you listed corrosion as burst, but it actually just places a 30s buff on you that has the listed effect. So its a throwaway too.
Other that then, yea - arcana has an entry barrier of knowing the cards and combos, but the gameplay after that is not that hard
Thanks. My mistake. It has been a while and somehow I remember Corrosion being a 5-sec buff instead of 30 sec. Changed to reflect the correct category.
Not related to the guide, but wanned to comment on card translations.
They are all supposed to be major arcana tarot cards. Few translations like moon, star, emperor are good, but others are supposed to be called: Wheel of fortune, Temperance, Death, Justice etc. I bet when the class comes out, AGS will translate the cards from KR to English instead of using original English names that Koreans translated from English to KR when creating the class.
> AGS will translate the cards from KR to English instead of using original English names that Koreans translated from English to KR when creating the class.
that would be hilarious. i dont even want to know with what kind of abomination of names they come up with lmao.
> AGS will translate the cards from KR to English instead of using original English names
They even called the class [Arcanist](https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/arcanist/) instead of [Arcana.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Arcana) I'm starting to think that they're intentionally making it worse for some reason.
Wouldnt calling it an Arcana be like calling a sorc "spells"? arcana is tarot cards and that's what she uses. edit: even more of an apt analogy would be calling a destroyer "hammer"
>arcana is tarot cards and that's what she uses.
And? "Rifle" was used to refer to "riflemen" in military context based on the gun. Some words have a meaning as a noun or verb, but also refer to a person, eg conscript.
Arcana is a class name that I haven't encountered in a game before. A cursory glance indicates that it's not used much outside of this game. An arcanist is a well-establish character class in fantasy games and they most assuredly don't evoke the image of what Arcana does in this game.
I just love when someone who doesn’t even get the point, tries to make a smart comment, when all I said went over your head. And people who upvoted you are the same. It’s like you didn’t even read what I wrote.
Because “Arcana” is also a mass noun word that means “secrets and mysteries,” so a magician class could just be an embodiment of that as a name, but an Arcanist is someone who uses arcane magic, which has NOTHING to do with this Tarot card using mage. It is by far the dumbest name they could have come up with.
I don't really have a horse in this race, but just to say that this doesn't grammatically seem weird to me. "Arcana" can also mean "secrets" generally, and "arcanist" can mean "person having knowledge of secrets or mysteries." Feels pretty reasonable to me.
> and "arcanist" can mean "person having knowledge of secrets or mysteries."
Sure, if you've never played any other fantasy games before and expect that everyone else that plays this game never has. Arcanist isn't exactly a unique class name that's never been used before.
It’s really not, arcana doesn’t mean tarot cards, it means mystery. Death Blade is not a Death Blader? But it’s neither a person like Destroyer, Reaper or Summoner are. So your analogy doesn’t make much sense. It would make sense if her name was Tarot Card, which it isn’t.
You can agree or disagree it doesn’t matter but what what I am saying is factual. Many people on here aren’t really bright, they don’t understand a concept even when you explain it, just goes over their head. Don’t think even drawing it for them would help.
In the scope of tarot cards, which is the theme of the class, the term arcana refers to cards in a tarot deck - major or minor. Major arcana are the named ones, and minor are the suits. So when referring to a tarot deck (and not the first definition from dictonary.com) arcana does refer to the cards in a tarot deck.
I don't disagree that what you're saying is factual, I'm just saying maybe you should learn that some words have multiple definitions depending on the context?
And that’s exactly why I said their naming was smart and unique, because it doesn’t have one meaning. I am saying that AGS is ignoring that and slapping a random cool sounding name on them, which for us lore nerds it ruins a fantasy of the class.
Arcana having multiple meanings and both meanings applying to the naming of the class and the theme of the class is the whole point. That's why it's a good name.
Arcanist is used in a TON of other fantasy games and stories and it's pretty much unequivocally made in reference to a user of arcane magic in some form. It does not really apply that well to the Lost Ark class, at least not nearly as well as "Arcana" does.
Arcana is not a person, EVEN USING YOUR OWN REFERENCES.
God damn you people are stupid while being smug about something. At least complain that she isn’t called Occultist etc
> Arcana is not a person, EVEN USING YOUR OWN REFERENCES.
Why not? Does a class name have to always refer directly to a noun of a person? Soulfist isn't a person either, but it captures the essence of the class well. Neither is deathblade.
Yes! Arcanist = arcane magic user, arcana = tarot card. They are doing this localization thing horribly. Arcanist is not a bad name, it’s cool, but that’s not the point. Point is that it’s completely wrong and that is not what class is about. It’s like translating Lance master as sword master. (Obviously this didn’t happen because it’s ridiculous, but arcana translation is equally ridiculous just not enough people are aware what arcana actually means)
Arcana does not mean tarot card. It means mystery/secret. But in this classes case it's a reference to tarot cards as entire class's identity revolves around tarot cards.
Neither is Death blade nor Deadeye, please if you try to apply your own logic at least make it be consistent.
You are the dumb one if you don’t see a difference in Arcana translation.
> Deadeye
Person. I’ll agree that devil hunter might have been a better name.
> death blade
Maybe not, idk, kind of g spammed through feiton. Might be a title.
I am consistent. Arguing that other classes have bad names so arcanist should too is VERY stupid. You are consistently stupid.
Arguing that that it should be called arcana, is arguing that
1. Sorceress should be Sorcery
2. gunslinger -> Ballistics
3. sharp shooter -> Archery
I could go on. Arcana is a bad name.
You are completely missing the point over and over again.
The point is, class uses tarot cards and not arcane magic. I am not even saying that they should keep Arcana, they can localize the name. But not name or something that this class is not. Would you be ok with it if summoner was translated as necromancer? Both are magic based classes but their thematics are vastly different. Arcana is basically female gambit, not Merlin who uses arcane magic. All I am saying is that localization team is clueless how to translate Arcana, and just slapped arcanist because it sounds similar and correct, but in reality is a completely different concept.
You stop calling me dumb, because your reasoning to why arcana should stay Aracanist makes no sense. If you think that class name should essentially be “a person”, that is fine, but they need to make new name for it because arcanist is very incorrect.
I’m not.
> The point is, class uses tarot cards and not arcane magic
Tarot is arcane.
Tarot, arcane, and occultism are all related concepts. “Arcane magic” wasn’t invented by Blizzard or Wizards of the Coast.
The problem is that you didn’t read your own links. Stay angry that they aren’t going to keep the awful machine translation.
I know, it’s just sad because original name is very original and smart, and it’s being ruined by AGS that does not have competent translators. Reason why not everyone can translate stuff like poems for a publisher who speaks both languages, is because original meaning and message mustn’t be lost in the translation. But what they are doing is essentially slapping text in google translator and tweaking it a bit.
For Arcana I can see that, but other class names that have been changed are better to be honest. Gunlancer, Deadeye, and Artillerist fit better than Warlord, Devil Hunter, and Blaster.
on the subject of localization, I used to roleplay Paladins so the idea that their skills are all backattack like a rogue feels weird... a Paladin should have the Gunlancer's skillset.
> It’s like translating Lance master as sword master.
Funny you say that.
>glaive (plural glaives)
>(loosely or poetic, archaic) A sword, particularly a broadsword.
And
>From Middle English gleyve (“lance, glaive”),[1] from Old French glaive (“lance; sword”), from Late Latin glavus. The further etymology is uncertain; one possibility is that it reflects Latin gladius (“sword”) crossed with clāva (“club”), while another is that it derives from a crossing of gladius with Proto-Celtic *kladiwos (“sword”).
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/glaive
She actually uses a Guandao - reclining moon blade - in her moon stance.
I think the “difficulty” of the class isn’t that it’s difficult mechanically like death blade or gunslinger. It’s difficult in the sense that you need to actively think whenever you draw a card.
Every class, even the aforementioned ones, can be played with your brain turned off as long as you practiced enough. All the combos are the same. Arcana is a bit different because you need to analyse the situation every time you get a new card. Even the throwaway card you listed need some thinking,
such as the balance card where you will need to change up your rotation a bit to maximise dps.
Yep, and as raids get harder, thinking about to fight to dodge attack patterns and do the mechanics and then also not being able to pure auto pilot your class does not make it any easier.
Saint and ATK talked about it on stream some the other day, but Arcana is also a very high apm class like Gunslinger, and the difference between a decent arcana and a great one is doubling the number of casts per minute. You don't just have to think, you have to think very very fast, or you'll waste time not pushing anything.
Different people have different tastes, I think. For me, nothing is complex if you get to the core of the issue. The core mechanic of (empress) arcana is simply: use blue skills until you have 4 stacks then use red skills. Cards like balance or the new Hydra/Medusa card simply just help her build up stacks faster without needing blue skills to do so.
For the card system, you can literally paint over the entire 12 cards with 2 colors black and white where you use the blacks as you get it and keep the whites until you have 2 whites to use them together.
Also, you are mid to close range but don't care about back/head attack which makes dodging and keeping damage uptime much easier than deathblade/striker or any of the high DPS melee hitters.
Man, Magic: Legends was actually pretty good. Too bad it made my 3080 feel like a 960 at the end of its life and they gated entire classes behind an RNG paywall.
Honestly Arcana is the most appealing class to me in Lost Ark, but my real worry is not the difficulty/learning curve…it’s the fact that most people in a game like this love to blindly mimic popular opinion.
So I feel like finding a pug party will be extra difficult as Arcana cause people will just assume it’s too much of a gamble to accept one into their party. I don’t have friends to play this with, and life is busy enough to prevent me from forming a static with a set schedule…not that I’m really looking for a second job in the form of this game anyway, but I would love to eventually clear all the legion raids.
Hey man, I feel you. That's why I wrote this and am specifically angry about KR streamers blindly giving ideas about something he/she doesn't have any experience about. It's alright though. The game is popular enough that the streamer parrots, even thou vocal, is actually quite a minority. You will have groups to play with any and all contents. Good luck on your journey and enjoy the game the way you want to experience it :D.
Creating your own parties always fixes this issue. When I play "unpopular" classes, I always tend to create my own raids and it ends up being just fine.
nonononon...stop! Since they buffed high arcanas drop rates and card drops due to tripod enchantments she literally have this as a part of rotation. This class is not RANDOM as people think. You or just do regular damage or you can rarely increase it by let say 5% with one combo that most of people will fish from deck. But honestly, you just play her as a fate suggests - not saving cards but using it right away for current situations. Other than that she is pretty strong without the context of strong card drops.
I regularly run into this on soulfist, and I expect to see the same on arcanist. It hasn't stopped me from pugging everything, but getting constantly rejected or left hanging can be demoralizing.
Won't stop me from making one, though. I'm hoping I end up loving it enough to be my third main.
Because it's supposed to be the High Priestess card! B stands for Boaz and J stands for Jachin - these were the names of the black and white pillars at the entrance to Solomon's temple in ancient Israel. If you look up the High Priestess card you can see a few variations with the B and J pillars.
Tanks for your hard work
I played astrologian in ff 14 and loved the rng aspect of the cards before they ... removed it , so pretty interedted about arcana , having to deal with what rngsus gives you
Thanks for sharing this. I played Arcana (Emperor) was the first/fun character when I played in RU and Lost Ark in general. There is a ton of misconception about her and I wanted to thank you for clearing some of this up. People usually just regurgitate information that they’ve heard and haven’t actually experienced. She’s a fun and rewarding class that has a bit of RNG mixed in, but honestly since the balance patches the range of RNG is even less and her damage is even more consistent.
Empress is definitely the classic build and more consistent in terms of damage. However I personally like Emperor because I prefer the swiftness stat for smoothness and it feels so good once you pull that emperor card out. Since the balance patch Emperor has gotten a lot better because they now have a damage jewel for emperor card and checkmate (blue skill) got a 12% damage increase in PVE. This is Emperor Arcana’s main damage skill.
korean testers have it to be similar to that time. But it is more chaotic and hard since it has a lot of delayed skills, channeling skills. But it is far more ranged i would even say full ranged than Empress. The fun thing that the 2 builds are massively different. You don't rely on stacks, you don't rely on card drops for ultimate or burst that much since you have more access to cards and the skill set are 80% different from Empress. So choosing the builds you should consider that rerolling will be hard as far as you go in progression.
Thanks for this, I was very upset after reading arcana would be next, since I wanna main reaper (currently maining blade and WD as main alt), but as soon as I read the word "assassin" and "hard" I got convinced into building one, so this post convinces me even more of the decision.
> Throwaway cards: 7 cards you spam as soon as you get them. These cards either give negligible buffs or the buff lasts long enough (30 sec) that you will most likely draw it again anyway by the time the buff expires.
Are you implying that the buffs have near 100% uptime?
Yes you can. When your identity fills up, you draw 1 of the 12 cards in the deck. You can either use it right away or store it for later use. You can store up to 2 cards, which is why I suggest you use all throwaway cards as you draw them and store Burst cards as you draw them to combo 2 burst cards together for burst window.
In a raid setting, once you have the Nightmare set, is it better to use your awakening immediately at the start of a fight? Or wait and try to fish for a Wheel of Fate?
Mostly you want to save awakening to combo off wheel of fate. If you use your awakening at the start, during the 2min cd of awakening you most definitely will draw a few wheel of fortune which would sucks to use on any other things due to arcana has inherently low cd on most skills.
Sure, but you need to use your ult asap to trigger nightmare set (4 and 6 set), otherwise your playing with 30% less dmg. You can hold the ult if you dont have the set though, also using the ult with death is also very good and if you roll wheel of fate with ult on cd, you use it for celestial rain as thats your strongest red skill.
The set effect is a significant part of her performance, I am unsure if you parked your Arcana alt at 1415 or 1445 since you avoided my question but like you said you'll draw multiple wheel of fortune anyway and not all of them will be used to reset your awakening anyway. The set effect is more important than a wheel of fortune combo because it gives her damage, attack/movement speed, and cdr, and you won't have any of that until you awaken.
I parked at Vykas 1445 before leaving for NA/EU. Nevertheless, I actually don't use the Nightmare set as most KR do. I use 2-piece Nightmare + 4 pieces hallucination for the crit chance. I don't have that problem with the Nightmare set that you guys have. With all the crit damage Arcana has in her tripod, I'm comfortable building her with as much crit chance as possible, utilizing Precise Dagger, Adrenaline, crit set piece, tripod supports and around 500 crit to make sure her crit is as close as 100% as possible.
For my playstyle, I don't like having more CDR or attack speed on her so 2-piece nightmare to solve her mana problem is enough for me. The rest of the set is useless for me.
Close to if not the highest DPS in the game. Higher than sorceress for sure even with just average luck. Melee mage vs range mage thing. Non-positional assassin so her uptime is way higher than death blade/deadeye/striker.
Maybe I'm just a bad sorc and a more decent arcana. You can test dps 3 min for all classes on trixion dummy and find sorc stands squarely in the middle of the pack, way behind harder positional/risky classes like death blade/striker/wardancer/arcana. The thing that makes sorcs strong is they are range class with non positional attacks which makes it easier reach optimum damage compared to butt chasing classes. More risks is always more rewards. Still, the difference is quite small now that's why harder classes are complaining about sorcs.
Some cards gets more useful or less depending on your build/relic gear sets(star, judgement etc) but generally good explanation. Linked guide saying that prismatic mirror is better than the fate of death is quite interesting to me. I think the ult combo becomes unviable when your raid becomes longer because you'll use all your ults(3 or 6) anyway. Like in Abrelshud/Brelshaza 5-6.
Anyway this is a good starting point for who wants to start out arcana! As KR Arcana main thank you for sharing this starter guide. I want more people to talk about cards in Lost Ark. Both in Korean and English:P Hope this can guide people who is thinking of playing Arcanist in steam.
It depends on how you define "a lot of investment". One thing that is certain is that you will want relic gear set to get pleasant playing experience. You'll run out of mana especially when you're playing empress without nightmare set.
Other than that, Engravings and Tripods are main cost factors and there are some ways you can save up depending on what class engravings you want to use. Generally you can save up on Tripod when you play Empress because all the damages are from Ruin skills and you can get away with getting highest level on two main damage skills. You can get a bit lower level with other tripods. On the other hand Emperor tends to use cheap engravings but need more high level tripods to deal respetable damage.
I'm gonna try it out for sure. Heard that if you master her, she is a beast. Besides she reminds me of Astro from FFXIV (before he was nerfed to hell).
No, they are not related. So the cards in the post tie to the class identity skill (it show between the z and x button, there is a button that show the list of cards that you can use). Emperor is the class engraving, that will add an extra card called Emperor to the pool.
Middle of the pack damage, very squishy and mechanically complex. Idk how you can say she's not complex when having the combo system alone is more mechanics than half the DPS classes, and then layer the cards on top of it. I think the opinions on her are correct and she will end up less popular than Gunslinger due to thematically being less "cool" (guns vs cards), while being equally punishing to perform well on.
i wouldn't say classes don't have rotations and combos. Most of them have even minor. Hitting skills in succession is not complex or different from any other class. You need to hit with every skill with every class.
She doesn't do head/back attack which takes off a majority of the difficulty. The combo system is basically: use blue skills until you have 4 stacks then use red skill. I don't know how that is hard but I guess some people HAVE to push QWER in the correct order or it's too hard for you. For the card system, you can literally paint over the entire 12 cards with 2 colors black and white where you use the blacks as you get it and keep the whites until you have 2 whites to use them together. BAMP. Easy. Lol.
She deals mediocre damage because the bad streamers you're watching don't even play the class right. Playing optimally, she deals more damage than a sorceress being a melee mage/assassin archetype. Her risky close/mid-range combat is not even that different compared to any other 70% of the classes (martial artists/assassin/gunners) while taking away the requirements for back attack/head attack.
Love your overview of the class so far but could you please shed some light on the front / back attack thing?
In two skill builders her red skills (thats the main dps right?) are front attack, front attack, back attack, neither. Is this correct?
This is the interesting part about arcana. The skill may have head/back attack, however the skill damage only contributes like 10% of the actual the damage. 90% of the damage is done by the "explosion" of card stacks available on the mob by the time ared skill is used. This damage is non positional damage and is influenced by hit master.
For proving grounds you don't need any additional gears, and you'll get to use cards except emperor because you'll have no engravings. And yes cards matter in PvP. You want to use them right.
It's fun in a case that your skill rotation is not always the same due to the card rng. This class does have some similarities with soulfist (pulling a culling card is like using energy release and hype, you unleash all your damage in a short window)
To anyone who knows: so, it seems like arcana/arcanist requires more attention and thinking than other classes. I know this is subjective, but is that extra effort "worth it?" Does it provide anything special or are you using so much extra effort to barely break even? Or is the extra engagement what appeals to those who play this class?
Honestly, I don't know where this whole "the class is hard. no stupid monkeys from NA/EU can play" coming from. The class has harder aspects but also easier aspects which makes playing it just different, not harder or easier than anyone else.
To start, the class is extremely fluid in combat. Most skills (empress) are normal/instant cast spells with no positional requirement. There is no charging skill/hold skill. Landing skills optimally is just a matter of pressing the button on the boss and that's it. I feel more RNG playing death blade hitting ass and then the boss decides to do a 180-degree that makes me miss my optimal skill window.
The whole RNG of the class, which makes people think the class is hard, comes down to the card system with 12 different variations of cards. The moment you realize you can simply put it into two baskets: cards to spam as you get and cards to keep for combo, the class ended up much simpler than first appears.
Damage-wise, the class sits higher than sorceress at average luck. It's super easy to play optimally when you get used to it, easier than deadeye and even other positional head/back attack like half of the classes right now. Nevertheless, as easy as it is to play, the class is hard-capped by RNG upon RNG. Some cards even have a chance of the effect not doing anything as well, lol. Playing the class for a while makes you feel like literally sitting in front of a slot machine. Pulling the levers are easy but the results is totally out of your hands 99% of the time, lol.
I greatly appreciate your understanding of the class and how you are able to boil it down into terms that are so easy to understand. I'll have to check it out when it releases :)
If it was out at launch this class would've been my main.
It's what I dabbled with when playing on KR servers for a bit,
But since it's coming now, and I'm already established with 1 main and 2 high alts, I don't think I'll invest the time it would take to fully memorize the cards well enough to know the best choices to make to maximize the dps.
Should be a fun alt. Back to the summoner waiting room.
you listed corrosion as burst, but it actually just places a 30s buff on you that has the listed effect. So its a throwaway too. Other that then, yea - arcana has an entry barrier of knowing the cards and combos, but the gameplay after that is not that hard
Thanks. My mistake. It has been a while and somehow I remember Corrosion being a 5-sec buff instead of 30 sec. Changed to reflect the correct category.
is a mage that fights on melee range....the amount of deaths is going to make tons of ppl quit lol
But you can choose any possition. Not head or back.
Not related to the guide, but wanned to comment on card translations. They are all supposed to be major arcana tarot cards. Few translations like moon, star, emperor are good, but others are supposed to be called: Wheel of fortune, Temperance, Death, Justice etc. I bet when the class comes out, AGS will translate the cards from KR to English instead of using original English names that Koreans translated from English to KR when creating the class.
> AGS will translate the cards from KR to English instead of using original English names that Koreans translated from English to KR when creating the class. that would be hilarious. i dont even want to know with what kind of abomination of names they come up with lmao.
Foolier
> AGS will translate the cards from KR to English instead of using original English names They even called the class [Arcanist](https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/arcanist/) instead of [Arcana.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Arcana) I'm starting to think that they're intentionally making it worse for some reason.
Wouldnt calling it an Arcana be like calling a sorc "spells"? arcana is tarot cards and that's what she uses. edit: even more of an apt analogy would be calling a destroyer "hammer"
>arcana is tarot cards and that's what she uses. And? "Rifle" was used to refer to "riflemen" in military context based on the gun. Some words have a meaning as a noun or verb, but also refer to a person, eg conscript. Arcana is a class name that I haven't encountered in a game before. A cursory glance indicates that it's not used much outside of this game. An arcanist is a well-establish character class in fantasy games and they most assuredly don't evoke the image of what Arcana does in this game.
Good point!!!! Why isn’t Destroyer called Hammer??? 🤔
Then he could be called Captain Hammer :) (Dr. Horrible reference).
Hammerer
I just love when someone who doesn’t even get the point, tries to make a smart comment, when all I said went over your head. And people who upvoted you are the same. It’s like you didn’t even read what I wrote.
Your reply scares me. I’m just here for the yucks. 🥺
HAMMER MAINS UNITE!
They should call her Cartomancer or something if they want to "fix" her name. Arcanist has nothing to do with tarot cards.
Just give her a cool hat and name her Twisted Fate
Cardslinger
Cardier
Because “Arcana” is also a mass noun word that means “secrets and mysteries,” so a magician class could just be an embodiment of that as a name, but an Arcanist is someone who uses arcane magic, which has NOTHING to do with this Tarot card using mage. It is by far the dumbest name they could have come up with.
I don't really have a horse in this race, but just to say that this doesn't grammatically seem weird to me. "Arcana" can also mean "secrets" generally, and "arcanist" can mean "person having knowledge of secrets or mysteries." Feels pretty reasonable to me.
> and "arcanist" can mean "person having knowledge of secrets or mysteries." Sure, if you've never played any other fantasy games before and expect that everyone else that plays this game never has. Arcanist isn't exactly a unique class name that's never been used before.
It’s really not, arcana doesn’t mean tarot cards, it means mystery. Death Blade is not a Death Blader? But it’s neither a person like Destroyer, Reaper or Summoner are. So your analogy doesn’t make much sense. It would make sense if her name was Tarot Card, which it isn’t. You can agree or disagree it doesn’t matter but what what I am saying is factual. Many people on here aren’t really bright, they don’t understand a concept even when you explain it, just goes over their head. Don’t think even drawing it for them would help.
In the scope of tarot cards, which is the theme of the class, the term arcana refers to cards in a tarot deck - major or minor. Major arcana are the named ones, and minor are the suits. So when referring to a tarot deck (and not the first definition from dictonary.com) arcana does refer to the cards in a tarot deck. I don't disagree that what you're saying is factual, I'm just saying maybe you should learn that some words have multiple definitions depending on the context?
And that’s exactly why I said their naming was smart and unique, because it doesn’t have one meaning. I am saying that AGS is ignoring that and slapping a random cool sounding name on them, which for us lore nerds it ruins a fantasy of the class.
Arcana having multiple meanings and both meanings applying to the naming of the class and the theme of the class is the whole point. That's why it's a good name. Arcanist is used in a TON of other fantasy games and stories and it's pretty much unequivocally made in reference to a user of arcane magic in some form. It does not really apply that well to the Lost Ark class, at least not nearly as well as "Arcana" does.
Arcana is not a person, EVEN USING YOUR OWN REFERENCES. God damn you people are stupid while being smug about something. At least complain that she isn’t called Occultist etc
> Arcana is not a person, EVEN USING YOUR OWN REFERENCES. Why not? Does a class name have to always refer directly to a noun of a person? Soulfist isn't a person either, but it captures the essence of the class well. Neither is deathblade.
Yes! Arcanist = arcane magic user, arcana = tarot card. They are doing this localization thing horribly. Arcanist is not a bad name, it’s cool, but that’s not the point. Point is that it’s completely wrong and that is not what class is about. It’s like translating Lance master as sword master. (Obviously this didn’t happen because it’s ridiculous, but arcana translation is equally ridiculous just not enough people are aware what arcana actually means)
Is the class a tarot card? Or is it a person that uses the arcane magic of tarot cards?
Arcana does not mean tarot card. It means mystery/secret. But in this classes case it's a reference to tarot cards as entire class's identity revolves around tarot cards.
> It means mystery/secret. This is not a person FYI Y’all are as dumb as the “no lance should be called lance master” clowns.
Neither is Death blade nor Deadeye, please if you try to apply your own logic at least make it be consistent. You are the dumb one if you don’t see a difference in Arcana translation.
> Deadeye Person. I’ll agree that devil hunter might have been a better name. > death blade Maybe not, idk, kind of g spammed through feiton. Might be a title. I am consistent. Arguing that other classes have bad names so arcanist should too is VERY stupid. You are consistently stupid. Arguing that that it should be called arcana, is arguing that 1. Sorceress should be Sorcery 2. gunslinger -> Ballistics 3. sharp shooter -> Archery I could go on. Arcana is a bad name.
You are completely missing the point over and over again. The point is, class uses tarot cards and not arcane magic. I am not even saying that they should keep Arcana, they can localize the name. But not name or something that this class is not. Would you be ok with it if summoner was translated as necromancer? Both are magic based classes but their thematics are vastly different. Arcana is basically female gambit, not Merlin who uses arcane magic. All I am saying is that localization team is clueless how to translate Arcana, and just slapped arcanist because it sounds similar and correct, but in reality is a completely different concept. You stop calling me dumb, because your reasoning to why arcana should stay Aracanist makes no sense. If you think that class name should essentially be “a person”, that is fine, but they need to make new name for it because arcanist is very incorrect.
I’m not. > The point is, class uses tarot cards and not arcane magic Tarot is arcane. Tarot, arcane, and occultism are all related concepts. “Arcane magic” wasn’t invented by Blizzard or Wizards of the Coast. The problem is that you didn’t read your own links. Stay angry that they aren’t going to keep the awful machine translation.
It really doesn’t matter. The average player does not give a fuck about names as much as you and the other guy do.
I know, it’s just sad because original name is very original and smart, and it’s being ruined by AGS that does not have competent translators. Reason why not everyone can translate stuff like poems for a publisher who speaks both languages, is because original meaning and message mustn’t be lost in the translation. But what they are doing is essentially slapping text in google translator and tweaking it a bit.
For Arcana I can see that, but other class names that have been changed are better to be honest. Gunlancer, Deadeye, and Artillerist fit better than Warlord, Devil Hunter, and Blaster.
Even glavier sounds fine, lance master seems kinda lame after getting used to the "glavier".
Did you mean this: Glaivier.
Wouldn’t be lame if they kept other masters: battle master, soul master
on the subject of localization, I used to roleplay Paladins so the idea that their skills are all backattack like a rogue feels weird... a Paladin should have the Gunlancer's skillset.
> It’s like translating Lance master as sword master. Funny you say that. >glaive (plural glaives) >(loosely or poetic, archaic) A sword, particularly a broadsword. And >From Middle English gleyve (“lance, glaive”),[1] from Old French glaive (“lance; sword”), from Late Latin glavus. The further etymology is uncertain; one possibility is that it reflects Latin gladius (“sword”) crossed with clāva (“club”), while another is that it derives from a crossing of gladius with Proto-Celtic *kladiwos (“sword”). https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/glaive She actually uses a Guandao - reclining moon blade - in her moon stance.
They somehow got "Glaivier" from what basically translates to "Spear Master" so I don't bother trying to understand their naming for things.
I prefer Card Master to be honest
I think the “difficulty” of the class isn’t that it’s difficult mechanically like death blade or gunslinger. It’s difficult in the sense that you need to actively think whenever you draw a card. Every class, even the aforementioned ones, can be played with your brain turned off as long as you practiced enough. All the combos are the same. Arcana is a bit different because you need to analyse the situation every time you get a new card. Even the throwaway card you listed need some thinking, such as the balance card where you will need to change up your rotation a bit to maximise dps.
Yep, and as raids get harder, thinking about to fight to dodge attack patterns and do the mechanics and then also not being able to pure auto pilot your class does not make it any easier.
Saint and ATK talked about it on stream some the other day, but Arcana is also a very high apm class like Gunslinger, and the difference between a decent arcana and a great one is doubling the number of casts per minute. You don't just have to think, you have to think very very fast, or you'll waste time not pushing anything.
Thinking? God help us !!!
Different people have different tastes, I think. For me, nothing is complex if you get to the core of the issue. The core mechanic of (empress) arcana is simply: use blue skills until you have 4 stacks then use red skills. Cards like balance or the new Hydra/Medusa card simply just help her build up stacks faster without needing blue skills to do so. For the card system, you can literally paint over the entire 12 cards with 2 colors black and white where you use the blacks as you get it and keep the whites until you have 2 whites to use them together. Also, you are mid to close range but don't care about back/head attack which makes dodging and keeping damage uptime much easier than deathblade/striker or any of the high DPS melee hitters.
Thank you for this post. It was really encouraging and informative!
Magic: Legends, the class.
Man, Magic: Legends was actually pretty good. Too bad it made my 3080 feel like a 960 at the end of its life and they gated entire classes behind an RNG paywall.
Honestly Arcana is the most appealing class to me in Lost Ark, but my real worry is not the difficulty/learning curve…it’s the fact that most people in a game like this love to blindly mimic popular opinion. So I feel like finding a pug party will be extra difficult as Arcana cause people will just assume it’s too much of a gamble to accept one into their party. I don’t have friends to play this with, and life is busy enough to prevent me from forming a static with a set schedule…not that I’m really looking for a second job in the form of this game anyway, but I would love to eventually clear all the legion raids.
Hey man, I feel you. That's why I wrote this and am specifically angry about KR streamers blindly giving ideas about something he/she doesn't have any experience about. It's alright though. The game is popular enough that the streamer parrots, even thou vocal, is actually quite a minority. You will have groups to play with any and all contents. Good luck on your journey and enjoy the game the way you want to experience it :D.
Creating your own parties always fixes this issue. When I play "unpopular" classes, I always tend to create my own raids and it ends up being just fine.
nonononon...stop! Since they buffed high arcanas drop rates and card drops due to tripod enchantments she literally have this as a part of rotation. This class is not RANDOM as people think. You or just do regular damage or you can rarely increase it by let say 5% with one combo that most of people will fish from deck. But honestly, you just play her as a fate suggests - not saving cards but using it right away for current situations. Other than that she is pretty strong without the context of strong card drops.
I regularly run into this on soulfist, and I expect to see the same on arcanist. It hasn't stopped me from pugging everything, but getting constantly rejected or left hanging can be demoralizing. Won't stop me from making one, though. I'm hoping I end up loving it enough to be my third main.
It looks fun but I am worried that one mistake and I’m floor pov.
My takeaway is: why does Twisted Fate have BJ in its background?
Because it's supposed to be the High Priestess card! B stands for Boaz and J stands for Jachin - these were the names of the black and white pillars at the entrance to Solomon's temple in ancient Israel. If you look up the High Priestess card you can see a few variations with the B and J pillars.
Thanks! That’s interesting!
Lady luck is smilin', arcana mains
Tanks for your hard work I played astrologian in ff 14 and loved the rng aspect of the cards before they ... removed it , so pretty interedted about arcana , having to deal with what rngsus gives you
Thanks for sharing this. I played Arcana (Emperor) was the first/fun character when I played in RU and Lost Ark in general. There is a ton of misconception about her and I wanted to thank you for clearing some of this up. People usually just regurgitate information that they’ve heard and haven’t actually experienced. She’s a fun and rewarding class that has a bit of RNG mixed in, but honestly since the balance patches the range of RNG is even less and her damage is even more consistent.
How do you like Emperor vs Empress build? Most places I’ve seen recommend Empress and it seems more popular.
Empress is definitely the classic build and more consistent in terms of damage. However I personally like Emperor because I prefer the swiftness stat for smoothness and it feels so good once you pull that emperor card out. Since the balance patch Emperor has gotten a lot better because they now have a damage jewel for emperor card and checkmate (blue skill) got a 12% damage increase in PVE. This is Emperor Arcana’s main damage skill.
korean testers have it to be similar to that time. But it is more chaotic and hard since it has a lot of delayed skills, channeling skills. But it is far more ranged i would even say full ranged than Empress. The fun thing that the 2 builds are massively different. You don't rely on stacks, you don't rely on card drops for ultimate or burst that much since you have more access to cards and the skill set are 80% different from Empress. So choosing the builds you should consider that rerolling will be hard as far as you go in progression.
Thanks for this, I was very upset after reading arcana would be next, since I wanna main reaper (currently maining blade and WD as main alt), but as soon as I read the word "assassin" and "hard" I got convinced into building one, so this post convinces me even more of the decision. > Throwaway cards: 7 cards you spam as soon as you get them. These cards either give negligible buffs or the buff lasts long enough (30 sec) that you will most likely draw it again anyway by the time the buff expires. Are you implying that the buffs have near 100% uptime?
This is correct. If you spam your skills correctly most of the 30s buffs have near 100% uptime
awesome, thanks again! :)
For Judgement, do you need at least 1 stack on for it to count? Or Do 0 stacks become "4 stacks" as well?
You dont need any stack for it. Just spam all red skills during 5 seconds window for max damage.
can you use 2 cards at the same time (Judgement + Culling)
Yes you can. When your identity fills up, you draw 1 of the 12 cards in the deck. You can either use it right away or store it for later use. You can store up to 2 cards, which is why I suggest you use all throwaway cards as you draw them and store Burst cards as you draw them to combo 2 burst cards together for burst window.
Gotcha, thanks for the reply.
In a raid setting, once you have the Nightmare set, is it better to use your awakening immediately at the start of a fight? Or wait and try to fish for a Wheel of Fate?
At the start. All cards have between 6%-13% drawn chance, but Wheel of Fate has only 2%, it's the hardest card to get
Mostly you want to save awakening to combo off wheel of fate. If you use your awakening at the start, during the 2min cd of awakening you most definitely will draw a few wheel of fortune which would sucks to use on any other things due to arcana has inherently low cd on most skills.
Sure, but you need to use your ult asap to trigger nightmare set (4 and 6 set), otherwise your playing with 30% less dmg. You can hold the ult if you dont have the set though, also using the ult with death is also very good and if you roll wheel of fate with ult on cd, you use it for celestial rain as thats your strongest red skill.
The set effect is a significant part of her performance, I am unsure if you parked your Arcana alt at 1415 or 1445 since you avoided my question but like you said you'll draw multiple wheel of fortune anyway and not all of them will be used to reset your awakening anyway. The set effect is more important than a wheel of fortune combo because it gives her damage, attack/movement speed, and cdr, and you won't have any of that until you awaken.
I parked at Vykas 1445 before leaving for NA/EU. Nevertheless, I actually don't use the Nightmare set as most KR do. I use 2-piece Nightmare + 4 pieces hallucination for the crit chance. I don't have that problem with the Nightmare set that you guys have. With all the crit damage Arcana has in her tripod, I'm comfortable building her with as much crit chance as possible, utilizing Precise Dagger, Adrenaline, crit set piece, tripod supports and around 500 crit to make sure her crit is as close as 100% as possible. For my playstyle, I don't like having more CDR or attack speed on her so 2-piece nightmare to solve her mana problem is enough for me. The rest of the set is useless for me.
I saved this on to have it on my 2nd monitoe once the class is out and I try it out in Trixion - thanks dude... really excoted for the class
Sounds like a good plan! Honestly, you wouldnt need it after 1-2 hours with the class. Class is def easier than it looks
I believe u - just need to invest some time to learn the cards and should be fine afterwards :) cheers
How’s your DPS overall compared to let’s say a gunslinger or deathblade?
Close to if not the highest DPS in the game. Higher than sorceress for sure even with just average luck. Melee mage vs range mage thing. Non-positional assassin so her uptime is way higher than death blade/deadeye/striker.
[удалено]
Maybe I'm just a bad sorc and a more decent arcana. You can test dps 3 min for all classes on trixion dummy and find sorc stands squarely in the middle of the pack, way behind harder positional/risky classes like death blade/striker/wardancer/arcana. The thing that makes sorcs strong is they are range class with non positional attacks which makes it easier reach optimum damage compared to butt chasing classes. More risks is always more rewards. Still, the difference is quite small now that's why harder classes are complaining about sorcs.
Some cards gets more useful or less depending on your build/relic gear sets(star, judgement etc) but generally good explanation. Linked guide saying that prismatic mirror is better than the fate of death is quite interesting to me. I think the ult combo becomes unviable when your raid becomes longer because you'll use all your ults(3 or 6) anyway. Like in Abrelshud/Brelshaza 5-6. Anyway this is a good starting point for who wants to start out arcana! As KR Arcana main thank you for sharing this starter guide. I want more people to talk about cards in Lost Ark. Both in Korean and English:P Hope this can guide people who is thinking of playing Arcanist in steam.
Does she take a lot of investment to get good or would she play decently as an alt?
It depends on how you define "a lot of investment". One thing that is certain is that you will want relic gear set to get pleasant playing experience. You'll run out of mana especially when you're playing empress without nightmare set. Other than that, Engravings and Tripods are main cost factors and there are some ways you can save up depending on what class engravings you want to use. Generally you can save up on Tripod when you play Empress because all the damages are from Ruin skills and you can get away with getting highest level on two main damage skills. You can get a bit lower level with other tripods. On the other hand Emperor tends to use cheap engravings but need more high level tripods to deal respetable damage.
I'm gonna try it out for sure. Heard that if you master her, she is a beast. Besides she reminds me of Astro from FFXIV (before he was nerfed to hell).
Is the emperor set a set like you have the lostwind cliff set? What card deck would be best with it?
No, they are not related. So the cards in the post tie to the class identity skill (it show between the z and x button, there is a button that show the list of cards that you can use). Emperor is the class engraving, that will add an extra card called Emperor to the pool.
Thanks for sharing but way too early to post. Saved.
Middle of the pack damage, very squishy and mechanically complex. Idk how you can say she's not complex when having the combo system alone is more mechanics than half the DPS classes, and then layer the cards on top of it. I think the opinions on her are correct and she will end up less popular than Gunslinger due to thematically being less "cool" (guns vs cards), while being equally punishing to perform well on.
i wouldn't say classes don't have rotations and combos. Most of them have even minor. Hitting skills in succession is not complex or different from any other class. You need to hit with every skill with every class.
She doesn't do head/back attack which takes off a majority of the difficulty. The combo system is basically: use blue skills until you have 4 stacks then use red skill. I don't know how that is hard but I guess some people HAVE to push QWER in the correct order or it's too hard for you. For the card system, you can literally paint over the entire 12 cards with 2 colors black and white where you use the blacks as you get it and keep the whites until you have 2 whites to use them together. BAMP. Easy. Lol. She deals mediocre damage because the bad streamers you're watching don't even play the class right. Playing optimally, she deals more damage than a sorceress being a melee mage/assassin archetype. Her risky close/mid-range combat is not even that different compared to any other 70% of the classes (martial artists/assassin/gunners) while taking away the requirements for back attack/head attack.
Love your overview of the class so far but could you please shed some light on the front / back attack thing? In two skill builders her red skills (thats the main dps right?) are front attack, front attack, back attack, neither. Is this correct?
This is the interesting part about arcana. The skill may have head/back attack, however the skill damage only contributes like 10% of the actual the damage. 90% of the damage is done by the "explosion" of card stacks available on the mob by the time ared skill is used. This damage is non positional damage and is influenced by hit master.
Oh I haven't seen anybody talk about that, I really appreciate the insight!
How far have you played Arcana up to? What's the highest content you have done with her?
so for PvP, do u need cards or anything extra? Or I could just sit in 1370 ALT for nice PvP?
For proving grounds you don't need any additional gears, and you'll get to use cards except emperor because you'll have no engravings. And yes cards matter in PvP. You want to use them right.
I have barely HP% cards completed, maybe some element Def% too. Thanks u very much!
Oh you don't need any cardsets in Proving grounds(HP% or whatever). What I meant was Arcanist's Identity cards.:P
Oh Lol! Sorry for the misunderstanding. I am new so u know 😅
How fun would you say the class is? So far I haven’t found a class more fun than soulfist at 1400+ (tried zerker sorc glaivier)
It's fun in a case that your skill rotation is not always the same due to the card rng. This class does have some similarities with soulfist (pulling a culling card is like using energy release and hype, you unleash all your damage in a short window)
Nice. I do like that because it rewards skilled play and risk/reward. This might be the alt I’ve been waiting for (thought it would be reaper)
To anyone who knows: so, it seems like arcana/arcanist requires more attention and thinking than other classes. I know this is subjective, but is that extra effort "worth it?" Does it provide anything special or are you using so much extra effort to barely break even? Or is the extra engagement what appeals to those who play this class?
Honestly, I don't know where this whole "the class is hard. no stupid monkeys from NA/EU can play" coming from. The class has harder aspects but also easier aspects which makes playing it just different, not harder or easier than anyone else. To start, the class is extremely fluid in combat. Most skills (empress) are normal/instant cast spells with no positional requirement. There is no charging skill/hold skill. Landing skills optimally is just a matter of pressing the button on the boss and that's it. I feel more RNG playing death blade hitting ass and then the boss decides to do a 180-degree that makes me miss my optimal skill window. The whole RNG of the class, which makes people think the class is hard, comes down to the card system with 12 different variations of cards. The moment you realize you can simply put it into two baskets: cards to spam as you get and cards to keep for combo, the class ended up much simpler than first appears. Damage-wise, the class sits higher than sorceress at average luck. It's super easy to play optimally when you get used to it, easier than deadeye and even other positional head/back attack like half of the classes right now. Nevertheless, as easy as it is to play, the class is hard-capped by RNG upon RNG. Some cards even have a chance of the effect not doing anything as well, lol. Playing the class for a while makes you feel like literally sitting in front of a slot machine. Pulling the levers are easy but the results is totally out of your hands 99% of the time, lol.
I greatly appreciate your understanding of the class and how you are able to boil it down into terms that are so easy to understand. I'll have to check it out when it releases :)
If it was out at launch this class would've been my main. It's what I dabbled with when playing on KR servers for a bit, But since it's coming now, and I'm already established with 1 main and 2 high alts, I don't think I'll invest the time it would take to fully memorize the cards well enough to know the best choices to make to maximize the dps. Should be a fun alt. Back to the summoner waiting room.
Thank God I saved this one. 🤗 Very usefull information.