GamePress
Analysis by Adonyx
Mercedes - Kindly Devotee

3-4

Obtainable as a 3 - 4 only

Hero Stats

Max Avg Total Stats at Lvl 40
157
HP 39
ATK 33
SPD 30
DEF 22
RES 33

Stat Variations

Level 1 Stat Variation
5★
4★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 16 8 5 4 8
Middle 17 9 6 5 9
High 18 10 7 6 10

Level 40 Stat Variations
5★
4★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 35 30 27 19 30
Middle 39 33 30 22 33
High 42 36 33 25 36

IV Sets

Key stats worth increasing through nature if possible.
Complementary stats that matter, but not to the point of picking them over key stats for nature increase.
Relatively worthless stat that can safely be decreased through nature.
HPATKSPDDEFRES

Assets

  • +SPD: This is ideal for an offensive Wrathful/Dazzling Staff set in order to maximize Mercedes’ ability to double her opponents.

  • +ATK: This isn’t quite as good as +SPD for an offensive Wrathful/Dazzling Staff set but is an acceptable alternative. It’s also very good for increasing her supporting capability since increasing her Attack also increases her healing output.

Neutral

  • RES: Mercedes has good Resistance, making her capable both of tackling magical damage threats as well as potentially providing team support via Sabotage or Ploy debuffs. If this is a focus then a +RES Asset is worth consideration, otherwise it’s best left neutral.

  • HP: While Mercedes doesn’t have much use for her HP, the fact that she loses 4 instead of 3 with a Flaw makes it a poor choice compared to -DEF, particularly since it also impacts her magical bulk.

Flaws

  • -DEF: Defense is Mercedes’ worst stat, so it’s the clear choice for a Flaw.

Skill Sets

The Benz (Offensive Support)

Build by
Recommended
Wrathful Pain+
Alternate: Wrathful Gravity+
A Atk/Spd Solo 3
Alternate: Close Counter
Restore+
Alternate: Martyr+
B Dazzling Staff 3
Alternate: Vantage 3
Miracle C Savage Blow 3
IVsSSavage Blow 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

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.

The Devoted (Full Support)

Build by
Dazzling Gravity+ A Fort. Def/Res 3
Alternate: Attack/Res 2
Restore+
Alternate: Martyr+
B Wings of Mercy 3
Alternate: Sabotage Atk 3
Miracle C Spd Ploy 3
Alternate: Odd Res Wave 3
IVsSAtk Ploy 3
Alternate: Live to Serve 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

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.

Introduction

Mercedes’ introduction into Fire Emblem Heroes was rather unfortunate; while the vast majority of new units all have powerful new features and statlines to bring to the game, Mercedes was added with a statline that is very reminiscent of the state of the game in 2017. In fact, her statline is extremely similar to that of Lucius, a unit added in 2017, with the exception of +10 BST (almost entirely added to her Defense, a stat she doesn’t even make particularly good use of).

Her status as an infantry healer means that while she does have access to many of the strong infantry exclusive skills, she’s best relegated as a simple support unit due to lacking both the superior mobility of cavalry and flying units as well as the superior statlines of other available healers. Overall, Mercedes is carried by the strong utility of simply being a healer unit with access to Dazzling and Wrathful Staff, but struggles to stand out amongst the majority of other healers.

Strengths

Dazzling/Wrathful Staff Combo

This set is unique to healers, and allows them to function as ranged, magical Firesweep users who can also counterattack when attacked. Outside of this specific combination, there are other possibilities such as Wrathful Pain+ and Vantage or simply Dazzling-refined staves alone for utility purposes.

Decent Offenses

33/30 is hardly a standout offensive statline these days, but it’s good enough that Mercedes can present a noticeable offensive threat with the right skill setup.

Weaknesses

Poor Base Kit

In addition to being highly comparable to many existing units, Mercedes also has the misfortune of having a very poor base kit. This means that in order to build her into a strong unit, she will need heavy investment.

Outclassed

In addition to having a statline similar to other existing units (such as Lucius or Brady), Mercedes has the additional issue of being simply outclassed both in terms of stats (such as Mikoto) and utility (such as Loki). She also is stuck with infantry mobility, making her outclassed by cavalry and flier healers.

Weapon Skills

Weapons SP Rng. Mt.
Assault
Unlocks at 1 ★
Restricted to units that use a Staff.
50 2 10
Gravity

After any combat, prevents foe from moving more than 1 space through its next action

Unlocks at 3 ★
Restricted to units that use a Staff.
150 2 6
Gravity+

After combat, if unit attacked, prevents target and foes within 1 space of target from moving more than 1 space through their next actions.

Unlocks at 5 ★
Restricted to units that use a Staff.
300 2 10
Weapon Evolution
Weapon Upgrades
Weapon Upgrades

Support Skills

Support Skills Rng. SP
Heal

Restores 5 HP to target ally.

Learns by default at 1 ★
1 50
Reconcile

Restores 7 HP to unit and target ally.

Learns by default at 3 ★
1 100
Martyr

Restores HP=7+this unit's suffered damage. Unit heals HP=half suffered damage. Slows Special trigger (cooldown count+1).

Learns by default at 4 ★
1 150
Martyr+

Restores HP = this unit's suffered damage +50% of Atk. (Minimum of 7 HP.)
Also restores HP to unit = half suffered damage.

Learns by default at 5 ★
1 300

Special Skills

Special Skills SP Turns
Miracle

If unit's HP > 1 and foe would reduce unit's HP to 0, unit survives with 1 HP.

Learns by default at 4 ★
Unlocks at 3 ★
Inheritable by all units.
200 5

Passive Skills

Passive Skills SP Slot
AR-D Spd/Res 1

If defending in Aether Raids, grants Spd/Res+X during combat. (Calculates X based on number of your defensive structures: ≥5 structures grants +4; 4 grants +3; 3 grants +2; ≤2 grants +1. Destroyed defensive structures are not counted.)

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 3 ★
60
A
AR-D Spd/Res 2

If defending in Aether Raids, grants Spd/Res+X during combat. (Calculates X based on number of your defensive structures: ≥5 structures grants +7; 4 grants +5; 3 grants +3; ≤2 grants +1. Destroyed defensive structures are not counted.)

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 4 ★
120
A
AR-D Spd/Res 3

If defending in Aether Raids, grants Spd/Res+X during combat. (Calculates X based on number of your defensive structures: ≥5 structures grants +10; 4 grants +7; 3 grants +4; ≤2 grants +1. Destroyed defensive structures are not counted.)

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 5 ★
120
A
Odd Res Wave 1

At start of odd-numbered turns, grants Res+2 to unit and adjacent allies for 1 turn. (Bonus granted to unit even if no allies are adjacent.)

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 1 ★
60
C
Odd Res Wave 2

At start of odd-numbered turns, grants Res+4 to unit and adjacent allies for 1 turn. (Bonus granted to unit even if no allies are adjacent.)

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 2 ★
120
C
Odd Res Wave 3

At start of odd-numbers turns, grants Res+6 to unit and adjacent allies for 1 turn. (Bonus granted to unit even if no allies are adjacent.)

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 4 ★
240
C

Other Info

Origin
Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Banners Featured In