Table of Contents
Character Overview
Meru is a Permanent 3* Piercing Striker student who will be having a rate-up banner during the upcoming event "Academy Club Story ~A Pair's Final Adventure~" alongside other returning students Cherino and Marina. On release, she will find usage in the new upcoming raid Wakamo (Hovercraft) in P2. While she fills a niche that is already covered by an existing student. Meru’s damage potential and ease of use completely overshadow previous alternatives making her a top choice.
Strengths
- High damage Single Target damage
Weaknesses
- Needs a team built around her
- Anti-Synergy with Crit Supports
Skill Review
EX Skill
Starting this off, we have the highlight of Meru’s kit. This deals damage to 1 enemy and applies a Burn DoT and Weakness Detection. While the DoT effect is nothing to write home about, Weakness Detection is a strong debuff that deals an additional instance of damage every time an ally attacks.
At first glance, this skill is similar to Miyu’s EX Skill but the core difference is Meru’s EX Skill lasts for 30 seconds and can be triggered up to 480 times. This gives her more time to stack up damage. Note that only the initial hit of this skill can Crit, both the Burn and Weakness Detection cannot Crit.
Basic Skill
Moving on to Meru’s Basic Skill, it deals damage to 1 enemy and applies a DoT (Burn). Overall a relatively niche skill that can be used in some JFD stages. Note that the majority of the damage from this skill comes from the DoT, which cannot Crit.
Enchanced Skill
A straightforward but welcome increase to Meru’s ATK stat, this has more value on her as EX Skill is unable to Crit.
Sub Skill
Lastly, Meru’s Sub Skill allows her to deal more damage on the 3rd Auto Attack. This skill deals a respectable amount of damage while having a decent uptime. We recommend raising this skill after Enhanced as it does not improve her EX Skill.
Gameplay Progression
Early game: Unfortunately, Meru does not find a lot of usage in the early game, as she is a Single-Target damage dealer. In addition to this, most of her damage is backloaded and requires your team to focus on the enemy she targets.
Early game alternatives:
Students listed here are only some of the notable options available.
Late game (High Investment): For the late game, Meru mainly finds usage in the upcoming raid Wakamo (Hovercraft). This raid caters to her niche as p2 requires multi-hit attacks to stack debuffs. Outside of this, Meru can be used in Heavy Armored raids if you can build a team around her.
- Minimum Required Investment: 3* or UE40
- Skill Leveling Priority: Enhanced > Basic = Sub
Conclusion
Overall, Meru is a strong but niche student who has managed to be one of the top choices for the upcoming raid Wakamo (Hovercraft). While she may not be the first student to have Weakness Detection, her version of this debuff is stronger and blows Miyu’s damage out of the water. It is important to keep in mind that even with her high damage output, she still requires a team built around her to proc Weakness Detection.
If you ignore the core of her kit, she will not deal any significant damage and will fall behind other damage dealers. In addition to this, if the raid is almost cleared, it may be better to bring a different damage dealer as her damage is backloaded.
How Much Should I Invest?: Unique Equipment 40, since her damage is relevant it is highly recommended to unlock UE40 for the additional ATK increase.
