Lost Ark Arcanist Guide: How To Build An Arcanist

Lost Ark Arcanist Guide: How To Build An Arcanist – In this Lost Ark Arcanist Guide, I’m going to show you what it means to play as an Arcanist in terms of how well they perform in combat, the best Skills and Tripods to focus on, and the playstyles available to them. If you’re searching for a Mage who moves quickly to deal devastating damage with her array of cards, then this Lost Ark Arcanist Guide is for you!

Be sure to check out our other Lost Ark Class Guides including: Shadowhunter, Sorceress, Gunslinger, Paladin, Gunlancer, Deathblade, Wardancer, Scrapper, Berserker, Bard, Deadeye, Striker, Artillerist, Soulfist, Glaivier & Destroyer!

Lost Ark Arcanist Guide: How To Build An Arcanist

Arcanists are one of the Advanced Classes that fall under the Mage Class. They wield Cards to deal explosive, magical damage. In terms of difficulty, Arcanists are quite tricky to pilot due to the randomness of the cards the player can draw, as well as figuring out the best combination of these cards. Compared to their other Mage Class counterparts such as the Sorceress and Bard, they move swiftly, allowing them to easily zip from one location to the next, helping them stay alive in combat.

Impeccable Burst and Sustain Damage
Quick DPS
High Mobility
Challenging to Master
Squishy

As a Lost Ark Arcanist, you can deal devastating damage thanks to the unique combination of Skills you have, including the Normal, Stacking, and Ruin Skills. Normal Skills allow you to inflict damage on top of filling up your Deck Meter or Specialty. Meanwhile, your Stacking Skills contribute to your improved mobility, buffs, and stacks, which are used hand-in-hand with Ruin Skills. Stacks are the resources you save up for and expend when you activate a Ruin Skill to deal significant damage so the higher it is, up to a maximum of 4, the better the corresponding damage will be.

Arcanist Class Role and Identity

The Lost Ark Arcanist is a Hybrid DPS Class that deals excellent burst and sustain damage because of their various skill types together with the status effects provided by the cards they draw. Stacking damage over time is a huge deal for this Class to inflict the most amount of explosive damage possible. Although the Arcanist is quick on her feet, it takes practice to master because similar to the Glaivier, she has low HP. The good thing is that some of her skills grant the Super Armor Buff, giving her some protection against crowd control abilities.

All Advanced Classes in Lost Ark have unique Specialties or Identities that differentiate them from the other classes. These can either unleash more damage or enhance the buffs they grant. For the Lost Ark Arcanist, it’s the Card Deck Identity, which allows her to draw a random card to enhance Attack Speed, increase the number of stacks she has, or even reduce the cooldown of her skills, to name a few.

The Arcanist fills up their identity meter by successfully landing Normal Skills or abilities with yellow icons. Once this is filled up, or Call of Destiny’s Quick Draw Tripod gets triggered, they draw one of 12 possible cards from their Card Deck. This number is increased to 13 if you choose the Order of the Emperor Class Engraving. Having a high Specialization Stat and making good use of Normal Skills ensures that you draw a steady supply of cards. The Lost Ark Arcanist can hold up to two cards at any given time.

Lost Ark Arcanist’s Card Deck

The following are all the possible cards that the Lost Ark Arcanist can draw with their Card Deck.

Three-Headed Snake: Makes the Arcanist’s basic attacks fan out into three separate directions and contribute to card stacks on enemies. It also increases basic attack damage by 400% against non-boss creatures.
Mayhem: Provides a +3% stacking Attack Speed buff every time a skill is used, up to a maximum of +15%. This buff lasts for 30 seconds.
Corrosion: This grants the user a 30% chance to deal +10% more damage for 5 seconds.
Ghost: Allows the Arcanist to walk through monsters, increases their Movement Speed, and reduces damage taken from the next 3 hits.
Twisted Fate: A random card that either does nothing or increases skill damage by 40% for 4 seconds.
Cull: Ensures that the skills cast within the next 4 seconds will critically hit with increased damage when a single foe is attacked. This card is perfect to use right before triggering a powerful Ruin Skill.
Balance: All stacking skills grant an additional card stack on enemies for 30 seconds.
Judgment: All Ruin Skills trigger the most powerful 4-stack versions for the next 4 seconds.
Moon: Slightly decreases skill cooldowns and increases MP recovery rate for 30 seconds.
Star: Fully restores the user’s MP and reduces skill cooldowns by 15% except for Awakening and Movement Skills.
Royal: Instantly draws two cards. Make sure to empty your other card slot before using this.
Wheel of Fortune: The next activated skill has its cooldown reduced by 100%. This powerful card can be used in conjunction with one of the Arcanist’s Awakening Skills.
Emperor: Deals massive damage in an area around the Arcanist. As stated above, this card is only available if you have the Order of the Emperor Class Engraving equipped.

The first four cards can be used immediately as they provide lengthy buffs or are otherwise best activated as they are drawn. Some are often used together at the same time to create some devastating effects. For example, Cull could be saved and triggered with Twisted Fate or Judgement to deal massive damage.

Lost Ark Arcanist Best Skills and Tripods

By the time your Lost Ark Arcanist reaches Level 60, you will have unlocked a total of 19 skills comprised of Normal, Stacking, Ruin, and Awakening Skills. To add to this, you’ve invested several points into Normal, Stacking, and Ruin Skills to specialize further by unlocking their respective Tripods. The Tripod System allows players to customize skills in various ways by improving damage or reducing the cooldown of respective abilities. In total, you need 8 skills for the Arcanist with a select number of tripods. In this section, I’ll cover the essential Normal, Stacking, and Ruin Skills and tripods for both playstyles worth 284 skill points.

Lost Ark Arcanist Normal Skills and Tripods

Call of Destiny (Skill Lv. 10) – This is an excellent skill, which should be maximized, to not only knock up enemies but also to fill up your Deck Meter. You’ll also be able to generate cards more quickly thanks to the Quick Draw enhancement that grants a 25% chance to acquire 1 Specialty Card. It’s important to cast Call of Destiny when you’re near targets to raise the chances of successfully dealing decent damage. The other tripods to consider are Nimble Movement to improve your Attack Speed and Chain Attack to double the number of cards you throw.

Return (Skill Lv. 10) – Although Return deals low Stagger Damage, it’s effective at countering the enemy’s attack. Return is very potent because it’s your primary buff as a Lost Ark Arcanist due to the Weakness Exposure and Exposed Darkness tripods. Weakness Exposure enhances the entire party’s Crit Chance, letting you and your allies crit more often. Meanwhile, Exposed Darkness improves both your Crit Rate and Crit Damage. The final tripod you should take is Concentrated Card, which widens the range you cover as well as the damage you deal.

Lost Ark Arcanist Alternative Normal Skills and Tripods

The 2 Normal Skills I’ll be discussing next are the ones that you want to get if you choose the Order of the Emperor Class Engraving where you focus on dealing Normal Skill Damage while building up your Deck Meter more often. In this regard, it’s best to lower Call of Destiny’s Skill Lv. from 10 to 7 to maximize the Skill Lv. of Return, Dark Resurrection, and Evoke.

Dark Resurrection (Skill Lv. 10) – This is a potent ranged skill that can easily be cast wherever you point your cursor to. Dark Resurrection lets you summon a demon who will then deal massive damage multiple times. Moreover, it inflicts decent Stagger Damage. For this skill, the best tripods to select are Piercing Strike, Intense Card, and Furious Blow because of the overall damage you’ll inflict together with the extra 50% Crit Damage, which is huge!

Evoke (Skill Lv. 10) – This is a Chain Skill in which you set up a magic circle to bombard targets with attacks. You’ll then have to reactivate Evoke to detonate the AoE to deal explosive damage. Remember, however, that you can’t immediately trigger the explosion so you can use the wait time to lead your enemies into the circle. In terms of tripods, you’ll want to not only improve the number of attacks you deal with Overlap Magick Circle but also increase damage with Conc. Magick Circle. And finally, be sure to select Quick Prep to notably lower Evoke’s cooldown period.

Lost Ark Arcanist Stacking Skills and Tripods

Quadra Accelerate (Skill Lv. 7) – This is a simple Stacking Skill that deals moderate damage. But what makes Quadra Accelerate good to have is its Card Draw Tripod obtained at Skill Lv. 7. It not only improves the damage you deal but also the chances of outright stacking 4 cards in one go. As such, you’ll be able to activate any of your Ruin Skills more quickly to destroy multiple enemies. To improve your Attack Speed, you ought to pick the Nimble Movement enhancement.

Scratch Dealer (Skill Lv. 4) – This is a good gap closer that deals considerable damage due to the sheer impact of your attacks. Reaching Skill Lv. 4 for Scratch Dealer is sufficient since you only need to take the Weakness Exposure Tripod. It significantly lowers the enemy’s Crit Resistance for several seconds, letting you and your allies jump in for the kill.

Spiral Edge (Skill Lv. 7) – Another excellent gap closer, which is further enhanced thanks to the Excellent Mobility Tripod as it increases the distance you’re able to cover. Spiral Edge is versatile because it lets you control the direction of where your Lost Ark Arcanist should go next. Since you’re aiming for Skill Lv. 7, you’ll only need another enhancement, particularly Ruthless Shot. Ruthless Shot allows you to throw multiple cards by spreading them out. So essentially, you can reach the max stack of 4 more quickly while boosting the damage dealt by these cards.

Lost Ark Arcanist Alternative Stacking Skills and Tripods

Similar to Normal Skills, some of the Stacking Skills will have to be swapped out such as Quadra Accelerate for Checkmate and Spiral Edge for Stream of Edge. But you’ll be retaining Scratch Dealer to better position your Arcanist.

Checkmate (Skill Lv. 10) – This is a Holding Skill that allows you to deal greater damage over time. Note that while this is ongoing, you can easily change directions by moving your cursor. If you’re constantly being hit by enemies while Checkmate is being cast, you ought to let the skill go. Holding onto it for 0.5 to 1 second triggers the Deadline Tripod, which boosts your damage. The other enhancements you should consider to further increase overall damage are Piercing Strike and Conc. Darkness.

Stream of Edge (Skill Lv. 7) – This is a great skill to trigger once you’ve lured the majority of your enemies to one place since you’re able to summon gates on both sides to deal damage over time. To take advantage of Stream of Edge, you’ll want to acquire 2 tripods since reaching Skill Lv. 7 is sufficient. These are Acceleration Stream to amplify your Movement Speed for some time, as well as Dark Edge to enhance your Crit Rate.

Lost Ark Arcanist Ruin Skills and Tripods

Regardless of your Class Engraving, you’ll definitely want to take and maximize the Skill Lv. of Celestial Rain since it’ll be your major source of damage. But for the Empress’s Grace Playstyle, since this leans towards activating Ruin Skills more often, you’ll need 2 additional abilities, namely Serendipity and Secret Garden. Remember that the higher your stacks, the better the damage caused by Ruin Skills.

Celestial Rain (Skill Lv. 10) – An amazing mid-range skill that lets you summon and storm a barrage of cards on multiple targets. Celestial Rain is extremely effective especially due to Torrent, which ups its overall attack and damage. To enhance Crit Rate and Crit Damage, you’ll want to get Vital Point Hit and Card of Destruction, respectively.

Serendipity (Skill Lv. 10) – This is another knockback skill, which also functions as a Counter Attack as you spread the cards out in front of you. What makes Serendipity stand out is the Lucky Blow Tripod. When you reach the maximum stack, your chances of dealing significant Crit Damage increase to 80%. The other enhancements you should acquire are Piercing Strike and Endless Darkness. Piercing Strike raises the chances of lowering the enemy’s defenses, allowing you to hit them hard whereas Endless Darkness changes Serendipity’s mode from Normal to Combo to deal extra damage.

Secret Garden (Skill Lv. 10) – Out of these 3 Ruin Skills, Secret Garden lets you attack targets in the melee range, although it’s a Back Attack so you need to position yourself carefully to dish out the most amount of damage possible. The best tripods to obtain are Vital Point Hit, Perfect Secret, and Secret Chance. Perfect Secret encourages you to maximize your stacks to deal extra 50% damage while Secret Chance improves this skill’s damage, especially in PvP.

Lost Ark Arcanist Engravings and Stats

In Lost Ark, every Advanced Class unlocks Engravings that allow you to further specialize in your chosen class as these grant special effects, which you can activate by reading Recipe Books and equipping Accessories and Ability Stones. You’re able to obtain them as random rewards by completing endgame activities such as Chaos and Abyss Dungeons, and Guardian Raids.

In this section, I’m going to talk about the Lost Ark Arcanist Engravings, which determine the playstyle you wish to adopt for your character and are class-specific abilities and traits. You gain access to this when you reach higher levels. The 2 Class Engravings available to the Arcanist are Empress’s Grace and Order of the Emperor. Let’s first discuss the Empress’s Grace Class Engraving or playstyle together with the Stats that go with it.

Arcanist Empress’s Grace Playstyle

Empress’s Grace makes it so that the Lost Ark Arcanist’s Ruin Skills deal more damage and restore Mana at the same time. In essence, the playstyle revolves around stacking cards with Stack Skills and executing targets with fully-powered Ruin Skills instead of drawing cards with Normal Skills. Despite this, it’s optimal to have at least a couple of Normal Skills available to continue drawing from the deck.

In terms of Empress’s Grace’s Combat Stats, you’ll want to prioritize Specialization followed by Crit when gearing up. Specialization increases Ruin and Awakening Skill Damage. Additionally, Normal Skills will fill up the Identity Meter quicker, meaning you’ll draw buffs more often.

Arcanist Order of the Emperor Playstyle

On the other hand, the Order of the Emperor focuses on Normal Skills instead of Ruin Skills. The engraving itself increases Normal Skill Damage and the Identity Meter gain by large amounts. Additionally, it introduces a 13th card to the draw pool called Emperor Card, which allows the Arcanist to deal massive damage around her.

In terms of Order of the Emperor’s Combat Stats, Swiftness should be prioritized followed by Crit. Swiftness decreases the cooldowns of your skills, making sure that you draw more cards quicker. It also enhances Movement and Attack Speed.

Final Thoughts

As a Lost Ark Arcanist, you’ll have to practice consistently to get used to the cards you’ll be drawing and to determine the combinations that will be most helpful for you. Doing so lets you deal effective damage up close or from a mid-range distance. This Advanced Class has more randomness peppered into it than any of the others. However, once mastered, they’re a force to be reckoned with.

In PvP, you need to constantly swap between Specialty Cards (if you’re unlucky) to gain buffs and consequently destroy other players. You’ll also need to pay attention to your HP since you’re not resilient compared to the other damage dealers. Some Hybrid Builds even mix 1 Level of both Empress’ Grace and Order of the Emperor so that they get the bonuses of both Engravings. At Level 1, each respective Engraving yields massive benefits for the player.

In terms of skill rotation, it’s best to start with Normal Skills to build up your Deck Meter. You can then switch to activating Stack Skills for Ruin Skills. The frequency of these Stack Abilities depends on your Class Engraving so if you’ve chosen Empress’ Grace, then it’s better to use all 3 Stack Skills but if you’re more geared towards Order of the Emperor then triggering one of them should be enough before using Normal Skills again. And lastly, remember to activate Ruin Skills as a finisher.

Stay tuned for more Lost Ark Class Guides and be sure to check out our Lost Ark Wiki or drop by our Twitch Channel if you have questions about the game. What did you think of this Lost Ark Destroyer Class Guide? What Advanced Class are you enjoying the most? Let us know in the comments below!