Choi's Soul Ascetic Guide
Introduction
The main purpose of this guide is to provide information on the gear progression for Soul Ascetics. This guide should be read in tandem with Choi's Guide To Magic which provides more general information about magic classes. However, as the gear and concepts are similar across different builds, this guide should also be helpful for other magic builds. Please feel free to reach out to me (IGN: Choi or Tokki) for any questions or feedback!
Also, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has helped me, as I learned and continue to learn SA!
Notes
Soul Ascetic is a super fun class that is great for farming and has a unique mobility ability 
Leap which magic classes generally don't have. It also has many useful supportive buffs. However, Soul Ascetic is not a class that I recommend for beginners because its main abilities have high fixed cast requirements and the leveling progression is a bit difficult compared to others. Hopefully, though, this guide will help you through those difficulties.
Soul Ascetic has two main builds: Talisman and Exorcism of Malicious Souls build.
- Talisman Build mainly focuses on
Talisman of Black Tortoise and 
Talisman of White Tiger but later on can also use 
Talisman of Red Phoenix and 
Talisman of Blue Dragon for strong single target damage. However, Talisman of Black Tortoise and Talisman of White Tiger will still likely be your main skills. Black Tortoise is the more powerful of the skills with a decent AOE, so you will likely use this skill the most as you level. White Tiger on the other hand has a huge AOE and short cooldown which makes it very effective for farming. The Talisman Build is weaker than the EXO build early on but will really hit its stride once you get the time dimensions weapon for it. - EXO Build focuses on
Exorcism of Malicious Soul and is an incredibly high damaging ability with a large AOE around the user. It's not as fluid as you have to use 
Soul Gathering every cast, but if you enjoy the build, you'll have higher damage output at the same progression level as the Talisman build.
As I go through the guide, I will note anything that is specific to a particular build.
One of the benefits of the Soul Ascetic is its access to 
Mild Wind which allows you to change the element of your skills. This will be very helpful leveling but will also be really useful for farming and MVPing. Due to the Soul Reaper skill 
Curse of Wicked Soul, Shadow Element is the highest cap in terms of damage for Soul Ascetic. However, Neutral Element is generally what I focus on, as it is a great element since it can hit almost anything without any negative elemental modifiers aka you don't have to think too much about elements.
For other classes and builds, the gear progression and concepts should be fairly similar other than a change in weapon and gear
Relevant Skills
Talisman:
- Talisman of Black Tortoise: Your main ability while leveling. It provides good damage and a large 11x11 ground targeted AOE.
- Talisman of White Tiger: Has a huge 15x15 AOE around the caster but provides significantly less damage than Black Tortoise. However, it is super useful for farming and once you get your Time Dimension Combo, every time you cast White Tiger, you will auto-cast Black Tortoise.
Circle of Directions and Elementals: A powerful ability but its main benefit is that it activates the Blessing of the Four Directions which provides a very significant buff to all of your Talisman Skills. To activate it, you cast Blue Dragon -> White Tiger -> Red Phoenix -> Black Tortoise -> Circle of Direction and Elementals. It's confusing at first, but you'll quickly get the hang of it!- Talisman of Red Phoenix and Talisman of Blue Dragon: While not powerful on their own, the combo becomes very powerful for single targets with the Time Dimension combo that auto-casts Red Phoenix when Blue Dragon is cast.
EXO:
- Exorcism of Malicious Soul: Your main skill in the EXO build. It is very powerful and has a large 13x13 AOE around the caster.
- Soul Gathering: Allows the user to collect souls while
Soul Collect is active. Everytime you use EXO, you will have to cast Soul Gathering, so your combo will be Soul Gathering -> EXO -> Soul Gathering -> EXO, and so on. 
Totem of Tutelary: A really useful supportive skill that provides HP and SP in an AOE. However, it also provides a huge buff to EXO when the user is under the Totem of Tutelary effect.
General:
- Mild Wind: A super useful ability that allows you to change the element of your damaging abilities. Use this effectively to take advantage of elemental weaknesses.
- Leap: A movement ability that allows you to leap a decent distance and over terrain.
Kaute: Trades some of your HP to gain SP. Super useful in tandem with 
Talisman of Protection
Tumbling: A self buff that provides a 20% chance of blocking long ranged abilities.
Kaizel: Provides a buff that resurrects you when you die. But surely you won't ever die if you follow my guide right?
Kaahi: Provides a buff that trades some of your SP to gain HP whenever you are hit.
Talisman of Soul Stealing: A damaging ability that also restores some of your SP.- Curse of Wicked Soul: Curses a target making it take increased damage from Shadow element.
Supportive:
Fairy Soul: Provides MATK and VCT% reduction
Talisman of Magician: Provides S.MATK
Talisman of Five Elements: Provides an increase in damage against water, wind, earth, fire, and neutral element
Soul of Heaven and Earth: A party buff that provides a large buff in damage and recovers AP- Talisman of Protection: Provides HP recovery every 3 seconds
Talisman of Warrior: Provides P.ATK
Falcon Soul: Provides ATK and HIT
Golem Soul: Provides DEF and MDEF
Shadow Soul: Provides Critical and ASPD
Soul Unity: A party buff that provides HP recovery every 3 seconds
Generally, if I am playing by myself, Fairy Soul, Talisman of Magician, Talisman of Protection, and Talisman of Five Elements are the main buffs that I provide to myself. If I have the available skill points for Soul of Heaven and Earth, then I will cast that on myself as well.
Leveling is a bit difficult for Soul Reaper before reaching Soul Ascetic due to the Soul requirements on skills. As such, I recommend leveling with either 
Espa and 
Eswhoo or 
Curse Explosion and Curse of Wicked Soul.
- Espa: At level 10, Espa has no soul requirements, so is easy to spam. Affected by Mild Wind
- Eswhoo: Very powerful ability but can only be used after Espa has been cast. Consumes 1 soul energy at level 10. Affected by Mild Wind
- Curse Explosion: Has no soul requirements, so it is easy to spam. It does Shadow damage.
- Curse of Wicked Soul: Curses a target making it take increased damage from Curse Explosion and increased damage from Shadow element. Consumes 3 Soul Energy
Stats and Traits
Generally, Stats should be based on what best suits you. As such, I won't provide my exact Stat distribution, as you should update yours accordingly. Instead, I'll provide my priority and the benefits of each Stat:
- Int: Provides the highest bonus in StatusMATK. It also provides the second-highest reduction in Variable Cast Time.
- Dex: Provides the third-highest bonus in StatusMATK. It also provides the highest reduction in Variable Cast Time from stats. Early on, you will want a lot of Dex, as your gear may not provide the VCT reduction you need. Later on, it will be a lower priority. However, I tend to keep a lot of dex in my full build, as I don't always use my full build in lieu of item drop rate gear.
- Vit: Provides a lot of tankiness through HP, SoftDEF, and SoftMDEF.
- Agi: Provides some additional tankiness by providing FLEE, and the ATKSPD improves DPS by reducing Cast animation.
- Str: Provides additional weight capacity which will help for farming.
- Luk: Provides the second-highest bonus in StatusMATK. However, I use more Dex than Luk because of the cast time reduction.
Traits are additional stats that provide bonuses for fourth classes. Traits are bit more straightforward:
- SPL (110): Provides the highest bonus in S.MATK and your abilities will additionally scale off SPL.
- CON (100-110): Provides the second-highest bonus in S.MATK.
- WIS (50-82): Provides Magical Resistance which I prioritize over Physical Resistance, as you will have a lot of Flee for physical damage.
- STA (0-32): Provides Physical Resistance.
Gear Progression
Madame Celery's Guide to MuhRO has a very useful section for Gear Progression and Useful Cards, so please check that out! The information I will provide for Gear Progression will be more specific to Magic Damage Classes, particularly EXO and Talisman Soul Ascetics. As you read through, you can look at the Magic Gear Progression Table on my Guide to Magic. This table will have links that will guide you to the relevant pages.
It may be tempting starting out to want to rush your end-game gear. However, I do not recommend doing this and instead recommend improving your gear gradually, so you can farm more effectively.
Phase Eden
At Level 100, you can talk with Labraham and Louis at @go Eden to get your Advanced Paradise Gear. These gears will require 
Old Pick (7318) , 
Blue Hair (1034) , and 
Elastic Band (7200) .
Additionally, you can talk with Lucy in the same room to receive your Advanced Paradise Shadow Gear by renting it for 20 Eden Coins for 3 days or buying the set permanently for 230 in total.
Phase One
Moving forward, your main priority is to see where you can reduce your fixed cast time, and your second priority will be increasing your damage output (for now).
Abilities will have a specific Fixed Cast Time and Variable Cast Time. For EXO your fixed cast time is 1.5s and your Variable Cast time is 2.2s. For Talisman your fixed cast time is 1.5s and your Variable Cast time is 1s
Fixed Cast Time can be reduced by equipment (Most often through Shoes, Costume Enchant Stones, Accessories, and Higher Level Headgear).
Variable Cast Time can be reduced by gear (all types of gear) and stats. The formula to calculate your Variable Cast Time Reduction is 1 -((1-((Int + (Dex*2))/530)) * (1 - Bonus VCT from gear)).
For now, just assume that your VCT will come in time and go full int and dex for your stats.
At Level 150, you can start using 
Grace Magic Boots [1] (470021) , which can be obtained after completing the 17.1 Questline from the Sentinel NPC. The boots are the easiest way to obtain some Fixed Cast Reduction, providing .5s at Refine Level 7. However, due to EXO and Talisman builds high FCT requirements, you will want to go for 
Gray Wolf Shoes [1] (470088) or 
Glacier Shoes [1] (450268) as soon as possible.
At Level 170, you will have access to the Illusion of Labyrinth and its related equipment. The Illusion Morpheus Set will provide a good boost in damage, and a +9 
Illusion Morpheus's Hood [1] (19428) will give you Skill Cast Interruption Protection.
Lastly, the Advanced Paradise Equipment does not provide a Middle or Lower Headgear, so getting middle and lower headgears will provide an easy upgrade.
| Type | Item | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Upper | +9 to +11 Illusion Morpheus's Hood [1] (19428) |
You can use  Rune of Intellect Lv2 (29001) Rune of Intellect Lv2 (29001) depending on how long you plan on staying on Illusion Morpheus Hood. Make it +11 if you decide to enchant it.
|
| Middle |  Cor Core Booster (410091) or  Cor Core Booster [1] (410092) |
Depending on if you have a card or not. |
| Lower |  CD in Mouth (420003) |
|
| Armor |  Advanced Paradise Robe (450186) , +7 to +9  Grace Eswhoo Robe [1] (450118) or +7 or +9  Grace Explosion Robe [1] (450119) |
Espa: Grace Eswhoo Robe [1] (450118) or Curse Explosion: Grace Explosion Robe [1] (450119)
|
| Weapon | +7 to +9  Illusion Survivor's Staff [2] (2051) or +7 to +11  Illusion Thorny Staff of Darkness [2] (550030) |
The benefit of the illusion weapons is the card slots. Early on, I recommend  Deadsera Card (300442) as a cheaper card option.
|
| Shield |  Illusion Silver Guard [1] (460018) |
|
| Garment | +9 to +11  Illusion Morpheus's Shawl [1] (20948) or +7 or +9  Grace Magic Manteau [1] (480019) |
You can use Rune of Intellect Lv2 (29001) Rune of Intellect Lv2 (29001) depending on how long you plan on staying on Illusion Morpheus Shawl. Make it +11 if you decide to enchant it.
|
| Shoe | +7 to +9 Grace Magic Boots [1] (470021) +7 Gray Wolf Shoes [1] (470088) +7 Glacier Shoes [1] (450268) |
Early on you can use Grace Shoes, but you will want to get the Gray Wolf or Glacier Shoes quickly. |
| Accessory (Right) |  Illusion Morpheus's Ring [1] (32238) or  Grace Magic Ring [1] (490020) |
Use the Grace Ring if you're using the Grace Set. |
| Accessory (Left) |  Illusion Morpheus's Bracelet [1] (32239) |
Zeny Tip: Illusion of Underwater 2 and Illusion of Labyrinth are great places to farm zeny starting out, and you'll be able to get 
Underwater Refinement Box (100425) and 
Labyrinth Refinement Box (100423) to upgrade your gear or to make Safe to Refine tickets!
Phase Two
1.5s Fixed Cast Reduction is what you need. If you haven't already, your focus will be on getting Gray Wolf Shoes [1] (470088) with the 
Wolf Orb (Fixed Casting) Lv.3 (310602) or any other 1s FCT reduction shoe.
The Brilliant/ Sinful Sapphire Accessory Pairs give a good amount of damage and provide .2s and .3s FCT reduction respectively. With the 
Minor Casting Stone (Garment) (25170) that gives .3s FCT reduction, you'll have a total of 1.5s or 1.6s FCT reduction. I do not recommend getting a 
Cast Stone (Garment) (25067) if it's too expensive, as you'll already have enough FCT!
Moving forward, we're just working on damage; let's up those numbers!!
Between the 
Gray Wolf Robe [1] (450178) and the 
Snow Flower Robe [1] (450207) , both options are great. Gray Wolf Robe [1] (450178) provides more damage and Snow Flower Robe [1] (450207) provides more tankiness. Generally, Snow Flower Robe [1] (450207) will be cheaper, as you can buy the necessary enchantment stones from other players. However, this requires other players to have and be willing to sell those stones, which may not always be the case. Gray Wolf Robe [1] (450178) , however, requires farming of 
Amethyst Fragment (1000405) which may be grindier but more reliable. My recommendation if you plan on going the snow flower route is to make sure that the stones you need for the Snow Flower Robe [1] (450207) are available.
The Vesper Headgear is time-gated, requiring mysterious ores from a 24hr cooldown instance. You can try to farm these if you would like or buy these from a vendor.
In terms of Priority:
- Shoes and Weapon
- Accessories and Minor Cast Stone
- Armor and Headgears
- Garment and Shoes.
Zeny Tip: Thanatos 11 and 12 are great places to farm at this point and in general, and you'll be able to farm the materials for your accessories. 
Guyak Pudding (12710) will help tremendously to prevent the 
Decrease Agility debuff effect.
Phase Three
You can sit pretty comfortably on the Phase Two gears for a while. The best spots to upgrade are probably the Garment and Shoes if you're still on Grace. Now would be a good time to start farming your Shadow gear as well!
Dim Glacier Weapons are a great place to start dipping your toes into the painful world of item grading! Luckily, the 
Dim Glacier Reinforcement Device (101637) helps ease you in. Dim Glacier and Snow equipment can be obtained after completing Episode 19.
To craft the 
Convertible Magical Wing [1] (480125) , you'll need a +7 
Supplement Part VIT [1] (20732) , a +7 
Upgrade Part - Engine [1] (20733) , a +7 
Pile Bunker S [1] (16030) , 5 
Opal (727) , and 3 
Repair Robot Turbo Card (27015) .
- The Supplement Part VIT [1] (20732) and Upgrade Part - Engine [1] (20733) can be bought from the Mass Charleston npc with
Charleston Component (6752) which are farmed in the Charleston Crisis instance or exchanged for instance coins. They are also a random drop from the MVP in the Charleston Crisis - The Pile Bunker S [1] (16030) require 300
Dented Iron Plate (6751) , 1 
Pile Bunker (1549) , and 15 
Broken Engine (6750) , and will be exchanged with the Mass Charleston npc. - The Pile Bunker (1549) requires 200
Steel (999) , 30 
Flexible Tube (7325) , and a 
Brocca (1415) . The Pile Bunker (1549) can be exchanged with the Gomer npc in Yuno with a mechanic class. - You need Episode 15 done (you can use a clear ticket)
- You can use Safe to Refine Tickets on Supplement Part VIT [1] (20732) , Upgrade Part - Engine [1] (20733) , Pile Bunker S [1] (16030) , and Convertible Magical Wing [1] (480125)
Zeny Tip: You should be able to farm comfortably at Clock Tower Basement and Niflheim 2 now, and they'll provide a lot of great end-game material as well. As mentioned, now would be a great time to work on your shadow gear, as both those maps provide 
Shadowdecon (25729) .
Phase Four
We're almost at End Game. Time to make some of the tougher gears. You can skip to Phase Five if you think you can comfortably get the Equipment from Constellation Tower (Hard), Alice Twisted Madness (Hard) and Depth 1 and 2.
For Talisman Builds, the Time Dimension Combo will be the biggest upgrade for the build, and you will be dropping Vesper Helm for the TD Crown. However, Depth 2 is a very difficult map, so you won't be able to farm there until Phase 5. That being said, feel free to Grade and upgrade your Vesper Helm or keep it at +9 or +12 or continue to use the Survival Circlet-LT until you can get to the TD Combo. For EXO Builds, you will continue to use the Vesper Helm, so you will want to Grade and Enhance it.
Phase Five
AKA the final phase. Phase Five revolves around the gear you get from Constellation Tower, Alice Twisted Madness, and Biosphere Depths and Depths 2. The Enchants on the Stellar Spell Seal provide a large boost in VCT reduction that you'll need after losing the Convertible Magical Wing and Wolf Robe. I don't recommend switching out of the Convertible Magical Wing until you get the Stellar Spell Seal fully enchanted and upgraded.
The 
Engraved Soul Purification Rune Robe [1] (450284) is the better armor, particularly against bosses. However, you will still likely need 
Nebula Robe of Spell [1] (450173) before being able to farm Biosphere Depths effectively.
The Items from Alice Twisted Madness can provide S.Matk and Magic Damage with Element or provide a lot of VCT Reduction. You should get enchants according to the amount of VCT reduction you need for your build.
For pure damage, 
Temple Rune Ring [1] (490304) is better than 
Stellar Spell Seal [1] (490136) due to the power of the Second Slot Enchant. However, the Second Slot Enchant is limited to two races (unless you get the normal/boss enchant). Additionally, the Stellar Seal gives 30% variable cast reduction from a single accessory which is very powerful.
Sinful Sapphire Ring [1] (490052) and 
Sinful Sapphire Necklace [1] (490053) will still be useful to have due to its race modifiers against dragon which will be very strong against Betelgeuse and Jabberwocky.
Misc
Shadow Gear
For more information on Magic Shadow Gear, please check out the Shadow Gear section on the Guide to Magic.
Some great options for mixed Blue Shadow Gear are:
- Armor:
Full Spell Shadow Armor (24883) - Weapon:
Magical Spell Shadow Weapon (24753) - Shield:
Magical Spell Shadow Shield (24754) - Shoes:
Full Spell Shadow Shoes (24884) - Earring:
Full Tempest Shadow Earring (24665) - Pendant:
Full Tempest Shadow Pendant (24668)
Costume Stones and Pets
- Soul Ascetic Combo:
Soul Ascetic Stone (Garment) (1001789) , 
Soul Reaper Stone (Top) (1001050) , 
Soul Reaper Stone (1001051) , 
Soul Reaper Stone (Low) (1001052) /
Soul Linker Stone (Low) (25845) The Soul Ascetic Combo is better for Talisman builds. - Arch Bishop Combo:
Arch Bishop Stone (Top) (1000857) , 
Arch Bishop Stone (Low) (1000859) , and 
Archbishop Stone (Garment) (25709) /
Archbishop Stone II (Garment) (1000019) The Arch Bishop Combo is better for EXO builds
Cute Pets: 
White Knight Egg (9134) , 
Gloom Under Night Egg (9122) , 
Dark Illusion Egg (9139) , and Icewind Egg (9147) are good choices.
Cards
You can find a list of cards to use in my Guide to Magic. Depending on which element you are planning on using with Mild Wind, the cards that you use may be different. However, the focus of the cards below are for a neutral element focus.
| Type | Item | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Upper |  Plaga Card (27310) or  Katrinn Card (4366) |
Depends on how much VCT you need |
| Middle |  Plagarion Card (300251) or  Dark Illusion Card (4169) |
Depends on how much VCT you need |
| Armor |  Two Eyes Dollocaris Card (300376) or  Meyer Lugenburg Card (300308) |
|
| Weapon |  Mutating White Knight Card (27384) ,  Copo Card (300455) , or  Solace Card (4394) |
Copo Card (300455) Pairs with  Icewind Card (300458)
|
| Shield |  Mutating Khalitzburg Card (27385) or  Modified Senior Rgan Card (300379) |
Modified Senior Rgan Card (300379) should be used on a +12 shield
|
| Garment |  One Eye Dollocaris Card (300375) ,  Friedrich S. Heine Card (300424) , or  Smile Card (300273) |
Smile Card (300273) pairs with Solace Card (4394)
|
| Shoe |  Nightmare Verit Card (4658) , Icewind Card (300458) , or  Tumblering Card (300221) |
Copo Card (300455) Pairs with Icewind Card (300458)
|
| Accessory (Right) |  Icebear Card (300470) or  Creamy Card (4040) |
Creamy Card (4040) allows the use of teleport!
|
| Accessory (Left) |  Ashhopper Card (300218) |