Sometimes the sharpness of the steel blade and the toughness of the heavy armor just aren’t enough for the foes that inhabit Eorzea. For this reason, we have the classes from the Disciple of Magic, of which the major damage-dealing one is the Arcanist.
FFXIV Online: ARR Arcanist
The Arcanist is a magic DPS class from the Disciple of Magic that also utilizes support skills to be highly effective in team games. They have an abundance of skills, which they can utilize at the back-end of parties to give maximum DoT damage and offensive-defensive support.
What makes the Arcanist really unique is that they are the lead class for two Jobs, i.e. Summoner and Scholar, unlike any of the other classes.
Recommended Race
The recommended race for the Arcanist are the Elezen and Lalafell. These two races grant a large amount of Intelligence, the main attribute for the Arcanist.
Combat Role
The Arcanists are able to produce magical spells by using symbols of power. They can also summon a familiar called Carbuncle to aid them.
The weapons that an Arcanist can use include Books, Grimoires, and Picatrix. The Arcanist’s most important attribute is Intelligence, which is really where you will get all your magic power from.
The Arcanist is slow to build like most magic-based classes, but the progression is such that it allows the character to have lots of variety and effectiveness in battles.
Skills
The Arcanist has a fine mix of offensive, defensive, and crowd control skills. This class has the most number of skills in the game.
The class excels at cursing enemies with various debuffs and status ailments, and also at doing DoT damage. This makes the Arcanist a very unique sort of supportive offense class. In addition to these attacks, the Arcanist can summon Carbuncle and order them around, starting from level 4.
Skill Unlock Levels
1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 15, 15, 18, 20, 20, 22, 26, 30, 34, 38, 40, 40, 42, 46, 50.
Skills List
The following is the list of the Arcanist skills, in ascending order of unlock level:
Ruin
Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 80.
Bio
Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 40 for 18 seconds
Gust
Deals Wind damage with a potency of 90
Physick
Restores target’s HP.
Summon
Summons a caster-type pet to fight by your side.
Backdraft
(Pet Action) Deals Wind damage with a potency of 80.
Aetherflow
Restores 20% of maximum.
Energy Drain
Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 150. Only available when under the effect of Aetherflow.
Miasma
Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 20.
Virus
Reduces target’s STR and DEX by 15%.
Summon II
Summons a tank-type pet to fight at your side.
Gouge
(Pet Action) Delivers an attack with a potency of 70
Shining Topaz
(Pet Action) Delivers an attack with a potency of 70 to all nearby enemies
Sustain
Sacrifices 10% of own maximum HP to continuously restore 8% of summon’s HP over a period of 10 seconds. Cannot execute if HP is below 10%.
Downburst
(Pet Action) Deals Wind damage with a potency of 80 to target and all enemies nearby it.
Curl
(Pet Action) Decreases damage suffered by pet by 20%.
Resurrection
Resurrects target to a weakened state.
Bio II
Deals unaspected damage over time
Bane
Spreads a target’s Bio, Bio II, or Miasma to all nearby enemies. If under the effect of Aetherflow, 15% chance that Bio, Bio II, or Miasma duration resets
Eye for an Eye
Erects a magicked barrier around a single party member or pet for 30 seconds. Barrier Effect: 20% chance that when barrier is struck, the striker will deal 10% less damage for 20 seconds.
Ruin II
Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 80
Storm
(Pet Action) Delivers an attack with a potency of 60.
Shining Emerald
(Pet Action) Extends duration of damage over time effects already cast by the master by 15 seconds.
Rouse
Increases Cure magic potency and damage dealt by pet by 40%. While roused, pet will be immune to stun, sleep, bind, heavy, paralysis and disease.
Miasma II
Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 20 to all nearby enemies
Shadow Flare
Envelops a designated area in a veil of magicked shadows, dealing damage with a potency of 25 to any who enter.
Traits
Traits are bonus passives that give special effects to your character. For the Arcanist, the traits increase the Intelligence attribute, and also greatly enhance the effectiveness of your spells. Like in the case of spells, the Arcanist also has the most number of traits in the game.
Traits Unlock Levels
8, 14, 16, 20, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40, 40, 44, 48.
Traits List
The following is the list of traits of the Arcanist, in an ascending order of unlock level.
Aetherdam
Allows the stacking of one Aetherflow.
Enhanced Intelligence
Increases intelligence by 2 points.
Enhanced Intelligence II
Increases intelligence by 4 points.
Maim and Mend
Increases base action damage and HP restoration by 10%
Aetherdam II
Allows the stacking of up to two Aetherflows.
Enhanced Pet Actions
20% chance of increasing spell speed by 20% when pet deals critical damage. Lasts 8 seconds.
Supervirus
Adds 15% intelligence and mind enfeeblement to Virus.
Enhanced Intelligence III
Increases intelligence by 6.
Energy Siphon
Doubles the amount of MP restored by Energy Drain.
Maim and Mend II
Increases base action damage and HP restoration by 30%.
Aetherdam III
Allows the stacking of up to three Aetherflows.
Enhanced Eye for an Eye
Shortens Eye for an Eye recast time to 120 seconds.
Enhanced Rouse
Shortens Rouse recast time to 60 seconds.
Off-Class Abilities
While it’s not necessary to have a second class developed in your playthrough, it really does help, especially if you are playing solo.
You can take on a second class once you have completed the class quest for your main class at level 10. After that, you can level the secondary classes, and use their shareable abilities in your main class.
In order to use these abilities though, you’ll need to unlock them in their respective class. So, for example, if you wanted to use Cure and Protect from the Conjurer class, you would need to level the Conjurer to level 8 to unlock those skills, after which you will be able to equip them for your main class.
Do note though that not all abilities are shared. Many abilities are class or Disciple exclusive, so it is important to first isolate the shareable skills you are working for.
Recommended Off-Class Ability for the Arcanist
As the Arcanist, I would highly recommend looking at the Conjurer as the main off-class. The two abilities you want to grab onto as quickly as possible are Cure and Protect.
In addition to these skills, you can also consider the Thaumaturge for Thunder and Surecast, which should aid in your damage skills and your casting ability respectively. Thunder tends to give you a DoT that can stack very well with abilities like Bio, so that’s why the Thaumaturge is a class you should not neglect so easily.
However, if you are playing in a party, it is probably best to look at the Jobs instead of off-class abilities.
Jobs
Jobs are specializations that a class can take to give themselves a much more defined role. This makes Job specializations best suited for party gameplay.
The Arcanist is unique because it is the only lead class that can acquire two jobs. This makes the class arguably the most versatile of all the offensive ones from both Disciple of War and Disciple of Magic.
The two jobs that an Arcanist can specialize in are Summoner and Scholar. Note that you can only have one job active at a time though.
In order to become a Summoner, you will need 30 levels in Arcanist and 15 levels in Thaumaturge. The Summoner mixes powerful elemental magic with conjuration for large amounts of damage.
In order to become a Scholar, you will need 30 levels in Arcanist and 15 levels in Conjurer. The Scholar is a powerful mega-support class that utilizes the summoning skills of the Arcanist and the healing and protection abilities of the Conjurer.
Combat Role
The combat role of the Summoner is all-out offensive, and is ideal for those who are soloing. The Scholar on the other hand has a much more selfless role, and can mix up the powerful CC of the Arcanist with the benevolent skills that come with the Job.
