FFXIV Arcanist (ACN) Leveling Guide & Rotation | ShB UPDATED

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Lured in by the pets? Don’t sweats. Our Arcanist leveling guide can help you out! Since leveling up fast is why you found this page, I assume!

This page is strictly for Arcanist – focusing more on ACN specific info like skills, traits, and playstyle notes. The GENERAL PROCESS that you should be following is outlined in our GENERAL LEVELING GUIDE: Which you should be using ALONGSIDE THIS GUIDE.

Leveling Methods, References and Reminders

In these boxes, I’ll put info that you’ll likely be referring to (or discovering) while leveling up your Arcanist.

Last but not least of these reminders, always logout at a sanctuary. It’s noted by the moon icon on the right side of your EXP bar. You gain rested EXP in these areas!

Arcanist Leveling – 01 to 30

If this is your first character:
MAIN SCENARIO QUEST IS YOUR FIRST PRIORITY.

L1 Skill Unlocked – Ruin: For all intents and purposes, it’s your basic attack. It does a pitiful amount of damage…

L2 Skill Unlocked – Bio: Your first Damage over Time (DoT) spell! Use it when opening on new enemies, but don’t refresh it if they’re nearly dead.

L4 Skill Unlocked – Summon: Blue Carbuncle is a ranged DPS pet. ALWAYS HAVE A SUMMON OUT! They’re a source of easy, brainless, and FREE damage!

L4 Skill Unlocked – Physick: A run of the mill heal. Notice how generic Disciple of Magic gear has Mind on it, which improves healing.

L5 ACN Class Quest – check in on your guildmaster in Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks – Arcanists’ Guild. These spawn every 5 levels up until 50, and can give you notable rewards (besides, you NEED to do them to become a Summoner or Scholar).

L6 Skill Unlocked – Aetherflow: The core of your future as an Arcanist. Aetherflow restores mana and gives you “Aetherflow“, which you expend to use special skills.

L6 Skill Unlocked – Energy Drain: Is one of those skills that use Aetherflow, coincidentally gained on the same level… It’s an off-gcd (OGCD) spell that damages enemies and gives you a bit of mana back. Realistically, in low level scenarios – just use it to do more damage.

L8 Role Action slot I unlocked – Cleric Stance: Quite an irrelevant skill this early on… 5% is 5%, I suppose, but don’t split hairs over it.

L10 Skill Unlocked – Miasma: Your second DoT! Against new enemies, it’s smart to open with both DoT’s. Refresh them only if the enemy will survive for a significant portion of the duration.

L10 ACN Class Quest – check in on your guildmaster in Limsa Lower Decks – Arcanists’ Guild.

L12 Role Action slot II unlocked – Break: Slowing your opponent before reaching you… well… It’s not like enemies in this level range are that threatening. Not a very good skill.

L15 ACN Class Quest unlocks Summon II: check in on your guildmaster in Limsa Lower Decks – Arcanists’ Guild.

Summon II: Topaz Carbuncle is OP. It’s a tank type pet that you should be using when soloing (DO NOT USE IT IN DUNGEONS). Use Physick on it when he’s low. As you can see, given all your tools as an Arcanist – they’re pretty OP in the leveling department.

L16 Role Actions Slot III Unlocked – Protect: VALUE. Rearrange your Role Actions to have this one in the first slot. Free defense and magic defense for no cost. Always keep this up, solo, in a party, raid…

L18 Skill Unlocked – Resurrection: Good ‘ol rez. It can be used in combat but the cast time is staggering. It’s best used in tandem with Swiftcast.

L20 Role Actions Slot IV unlocked – Esuna: Put this in the second slot of your Role Actions. Esuna clears removable debuffs – they’re noted by a white line above the debuff icon.

L20 Trait Unlocked – Aetherdam II: Adds another Aetherflow charge for a total of 2. A notable passive to remind you of, especially since Bane is now in the mix.

L20 ACN Class Quest – check in on your guildmaster in Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks – Arcanists’ Guild.

L24 Role Actions Slot V unlocked – Lucid Dreaming: Put this in the third slot of your Role Actions. Lucid Dreaming is a great source of mid-combat MP Regeneration.

L25 ACN Class Quest – check in on your guildmaster in Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks – Arcanists’ Guild.

L26 Skill Unlocked – Bio II: Your Bio automatically gets upgraded to Bio II to deal more damage. I ain’t complaining!

Once you hit level 30 FULL STOP! It’s time you evolve into a job class – in your case that’s Summoner or Scholar (SMN or SCH)! The prerequisites to unlocking the quest are simply finishing ALL ACN class quests up to level 30.

L30 Class quest unlocks – Bane, and the prereq for Summoner or Scholar:

Bane: Oh BOY. Finally! Bane SPREADS all your DoT’s afflicting your target, to all nearby enemies. This is an amazing AoE skill in dungeons at the low low cost of 1 Aetherflow. Keep in mind that DoT’s have a short settling time – BE SURE TO SEE IT ON THE ENEMY BEFORE YOU BANE. You’ll get what I mean in due time, once you’ve made this mistake enough times…

Completing this quest marks your final class quest as Arcanist. You now have the right to become a Summoner or Scholar!

How to become a Summoner or Scholar?

(REMEMBER: You can unlock both!)

The quest to become a  Scholar is Forgotten but not Gone, found in Arcanists’ Guild. Completing this quest gives you Soul of the Scholar, and Adloquium skill. Scholars are purely a healing class, specializing in shields & mitigation. Your eventual Guildmaster is still located in Limsa.

The quest to become a Summoner is Austerities of Flame, also in the Arcanists’ Guild.  This gives you the Soul of the Summoner and Summon III skill. Summoners are a DoT and pet-based caster class. Get ready to stretch your keybinds. Your eventual guildmaster is located in Gridania.

(Gaining EXP as SCH counts towards SMN and vice versa!)

Soul of the Summoner or Scholar is your job soul crystal. To become a Summoner or Scholar you merely have to equip it (it’s on the lower right most equipment slot). Equipping the soul crystal is a tiny bit of a hassle since you have to rebind your skills, and reconfigure your equipment set. But it’s okay since you’ll likely never be a Arcanist again.

And with that YOU’RE DONE WITH LEVELING Arcanist! Congrats! Feel free to proceed to the Summoner or Scholar Leveling Guide. Hopefully our Arcanist Leveling Guide helped you out

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