Introduction

Hi Billymays here, with a guide for those of you out there maybe looking for a change from your current Mage build, or for those of you who are new to Mages that are looking for a good build to try out. With this build I'm sure none of you are going to have a bad time whether you're a veteran in the field of throwing spells at people or not, enjoy.

Why Arcanist?

Among all of the Sorcery / Witchcraft builds in ArcheAge, one stands out in particular: Arcanist. This class comes with everything you want and more. Between Arcanist's damage, crowd control, escpaes, and range of spell combinations the class is put together for every form of PvP, PvE, and it doesn't make a bad for a bad leveling Class either.

How Much Damage? All The Damage.

Arcanists are essentially Daggerspells, minus a few bits of utility that is well more than made up for by Auramancy's skill tree. With Arcanist you have easy access to all of Sorcery's damage abilities in nearly any situation, this includes which you have a difficult time getting off with some Sorcery builds. Arcanist has the potential to make excellent use of every spell within both Sorcery, and Witchcraft. For now lets focus on your basic damaging abilities and set ups.

set up: to get if your target has it. If that misses , use to CC and try again-> -> -> -> on the Target -> which is immediately followed up by for the Combo effect -> as begins to reach its maximum height - > .

That's your general opener for Single Target / 1v1 / Arena PvP, if nothing unforeseen happens you should almost always be able to get this combination off properly since the only CC that may stand out from your escapes is Trip, which is used most peoples openers, or after comes down, in either case you should be able to start your chain on most classes without an issue.

: This spell is sometimes problematic for people due to the fact that it only really becomes useful outside of being just a normal CC when a Burn effect from , , , is up. It does a large portion of a player or NPC's health when used properly and also applies a stun, this all comes from fall damage which comes from the Burn / spell combination. This damage is easily avoided by some Shadowplay with Drop Back, and not so easily avoided by Auramancy with . The damage is also mitigated but not completely stopped with the Firran racial buff.

Using to your advantage to avoid the less skilled melee player, cast instant s, and possibly create a window for you to use recover by using on Chilled targets for it's spell combo bonus if you didn't get to use it properly for some reason in your opener. This class can be clockwork for those players who can perfect its rotation, while also offering room for error for those players who are learning the class, or playing casually.

Crowd Control Huh?

Arcanist's crowd control is undoubtedly competitive with other classes, it doesn't have the most range of crowd control, Demonologist and Cabalist have those going for them, but the CC that it has works tremendously with the class. What exactly am I talking about some people might ask; it looks like just a bunch of fears and sleeps? You would be right in that assumption, but the class also has a few other abilities that shine. Here are a few for those who haven't already seen the tool tips.

: 3 second trip.

: Roughly 6-7 second root PvP. ( enhances the duration.)

: 5-7 second bubble PvP, if executed properly, a 3 second stun will follow ( enhances the duration.)

: 7 second sleep. Spell combination increases duration. ( enhances the duration.)

: roughly a 3 second fear, followed by a 2 second stun. ( enhances the duration.)

: Roughly a 2 second stun, followed by a purge, and a damage after the stun falls.

: Not by definition a CC, but this ability does move the targets location. Creates distance between you and your target after .

: 7 Second sleep, and a Spell Steal.

So as you can see Arcanist is loaded with Crowd Control abilities. Many of them disposable so you have something to fall back on in emergency situations, it never hurts to take a second shot at getting your off with if doesn't work.

ESCAPES!

YOU'RE ALL FREE NOW!

In my opinion the greatest thing about Arcanist is almost never being able to be CC'd properly. Previous to 1.7 this was still an issue to Arcanists, most had to choose between being able to escape from CCs, or having the buffs and disposable CC. These days those days are long gone for Arcanists, and they shan't be coming back anytime soon (hopefully).

So for those who may not know, CC stands for Crowd Control. CC is the ability to take your opponent(s) out of the fight for a while to organize a kill, to help sustain yourself, to recover CDs, or to prevent them from doing something which might be detrimental to you. In addition to Arcanist having loads of their own CC, they also can get out of nearly any CC that's thrown at them in 1v1 / Arena / Smaller Scale WPvP situations. While these escapes have CDs just like any other spell many are short, and you don't need to worry about them unless you're in a large scale PvP environment such as sieges or a World Event.
Now that we've gone over what an escape is for those who may not have known, lets look at the actual abilities.

: Continuous shield that sustains it's resistance to Trip for as long as the shield lasts. It's on a 45 second CD and absorbs 2094 Damage at max rank (not icluding the 1 Rank bonus you get from the Mistmerrow item) During this time any trip effects that would have taken affect on you are null, and will not work. This often forces Shadowplay users to save their Stalker's Mark on you until they've diminished your shield, and Battlerage users to try to clear your shield without using Charge. This escape is less of an reliable way to get out of Trips, and more of a way to alter your enemies playstyles in an effort to remove your shield to successfully CC you. In most cases you'll be able to start your rotation of CCs before they can get anything off properly.

: Arguably the best escape in the game due to the amount of people that have Fears and Sleeps that they use to line up chain CC kills. This spell is on a 9 second Cooldown, with a one minute uptime on the fear and sleep immunity. This ability can only be removed by spells like , , , and other disspells. Often times when fighting other players running Witchcraft you'll be opened on with , , and by players who are running Auramancy. This spell's chance to be taken away by these disspells are random, so not only will your enemy have to worry about cleansing , but often times so will you.

: Again, one could argue that this is the best Escape in the game. I place it equal to since they serve the same purpose. This ability when used removes Stun and Impale effects, and grants you a 4 second (According the the Wiki, supposedly this spell Ranks up somewhere between 50-55. I will adjust the guide accordingly when I find out) immunity to these effects. It also decreases all Magic Damage taken by 50% for the 4 seconds after this ability is used. This spell being on only a 24 second CD is great for us and fully completes the Arcanist immunity package.

: This ability, less an escape and more of an aura effect that grants immunity to Shackle and Silence for 20 Seconds. This spell lasts quite a while and is on a CD of only 60 seconds, which isn't bad for it's uptime. This ability is necessary for Arcanist, since all of our abilities are able to be silenced, and being shackled isn't good for anyone.


: This ability is more or less a utility spell, but it is extremely useful for escaping dangerous situations. This spell will instantly teleport you 15 Meters forward, and can often be used to escape last minute , or other Area of Effect abilities. This spell is on a moderate CD of 30 seconds.

Arcanist truly covers all forms of CC. It's the only class that covers all of the games CCs without a Cloak.

Look At All These Combos.

This section is for those of you who don't feel like checking out the combo list, or maybe want an elaboration on which combos are worth executing and which ones may not be. With this section I'm going to focus more on the combinations themselves and not so much the build up to these combos, for times sake. I'm sure none of you need a full explanation on how you should go about achieving every single combination so lets get in to it.

Bubble Trap + Arc Lightning: -> + -> ->

Pre-Duel / Pre-1v1 / Non-Arena Opener against non-Witchcraft: - > -> -> -> (On the target)

Witchcraft Heal Combo: +

Ideal opener against someone using : -> -> -> -> (On the target) -> + -> (At your target's peak) -> (When your enemy hits the ground)

Ideal opener against non-witchcraft users: -> -> -> -> (On the target) -> + -> (At your target's peak) -> (When your enemy hits the ground)

Most of these openers are subject to change based on how a confrontation with another player goes, these combinations are based on ideal or perfect situations. You'll learn how to adjust to imperfect situations as you play the class more.