This guide is out of date for Heavensward although the logic of it still applies.

This post is regarding basic Arcanist damage dealing (and indirectly Scholar). This does not apply to Summoner although the logic is the same. This guide is also not perfect (I’m a Scholar, not a Summoner) but should be a good starting point.

As an Arcanist there is there important points you must remember – most of your attacks are “Damage of Time” Spells (DOTs) and your familer called Carbuncle (also called a pet) that will also provide extra DPS (as a Summoner this will become a Egi and as a Scholar it will become Lily – a healer that does not attack). Thirdly some of your attacks rely on Aetherflow to work.

So first lets discuss the basic idea on how to DPS as an Arcanist. So to start off with we need to applies any DOTs so we can start like this (assuming we have no cross skills).

So the first thing we need to do is make sure we have Aetherflow ready and in stock. So we start with Aetherflow, than pop our first DOTs on. Only use Aetherflow if you don’t have any stacks (or need MP).

Aetherflow > Bio 2 > Miasma > Bio

So we have now applied our first three DOTs onto one target and if there is others, it is time to hit them all. So this time we now do this.

Aetherflow > Bio 2 > Miasma > Bio > Bane

So we have now whacks our DOTs onto all near by targets – its time to whack onto our next dot.

Aetherflow > Bio 2 > Miasma > Bio > Bane > Shadow Flare

So we got the main dots on, we got Shadow Flare up it is now time to decide if we are going to use Miasma II.

So to decide this depends if a certain move is ready – one that our little friend Carbuncle has to use for us – Shining Emerald (Scholars do not have access to this and Summoners have it moved to Garuda-Egi with the name being Contagion).

So if this move is ready, and there is a bunch of things too kill we now do this.

Aetherflow > Bio 2 > Miasma > Bio > Bane > Shadow Flare > (Run to Targets) > Miasma II > Shining Emerald

So now all of our DOTs are on and we got time to spare until we need to start replacing them, we now start using Ruin (do not ever use Ruin II unless you are using something OCD – will go into further if I do a Summoner tutorial but I have added it into the below examples).

So this is what we do next.

Aetherflow > Bio 2 > Miasma > Bio > Ruin II > Bane > Shadow Flare > (Run to Targets) > Miasma II > Shining Emerald -> Ruin (Repeat as needed)

So we got our DOTing down and we got the basic Ruin down, the next and most important part is making sure all your dots are kept up as much as possible. This is done typically by re-casting a DOT as soon as that dot gets to 3 seconds left. If you did the above example the first to run out would be bio.

In that case, we start doing this.

….. Miasma II > Shining Emerald > Ruin (Repeat until any DOT is at 3 seconds) -> Bio

And there we have it – the basic logic behind using an Arcanist. The key is to always keep your dots up which is ideal to be done when it has 3 seconds left and use Ruin any time you are waiting for a DOT to run off.

Once you get used to that you can then start learning how to use your summons!

With your pets you will have a move called Rouse – I just pop it up whenever its ready. Summoners also have another called Spur which I also use when ready but when possible keep both ready for when you need to use Enkindle.

For those interested, I play as a Scholar over Summoner and below is what I do as a Scholar.

Cleric Stance > Aetherflow > Bio 2 > Miasma > Bio > Ruin II > Bane > Shadow Flare > Aero > Ruin (Repeat as needed) -> Replace Dots at 3 seconds left

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