arcanist
PvE DPS GUIDE
Arcanist relies on timing, positioning and aim rather than a perfect sequence of casts. This makes it very accessible and rewarding to play. Its toolkit is dominated by Fatecarver, which pumps out enormous amounts of damage but requires the player to build up Crux beforehand, track their target and channel the ability for its entire duration, which can be tricky if you need to block regularly. Arcanist also has exceptionally strong burst damage and brings some unique and valuable buffs to group content.
UPDATE 41 MINI-GUIDES
KEY PASSIVES
12% Critical Damage & Healing is the largest flat amount provided by any comparable passive. It is also easy to keep up and rewards us for constantly building and spending Crux.
This adds up to a lot of extra damage, especially to the Burning, Poisoned and Hemorrhaging status effects. So always incorporate these 3 into your rotation if you can.
5% extra Weapon & Spell Damage from Harnessed Quintessence is very valuable, and Hideous Clarity makes permanent uptime possible, so these passives make a powerful combo.
Equivalent to other ultigen passives, this lines up well with Fatecarver, and we are particularly dependent on it since the beam keeps us from Light Attacking much of the time.
Recent Changes
-
Increased highlight on Crux-spending abilities when at 3 stacks.
Weapon passives changed to shrink the gap between different weapon types.
Long Shots renamed Vinedusk Training, changed to a universal damage bonus.
Bonuses from Twin Blade & Blade and Heavy Weapons reduced slightly.
Ancient Knowledge changed to boost damage types based on type of staff equipped.
Tri Focus restricted to the final tick of fully charged Lightning Heavy Attacks, rather than any tick.
Merciless Charge changed to increase all direct damage for 18s after casting Critical Charge.
0.5s cooldown and 30% ramping damage per target added to Azureblight, base damage reduced.
Warchief, Battlereeve and General monster sets added to Cyrodiil.
Sourcing of Craglorn trial sets adjusted to fix curation.
Improved death notifications added to PvP areas.
Hundreds of bug fixes for quests, sets, items, companions etc.
-
Arcanist class added.
Velothi Ur-Mage’s Amulet set added.
Default melee attack range increased from 5 to 7 meters.
Spectral Cloak changed to activate only when in combat.
Plaguebreak changed to apply only to enemy players.
Empower bonus reduced to 70% from 80%.
Recent Changes
Update 39
Increased highlight on Crux-spending abilities when at 3 stacks.
Weapon passives changed to shrink the gap between different weapon types.
Long Shots renamed Vinedusk Training, changed to a universal damage bonus.
Bonuses from Twin Blade & Blunt and Heavy Weapons reduced slightly.
Ancient Knowledge changed to boost damage types based on type of staff equipped.
Tri Focus restricted to the final tick of fully charged Lightning Heavy Attacks, rather than any tick.
Merciless Charge changed to increase all direct damage for 18s after casting Critical Charge.
0.5s cooldown and 30% ramping damage per target added to Azureblight, base damage reduced.
Warchief, Battlereeve and General monster sets added to Cyrodiil.
Sourcing of Craglorn trial sets adjusted to fix curation.
Improved death notifications added to PvP areas.
Hundreds of bug fixes for quests, sets, items, companions etc.
Necrom (U38)
Arcanist class added.
Velothi Ur-Mage’s Amulet set added.
Default melee attack range increased from 5 to 7 meters.
Spectral Cloak changed to activate only when in combat.
Plaguebreak changed to apply only to enemy players.
Empower bonus reduced to 70% from 80%.
Magicka
No setup is perfect everywhere. Check your tooltips regularly and tweak your setups depending on the group and the content.
Single Target
Deadly + Whorl + Blackrose Daggers + Ur-Mage
SLOT | ITEM | TRAIT | ENCHANTMENT |
---|---|---|---|
Head | Slimecraw's Guise | Divines | Magicka |
Shoulders | Epaulets of the Depths | Divines | Magicka |
Chest | Deadly Jack | Divines | Magicka |
Hands | Deadly Bracers | Divines | Magicka |
Waist | Deadly Belt | Divines | Magicka |
Legs | Deadly Guards | Divines | Magicka |
Feet | Deadly Boots | Divines | Magicka |
Necklace | Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
Ring | Ring of the Depths | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
Ring | Ring of the Depths | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
Front Bar Main Hand | Inferno Staff of the Depths | Precise | Flame |
Front Bar Off Hand | - | - | - |
Back Bar Main Hand | Blackrose Dagger | Infused | Berserker |
Back Bar Off Hand | Blackrose Dagger | Infused | Poison |
Perfected gear is NOT needed. The bonuses are nice to have, but small.
2 x Light is recommended, but adjust the Medium-to-Light ratio depending on your sustain and penetration.
Damage potential is a bit higher with a Maelstrom Inferno on the back bar (replace Cloak with Blockade) but the rotation is much more chaotic. It’s good to have options either way.
CHAMPION POINTS
Biting Aura - Exploiter - Thaumaturge - Wrathful Strikes
These are for when Off-Balance and all necessary penetration and crit buffs/debuffs are provided.
Outside of these conditions, use Backstabber and/or Fighting Finesse to reach the 125% Critical Damage cap, and Force of Nature to meet the 18,200 penetration cap (adjusting Medium-to-Light Armor ratio also helps). If Off-Balance is not being triggered regularly, drop Exploiter and slot Master-at-Arms to boost your direct damage instead.
FOOD & POTIONS
Crunchy Spider Skewer
Increase Max Magicka by 4592 and Stamina Recovery by 459 for 2 hours.
Savoury spider eggs and centipedes glazed in a spicy acai sauce.
Food > Delicacies
Spider Egg, Crawlers, Acai Berry, Seasoning
Essence of Weapon Power
Grants Major Brutality which increases your Weapon Damage by 20% for 47.6 seconds.
Grants Major Savagery which gives you 2629 Weapon Critical Rating for 47.6 seconds.
Restore 7582 Stamina immediately.
Grants you Major Endurance which increases your Stamina Recovery by 30% for 47.6 seconds (45s cooldown).
Blessed Thistle
Dragonthorn
Water Hyacinth / Wormwood
+
These are recommended for practice and easy content. Other options include:
Max-level Savoury recipes for Health + Magicka
Max-level Fruit recipes for Magicka
Ghastly Eye Bowl for Magicka + Magicka Recovery
Witchmother’s Potent Brew for Health + Magicka + Magicka Recovery
Essence of Spell Power for Major Sorcery + Prophecy + Intellect
Tri Restoration Potions for Major Fortitude + Intellect + Brutality
Essence of Heroism for Major Intellect + Endurance and Minor Heroism
(very expensive and very rarely needed)
ABILITIES
Front Bar: Barbed Trap*, Exhausting Fatecarver, Cephaliarch’s Flail, Inner Light, Camouflaged Hunter, Flawless Dawnbreaker
Back Bar: Fulminating Rune, Inner Light, Scalding Rune, Quick Cloak, Inspired Scholarship, The Languid Eye
*Although we already have Minor Force from Ur-Mage, we still want Trap for the DOT and Hemorrhaging uptime.
ROTATION
121k DPS
The simplest and most effective approach to Arcanist is to build around Fatecarver, and keep everything else as simple and unobtrusive as possible. The Dual Wield back bar makes it very easy to play with such a long primary DOT, and should produce the best results for most players, especially in content.
Scholarship, Cloak and Scalding Rune all last 30s which keeps them out of the way. The basic combo is to build 2 Crux with Flail (we get the third from Scholarship), then spend it with Fatecarver. Other than that, refresh Trap and Fulminating Rune every 20s, and drop the Eye whenever it is ready.
Prebuff with Scholarship, Scalding Rune, Trap, Eye, Cloak, Fulminating Rune and Flail.
Although the cooldowns only add up to 27s, the added time from animations and weaving bring it close enough to a 30s rotation. Always weave Light Attacks for ultigen and to proc your glyphs, even with Ur-Mage equipped. When bar swapping after Flail, wait for the tentacle animation to start before trying to swap or it won’t happen. Do not recast Trap or either of the Runes in the last 10s, and spam Flail and Fatecarver until the target is dead.
Trash
Sul-Xan + Spellweave + Prior Thierric + Ur-Mage
SLOT | ITEM | TRAIT | ENCHANTMENT |
---|---|---|---|
Head | Prior Thierric’s Guise | Divines | Magicka |
Shoulders | Prior Thierric’s Epaulets | Divines | Magicka |
Chest | Jack of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Divines | Magicka |
Hands | Burning Spellweave Gloves | Divines | Magicka |
Waist | Burning Spellweave Sash | Divines | Magicka |
Legs | Burning Spellweave Breeches | Divines | Magicka |
Feet | Burning Spellweave Shoes | Divines | Magicka |
Necklace | Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
Ring | Ring of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
Ring | Ring of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
Front Bar Main Hand | Inferno Staff of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Precise | Flame |
Front Bar Off Hand | - | - | - |
Back Bar Main Hand | Burning Spellweave Inferno Staff | Infused | Weapon Damage |
Back Bar Off Hand | - | - | - |
Perfected gear is NOT needed. The bonuses are nice to have, but small.
3-5 x Light is recommended. You can equip more Medium/Light pieces depending on your sustain and Critical Damage.
For important nukes, you can swap Sul-Xan for Acuity, Spellweave for Elf-Bane and Thierric for Balorgh.
Other useful monster sets include Grothdarr, Stormfist, Kra’gh and Skoria, depending on what you need.
CHAMPION POINTS
Biting Aura - Exploiter - Thaumaturge - Wrathful Strikes
The best choices depend on your group and how long the fight lasts. Use Backstabber if you are below the crit cap (or Fighting Finesse if you cannot flank). Drop Exploiter if no one in your group is triggering Off-Balance consistently. If trash pulls are lasting longer and/or you are using Fatecarver as your primary trash ability, drop Master-at-Arms for Thaumaturge.
ABILITIES
Front Bar: Ring of Preseveration/Pulsar, Exhausting Fatecarver, Cephaliarch’s Flail, Inner Light, Camouflaged Hunter, Flawless Dawnbreaker
Back Bar: Blockade of Fire, Anti-Cavalry Caltrops, Fulminating Rune, Proximity Detonation, Inspired Scholarship, Fiery Rage/The Languid Eye
CAVEATS
Fatecarver pulls ahead of Pulsar if trash is stacked tightly. You can slot the latter for looser stacks or if you are struggling to sustain the If the Flail and Fatecarver trash combo.
The Languid Eye performs best in very tight stacks, or where there are individual high-priority targets (e.g. Disruptors in vSE, Soul-Weavers in vRG). Go with Fiery Rage when you need to cover a larger area.
Stamina
No setup is perfect everywhere. Check your tooltips regularly and tweak your setups depending on the group and the content.
Single Target
Riptide + Pillar + Maelstrom Inferno + Ur-Mage
SLOT | ITEM | TRAIT | ENCHANTMENT |
---|---|---|---|
Head | Slimecraw's Mask | Divines | Stamina |
Shoulders | Pillar of Nirn Arm Cops | Divines | Stamina |
Chest | Coral Riptide Jack | Divines | Stamina |
Hands | Coral Riptide Bracers | Divines | Stamina |
Waist | Coral Riptide Belt | Divines | Stamina |
Legs | Coral Riptide Guards | Divines | Stamina |
Feet | Coral Riptide Boots | Divines | Stamina |
Necklace | Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet | Bloodthirsty | Weapon Damage |
Ring | Pillar of Nirn Ring | Bloodthirsty | Weapon Damage |
Ring | Pillar of Nirn Ring | Bloodthirsty | Weapon Damage |
Front Bar Main Hand | Pillar of Nirn Dagger | Nirnhoned | Flame |
Front Bar Off Hand | Pillar of Nirn Dagger | Charged | Poison |
Back Bar Main Hand | The Maelstrom's Inferno Staff | Infused | Berserker |
Back Bar Off Hand | - | - | - |
Perfected gear is NOT needed. The bonuses are nice to have, but small.
No Light pieces are technically necessary. Adjust the Medium-to-Light ratio depending on your sustain and penetration.
Azureblight performs extremely well on this class in fights where multiple targets are closely stacked.
Aegis Caller and Deadly are both decent alternatives to Pillar of Nirn, but tend to produce slightly lower damage on this class.
If you don’t want to play the Riptide resource minigame, you can follow the Magicka gear shown above (123k DPS) or combine the simpler Blackrose Daggers rotation with Riptide and Nirn for a middle ground.
CHAMPION POINTS
Biting Aura - Exploiter - Thaumaturge - Wrathful Strikes
These are for when Off-Balance and all necessary penetration and crit buffs/debuffs are provided.
Outside of these conditions, use Backstabber and/or Fighting Finesse to reach the 125% Critical Damage cap, and Force of Nature to meet the 18,200 penetration cap (adjusting Medium-to-Light Armor ratio also helps). If Off-Balance is not being triggered regularly, drop Exploiter and slot Master-at-Arms to boost your direct damage instead.
FOOD & POTIONS
Bravil's Best Beet Risotto
or
Hearty Garlic Corn Chowder
or
Tenmar Millet-Carrot Couscous
Increase Max Stamina by 6048 for 35 minutes.
Food > Vegetable
Beets, Saltrice
Corn, Garlic
Carrots, Millet
Essence of Weapon Power
Grants Major Brutality which increases your Weapon Damage by 20% for 47.6 seconds.
Grants Major Savagery which gives you 2629 Weapon Critical Rating for 47.6 seconds.
Restore 7582 Stamina immediately.
Grants you Major Endurance which increases your Stamina Recovery by 30% for 47.6 seconds (45s cooldown).
Blessed Thistle
Dragonthorn
Water Hyacinth / Wormwood
+
These are recommended for practice and easy content. Other options include:
Max-level Ragout recipes for Health + Stamina
Lava Foot Soup-and-Saltrice for Stamina + Stamina Recovery
Dubious Camoran Throne for Health + Stamina + Stamina Recovery
Tri Restoration Potion for Major Intellect + Endurance + Fortitude
Essence of Heroism for Major Intellect + Endurance and Minor Heroism
(very expensive and very rarely needed)
ABILITIES
Front Bar: Barbed Trap*, Exhausting Fatecarver, Cephaliarch’s Flail, Quick Cloak, Camouflaged Hunter, Flawless Dawnbreaker
Back Bar: Blockade of Fire, Fulminating Rune, Camouflaged Hunter, Scalding Rune, Inspired Scholarship, The Languid Eye
*Although we already have Minor Force from Ur-Mage, we still want Trap for the DOT and Hemorrhaging uptime.
ROTATION
126k DPS
The simplest and most effective approach to Arcanist is to build around Fatecarver, and keep everything else as simple and unobtrusive as possible. The basic combo is to build 2 Crux with Flail (we get the third from Scholarship), then spend it with Fatecarver.
Scholarship, Cloak and Scalding Rune all last 30s, while Trap and Fulminating Rune last 20s and Blockade lasts 15s. Keep an eye on those 3 timers, drop the Eye whenever it is ready and keep up the Flail + Fatecarver loop. That’s all there is to it.
Prebuff by draining your Stamina to about 30% (spamming Camo works), then open with Cloak, Scholarship, Scalding Rune, Trap, Eye, Blockade, Fulminating Rune and Flail.
Always weave Light Attacks for ultigen and to proc your glyphs, even with Ur-Mage equipped. When bar swapping after Flail, wait for the tentacle animation to start before trying to swap or it won’t happen. Do not recast Trap or either of the Runes in the last 10s, and spam Flail and Fatecarver until the target is dead.
The following video is from the Necrom patch, and shows the easier, weaker rotation.
Trash
Sul-Xan + Spellweave + Master’s 2H + Ur-Mage
SLOT | ITEM | TRAIT | ENCHANTMENT |
---|---|---|---|
Head | Slimecraw’s Guise | Divines | Stamina |
Shoulders | Burning Spellweave Epaulets | Divines | Stamina |
Chest | Jack of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Divines | Stamina |
Hands | Bracers of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Divines | Stamina |
Waist | Belt of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Divines | Stamina |
Legs | Guards of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Divines | Stamina |
Feet | Boots of of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Divines | Stamina |
Necklace | Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet | Bloodthirsty | Weapon Damage |
Ring | Burning Spellweave Ring | Bloodthirsty | Weapon Damage |
Ring | Burning Spellweave Ring | Bloodthirsty | Weapon Damage |
Front Bar Main Hand | The Master’s Greatsword | Nirnhoned | Flame |
Front Bar Off Hand | - | - | - |
Back Bar Main Hand | Burning Spellweave Inferno Staff | Infused | Weapon Damage |
Back Bar Off Hand | - | - | - |
Perfected gear is NOT needed. The bonuses are nice to have, but small.
1-2 x Light is recommended. You can equip more Medium/Light pieces depending on your sustain and Critical Damage.
You can swap the Slimecraw 1-piece for a Stormfist, Kra’gh or Skoria 1-piece, depending on what you need.
If you’re missing penetration, you can use a Sharpened Master’s Maul on the front bar, upgrade to the Perfected version, equip more Light Armor pieces or put more Herald of the Tome abilities on your front bar.
CHAMPION POINTS
Biting Aura - Exploiter - Thaumaturge - Wrathful Strikes
The best choices depend on your group and how long the fight lasts. Use Backstabber if you are below the crit cap (or Fighting Finesse if you cannot flank). Drop Exploiter if no one in your group is triggering Off-Balance consistently. If trash pulls are lasting longer and/or you are using Fatecarver as your primary trash ability, drop Master-at-Arms for Thaumaturge.
ABILITIES
Front Bar: Barbed Trap*, Exhausting Fatecarver, Cephaliarch’s Flail, Ring of Preseveration, Camouflaged Hunter, Flawless Dawnbreaker
Back Bar: Blockade of Fire, Anti-Cavalry Caltrops, Fulminating Rune, Proximity Detonation, Inspired Scholarship, Fiery Rage
*Do not use Barbed Trap in trash. It is there solely for the Fighters Guild Slayer passive.
CAVEATS
Carve + Master’s 2H is still fantastic for extra survivability, but Fatecarver with an Inferno Staff has higher damage potential.
The Languid Eye performs best in very tight stacks, or where there are individual high-priority targets (e.g. Disruptors in vSE, Soul-Weavers in vRG). Go with Fiery Rage when you need to cover a larger area.