Marcus
Marcus is a 6★ Plant Arcanist in Reverse: 1999. Below are the exact Insight materials needed to ascend them, plus other Plant Arcanists to build alongside.
Data updated: 2026-07-11
Marcus — Review & Analysis
Marcus is a near self-sufficient AoE Mental DPS: his passive auto-applies [Mark] to enemies (prioritizing bosses), generates Moxie every round, then upgrades his own Incantations' tier, so he reaches high-tier casts without leaning on teammates for resources. Both Incantation II and the Ultimate hit multiple targets and add bonus damage against [Mark] — the very debuff he spreads — making him a steady AoE damage axis. On top of that comes some utility: [Weakness] cuts enemy damage, and his tier-3 single-target cast gains penetration.
- Self-driven Moxie loop: the passive applies [Mark] (enemies acting grant him Moxie), he gains Moxie at battle/round start and then upgrades his own Incantations, giving high uptime on high-tier casts without eating the team's resources.
- Strong AoE damage: Incantation II hits 2 enemies and the Ultimate sweeps the whole field, both adding bonus damage when the target carries the [Mark] he spreads himself.
- Utility bundled with damage: Incantation II applies [Weakness] for -25% enemy damage, tier-3 Incantation I adds 30% penetration, and the Ultimate generates a Reserve Incantation for an extra action.
- His Plant Afflatus is countered by Beast, so against Beast enemies Marcus loses his elemental edge and takes more damage.
- The damage engine needs to warm up: it takes a few rounds of Moxie build-up and [Mark] uptime to reach tier 3, and the full [Close Reading] effect requires a team with 3 or more Wood/Spirit/Intellect characters.
Prioritize leveling the Ultimate and Incantation II first — they are his two main AoE damage sources and where the [Mark] bonus lands; bring up Incantation I afterward to firm up single-target. Since Marcus handles his own Moxie and tier-ups, pick an attack/crit-oriented Psychube to maximize Mental DMG, and skip healing or resource-generation types that are redundant on him. Higher Portrait levels push both his Moxie flow and his damage multipliers.
Overview
Base Stats (max level)
| Base Stats (max level) | Lv.1 | Lv.30 | Insight 1 · Lv.40 | Insight 2 · Lv.50 | Insight 3 · Lv.60 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HP | 1,419 | 2,154 | 3,611 | 5,385 | 6,336 |
| ATK | 261 | 396 | 664 | 989 | 1,163 |
| Reality DEF | 116 | 176 | 294 | 438 | 515 |
| Mental DEF | 116 | 176 | 294 | 438 | 515 |
| Crit Rate | 7.3% | 7.3% | 8.2% | 9.2% | 10.2% |
| Crit DMG | 140.9% | 140.9% | 142.3% | 143.8% | 145.3% |
Marcus — Skills & Incantations
Incantation I — Close Reading
Incantation “Insight II: 1-target attack. Deals 450% Mental DMG; Penetration Rate +30% for this attack.”
Incantation II — By Lamplight
Incantation “Insight II: Mass attack. Deals 300% Mental DMG to 2 enemies. Inflicts 1 stack of 【Weakness】 on the targets hit. Deals Mental DMG +75% to the target in the 【Annotate】 status.”
The Final Ritual — Looking Further Back
Ultimate “Insight I: Mass attack. Deals 250% Mental DMG to all enemies and Mental DMG +200% to the target in the 【Annotate】 status. Gain 1 stack of 【Preparation · Marcus】, and grant Eureka +2 to self.”
Insight Legacy
Incantation “Insight II: Max Eureka +1. At the start of the round, if no enemy has the 【Annotate】 status, inflict 【Annotate】 on an enemy, prioritizing bosses. At the start of the round, if holding 2 or more Eureka, spend as many Eureka as possible to randomly upgrade own incantations, using 2 Eureka to upgrade from rank 1 to 2, and 2 Eureka to upgrade from rank 2 to 3, prioritizing lower ranked incantations.”
Portrait
Incantation “【Close Reading】At Incantation tier 1/2/3, increases Mental DMG dealt to 230/380/520%.”
Skill Quotes
“Focus.”
“Focus. Mark this sentence.”
“Focus. Mark this sentence, and the next one.”
“She searches the waters.”
“She searches the waters, looking for shadows.”
“She searches the waters, looking for shadows to reveal with light.”
“When she reads, even an eternity seems like an instant.”
Insight Materials
Insight 1
Insight 2
Insight 3
Resonance Materials
All 14 Resonance levels
Euphoria
Branch 1
[Perusal] New Effect Added: After an allied rank 2/3 incantation is cast, Marcus gains 1/2 stacks of [Life Experience]. At the start of the round, consumes 1/2 stacks of [Life Experience] to generate 1 rank 1/2 Precast Incantation - Reading Class, then consumes 1/2 stacks of [Life Experience] to generate 1 rank 1/2 Precast Incantation - From the Lantern if there is [Life Experience] left.
Enemies in the [Annotate] status no longer recover Eureka for Marcus when they take action. Instead, when Marcus attacks an enemy in the [Annotate] status, excess Critical Rate is converted to Critical DMG, and recovers 1 Eureka for Marcus.
At the end of the round, upon gaining 8 stacks of [Life Experience], gains [Continuous Action I] for 1 round.
Recommended Psychubes
Where to Get
Teams with Marcus
Centurion, Flutterpage and Marcus all tap into Moxie — combining it across three kits at once outperforms any single carry doing it alone. Door keeps the line-up alive with Shield so that payoff has time to land.
Teams →
Darley Clatter, La Source and Sputnik all tap into Moxie together with Heal — combining it across three kits at once outperforms any single carry doing it alone. Marcus keeps the line-up alive with Heal so that payoff has time to land.
Teams →
Mercuria's Ultimate is the only kit in the roster confirmed to grant 【Rank Up】 to the whole team, and the same cast dispels enemy buffs while stacking party-wide Crit Rate — both feed straight into Argus, whose passive already locks in a guaranteed Crit and whose own second skill dispels the target's buffs independently, so the two dispels rarely whiff. Hissabeth adds a second wide Mental nuke that runs almost entirely off her own card engine, needing nothing from the other three to keep firing. Yenisei keeps all three offense-first kits alive long enough to land their bursts.
Teams →
