Tier 3 Arthetinean Skill Machinist Build Guide

Welcome to the Tier 3 Arthetinean Skill Machinist Build Guide! This build revolves around mixing all three basic types of Machinist Skills: Drone, Joint and Normal. Dealing constant damage while being highly mobile and relatively squishy will prove quite rewarding.

Arthetinean Skill struggles to inflict reliable amounts of Stagger and Destruction mainly due to his skills being on long cooldowns, but to compensate for that his gameplay is very "plug-n-play".

Want a different playstyle based on his Transformation? Check out our Evolutionary Legacy guide.

Builds

Raids

Chaos Dungeons

Need some tips for general content? Check out our Guardian Raids and Abyssal Dungeons guides.

• Overcharged Battery is your Synergy skill. It also deals Destruction.
• Mobile Shot is your mobility tool and one of your Attack/Move Speed self buffs.
• Command: Raid Missile, Command: Baby Drones, Energy Buster and Annihilation Mode are your main damage skills. Raid Missile and Energy Buster are also your highest Stagger skills.
• Strategic Fire is a damage filler skill.
• Avalanche is your Counter skill. It also deals Destruction.

Alternative Skill, Tripod, and Rune Options

Strategic Fire can be swapped with different skills for different purposes, for example:

Command: Carpet with Battery Saving Mode, Explosive Barrage, Weak Point Detection and Quick Recharge.

• Increased battery usage, but also damage.
• Requires you to land most bombs. This requires proper drone positioning.

Command: Flare Beam with Scar, Lightning Beam, Laser Cut and Quick Recharge.

• Easier to land than Carpet, but the boss needs to stand inside Scar's AoE for optimal damage.
• Does Destruction.

Overcharged Battery can be replaced with Pulse Fire, using Fighting Spirit Enh. and Battery Charge.

• This provides increased Battery regeneration thanks to Battery Charge (make sure to level it up), at the cost of Destruction.
• It's highly recommended to be used if you are also using Command: Carpet or Command: Flare Beam.

Check the Rune Guide for more details on Runes and how to obtain them.

This build is optimized and meant to be used only in Chaos Dungeons. For Ebony Cube please use a Raid build.

• Annihilation Mode is your main damage skill for everything. Its Swift Preparation tripod can reset the skill cooldown given you hit enough enemies, and have enough Swiftness / Cooldown Gem / Dominion set.
• Mobile Shot and Avalanche are used entirely for mobility and to break Floor 3 Crystals.
• The rest of the skills are backups in case you fail some of those requirements.
• Alternatively, you can use your Standard Evolutionary Legacy build.

Recommended Engraving Setup

While you can freely experiment with any engravings you want for this content, here's a recommended setup, based on the Engraving Support system:

• Preemptive Strike causes your attacks to deal immense amounts of damage to monsters that you haven't attacked yet, making it ideal for Chaos Dungeons.
• Contender is a stacking Attack Power effect that increases in strength once you kill a monster, making it ideal for Chaos Dungeons.
• Raid Captain provides damage based on your Bonus Movement Speed, synergizing well with the Buff Nodes scattered throughout Chaos Dungeons.
• Cursed Doll increases your damage with essentially no drawback in Chaos Dungeons.
• Arthetinean Skill increases your damage output.

Gameplay & Skill Rotation

This build focuses on dealing constant damage by alternating your Normal and Drone/Joint skills properly. Utilizing your Drone as your main tool of damage, and proper timing, you should flawlessly weave between all 3 types of skills and cooldowns should line up in a very satisfactory way.

Machinists use a resource called Battery to cast skills. This is expended by Drone and Joint skills and regenerated by Normal skills or over time. This resource is unaffected by MP buffs, such as from supports or the Nightmare set, but is affected by Combat Resource Natural Recovery food. The battery consumption rate is significantly higher than the regeneration rate, so playing without this food may cause you to frequently run out of battery.

Learning to position (Left-Shift) and recall (X) your drone to make better use of your time become essential parts of Arthetinean Skill's gameplay once you practice more with the class. Micro-management isn't necessary, but it can be a good thing to learn to further optimize your damage.

Hypersync is still available to Arthetinean Skill Machinists, but it's actually a damage loss to use it. Instead, you can quickly toggle it to tank a big boss pattern either through Status Immunity or with the shield you get, or to do Stagger during long checks.

Additionally, the usage of some Normal skills gives you up to 5 stacks of the Reload buff, which increases your Move/Attack Speed by 1% per stack. Doing full basic-attack combos with your gun also provides this buff.

Machinist Identity

Arthetinean Skill engraving provides 16/22/32% damage to Drone, Joint and Normal skills, 10% Move Speed when the Drone is attached, 10/15/20% max Battery and a small shield when drone reattaches.

Basic Rotations

Stagger Check Rotation

• Hypersync can be used in long checks to deal Stagger without disrupting your "Human" rotations.
• Try not to unpair your Drone and Normal skills to avoid losing too much damage or time later. Remember you can also use a Whirlwind Grenade if you have one equipped!

Tripods and Gems

Tripod Levelling

Increasing the level of Tripods greatly enhances their effectiveness. You may only increase the level of 18 tripods at a time. Some of them cannot be leveled at all, or are left at level 1 - these tripods are omitted from the table, even if they are used. Here are the main tripods you should look out for to maximize this build's potential.

Tripods written in bold text are your highest priority, make sure to level them first!

For more information on where to obtain Tripod Amulets and how to use them, check out our Skill Tree System Guide.

Gems

Gems are another significant aspect of your build, as they directly impact the damage and cooldowns of your skills. You can equip up to 11 gems at a time. Here are the ones you should focus on to maximize this build's potential, listed according to their priority.

* If you are using Command: Carpet or Command: Flare Beam, use that Damage Gem instead.

** If you are using Command: Carpet, use that Cooldown Gem. If you pick Command: Flare Beam instead, useAvalanche Cooldown gem instead to lessen battery problems.

For more information on where to obtain gems and how to use them, check out our Gem System Guide.

Stat Priority

This build utilizes Crit and Swiftness. The exact stat spread is flexible. The general idea is to not go over 90% Crit Rate but also don't drop too much of it.

• Crit is the primary stat. It helps with damage consistency.
• Swiftness is a secondary stat. It provides Attack and Move Speed, and Cooldown Reduction.

Gear Set

Hallucination Set

This is the main recommendation due to the Crit Rate and Damage it provides.

Check out the Gear Progression Guide for step by step instructions and early game gearing.
If you are interested in Sidereal Weapons, click here for more details.

Engravings

Engravings are a core part of your build. Typically, most engravings will be used at level 3, but there are some that can be used at level 1 or 2 in addition to the others, after reaching item level 1540 and unlocking Ancient Accessories.

Engraving Explanations

Core Engravings

• Arthetinean Skill provides damage to all your skills, increases your max Battery and provides Move Speed and Shields when reattaching your Drone.
• Grudge increases damage done while also increasing damage received. The engraving is a highly effective damage increase without needing specific positioning, making it worthwhile even with the penalty.
• Keen Blunt Weapon is a good option given the high Crit Rate.
• Raid Captain provides damage based on your bonus Move Speed, which is already at max due to all the self-buffs Arthetinean Skill Machinist has.
• Mass Increase is a huge Attack Power boost with the penalty of reduced Attack Speed. However, due to all the self-buffs this penalty is negated.

Level 1 and 2 Engravings

• Adrenaline provides an additional source of Crit Rate and Attack Power. It is fairly easy to upkeep. Ideal at level 1 to avoid being too close to Crit Rate cap.

Check out the Engraving Guide for more details.

Bracelet

Bracelets provide beneficial effects to yourself or to your party members depending on the rolls they have.

The primary goal is to get the main stats used by this build - Crit and Swiftness. After that, you should be aiming for Special Rolls to get more damage. Please note that this system is heavily reliant on RNG, and you should not expect to get much more beyond your main stats early on.

Check out the Bracelet Guide for more details.

Elixir

The recommended Elixir Set for this build is Critical.

Check out the Elixir Guide for more details and general stat recommendations.

Card Sets

Cards are an endgame system that helps maximize your character's damage. Here are the recommended card sets for this build.

• Deep Dive is used early on as it is fairly easy to obtain.
• Light of Salvation is the standard endgame option, but it can take a long time to acquire 30-piece Awakening.
• Kazeros's Legion Commanders is used as an alternative to Light of Salvation, in content where enemies have a weakness to Dark Damage.

Check out the Card Guide for more details on how to obtain cards and interact with them.

End Game Damage Card Set