High Mercury Guide: Standard & Expert

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Waters, heed my command!

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High Mercury's Trial is a challenge quest centered on a boss battle with High Mercury, unlocked upon the completion of Mercury's Trial: Master.

• Rewards from Standard difficulty include , which can be traded for the 5 dragon or the , and can be used to upgrade the Fafnir Statue facility.
• Rewards from Expert additionally include , which alongside s can be used to craft Water-attuned High Dragon weapons with High Brunhilda's Bane.
  • Additionally, weekly clears from Expert additionally include small amounts of s, which alongside s and s can be used towards enhancing Water-attuned High Dragon weapons into tier 2, significantly increasing its power against enemies outside of High Brunhilda.

Stat and Equipment Requirements

HP

HP isn't too much of a concern, as all adventurers should be able to withstand the unavoidable damage High Mercury inflicts at the beginning of the fight if they have sufficiently strong equipment, and the fight has no further sources of unavoidable damage.

Weapons

Crafting Void Bane or Chimeratech weapons, or better, can improve your adventurer's performance (especially if it's Chimeratech) in the quest, though technically optional. Still, if possible, at least equip your adventurers with Void Bane weapons at minimum.

• Generally speaking, if you're able to clear Tempest Chimera Strike: Standard (and preferably, also its Expert difficulty), you should obtain materials from it to create a Chimeratech weapon, as it should be more powerful than void bane weapons, especially once other punisher modifiers are factored in - the eats into the punisher bracket that is also used by 's and 's . It is also easier to build compared to the Void bane weapons, but if you already have them anyway, feel free to use them.

• If planning to clear Expert difficulty in auto-battle mode, the weapon requirements become significantly higher due to the loss of a wyrmprint slot and a DPS adventurer. v5T3 and CT2 weaponry are completely unacceptable on DPS adventurers, as are non-MUB Agito weaponry; only MUB Agito and High Dragons (HD2 preferred) weapons should be used on them.

Weapon Table

Weapon Category	Sword	Blade	Dagger	Axe	Lance	Bow	Wand	Staff
Void Bane (Standard: Good, Expert: OK)
Chimeratech Tier 2 (Standard: Good+, Expert: Good)
High Dragon Tier 1 (Standard: Overkill, Expert: Better)
High Dragon Tier 2 (Standard: Overkill, Expert: Better+)
Agito Tier 1 (0UB - Standard: Better+, Expert: Better) (MUB - Standard: Overkill, Expert: Best)

Dragons

Everyone should be ideally be equipped with a max-unbound 4 dragon at a minimum.

Adventurers	Dragons
Standard DPS - Most DPS adventurers use these standard DPS dragons. Hawk signficantly prefers Vayu due to his exceedingly high skill damage totals, and most other adventurers prefer Vayu anyway under most circumstances. Ariel can assist with skill uptime or make certain strategies easier to execute, and is practically equivalent to Vayu for Gala Leif, though otherwise she technically is a bit inferior than Vayu for most DPS adventurers. AC-011 Garland can provide extremely high strength as long as the adventurer does not take any damage that disables the shield; as High Mercury's Trial has no unavoidable damage past the opening blast, he can work extremely well, and the divergent shield he provides can cover nearly all sources of chip damage should something happen (though you will lose the strength increase for 15 seconds).
Big Crits Kung Fu Master - Lin You can reach a critical rate high enough for Long Long to pull ahead of most other dragons, and hence Long Long becomes a highly suitable choice for Lin You. Other DPS dragons will still function just as well as they do on other adventurers, though.
Hybrid DPS - These hybrid DPS adventurers want to have as much uptime on their buff/debuff/poison skills as possible, so Ariel is a perfect fit, though other DPS dragons will also work.
Support - These support adventurers have low personal DPS, so prefers having abilities. Freyja grants higher amounts of skill haste, and carries a potent skill that also instantly grants 5 stacks of , instantly energizing all teammates. She is ideal for Tobias, and is required for 4DPS runs without Wedding Elisanne or healing shared skills anyway. Ariel increases damage output especially when in dragon form, and is ideal for Melody, Noelle, and Dragonyule Xainfried if someone else can heal significantly.
Healers - If an healer is to be used, healers will prefer to increase their healing output and buff uptime under most circumstances. Freyja provides the highest amount of , a ability, and carries a strong regen heal with her dragon skill, and is usually the best pick for healers. Garuda provides a higher amount of HP boost compared to Freyja, but provides no skill haste. She is ideal if you need a big heal over faster heals. Ariel provides slightly less skill haste, but grants instead of HP Up. She may be used in place of Freyja if you prefer having slightly more DPS without going off-element, or are playing in public co-op and need to meet might requirements, though your healing output burst/ticks will be lower than Freyja or Garuda. Also has a pretty good dragon form damage should you opt to use it. Pop-Star Siren's and buffs can be extremely strong if timed correctly, though your healing will also be at the weakest.
Auto Enabler Hope - Templar Hope is not a good choice for normal solo or co-op use (unless your other three teammates are all Louises), but he is required should you opt for clearing the quest in auto battle mode in Expert difficulty. Freyja provides the highest amount of and a ability, ensuring that Templar Hope can fire off defensive buffs as quickly as possible. Garuda provides a higher amount of HP boost compared to Freyja, but provides no skill haste. Templar Hope also benefits from her by becoming significantly tankier.

Wyrmprints

Most adventurers should equip their standard wyrmprints.

Templar Hope in an auto battle composition for Expert difficulty requires a different set of wyrmprints.

• You don't need Templar Hope to auto battle Standard difficulty.
• DPS adventurers in this composition will benefit from running over their standard skill damage wyrmprints, due to the very high frequency of defense buffs.
• All adventurers should be equipped with in an auto battle composition for Expert difficulty.

Adventurer	Wyrmprint 1	Wyrmprint 2
Keeping Hope Alive - A Dog's Day provides and , while Study Rabbits provide and , letting Templar Hope fire off defensive buffs faster and have them last longer, or improve his own tankiness, as the auto battle composition hinges on Hope surviving; indeed, without Hope, auto battle runs will quickly fall apart. Queen of the Blue Seas should be equipped on everyone if planning to auto battle, as AI adventurers will have to survive the waterfall attack High Mercury does later on in the fight.

Party Roles

DPS/Hybrid DPS

These units will be doing the majority of the DPS, and provide buffs/debuffs if applicable.

Adventurer	Notes
	Extremely high constant damage output, Poison, minor and .
	High overdrive damage, creates buff zones and debuff zones.
	Very high constant damage output with strong , provides mild defensive support with , , and .
	Very high constant damage output with strong , though more awkward to play than Victor. .
	High damage output, Poison.
	High damage output, Poison, provides a small , can provide .
	Very high constant damage output, very high critical rates, self-sustain.
	Very high constant damage output, Poison, large (in both magnitude and area) zone.
	Very high damage output if paired with a Poisoner.
	High damage output, Poison, , significant buff effects especially with guaranteed , occasional total affliction relief. .
	Extremely high burst damage output, Poison. .
	Very high constant damage output, Poison, receptive to buffs.
	High damage output, occasional (and unreliable) .

Support

These units spend most of the time buffing other adventurers.

• Don't use Templar Hope in general compositions.
• Don't bring more than two pure support adventurers in the whole composition.

Adventurer	Notes
	buffer with relatively high personal DPS compared to other options. Also provides access to Poison. .
	Ranged buffer. Easier to use than all other choices here, especially to bait ranged attacks.
	buffer. Works best when paired with a Strength buffer. Shapeshifts more frequently than other options, and can take advantage of it with a DPS dragon if desired.
	buffer with access to Poison. More awkward to use than all other choices if wishing to use his poisoning skill, but technically buffs the strongest standalone.
	buffer. Only useful for auto battle and triple Louise compositions.

Healer

If desired, the healer keeps the team alive and provides support.

Adventurer	Notes
	Lowen has low personal DPS, but has high healing output, provides Bog relief, and grants some defensive support with both and buffs - these buffs will significantly improve safety by making nearly all of High Mercury's attacks two-shots instead of one-shots, regardless of your current co-ability setup.
	Grace provides a very large which can protect adventurers from being afflicted and blocks knockback while the shield is not completely destroyed. Her buff is much higher, at 100%, but also lasts significantly shorter than Lowen's, making it more suitable for mitigating severe damage.
	If Lowen is a defensive support healer, then Akasha is an offensive support healer. Although she is not an offensive healer in the sense of that is a disguised DPS, she instead has access to , which can significantly speed up skill cooldowns on other teammates when used strategically. She will appreciate having access to high amounts of , and pairs especially well with for even more effective SP gain.

General Party Setup

There are two general variations of compositions in High Mercury's Trial - 4DPS and 3DPS. There are also two specialty compositions involving Templar Hope that have unusual requirements and not compatible with normal co-op.

The three real requirements for general compositions are as follows:

• One of the adventurers in the composition must be able to heal the entire team if desired (to reactivate any HP-based abilities), and to mitigate chip damage. Shared skills and dragon skills are also acceptable.
• One of the adventurers should behave as the close range baiter. Usually, this job falls to the weakest DPS melee role.
• One of the adventurers should behave as the long range baiter. Usually, this job falls to the healer or buffer role.

General Composition
Example 1: most 4DPS compositions are acceptable nowadays with the introduction of shared skills, though someone should try to bait away High Mercury's ranged attacks. This job usually falls to the buffer (in this example, Tobias) in a 4DPS composition.
Example 2: most 3DPS compositions are also acceptable nowadays due to the much higher DPS teams generally have nowadays, and 3DPS compositions also provides a much faster ramp to full HP for abilities requiring it, as well as making the majority of High Mercury's attacks more easily survivable. The healer should try to bait away High Mercury's ranged attacks in a 3DPS composition.
Example 3: the original 4DPS composition. No longer optimal in terms of DPS due to new adventurers and features. Wedding Elisannes provide the bulk of healing, and also significantly decreases High Mercury's defense, while Victor does the bulk of the DPS, with Noelle buffing the rest of the team.

Specialty Composition
Defense doublebuff spam composition.
Templar Hope Expert auto battle composition. On Expert difficulty, Templar Hope must be the leader, and must be equipped as the secondary wyrmprint on all adventurers. may replace Gala Leif safely.

Attacks and Patterns

Tidal Explosion

This is the fight's initial "HP check" blast.

• Any adventurer with , such as , should use defensive skills such as to reduce the damage taken, though it is entirely optional.
  • Afterwards, if possible, heal it back up ASAP to restore HP conditional abilities. Winds, Protect Us! at level 3 will provide healing, but one may opt to run other skills to make it go a bit faster.
    • Shared skills can help with further mitigation and/or healing.
• You can't iframe it, however if you are a melee character then you can hold down Force Strike to not get knocked back.
  • Sword-wielding adventurers that aren't can also attempt this sequence of actions: dodge roll towards High Mercury, attack twice, force strike, then attack five times without using a force strike. Due to knockback immunity between the third and fifth attack on the second string of attacks, they will also not be knocked back, and this also improves SP gain.
  • Lance-wielding adventurers can also attack immediately, but make sure that the attack string is ongoing (restart the string if it's about to end at the fifth attack) and do not use a force strike; lances have natural knockback immunity that is strong enough to prevent movement from the opening blast's knockback while within the string of attacks. Alternately, hold a force strike only after the fifth attack has landed.
  • Axe-wielding adventurers should just simply attack immediately without ever breaking the chain or force strike. Axes have natural knockback immunity that is strong enough to prevent movement from the opening blast's knockback.
• Melee DPS adventurers should stand to the upper-left of High Mercury in preparation of the next attack.

"Stomp + Dash + Tail Swipe"

High Mercury will target the closest player to her and do this 3-attack combo. Once she has stomped, the direction of her dash is locked in. After the dash, she will do a wide tail swipe behind her.

• Melee DPS adventurers should stand to the upper-left to bait the stomp, then skill, dodge, or move to High Mercury's side and continue to DPS as she dashes. After the dash is complete, adventurers that aren't baiting distant attacks should move to High Mercury's front, against the wall. This positioning of High Mercury is important, as the top corner is a safe spot that applies to all 3 variations of the "Whirlpool" attack.

"Water Shotguns x2"

High Mercury will target the farthest player and fire 2 "Water Shotgun" blasts of several balls of water. The ranged baiter should skill, dodge, or move out of the way.

"Whirlpools"

High Mercury will summon whirlpools in one of 3 possible patterns, decided at random. A consistent safe spot is in the upper-left of the map, which is why it was important for the melee DPS adventurers to bait High Mercury there earlier.

Spheres of Salvation + Stomp + Dash + Tail Swipe + Water Shotguns

Using a sticker to assign bubbles

High Mercury will summon 4 Spheres of Salvations (henceforth referred to as bubbles) that can be entered as safe zones. Standing inside a bubble will make the player invincible to all of High Mercury's attacks. However, if multiple adventurers try to enter the same bubble, then it will be destroyed. Each player should make sure to indicate which bubble "belongs" to them, whether by discussing in a pre-made room or by using the arrow stickers.

• Generally, the ranged baiter will take up the third bubble from the left immediately once they spawn.

While the bubbles are up. High Mercury will perform her Stomp + Dash + Tail Swipe combo again, followed by another two set of Water Shotguns. All players should be ready to enter the bubbles before High Mercury's map-wide "Waterfall" move, which follows shortly afterwards.

• Generally, at this point, the ranged adventurers will take the rightmost two bubbles
  • Usually, a ranged DPS such as , , and will take the third bubble from the left.
  • Usually, a healer or buffer such as or will take the rightmost bubble.
  • If playing in a public game, it might be wise to watch the minimap for adventurers' positions and only move when you are sure you will not accidentally enter someone else's bubble.

"Waterfall"

High Mercury will summon a waterfall that hits the entire map. This cannot be avoided with skill iframes, and is likely fatal if struck. There are three methods of mitigating it:

• All adventurers enter the safe bubbles that were summoned previously, which blocks all damage from it.
• Dragon tank it with a dragon skill, if shapeshift is available.
• It is possible to survive this attack if extremely high amounts of buffs, damage reduction (from debuffs, buffs, and 's abilities) , and a all exist at the same time.

Aqueous Prison

Shortly after the Waterfall, High Mercury will target the farthest player and put them into an Aqueous Prison. The other adventurers will then need to break the prison to free the trapped player, or they will take severe damage, and it likely will be fatal if there weren't sufficient amounts of defensive buffs before it explodes.

While the ranged baiter has been farthest from High Mercury up to now, they should instead roll toward High Mercury, while the weakest DPS moves farther away to bait the prison. Once the purple attack marker appears below that player, they should roll back to the main party to be freed. The ranged baiter should return to a far distance for the next attack.

Homing Bubble

High Mercury will target the farthest player and set a Homing Bubble to follow them. The ranged baiter needs to direct this bubble away from the rest of the party - it will deal severe damage to anyone it touches and also any nearby adventurers caught in the explosion, and it cannot be avoided with skill invincibility frames. Get away from it, baiting it away from the DPS group, until it explodes on its own, or dragon tank it.

• Note that the reason a different adventurer took the prison earlier is so that the ranged baiter doesn't have to take both prison and homing bubble - which would absolutely end very poorly for them without some serious regen healing and defensive buffs.

"Stomp + Dash + Tail Swipe" + Water Shotguns + Whirlpools

High Mercury will do her stomp + dash + tail swipe combo again, with the Homing Bubble from earlier exploding around the time of the Tail Swipe. She will follow up with another set of Water Shotguns and Whirlpools.

• The ranged baiter needs to be prepared to dodge the shotgun after the homing bubble ends, while also moving up towards the top-left of the map to dodge the Whirlpools.

Bursting Bubbles + Water Shotguns x3 + Whirlpools

High Mercury will walk to the center of the map and summon a circle Bursting Bubbles around her. When hit, these bubbles will split into 4 smaller bubbles with the momentum of whatever attack hit them. Shortly after Bursting Bubbles, High Mercury will fire Water Shotguns again, but this time she shoots 3 rounds instead of 2. Then she'll cast Whirlpools again.

• The safest approach to this is to follow High Mercury to the center and hug her side, then use a skill to both pop the bubbles and iframe them.
• Anyone who ends up outside the circle will need to iframe the bubbles when they expand outward with skills or dodge rolls. They also should not hit the bubbles, as doing so will launch the smaller bubbles into the circle and likely harm the players inside if they're caught unaware.
• The ranged baiter needs to retreat ASAP once the Bursting Bubbles are dealt with, so they can bait away the shotguns. Remember that 3 rounds need to be dodged this time, not the usual 2. High Mercury will go back to using 2 shotguns for any future uses of the move.
  • During the 3 shotgun phase, the ranged baiter also needs to make their way around to the top-left in order to dodge Whirlpools again.

Spheres of Salvation + Summon Help + "Stomp + Dash + Tail Swipe" + Water Shotguns x2 + "Waterfall"

High Mercury will summon Spheres of Salvation again, but this time she will also summon rats that will try to destroy the bubbles.

• Attacking the rats alone is a DPS loss - continue to fight High Mercury instead, however all players should have a dragon ready in case a bubble gets destroyed.
  • Wide AoE attack skills can help immensely with this, as they can deal damage to both High Mercury and the rats at the same time.
• Adventurers should now consider shapeshifting now to "dragon tank" - that is, transform into their dragon and time their dragon skill such that they are mid-skill when the Waterfall hits. The dragon's timer will become depleted by the hit, but they will continue their skill animation and not revert until that animation is over. Simply being in dragon form without using a skill is not enough, as the Waterfall is a multi-hit move that will revert the dragon and likely kill the player instantly if the dragon isn't animation-locked in a skill.
  • The timing for transforming is right after the Tail Swipe, during Water Shotguns. Then, the timing for using the dragon skill is when High Mercury spins around, shortly after she calls out "Waters, Heed my command!".
    • Generally, it will be safe to tap the dragon's skill button once High Mercury finishes twirling. Tapping this button too early may cause issues with certain dragons with faster animations, such as .

Loop A

If High Mercury is broken during any of the moves above, she will enter this loop of attacks until she is broken once more.

Bursting Bubbles + Homing Bubble + Water Shotguns

High Mercury will go to the center for Bursting Bubbles again, but will then cast Homing Bubble shortly afterwards, followed by a set of Water Shotguns.

• The DPS group should approach Bursting Bubbles the same as before: hug High Mercury's side and pop the bubbles with a skill.
• The ranged baiter actually should not approach High Mercury for this phase, but instead be prepared to iframe with skills or dodge rolls. Once the bubbles are popped, they need to skill or dodge the incoming Bubbles, then be prepared to bait the Homing Bubble and Shotguns away from the party.

Stomp + Dash + Tail Swipe + Water Shotguns + Whirlpools

High Mercury will do her usual Stomp + Dash + Tail Swipe combo towards the closest players, followed by Shotguns toward the farthest and another round of Whirlpools.

• This is the same drill as before. DPS adventurers need to bait the 3-hit combo to top-left, while the ranged bait needs to dodge shotguns and approach the top-left to dodge whirlpools.

Loop B

If High Mercury is broken during Loop A, she will enter Loop B. Once Loop B finishes, she will move back to doing Loop A.

Spheres of Salvation + Summon Help + Aqueous Prison + Stomp + Dash + Tail Swipe + Waterfall

High Mercury will do a similar set of moves to the Summon Help section before, but this time she throws in an Aqueous Prison.

• The ranged baiter should actually take the prison this time, and other DPS adventurers need to be ready to free them ASAP. One of the adventurers should instead bait High Mercury away from the prison and other adventurers - going for top-left this time actually doesn't matter.
• The team should be ready to dragon tank the Waterfall again, transforming during either the Dash or Tail Swipe, should at least one of the bubbles not survive the rats' attacks. See the previous instance for timing information.

Bursting Bubbles + Whirlpools + Aqueous Prison

High Mercury will walk to the center of the map, followed by Whirlpools, followed by Aqueous Prison.

• Since High Mercury does Whirlpools right after Bubbles this time, there's no opportunity to bait her to the top-left. Due to this, it is not safe to continue attacking HMC until the Whirlpools are done. The team should retreat according to the Whirlpool pattern, then needs to regroup to deal with the Prison quickly.
• High Mercury will then resume Loop A, which starts with Bursting Bubbles again. The DPS adventurers need to hug High Mercury's side after the prison is broken, while the ranged baiter should keep some distance and be prepared to iframe the bubbles with a skill or dodging.