Arcanist • Nexus

General Information
This document is created by community members as a compilation of class related information. This is not meant as a new player guide; if you are a new player we suggest reading Maxroll’s Build Guides instead. If you have any feedback or want to help with class discussions, join our Discord! You can toggle the specific build you want to see at the top.

How does my identity work?

Arcanist, the card user, has a card deck.

The bar in the middle fills up when you hit your skills on targets. Different skills generate different amounts of Identity meter. As the meter fills up, a card is drawn. Different cards have different effects, and draw rates are weighted—meaning some cards are pulled more often than others. There are no official sources on what the percentages are.

Typically, detonating Ruin skills generate the most meter per hit, and are buffed by the Specialization stat and Wealth runes. This is the method the Empress engraving uses to generate cards.

Additionally, you can also draw cards without filling the meter through tripods. Several skills have tripods that have a (typically 20%) chance of generating a card instantly.

Ruin (4-stack mechanic)

Aside from the Card Deck, Arcanist also has the Ruin identity. Blue skills (stacking skills) have a stacking mechanic, with a maximum of 4 stacks per target. Most blue skills apply 2 stacks. The applied stacks are shown on your character and on the target.

Stacks4 Boss

Ruin damage scales off the Specialization stat, and its Identity generation scales off Specialization and any equipped Wealth runes on the Ruin skill.

You can detonate the stacks applied on a target using a Ruin skill at any stacks. Though, it is best done at the max of 4 stacks for optimal damage.

This builder-spender gimmick is the primary playstyle of the Grace of the Empress builds.

3 Headed Snake

Three-headed Snake

Basic Attack changes into 3 directions for 16s.
On hit, earn 1 stack. Damage to foes +100%. Damage to Challenge or lower monsters +400%.

Star

Mayhem

For 30s, Atk. Speed +5% for 4s every time skills are used, up to 15%.

Corrosion

Corrosion

For 30s, gain a 30% chance of +10% Damage to the foe for 5s.

Joy

Remaining cooldown for all skills -15%. 50% chance of reducing cooldown by 30%
Does not apply to Awakening, movement skills, and Stand Up.

Twisted Fate

Twisted Fate

For 4s, your skill Damage doesn’t increase or increases up to 40%
Upon activation can be 0/10/20/40%. Text colour + Buff on the buff bar shows it properly.

Ghost

Ghost

Ignore collision with monsters. Move Speed +20% for 16s.

Cull

Cull

For 4s, Crit Rate for all skill attacks 100% and Crit Damage +50%.
(Duration is increased to 6s with Empress ark passive)

Balance

For 30s, your Stacking skills are enhanced and grant you 1 more stack with each hit.
(Disabled with Emperor Ark Passive enlightenment tree)

Judgment

For 6s, Ruin skills always trigger the 4 stack effect, regardless of the actual number of stacks cast upon foes.
(Disabled with Emperor Ark Passive enlightenment tree)

Moon

Moon

Cooldown -20% for 30s.

Star

Star

MP freezes for 3s. MP Cost on skill use -100%.
Instantly recover 50.0% of Max MP. MP Recovery +20.0% for 12s.

Clown

Obtain the most recently used card.

Royal

Royal

Fills empty card slots. You can obtain up to 2 cards

Wheel of Fortune

Wheel of Fortune

The Cooldown of the next skill decreases by 100%.
(Works on Spacebar, Stand-up and Just Guard.)

Emperor

Emperor

Inflicts damage to foes within a 14 meter radius.
(Only obtainable with Emperor Ark Passive enlightenment tree)

Chancellor

Chancellor

For 10s, Crit Rate of Normal skills increased by 20%.
(Only obtainable with Emperor Ark Passive enlightenment tree)

Sovereign

Sovereign

For 4s, Damage dealt by Normal skills increased by 50%.
(Only obtainable with Emperor Ark Passive enlightenment tree)

Knight of the Empress

Knight of Empress

Inflicts damage to foes within a 6 meter radius. And draws 1 card afterwards per target hit.
(Only obtainable with the Empress Knight ark passive node.)

How do the two builds compare?

Grace of the Empress

Order of the Emperor

Summary

A fast-paced build focused on maintaining melee uptime, managing Ruin stacks, and combining the right cards to deal high burst damage.

A high-APM build that emphasizes quick thinking, rapid card cycling and continuous attacks to maximize damage output.

Pros

Melee
High mobility when dpsing
Variable rotation depending on card draw

Ranged
Spammy
Fast paced
More Consistent

Cons

Melee
Damage can rely heavily on RNG
Variable rotation depending on card draw

High APM can be exhausting
Damage output slightly reliant on RNG
Immobile while DPSing

Grace of the Empress

Summary

A fast-paced build focused on maintaining melee uptime, managing Ruin stacks, and combining the right cards to deal high burst damage.

Pros

Melee
High mobility when dpsing
Variable rotation depending on card draw

Cons

Melee
Damage can rely heavily on RNG
Variable rotation depending on card draw

Order of the Emperor

Summary

A high-APM build that emphasizes quick thinking, rapid card cycling and continuous attacks to maximize damage output.

Pros

Ranged
Spammy
Fast paced
More Consistent

Cons

High APM can be exhausting
Damage output slightly reliant on RNG
Immobile while DPSing

Chaos Dungeon

Unlimited Shuffle

Level 14

2

1

Galewind

Dancing of Spineflower

Level 14

2

3

1

Galewind

Celestial Rain

Level 14

2

3

1

Wealth

Evoke

Level 14

3

1

Wealth

Dark Resurrection

Level 10

2

1

Wealth

Lightstream

Level 10

3

2

Bleed

Return

Level 10

1

2

Quick Recharge

Spiral Edge

Level 10

3

2

1

Galewind

Awakening

Engravings

Ark Passives

Evolution

Enlightenment

Leap

Evolution

Critical

10/30

Swiftness

30/30

Boundless MP

2/2

Optimized Training

1/2

Unlimited Magick

2/2

Blunt Thorn

2/2

Enlightenment

Order of the Emperor

3/3

Emperor's Bestowal

2/2

Feast of the Emperor

3/3

Empress's Knight

1/5

Another Emperor

3/3

Mercy of The Emperor

1/5

Leap

Unleashed Power

5/5

Release Potential

4/5

Instant Spell

2/3

False Deal

2/3

Hidden Card

3/3

Notes

Evolution:

Blunt Thorn is NOT efficient at level 1, instead run Standing Striker (1/2) until you get enough for (2/2).

Enlightenment:

Prioritize putting points into Another Emperor first and left over points should go into Empress's Knight and Mercy of The Emperor.

Leap:

Invest into Release Potential or Transcendent Power until you get enough leap points to unlock the first 2 levels of False Deal (2/3) and when you have max leap points (70) switch to Hidden Card (3/3).

In shorter fights Transcendent Power is likely better as you won’t be able to utilize the cooldown reduction from Release Potential as much. Release Potential is better for longer fights especially with Hidden Card (3/3) due to the increased card draw. Hidden Card outperforms False Deal at level 3 due to the 100% card draw rate and chance to proc Another Emperor. Before level 3, False Deal is recommended as the draw rate of Hidden Card is not 100%.

Engravings

Core Engravings

Pick One

Core Engravings

Pick One

✓

Notes

Hit Master (Recommended): Doesn’t scale with Bleed/Poison & Awakening, making it a slightly weaker option than Cursed Doll but with no downside.

Mass Increase: Extremely efficient & 2% stronger than Cursed Doll. However, isn’t attack speed capped, sitting at 135% (when equipped) with support Goddess of Blessings III (9%) and Atk. Speed. Feast (5%).

High uptime on support's Atk. Speed buffs and other classes like Deathblade (Maelstrom), Aeromancer (Z) as well as Mayhem card uptime can makes you Atk speed capped for the majority of the fight.

Stabilized Status: Offers the same damage as Cursed Doll; however, it becomes a dead engraving under 65% HP
Cursed Doll scales with Bleed/Poison & Awakening damage and is the 2nd best option in terms of damage, at the cost of a 25% healing penalty.

Skills

Call of Destiny

Level 10

3

1

2

Quick Recharge

Purify

Stacking, Card Draw

Used for card draw from Quick Draw
Fake Flip changes CoD to a stacking skill to generate two stacks for Celestial Rain.
Excellent candidate for Purify when needed.
Can be used to draw cards even on invulnerable targets.

Unlimited Shuffle

Level 14

2

Galewind

Third Strongest Skill, Weak Point + Stagger + Card Draw

High damage with a relatively long animation lock. Galewind is taken to alleviate this.
You can cancel out of this skill’s animation with [SPACEBAR] before or after your character model has lifted into the air.
Quick Prep allows us to use Unlimited Shuffle every rotation
Quick Draw has less consistent damage but enables higher potential with luck. The chance to draw a card will only proc on the final hit.

Return

Level 10

1

3

2

Quick Recharge

Synergy + Buff + Counter

Weakness Exposure is our synergy which provides our party +10% crit.
Lvl 7 CD gem will have this skill at near 100% uptime. You should always try to have all of your damage land within the buff window.
Exposed Darkness grants our buff window, boosting our Crit Dmg by +77.5% for 5 seconds after hitting Return.
Return is a combo skill, but you should only tap it once if you have other skills available. Only the first hit is a counter.

Dark Resurrection

Level 14

2

3

2

Galewind

Wealth

Main Damage Skill, Card Draw

Emperor’s rotation benefits greatly from a high level CD gem for Dark Resurrection.
The damage is delayed by roughly ~0.7sec, which is just enough time to immediately follow up your DR with Return.
Wealth is preferred since Dark Resurrection is one of our best meter generators.
Fear of Death can also be taken on the 3rd row for a slight damage loss in exchange for no animation cost. If you decide to take this tripod, it is not efficient to use Wheel of fortune on this skill due to the bleed ticks not stacking.

Evoke

Level 14

1

Wealth

Second Strongest Skill, Stagger + Card Draw

Quick Prep drastically reduces the long base cooldown of our Evoke, making it our highest dps skill on a scarecrow.
Legendary Wealth is used as this skill is our highest meter generator.

Lightstream

Level 10

1

3

2

Poison

Bleed

Stacking, Buff

Dark Edge provides a buff for +27.6% crit chance on hit, allowing us to better utilize our high base crit damage.
This buff refreshes every time Stream of Edge ticks for damage, and lasts for 3 sec after the last tick.

Celestial Rain

Level 10

2

3

2

Bleed

Poison

Stack Detonation, Fourth Strongest Skill, Stagger

You should only detonate this skill at 4 stacks for maximum damage.
However, if being used for a stagger check, Celestial Rain can be cast at any non-zero # of stacks (stagger is the same regardless of stacking amount).

Mysterious Stampede

Level 14

3

2

1

Quick Recharge

Focus

Utility/Filler, Card Draw, Stagger, Weak Point

Quick Draw is mandatory, and is our best source of card draw other than generating meter.
Can be used to draw cards even on invulnerable targets.
Can slot in Focus if you are having mana issues

T Skill and Awakening

The Sun

Emperor’s signature T Skill, considered a normal skill and scales with Emperor’s Ark Passive. Preferably used with strong cards.

Prismatic Mirror

The Tower

Prismatic Mirror

Provides insignificant damage. Draws 2 cards at the end of its animation. Animation can be canceled with spacebar

The Tower Hyper Awakening
Hyper Awakening is a powerful nuke skill used once per gate, and provides invincibility during cast (not immune to true raid wipe mechanics).

Players using Prismatic Mirror are paired with The Tower, which also draws 2 cards.