The new Lost Ark Arcanist class releases tomorrow, 20th July. Learn the important details of this wildcard class here.
Lost Ark's New Arcanist Class Explained: Skills, Engravings, Card Decks, Playstyle
Tomorrow, Lost Ark takes a gambit on an innovative new advanced class that mixes up the status quo. The Arcanist is the third advanced Mage class following the Sorcerer and Bard. Except given The Arcanists' success among Korean gamers over recent months, the only really Gambit is the X-men character we'll all no doubt be impersonating when we play the Arcanist tomorrow. She quite literally "deals damage" as she throws out magick cards.
They probably should have called it the Arkanist...
The Lost Ark Arcanist Speciality Skill: Card Decks
That's right, the Arcanist uses her magick cards (not too be mistaken with our beloved Magic Cards™, though no doubt she's a fan) to cast a varied selection of short and long-range spells, staggers, and buffs. The tricky part? They're randomised. The spells are unlocked via a gauge called the Card Meter which fills upon successive Normal Skill attacks. Once full, the Arcanist randomly deploys one of the following cards:
The Three-Headed Snake Card – The Arcanist's Basic Attack trifurcates into 3 directions for 16 seconds. On a hit, the player earns 1 stack. Damage towards foes is +100%. While damage to Challenge or lower monsters is +400%.
Mayhem Card – Mayhem by name, mayhem by nature. For 30 seconds, attack speed increases +3% every time skills are used (to a maximum of 15%)
Twisted Fate Card – For 4 seconds, skill damage will either remain the same or increase by 40%.
Corrosion Card – For 30 seconds, you gain a 30% chance to erode your enemies at +10% damage for 5 seconds each foe.
Ghost Card – Be like a phantom and walk straight through your foes, ignoring monster collisions while increasing movement speed by 20% and reducing incoming foe damage by 50% for 3 hits for 16 seconds
Cull Card – Critical hit rate for all skill attacks goes to 100% and critical damage is increased by a further 50% upon hitting a foe. The cull card lasts for 4 seconds.
Balance Card – Harmony at last; for 30 seconds Stacking skills are enhanced and grant an additional stack with each hit. An extremely powerful card when used in conjunction with Ruin and Stacking attacks (more on that later).
Judgement Card – Ruin skills, for 4 seconds, will always trigger the devastating 4 stack effect regardless of the number of stacks cast upon foes.
Moon Card – Unlock lunar regeneration reducing cooldown by 10% and increasing MP recovery by 20% for 30 seconds.
Star Card – Instantly recovers 100% MP. Cooldown on remaining skills is also reduced by 15% (except for Awakening, Movement, and Stand-up)
Wheel of Fortune Card – Completely eliminates cooldown of the next skill reducing it by 100%
Royal Card – By obtaining up to 2 cards, the Royal Card is used to fill empty card slots.
Bonus: Emperor Card – Finally, the Emperor Card deals damage to all foes within a 14-meter radius. Though this is dependent on having the "Order of the Emperor" engraving (more on that below)
Note: Only two cards can be stored in the Deck at once (these are activated by pressing Z or X). So not everything is left completely to the fates.
Lost Ark Arcanist Normal, Stacking, and Ruin Skills Explained
The Arcanist's skill attacks are divided between three categories: Normal, Stacking, and Ruin. Normal attacks are standard quick attacks which build up the aforementioned Card Meter. Stack attacks, as you might expect, compile to create stacks (up to 4) on various enemies. On their own, they're not overtly powerful, but when used in conjunction with Ruin skills, they're devastating. When Ruin skills land on stacked enemies, those stacks are consumed, and the consequences are well… ruinous.
List of Lost Ark Arcanist Normal Skills
Call of Destiny - Throw a card at the target location to inflict damage, then following a momentary pause, inflict further damage while launching foes skywards.
Unlimited Shuffle - Throw a full stack of cards at a location inflicting damage over 6 hits. The cards not only inflict damage but launch foes into the air before slamming them into the ground whereupon they take further damage.
Return - Lob a card at a target's proximity to inflict damage and Counterattack. Repeat the skill to inflict damage and thrust enemies into the ground.
Mysterious Stampede - Dash to your left, inflicting damage, before returning, inflicting more damage.
Dark Resurrection – Now here's a fun one. Flick cards at the target location to summon a demon that attacks foes and deals dark damage (also inflicting Fear upon them).
Evoke – Create a magick circle lasting for 10s at the target location. Use the skill again to inflict damage to foes.
List of Lost Ark Arcanist Stacking Skills
Quadra Accelerate – Flick 4 cards toward the target location with each card inflicting damage. Quadra, get it?
Scratch Dealer – This underwhelmingly named attack can be quite useful. As well as dealing damage, it moves the Arcanist closer to the target's location whereupon the skill can be repeated to strike again and deal further damage.
Spiral Edge Leap – Cover ground by bounding a full 7 meters towards the target location while simultaneously throwing a card to inflict Damage.
Dancing of Spineflower – Why throw one card when you can throw a whole flurry of them? Moves the Arcanist 11 meters towards the target over 3 seconds while inflicting damage 6 times and culminating in an extra powerful final hit. The skill can then be repeated to return to the player's original location escaping the fray.
Checkmate – In rapid succession, the Arcanist throws cards toward the target location inflicting Damage with each and every hit.
Stream of Edge – Move aside Gambit, this one reminds us of another of our favourite X-men. Blink. By opening two portal gates at a targeted location for 5s, all foes in between the gates are damaged over 15 hits.
Infinity Shower – At first, this attack might not seem all that interesting… "Throw cards at the target location to inflict damage". The skill really comes into its own when it's used as an in-air combo attack whereupon damage truly starts to stack.
List of Lost Ark Arcanist Ruin Skills & Their Corresponding Stack Effects
Celestial Rain – Okay, we love this one. Make it rain with a literal torrent of cards which deal extra damage to airborne foes and slams them back to the ground. If the Stack effect is triggered , it also inflicts stagger damage.
Four of a Kind - Swiftly throw a card at the target location to inflict Damage. If the Stack effect is triggered , it also inflicts stagger damage.
Serendipity - Fan out the magick cards towards a target location, inflict damage, then fan them again to inflict further damage and knock foes backwards. If the Stack effect is triggered , it also inflicts stagger damage.
Secret Garden - Instantly inflict damage to all nearby foes. If the Stack effect is triggered , damage increases per number of stacks and stagger damage is inflicted.
List of Lost Ark Arcanist Awakening Skills
Prismatic Mirror – Why stop with a normal sized pack of cards? Summon an enormous stack and drop them on your targets' location before bombarding them with an array of smaller cards (dealing damage over time). Eventually the giant cards will join together in a prism-like structure and explode, dealing high damage and launching foes skywards. 2 Speciality cards are then granted to the Arcanist.
Deathbound – As any Tarot fan knows, the Card of Death is never far away. By summoning it, the Arcanist inflicts heavy damage and knocks foes backwards. Depending on the number of stacks players have, damage to them increases.
Lost Ark Arcanist Engravings & Playstyles
All Lost Ark advanced classes have two unique Class Engravings. The Arcanist's two include the "Order of the Emperor" engraving and the "Empress's Grace" engraving.
The Order of the Emperor Engraving
The Order of the Emperor engraving is for player's who would like to focus on the Card Deck element of the Arcanist. It enhances the magick Card Deck through increased Deck Meter buildup and Normal Skills usage. Furthermore, it includes the addition of the aforementioned Emperor Card – a truly devastating ability. CLASS ENGRAVINGS
" Order of the Emperor
· Level 1 - Normal Skills Deck Meter gain +50%. Damage +10% and an Emperor Card is added to the deck. The Emperor Card deals great Damage in the surrounding Area when used.
· Level 2 - Normal Skills Deck Meter gain +50%. Damage +20% and an Emperor Card is added to the deck.
· Level 3 - Normal Skills Deck Meter gain +50%. Damage +30% and an Emperor Card is added to the deck."
The Empress's Grace Engraving
For players who prefer the sound of the Stack & Ruin approach, the Empress's Grace engraving is designed to supplement those who have mastered the art of it. It increases the damage of Ruin abilities after the generation of 4 stacks. Furthermore, it keeps MP recovery pumped up to the max so that these Ruin and Stack skills can just keep coming and coming.
" Empress's Grace
· Level 1 - 4-stack Ruin Damage +20%. When Ruin hits, recover 30% of consumed MP.
· Level 2 - 4-stack Ruin Damage +25%. When Ruin hits, recover 30% of consumed MP.
· Level 3 - 4-stack Ruin Damage +30%. When Ruin hits, recover 30% of consumed MP."
The Lost Ark Arcanist Release Date
The Lost Ark Arcanist is released tomorrow, July 20th, as part of the Lost Ark July update. Also featured in tomorrow's update are two limited time-only events which will allow character progression to speed up:
1)"A Punika Powerpass that immediately advances an alternate character to the end of the Punika storyline (Item Level 1302)."
2)"An Express Event that grants special missions to a selected Item Level 1302 character to help them progress to 1370, pairing well with the Punika Powerpass."
We would also recommend using the Stronghold's Knowledge Transfer system.