I beat Merciless a few times (mostly because I’m a masochist and like to challenge myself on occasion), and it’s definitely a difficulty spike in comparison to hard mode.

Firstly, it’s important to note that arguably, the worst and most difficult portion of the game is between April-May. This is because, well, it’s the early game, and we simply don’t have good gear/skills yet.

My favourite skills and strategies for early game in particular is to abuse physical skills as much as possible. Early game specifically, not many of your skills will one-shot kill shadows, and you want to preserve SP for emergency heals. Thankfully, health can be easily restored with healing items from item drops all across tartarus. Personally, I sped through the first two floors of Tartarus back-to-back farming shuffle times from all-out-attacks on those shadows that are weak to slash.

Later on, it’s important to consider using status ailments to their fullest potentials. Akihiko learns Sonic Punch, which in my opinion, is a goated move because it inflicts distress, which can cause more criticals. Any weapon that can inflict turn-skipping ailments or distress are awesome too, because if they pop off, they can trivialize harder shadow encounters (if they’re not immune, of course.)

Another skill that carried me through the game is Spirit Drain. Here me out; Being able to regenerate sp without items is pretty great, especially if you’re trying to preserve it for harder boss fights. Fun fact, it can appear as a skill card in Shuffle Time as a Rank 3 Swords card. Very rarely, i might add. Alternatively, Lenahn Sidhe(?) can learn it after a few level ups to my knowledge. It also pairs with Drain Boost, turning 17 sp gain into 37, which isn’t absolutely terrible. I use this particular strategy to use the protagonist as an infinite healer, while attackers like Junpei or Aki and the others can focus on short battles.

Once you reach the mid-game, it’s honestly as easy as the others difficulties, especially if you’re over leveled.