Tier 3 Grace of the Empress Arcanist Build Guide

Welcome to the Tier 3 Grace of the Empress Arcanist Build Guide! Arcanist is a relatively complex class which makes use of two different parts of her Identity: Ruin Detonation and Cards. The first provides a stacking mechanic on the enemy, which is then "detonated" by using Ruin Skills; the second provides different buffs and utility through random Cards that are generated with your skills.

Grace of the Empress has poor Stagger but decent Destruction, a long range Counter and some party-wide buffs including her Crit Rate Synergy.

Want an incredibly fast alternative which focuses more on the Card aspect of the class? Check out our Order of the Emperor guide.

Builds

Standard

Chaos Dungeons

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

• Return is your Counter as well as your Crit Rate Synergy. It's also a Crit Damage self-buff.
• Call of Destiny is a Crit Damage self-buff, and grants 2 Ruin Stacks.
• Quadra Accelerate is a stacking skill, which grants Ruin stacks based on hits.
• Scratch Dealer is your second Crit Rate Synergy skill, as well as a Move Speed and Attack Speed self-buff. It's also a stacking skill.
• Spiral Edge is a short-duration Move Speed self-buff. It's also a stacking skill.
• Celestial Rain, Secret Garden and Four of a Kind are your Ruin Skills; they consume your ruin stacks to deal increased damage.
• Deathbound is your awakening skill. It should be used during burst windows.

Alternative Skill, Tripod, and Rune Options

Dealer's Flip can be replaced with Quadra Accelerate usingNimble Movement, Card Draw and Accelerate Concentration.

• This skill has lower cooldown and it's safer to use since it has controlled movement, but lacks a Move Speed buff.

Dealer's Flip can alternatively be replaced with Evoke, using Quick Prep, Conc. Magick Circle and Split Magick Circle.

• This provides more Identity generation but reduces comfort since Evoke is a delayed-damage skill, which means it can be entirely missed if the boss moves out.
• You should place your highest rarity Wealth rune in this skill, and add a Cooldown Gem.

Return can be replaced with Serendipity using Piercing Strike, Lucky Blow and Intended Luck

• This gives you an extra Ruin Skill with high potential damage but removes one of your self-buff skills.

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

• Evoke, Unlimited Shuffle and Dark Resurrection are your main lesser monster killers. They have decent AoE and generate a lot of Card meter.
• Dancing of Spineflower is a good skill for lesser mob cleaning.
• Stream of Edge and Spiral Edge are mostly used to generate Ruin stacks on Bosses.
• Celestial Rain is used to detonate Ruin Stacks on bosses.

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.
• Hit Master provides an unconditional damage boost to your skills, as none of the important ones have a positional affix.
• Order of the Emperor is highly recommended as Emperor card has massive damage and AoE, as well as leaning more towards the Card generation aspect of Arcanist since stacking Ruin against lesser mobs is not as effective.

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

Gameplay & Skill Rotation

This build focuses on generating 4 Ruin Stacks, self-buffing your Move Speed, Crit Rate and Crit Damage, and using your Ruin Skills to unleash burst Ruin Damage.

Any Cards you draw can be saved or launched instantly, depending on your needs and rotation. Generally speaking, you will save up any damage buff for your Ruin Skills, and instantly use any long-duration buffs to open room for more card draws. Remember, having one card in your deck prevents it from being drawn again, so don't hold for too long.

Arcanist generates Cards through certain skills and tripods. You can have up to 2 cards at the same time.

• Judgment: All Ruin Skills act as if they hit with 4 stacks, even with none.
• Royal: Draws 2 random cards. Ideally used with an empty hand.
• Joy: Reduces cooldown of skills. Ideally used after you finish your rotation.
• Clown: Draws the most recently used card. Ideally paired with damage-increasing cards like Cull, Twisted Fate or Judgment.
• Cull: Crit Rate +100% and Crit Damage +50% for 4 seconds. Used right before your next Ruin Skill to try and fit at least 2 of them.
• Twisted Fate: RNG Damage increase for 4 seconds. Used right before your next Ruin Skill to try and fit at least 2 of them.
• Star: Freezes your MP for 12 seconds, and reduces MP consumption of skills by 100%.
• Wheel of Fortune: Resets the cooldown of the next used skill. Ideally used for your Awakening or Celestial Rain.
• Corrosion, Mayhem, Balance, Ghost, Moon, 3-Headed Snake: These cards can be used whenever they're obtained, since they're mostly long-duration buffs that will enhance your rotation in some way.

Arcanist Identity

Grace of the Empress engraving provides up to 20/25/30% Ruin Damage and 30% Mana recovered when a Ruin Skill hits.

Basic Rotations

Card Usage

• These cards are long-duration buffs that you can use quickly after obtaining. They either provide stats or utility.

• These are good utility cards that can provide great value.
  • Clown should be used on high-value cards like Twisted Fate, Cull and Judgment to gain a second copy after using them.
  • Royal should be used to generate 2 new cards (with an empty deck).
  • Wheel of Fortune should be used before your Celestial Rain to reset its cooldown.
  • Joy is ideally used right after Celestial Rain, or at the end of your rotation to reduce as many cooldowns as possible.
  • Star should be used to extend your Boundless MP state.

• These are short-duration buffs that greatly increase damage. They're ideally paired with your Ruin skills.
  • Judgment makes all your Ruin skills work as if you had 4 Ruin stacks, so you ideally buff your Crit Rate and Crit Damage then use all your Ruin skills one after the other.

Stagger Check Rotation

• You basically pray for Four of a Kind to reset. Other than that, proceed with your normal rotation.
• Empress's skills have very low stagger, with most of it coming from detonating your Ruin Stacks. Therefore, using Ruin Skills with at least 1 Stack is the best way to deal with short stagger checks.
• If your Judgment card is up, you can spam your 3 Ruin Skills.
• Remember you can also use a Whirlwind Grenade if you have one equipped!

Tripods and Gems

Tripod Leveling

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 in order 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 in order to maximize this build's potential, listed according to their priority.

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

Stat Priority

This build utilizes Specialization and Crit.

• Specialization is the primary stat. It increases Ruin Damage and Card Meter generation.
• Crit is your secondary stat.

Gear Set

Nightmare Flower Set

This is your Relic Set. It provides damage and more importantly, the Boundless MP state which provides Cooldown Reduction and Mana.

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

• Adrenaline provides an additional source of Crit Rate and Attack Power. It is fairly easy to upkeep. It synergizes pretty well with your Crit Damage self-buffs.
• 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.
• Raid Captain is a strong choice but requires you to play around Move Speed self-buffs like Safety Device.
• Hit Master provides damage to non-positional damage. Your Ruin damage is mostly non positional.
• Cursed Doll is a significant Attack Power increase at the cost of 25% healing. The healing penalty can be punishing for inexperienced players who are not familiar with boss mechanics, but it becomes easy to overcome with time.

Level 1 and 2 Engravings

• Grace of the Empress scales poorly at higher levels, so it's optimal to have it at level 1 or 2.
• Adrenaline (Level 2) is a good alternative level 2 option.

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 Specialization and Crit. 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