Merric

Preferred IV: +ATK / -SPD

Weapon: Dark Excalibur (+Eff)

Assist: Reposition / Positional Assist

Special: Moonbow / Bonfire

Passive A: Sturdy Impact / Mirror Impact / Death Blow

Passive B: Sudden Panic / Special Spiral

Passive C: Infantry Pulse / Time's Pulse

Sacred Seal: Death Blow / Quickened Pulse

• Merric's main usage in the current meta is mostly as an Infantry Pulse support member, who can pulse his allies while debuffing his foes and threatening enemies with a pre-charged Bonfire or Moonbow.
• For a highly invested, resplendent merged Merric then the Bonfire variant will do more damage - for most low budget Merric users, then Moonbow is likely a safer bet. Consider that at 28 base Defense (40 with Resplendent and Sturdy Impact) Merric adds 14-20 damage. In order for Moonbow to outdamage Bonfire, he must be facing an enemy with a minimum of 42 Res. This is actually the norm for most tanks and superunits these days, so if in doubt, just use Moonbow. This also means that you won't need to sacrifice expensive fodder like Time's Pulse to him.
• If you anticipate using Merric for longer than a single combat, you can also use Special Spiral, which refreshes his Special after every use, giving him infinite Moonbows. This is actually very useful for Merric, as his base Attack is so low that any non-Special attack will just feel like a pea shooter.

Weapon: Excalibur (+EFF)

Assist: Reposition / Reciprocal Aid

Special: Noontime

Passive A: Distant Def / Bracing Stance

Passive B: Null C Disrupt / Null Follow-Up

Passive C: Joint Drive Atk / Joint Drive Res / Joint Drive Spd 

Sacred Seal: Distant Def

• This is a build which heavily relies on having a Near Save armor unit, which allows Merric to take the sole responsibility of tanking ranged foes.
• Again, this build relies on a heavy investment, both in merges and in skill inheritance. However, Merric's Slaying tome (Excalibur, not Dark Excalibur) allows him to consistently retaliate with the Noontime Special, granting him additional healing.
• As an added bonus, if his partner is a magic or staff user, Merric gains an additional +5 to both his Attack and Speed
• Null C Disrupt allows Merric to retaliate against pesky staff users, while Null Follow-Up helps him vs slow mages with auto followups who would otherwise eviscerate his Res.
• Note that Merric is not necessarily the best unit to run this build on, but due to his Slaying tome, he can make it work with some success