs) safely. 

Assist: Restore+ / Martyr+

• Mercedes’ choice of Assist is entirely up to player preference, though generally speaking Restore has vastly more utility than the other options due to offering more than just raw healing.

Special: Miracle

• Miracle is mentioned here as a generally good default option, but healers have access to many good utility Specials such as Imbue or Heavenly Light for more healing, or one of the various dual Balm+ Specials for buffing purposes.

Passive A: Fort. Def/Res / Attack/Res +2 / Attack +3

• Fort Def/Res is a huge investment, and while the Attack penalty will negatively impact Mercedes’ healing output, it is offset by the fact that she is massively bulkier and therefore far less liable to get KO’d. The boost to her Resistance is also fantastic for running Sabotage or Ploy debuffs.

• Otherwise, both Attack/Res +2 and Attack +3 are decent budget options as the raw stats are always helpful.

Passive B: Wings of Mercy / Sabotage Atk / Live to Serve / Flexible

• Wings of Mercy grants Mercedes a big boost in mobility, as it allows her to teleport next to allies that need healing the most. 

• A debuff like Sabotage Atk can make good use of Mercedes’ Resistance, but she can also choose to utilize a Chill debuff to remove the Resistance check.

• Finally, Live to Serve is a good option for increasing Mercedes’ own survivability.

Passive C: Spd Ploy / Odd Res Wave / Flexible

• Mercedes can use pretty much anything for her C skill, but a Ploy debuff like Spd Ploy makes good use of her Resistance.

• Alternatively, her base Odd Res Wave is serviceable as a team and self-buff.

Sacred Seal: Atk Ploy / Live to Serve / Flexible

• Any of the various Ploy debuffs are good choices for Mercedes’ Sacred Seal.

• Alternatively, Live to Serve (if it’s not being utilized as a B skill) is a good option to increase her survivability.