MementoMori

How to Beat Merlyn

Merlyn
Best Builds	How To Beat
Story and Profile

How to Beat Merlyn Overview

Merlyn

PvE Rank	PvP Rank

Base Rarity	Soul	Type	Role
SR	Emerald	Sorcerer	Buffer

Merlyn is one of the game's most prevalent buffers, and for good reason. Not only does she have a potent set of supporting tools, but she is also incredibly easy to awaken due to being available in the standard pool. On top of that, she fulfills a role that many Attackers need to perform optimally.

Merlyn Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths	Weaknesses
• Diverse Support Options For Attackers • Surprisingly Difficult To Knock Out • Purges Buffs From Enemies And Debuffs From Allies	• Requires Specific Positioning • Has A Small Offensive Presence • Unreliable Healing

Merlyn Skill Analysis

Like Master Would Do

Apprentice Wanted!

Skill	Skill Effect
Like Master Would Do	Level 1 (Unlocks by default) If the ally with the highest ATK is afflicted with a debuff, this skill dispels 1 debuff from them.
	Level 2 (Unlocks by level 81) Additionally, if the target is not afflicted with a debuff, increases their ATK by 30% for 2 turns.
	Level 3 (Unlocks by level 161) The amount the target’s ATK increases by becomes 40%.

Skill	Skill Effect
Apprentice Wanted!	Level 1 (Unlocks by level 41) At the start of each turn, if 3 or more allies are alive, this skill increases the chance to deal a critical hit of both Merlyn and 1 adjacent ally by 20% (cannot be dispelled). If the number of allies who are alive is 2 or less, this skill instead increases the DEF of both Merlyn and 1 adjacent ally by 20% (cannot be dispelled).
	Level 2 (Unlocks by level 121) The amounts all targets’ DEF and chance to deal a critical hit increase by each become 40%.
	Level 3 (Unlocks by level 201) The targets of this skill become Merlyn and 2 adjacent allies.

Merlyn possesses powerful offense-oriented buffs that any attacker would appreciate. Her ATK and Critical Hit chance buffs are always good to have, and she can even support a secondary attacker with her Apprentice Wanted! skill. As a bonus, having her Exclusive Weapon, the Staff of Sylvan Harvest, will impart an additional healing effect to Like Master Would Do or add a critical damage buff to the target.

Unfortunately, specific positioning is required for Apprentice Wanted! to target specific witches, forcing her to be slotted between the characters you need the buffs on. On top of that, Like Master Would Do has a flaw in that the ATK buff won't be applied if her target ally was afflicted with a debuff before her using it.

Vine Stream

Master and Apprentice

Skill	Skill Effect
Vine Stream	Level 1 (Unlocks by level 11) Dispels 1 buff each from the 2 enemies with the highest remaining HP percentages, and deals 1 magical attack to equal to 320% of Merlyn’s ATK to all targets.
	Level 2 (Unlocks by level 21) Additionally restores HP equal to 15% of this skill’s total damage to the ally with the lowest remaining HP percentage.
	Level 3 (Unlocks by level 101) The magical attack’s damage becomes equal to 380% of her ATK.
	Level 4 (Unlocks by level 181) The targets of the magical attack become the 3 enemies with the highest remaining HP percentages.

Skill	Skill Effect
Master and Apprentice	Level 1 (Unlocks by level 61) At the start each turn or when Merlyn is attacked, if her remaining HP percentage is below 50%, this skill grants［Regeneration］to both Merlyn and 1 adjacent ally (cannot be dispelled). Each turn, at the start of the action phase, ［Regeneration］ restores HP equal to 3% of a target’s max HP to them.
	Level 2 (Unlocks by level 141) The amount［Regeneration］restores a target’s HP by becomes equal to 5% of their max HP.
	Level 3 (Unlocks by level 221) The targets of this skill become Merlyn and 2 adjacent allies.

Merlyn also functions as a healer for her team. Two of her skills restore her allies' health using different mechanics players can play around with. Not being limited to active-only or passive-only healing allows Merlyn to somewhat ensure the recovery takes effect. Vine Stream can even remove buffs from enemies.

Both skills share one glaring issue: neither of them is particularly reliable. For one, the healing from Vine Stream can easily be mitigated by damage cut effects, Multi-Barriers, evasion, etc. On the other hand, Master and Apprentice's regeneration buff only takes effect when Merlyn herself falls under 50% HP. This means that it's entirely possible for the regeneration buff to not trigger at all until it is too late.

Witches to Beat Merlyn

Merlyn Hard Counters

Rusalka

Cordie

Paladea

Fast debuffers can ruin Merlyn's allied attacker's chances of getting the ATK buff from Like Master Would Do by forcing Merlyn to remove it instead.

Lea

Witch Illya

Belle

Witches with focus-fire targeting on their nukes can completely ignore Merlyn in battle, preventing her from applying her troublesome Regeneration buff to her allies.

Nina

Nina is the bane of most buffers and debuffers in the game. She is fully capable of shrugging off the attacks of Merlyn's allies before claiming their buffs for herself.

Merlyn General Counters

Dian	Soltina	Primavera
Florence	Eir	Liselotte
Morgana	Veela	Cerberus

Merlyn Sample Counter Teams

Emerald Burst Cycling

Attacker / Debuffer	Buffer	Attacker	Buffer	Debuffer
Cordie	Fenrir	Lea	Mertillier	Nina

Fast and powerful teams specializing in picking off enemies before the other party can move to counter the typical teams Merlyn runs with well. Cordie is essential in this team as a speedy attacker who can spread a defense-shredding debuff if equipped with her exclusive weapon. Meanwhile, Lea can pick up clean kills due to her speed and focused fire burst damage. Fenrir and Mertillier, if Cordie and Lea's ATK values are tuned correctly, will allow the stronger of the latter two to recommence their active skill rotations in quick succession.

Florence Wipeout

Atacker / Debuffer	Buffer	Buffer	Attacker	Buffer
Cordie	Dian	Primavera	Florence	Olivia

Merlyn is often paired with Florence to increase the latter's ability to deal high chain damage with their Scarlet Shimmer skill, or a different critical-reliant attacker. But, like Merlyn, these attackers also tend to be very fragile. So, a team that centers around bursting everything down with blistering speed using Cordie and Florence will work quite well.

Witches Not To Use Against Merlyn

Apostle Rosalie

Apostle Rosalie's design centers around countering debuffers, so she really can't respond to anything Merlyn does.

Moddey

Summer Moddey

Lunalynn

Teams that rely on damage-over-time effects such as poison will find it difficult to maintain the debuff on key targets for prolonged periods.

Artie

Witches that scale off the premise that their enemies are afflicted with debuffs will struggle to deal with Merlyn and her allied attackers.

Tips for Beating Merlyn

Try Focusing On Her Allies First

As a dedicated support unit, Merlyn has little to no offensive capabilities herself. On the other hand, she imparts some incredibly potent buffs to her allies, so defeating them first will not only prevent Merlyn's buffs from making an impact in battle but also eliminate the immediate threats on the field. Defeating three of her allies also disables Apprentice Wanted's Critical Hit chance buffs and puts her on the defensive, making the subsequent cleanup easier.

Use Debuffers, But Avoid Action-Hindering Debuffs

Despite Merlyn's ability to cleanse debuffs from her ally attackers, players shouldn't turn away from the prospect. Merlyn can only do so by forgoing the opportunity to buff her ally's ATK instead. Hence, debuffs actually prevent her from letting allied attackers run rampant.

But while debuffs can deny her allied attackers Merlyn's essential offensive buffs, action-hindering debuffs have the chance to simply stall the sequence by a turn or two if they hit both Merlyn and her attackers. Though, this isn't mandatory, as players can take that opportunity to burst Merlyn's team down.

Speed Is Key

Most Merlyn teams will prioritize maxing out her speed to lay down her offensive buffs onto her allied attackers before enemies can debuff or defeat them. To shut that down, it's important to outspeed her and deal with the situation quickly.

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MementoMori's ［Apostle of Caritas］Rosalie is one of the witches players will encounter in the game. Read on to learn how to make use of the game's witches and mechanics to defeat them in battle.

Rosalie
Base	［Apostle of Caritas］
Best Builds	Best Builds
Best Builds	How To Beat
Story and Profile

List of Contents

How to Beat ［Apostle of Caritas］Rosalie
Witches to Beat ［Apostle of Caritas］Rosalie
Witches Not To Use Against ［Apostle of Caritas］Rosalie
Tips for Beating ［Apostle of Caritas］Rosalie
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How to Beat ［Apostle of Caritas］Rosalie

How to Beat ［Apostle of Caritas］Rosalie Overview

［Apostle of Caritas］Rosalie

PvE Rank	PvP Rank

Base Rarity	Soul	Type	Role
SR (Limited)	Radiance	Sorcerer	Buffer

Apostle of Rosalie is a hard counter to debuffers that creates a powerful burst damage window for her allies during the mid-game. To survive up to that point, she also provides an extremely potent Force Field buff to her adjacent allies for the first two turns, granting all three of them near-invulnerability to damage during the first two rounds of active skill usage.

［Apostle of Caritas］Rosalie Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths	Weaknesses
• Triggers A Powerful Burst Damage Window • Near-Invulnerable During The First 2 Turns • Difficult To Defeat Mid-Game	• Weak Late-Game Scaling • Susceptible To Action-Hindering Debuffs • Relies Excessively On Allies

［Apostle of Caritas］Rosalie Skill Analysis

Angel’s Cascade

Apostle of Love

Skill	Skill Effect
Angel’s Cascade	Level 1 (Unlocks by level 21) Rosalie deals 8 magical attacks equal to 160% of her ATK to enemies at random. Before dealing the magical attacks, if Rosalie is enhanced with Apostle of Love’s［Memory］and its stack count is 15,［Memory］is dispelled, and His Soul’s Sacrifice activates instead of Angel’s Cascade. His Soul’s Sacrifice deals 8 magical attacks equal to 160% of Rosalie’s ATK to enemies at random. Afterwards, this skill decreases 2 adjacent allies’ skill cooldown time by 1.
	Level 2 (Unlocks by level 41) Strengthens His Soul’s Sacrifice. After dealing the magical attacks, additionally increases 2 adjacent allies’ ATK by an amount equal to 10% of Rosalie’s max HP before any stat increases or decreases were applied to it for 2 turns (cannot be dispelled).
	Level 3 (Unlocks by level 101) Strengthens His Soul’s Sacrifice. The amount all targets’ skill cooldown time decreases by becomes 2.
	Level 4 (Unlocks by level 181) The number of magical attacks that Angel’s Cascade and His Soul’s Sacrifice each deal becomes 10.

Skill	Skill Effect
Apostle of Love	Level 1 (Unlocks by level 11) At the start of the battle, this skill grants 1 stack of［Memory］to Rosalie (cannot be dispelled). Each time Rosalie or an ally is inflicted with a debuff from an active skill, the stack count of［Memory］increases by an amount equal to the total number of debuffs that she and her allies are afflicted with (15 stacks max). However, if Rosalie uses Angel’s Cascade and its effect causes [Memory] to be dispelled, this skill will not grant [Memory] to her again. If the stack count of [Memory] becomes 15, this skill increases Rosalie’s ATK by an amount equal to 10% of her max HP before any stat increases or decreases were applied to it (cannot be dispelled).
	Level 2 (Unlocks by level 121) Additionally, starting from the 2nd turn, at the start of each turn, increases the stack count of［Memory］by 3.
	Level 3 (Unlocks by level 201) If the stack count of［Memory］becomes 15, additionally dispels 2 debuffs from Rosalie, and grants her［Shield］equal to 80% of her max HP before any stat increases or decreases were applied to it for 2 turns (cannot be dispelled).

Apostle Rosalie is designed to heavily punish opposing debuffers by allowing her adjacent allies to gain access to their active skills immediately after the second turn, at least for those with 4-turn cooldown skills. This means that, unlike other witches, Apostle Rosalie actually appreciates getting afflicted by debuffs. This is especially noticeable considering her ATK and Shield buff scales off of her HP, which cannot be affected by enemy debuffs.

Unfortunately, despite this, she is still susceptible to action-hindering debuffs. Getting hit by one on the second turn is especially dangerous as it reduces the effectiveness of her skill's cooldown-reducing effect.

Everlasting Spirit

Master's Old Staff

Skill	Skill Effect
Everlasting Spirit	Level 1 (Unlocks by level 61) At the start of the battle, this skill grants［Force Field］to Rosalie and 1 adjacent ally for 1 turn (cannot be dispelled). If a target enhanced with［Force Field］is attacked and takes damage that exceeds 20% of their max HP, the exceeding amount of damage is cut by an amount equal to 20% of the granter’s max HP before any stat increases or decreases were applied to it.
	Level 2 (Unlocks by level 141) The number of turns of［Force Field］becomes 2.
	Level 3 (Unlocks by level 221) The ally targets of［Force Field］become 2 adjacent allies.

Skill	Skill Effect
Master's Old Staff	Level 1 (Unlocks by getting Apostle Rosalie's Unique Weapon) Strengthens Frailty. The targets of this skill become 5 random enemies.
	Level 2 (Unlocks by UR Rarity) Strengthens Everlasting Spirit. If a target enhanced with［Force Field］is attacked and takes damage that exceeds 20% of their max HP, the amount the exceeding amount of damage is cut by becomes equal to 50% of the granter’s max HP before any stat increases or decreases were applied to it.
	Level 3 (Unlocks by LR Rarity) Strengthens Angel’s Cascade and His Soul’s Sacrifice. Angel’s Cascade’s magical attacks’ damage and His Soul’s Sacrifice’s magical attacks’ damage each become equal to 180% of her ATK.

Everlasting Spirit functions as an incredibly powerful shield for herself and two of her adjacent allies, essentially rendering them invulnerable during the first two turns of the match. This is especially true once her Exclusive Weapon is awakened once.

There are only two ways to get past this skill outside of letting it expire. The first is to simply force the damage by using powerful skills. However, that is difficult to do considering that witches need to deal damage totalling more than half of Apostle Rosalie's HP.

The second method is easier, which is to use skills with high hit counts but low individual damage. However, only very few witches possess a skill like that.

Witches to Beat ［Apostle of Caritas］Rosalie

［Apostle of Caritas］Rosalie Hard Counters

Ophelia

Due to the high hit count and the at-random targeting of Apostle Rosalie's Angel's Cascade skill, she is susceptible to being taken out by Ophelia's powerful Taunt and Counterattack effect combo. Additionally, since Apostle Rosalie is less of an attacker and more of a support, she won't have the necessary stats to defeat Ophelia during their exchange.

Since Apostle Rosalie is only really built to counter debuffers, committed buffers are free to use their skills without worry of any retaliatory effects from her.

Belle

Witch Illya

Attackers with high hit counts on their active skills can bypass Apostle Rosalie's Force Field by merit of either brute force or going under the skill's 20% HP damage requirement. This allows them to pick up kills that would otherwise be impossible for other attackers due to Apostle Rosalie's incredibly potent defensive buff.

［Apostle of Caritas］Rosalie General Counters

Merlyn	Soltina	Primavera
A.A.	Fia	Valeriede
Summer Sabrina	Lea	Priscilla

［Apostle of Caritas］Rosalie Sample Counter Teams

Emerald Attrition Team

Healer	Attacker / Tanker	Buffer	Attacker / Debuffer	Debuffer / Tanker
Yuni	Fia	Merlyn	Rusalka	Nina

Considering that Apostle Rosalie will have Memory completely stacked by the 6th turn regardless of what players do, a viable strategy is to prepare for that window using teams that specialize in resisting burst damage.

God's Curse

Tanker	Buffer	Attacker	Buffer	Attacker / Buffer
Ophelia	Fenrir	Witch Illya	Merlyn	Paladea

Another easy way to deal with teams running Apostle Rosalie is to defeat them during the midgame, right before her burst damage window opens. This can be easily done using a team centered around Witch Illya, whose God Curses The Light skill enables her to deal terrific damage during the 8 turns God's Curse Unleashed is active.

Witches Not To Use Against ［Apostle of Caritas］Rosalie

Elfriede

Considering the nature of teams Elfriede usually runs with, it's very likely for them to trigger Apostle Rosalie's burst damage window prematurely. And without the defensive buff stacks, even Elfriede would have difficulty surviving the following exchange.

Cordie

Considering the difficulty of trying to burst down Apostle Rosalie and her adjacent allies during the first two turns, Cordie, who does so using debuffs, would only stack her Memory prematurely while dealing little damage in return.

Armstrong

Chiffon

Witches with damage-cutting skills that decrease in potency over time will find it difficult to resist Apostle Rosalie's mid-game burst damage.

Tips for Beating ［Apostle of Caritas］Rosalie

Avoid Inflicting Excessive Debuffs

Apostle Rosalie heavily punishes excessive debuff use. Enough of it being inflicted on her team will allow her to prematurely max out her Memory stacks before she moves on Turn 2, meaning that her burst window moves from the more tolerable 7th turn to the 3rd, which will catch almost any team unprepared.

Prepare For The Mid Or Late Game

Since Apostle Rosalie will max out her Memory by the 6th turn regardless of what players do, preparing for it by defeating her allies ahead of time or stacking on defenses will work.

Delay The Burst Window Using Action-Hindering Debuffs

Because her burst damage window is triggered by her 2nd active skill, you can effectively delay the triggering of its 2nd when her Memory is fully stacked by inflicting her with an action-hindering debuff on that turn. Similarly, you can delay it even further by doing so again before her later activation on the 7th turn.