Mega Fire Arch Mage Luxury Sub-Guide by Sophie/Joan
| R.ClickToRename261971 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
Introduction
<page under construction (last update 30 Dec 2025)>
Hello I'm Sophie/Joan (Guide Start Date: 30/Dec/2025). You would often see me playing in D1/D2/LoF/ToT/CT/HoL with my Arch Mage (AM) char R.ClickToRename261971 or with characters of other jobs. Feel free to hit me up to join my #LFG calls.
This guide is merely what I do on my AM centered around pure fire element 
Crimson Arrow (Core Skill, Single Target) and 
All Bloom (depending on situations), supported by 
Mystery Illusion (Shadow element, to not be purely fire element locked) but is not optimized (dm me on discord/In-game if you can improve upon it). The reason that I found the class attractive is that AM simply dish out crazy amount of single target DPS, nuff said. However the potential also comes with inherent disadvantage of the build namely the low HP base, no mobility skills and less versatility in general, and the build is somewhat forced to use two handed staff (so no shield) beside somewhat a requirement for general understanding of Wizard Builds before you are dishing out the damage on maximum potential, so I would advice you readers to first familiarize yourself with the more common skills and complications of Wizard class in general.
Scope/For Whom this guide is Intended for
End game luxury of nice to have and fun to do things for those players who have reached end game and have collected most if not all BiS gears or their equivalent or those who skips TDRC and trying around various classes after getting their highly refined 
Yorscalp Crown of Judgment [1] (400724) and various Episode 21 Past Heroes cards. This guide is not intended to be a stand-alone and more of practical/hands on/pedagogical complimentary (statements written in this guide is from live testing and personal experiences) for other more comprehensive magic build guides such as Choi's Guide to Magic. Also as a Trivia, this guide was requested by Canis and the stated reason was that she said, quote on quote, Choi's is outdated.
This guide is very subjective and intuitive as I do not provide exact numbers and optimization, but for that case you can find me to test out or experiment with any gears/luxuries that are listed/mentioned within this guide, unless I specifically stated to not have them. In this guide you are assumed to have already worn BiS (Best in Slot) equipment or incomplete BiS (enchanting in progress). End game optimization problem is that for some people, some gear/enchant/MVP setups suit them better as it touches the specifics of their playing styles (some people are QoL supremacist and other are very nimble with their hands and is able to swap in and out skills and equipments very fast and accurately). So we will not assume a narrow-minded stance on this issue and would tolerate a bit lesser or bigger DPS in defining the BiS towards itemization choices, and whatnots and that the BiS designation probably should also consider other aspects beside damage on Arch Mage case and as long as things work well (to our dear readers: you will obtain DPS envy immunity if you play this class, but don't tell people around because we don't want AM to over-saturate this server, amirite?).
General Overview
Stats&Traits
The actual distribution of stats and traits is more loosely defined (this is not a starter player's guide) but we aim to fulfill these Objectives (by priority):
- Instant Cast: hurt others faster than they can hurt you and also you don't want to be hurt because of the small HP pool. We will aim to get 100% vct% reduction purely from items (instead of stats)
- <Only For Farming otherwise this can be skipped> One Hit (OH) damage capability: This is less of an issue for Arch Mage because the single instance of any of the skills in the rotation ( Crimson Arrow (0.3s CD, single target), All Bloom (6s CD, puddle), and Mystery Illusion (4s CD, puddle)), and perhaps
Soul Vulcan Strike (0.7s CD, single target affecting small area around target) all have decent damage and either way if it doesn't OH, the cooldown is either very short so you just hit the mobs again or the skills are puddle type (lingering on area DPS). You will want to use Crimson Arrow or/and Soul Vulcan Strike mostly for your farming depending on the map, while All Bloom and Mystery Illusion is very nice puddle type skills but the cooldowns are relatively high and you could just throw them out before teleporting away if the map is of high mobs density. - <Only For Bossing otherwise this can be skipped> DPS and Damage Flow: ASPD requirement is quite high for full rotation spam maybe above 188 ASPD (4 actions per second peak activity: 3 CA, 1 All Bloom) or even as high as 190 ASPD (5 actions per second peak activity: 3 CA, 1 All Bloom, 1 Comet). The reason is Crimson Arrow (0.3s CD) alone has requirement of 3.33 actions per second (round it down to 185 ASPD, 3 actions per second), and that with higher acd% we can cram in 1 or 2 other skills in the rotation faster (also that we have revamped the Turbo Mode into something even better than before, Thanks Mr Muh). Not sure if it works like this (?) but I can confirm increased DPS as ASPD is increased, assuming the comparative methodology is not wrong.
- DPS and Damage Flow: Acd% Requirement, assuming acd% is only there for Crimson Arrow (0.3 sec skill cooldown, 0.5s after cast delay), it means acd% reduction is theoretically at least 40% but it can always be higher so you can cram in other rotation skills faster.
- Survivability: HP pool, damage resistance in general, and/or evasion (Arch Mage is very glass cannon and the two handed staff build means we don't use shield)
- Curse immunity
- Non-priority niches (carry weight, ASPD, Lucky Flee, etc).
Stats
- STR - 0-90; Carry weight but not priority.
- AGI - 80-130; high ASPD requirements as said for the rotation spam.
- VIT - 71-130; Put just enough for stun immunity minimum. Can put minimum amount when in a party with devo. Put more when going solo or in a unreliable pub party as Shiranui have small base HP.
- INT - 100-120; nice to have bigger SP pool.
- DEX - 0-110; Some points might be nice for some boost in ASPD and some damage.
- LUK - 90-100; For Curse Immunity and little MATK bonus.
Example (My stats for general play in D1/D2/casual harder maps with pub or solo, fully glass cannon):
- STR - 90
- AGI - 120
- VIT - 100
- INT - 110
- DEX - 92
- LUK - 90
Traits
- SPL - 90-110; Magic Damage
- CON - 90-110; Magic Damage, Evasion
- WIS/STA - 72-112 total; MRES/RES/Survivability
Core Skills
Passive Skills
Two-Handed Staff Mastery: Level it for Arch Mage Stone garment and Warlock Low Stone combo bonus. Beside the magic damage bonus in itself which is nice (but it secondary to the stone size% bonus).
Radius: Very good skill to increase cast range.
Buff / Debuff / Other Skills
Energy Coat: Standard Job 1 Buff.
Mystical Amplification: More 50% MATK%. Too bad the duration is very short at 60s.
Recognized Spell: Allows you to always deal maximum damage. Too bad the duration is very short at 170s.
Climax level 3: Turns All Bloom into Area DPS puddle type skill that lasts for 6s (?, unconfirmed). Deals crazy amount of damage with 
Flush Detecting Staff [2] (640035) and 
Aurelie Petit Card (300593) , which consists around 1/3 of your damage (the rest is from Crimson Arrow) but it is as hard as or harder than some other jobs hitting.
Climax level 4: Turns All Bloom into debuff that amplifies Fire element intake on affected target by 100% for 30s. It makes Crimson Arrow absolutely melts bosses. Use it in group fight.
Comet (20s CD): Debuff that decreases target elemental resistance by 50% for 20s. Include this in the rotation.
Active Skills
You will rotate ( Crimson Arrow (0.3s CD), All Bloom (6s CD, either climax 3 or climax 4 type), Comet (20s CD, debuff) and Mystery Illusion (4s CD, optional)) lets define these as rotational skills and it is the utmost of importance on this build. I play the rotation like this and this is the reason why the Objective parts was formulated as such. But I am not saying that this is the only correct way to play around with Arch Mage skills rotations/combinations. For example: When solo DPS fighting Betel on CT, you will always use All Bloom with climax 4 and you will not use Mystery Illusion, in contrast to other playstyle like party centered plays in HoL. If you want to modify this playstyle, you only need to alter and adapt the objectives accordingly yourself and it is not a problem.
Swap Equip: You might want to quickly swap between pure glass cannon magic build and into tank build depending on the map/instance.
Crimson Arrow (0.3s CD): Your main bread and butter. Fire element locked. Single Target. Boosted by both 
Dimensions Arch Staff [2] (640049) (BiS for this skill only) and Flush Detecting Staff [2] (640035) (BiS for the whole rotation). If you prioritize QoL and won't swap weapons, just put on Flush Detecting Staff [2] (640035) and 
Velelling Card (300507) + 
Yormi Missionary Card (300520) combo for the whole rotation and don't bother with Dimensions Arch Staff [2] (640049) .
All Bloom (6s CD): Your adaptive debuff/area damage skill. Fire element locked. Put on Flush Detecting Staff [2] (640035) and Aurelie Petit Card (300593) + 
Mutating White Knight Card (27384) with All Bloom lvl 3 climax and swap out with Dimensions Arch Staff [2] (640049) and Velelling Card (300507) + Yormi Missionary Card (300520) combo for Crimson Arrow in the rotation. This is for weapon swapping/tryhard play style (not QoL at all).
Mystery Illusion (4s CD): Area damage skill. Shadow element locked. We like this skill because (beside fire,) shadow element is boosted by 
[MVP] Abysmal Witch Card (300145) and 
Yordos Investigator Card (300521) .
Soul Vulcan Strike (0.7s CD): Single target skill to be use on situations where Fire element usage is sub-optimal. Ghost Element locked.
Gears and Min-Max Technicalities: Mega Fire Build
About Magical Damage Modifiers for Crimson Arrow All Bloom Mega Fire Arch Mage Build (Yorscalp Crown + Past Heroes Meta)
The general aim of the min-maxing process (as of Date: 30/Dec/2025) is to equalize these damage modifiers while maximizing their overall multiplicative result. You should be aware of diminishing returns as you add up a single damage modifier. The contextual reason of the importance on this matter is because of the aforementioned DPS and One Hit (OH) Objectives, that we want each hit of our magical skills damage to be as high as possible whenever allowed.
Listed from most precious to least worthy, type @bs in game to see yours:
- Class%/Boss%: Hardest and most expensive to get, generally speaking. You will have around 20%-100%. Main Sources:
[MVP] Demigod Lasgand Card (300472) , Demigod Set, HoL accessories and enchantments, White Knight Pet. (This is probably why [MVP] Demigod Lasgand Card (300472) was so expensive in contrast to the physical builds which have plethora of Class%/Boss% sources) - Enemy_Element%: Rare modifier mostly seen on more modern iterations of items (post 2016), but is less expensive than Class%. You will have around 45%-95%. Main Sources: CoL Autumn garment and its 2nd slot enchantment, Dimensions/Time Gap Weapons 3rd slot enchant, Jitterbug combo and proc, Yorscalp Crown of Judgment [1] (400724) Proc.
- Enemy_Size%: You will have around 90% (with Aurelie Petit Card (300593) on Flush Staff) to 130%-145%. Main Sources: Cards on Weapon slots, Yorscalp Crown of Judgment [1] (400724) and its Proc, Shadow Gears.
- Skill%: Easier to get now with Yorscalp Crown and Past Heroes card combo. You will have around 132% for for All Bloom and less for other skills. Main Sources: Weapon, Yorscalp Crown of Judgment [1] (400724) and Aurelie Petit Card (300593) combo, Shadow Gears.
- Enemy_Race%: You will have 86%-136%. Main Sources:
[MVP] Falling Bishop Card (4441) -like MVP cards on shoes, HoL accessories and enchantments, various equipments. - MRes_Ignore%: You will have around 10-30%. The effect is only roughly 5-10% pure damage increase for every 20% MRes_Ignore%, though it is nice, because it is outside all other modifier calculations. The source is: the Magical/Spell/Sorcery Master Shadow Gears for 20%, Yorscalp Crown of Judgment [1] (400724) .
- MATK%: You will have more than 170-250% MATK%. Still a bit harder to get than Spl so we are prioritizing this above it. Main Sources:
Nebula Robe of Spell [1] (450173) , Shadow Gear Enchantments for MATK%, [MVP] Falling Bishop Card (4441) -like MVP cards on shoes, 
Lude Gal Card (300243) that can be used on both accessories slot, various other cards and equipments. - Spl: You will have around 200-250 or more. Main Sources:
Moan of Corruption [1] (470204) , Shadow Gear enchantments, - S.MATK: You will have around 320-400 or more. Main Sources: various equipments,
- Ele%: You will easily have around 320-460% or more. Main Sources:
[MVP] Polluted Queen Spider Card (27362) -like MVP cards on garment, various equipments. Used to be less on previous meta (around 100-250% top), that is why additional damage boost from [MVP] Polluted Queen Spider Card (27362) -like MVP cards on garment felt bigger, because the 100% ele is of bigger ratio.
Gears
Recommended gears (as of Date: 30/Dec/2025):
| Type | Item | Card | Enchants and Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upper | +15 [A] Yorscalp Crown of Judgment [1] (400724) (Core Item)
|
|
|
| Middle |  Gambler's Seal [1] (410233)
|
|
|
| Lower |  Ace of Spades in Mouth (Magical) (420213) (BiS) and/or  Ace of Clovers in Mouth (Defense) (420269) (Experimental)
|
| |
| Armor | +12 to +15 [A] Nebula Robe of Spell [1] (450173)
|
|
|
| Weapon | +11 to +15 [A] Flush Detecting Staff [2] (640035) or/and +12 to +15 [A] Dimensions Arch Staff [2] (640049)
|
|
click for details on previous part of this guide. You either go with only
|
| Garment | +12 to +15 [A]  Circulation of Life Autumn [1] (480351)
|
|
|
| Shoes | +12 to +14 [A] Moan of Corruption [1] (470204)
|
|
|
| Accessory (Right) |  Spell Signet of Star [1] (490136)
|
|
|
| Accessory (Left) |  Signet of Circulation Autumn [1] (490485)
|
|
|
- Pets:
White Knight Egg (9134) - Shadow Gears:
- Magical Spell Shadow Shield+Shadow Weapon combo with Full Spell Armor-Shoes Combo: very strong, most likely old BiS.
- Needing Full Tempest acc combo for 100% magic penetration.
- Otherwise single/double +10/+10 Magical/Spell/Sorcery Master Shadow Gears is not bad. Combine it with the class shadow gear as needed:
Flare Bloom Shadow Earring (24971) ,
Flare Bloom Shadow Pendant (24972) seems very strong on paper only for All Bloom but is probably not worth making. Be aware that we already have a lot of All Bloom skill% modifier. Exhaustive practical testing still take precedence.
- Currently not-haves list:
[MVP] Ultra Limacina Card (300377) , Flare Bloom Shadow Earring (24971) , Flare Bloom Shadow Pendant (24972) .
Miscellaneous and Hot Tips (for AM in general)
Sophie's Industrious Alts Mass Production Recommendation (Arch Mage)
Preparation Phase
Not going to be your typical leveling guide, because this approach will prioritize:
- Enable sharing non-core Equipment among characters of different classes Alts Mass Production (coming soon) as much as possible, while only core items for AM will be highlighted on this guide.
- Monotonous, but will be predictable. Important because this leveling is a not chill routine, but more like 30 minutes of triathlons
- Not cost conscious, though time and stress speaking it is worth it if you plan to make more than, say, 10-15 characters of various jobs (just switch out the core item) each reaching lvl 250. I will explicitly say it here that basically you are investing in multiples of low level gears, which cumulatively in total may worth up to hundreds of millions zeny just to save time around 30 minutes to 2h per character creation and leveling up to lvl 250. Only do this when you're theoretically losing more potential value from that farming hours loss.
Undergoing Assumptions:
- Exp Event ongoing and you use the
Novice Battle Manual (7803) (very important for efficiency). When Novice Battle Manual (7803) expires you will use 
HE Battle Manual (12411) or 
Core Battle Manual (100351) - You spend on episode ticket 16, 17.1, and 17.2.
- You are using Guyak Pudding(very important), Eden Food buff separately /
The One Potion (50035) / or at the very least 
Brilliant Protection Scroll (23204) . Teleport items, infinite fly wing, fly wing, or creamy card is mandatory. - Is leveling up single character only per attempt (different methods might be needed for mass leveling multiple chars). And that you One Hit or Two Hit most if not all mobs listed on all maps on the Steps part.
- You have done your research, mastered the basic (I leave it to your wisdom to decide which level range you want which non-core equipment will be worn and what equipment you will skip), and that you have invested and plan well for item progressions each level range, e.g.:
- +9/+11
Drooping Thanatos's Dolor [1] (400023) combo with 
Thanatos' Necklace (490099) or its derivatives (
Red Force Pendant [1] (490100) /
Blue Mental Pendant [1] (490101) but not really recommended unless you need HP/SP leech early and you don't need acd% nor fct this early) starting at level 1. - Temporal Boots and Temporal Manteaus for level 100 and up.
- Illusions Set starting at level 120/130 up to 150/160.
- Convertible Wings/Celine Set/Automatic/FWM/EDDA set starting at level 150/160/170.
- Grey Wolf set starting at level 190.
- MVP equips (e.g. +9[C] or +11[C] PCC is nice, don't over invest for leveling item)/Good and Evil set starting at level 200/205.
- Varmundts pieces (e.g. +9[C] or +11[C] Death Rune Manteau is nice)/Glacier set starting at level 230.
- +9/+11
- Other methods out there might be more efficient and effective than mine, I just don't know it yet so be adaptable and don't treat this guide as if written in stone. Mine is expected to reach level 230-250 in around 30 min when I do it myself, and roughly at worst you will be able to reach lvl 250 in around to 1-2h depending on your performance and investment level.
Non-core Equipment and Secondary Skills (passives, buffs, debuffs) will not be specifically named on the phases below (this is not a newbie guide), you will just have to do the best with what you currently possess. Though result may vary if your non-core equipment are far too weaker compared to the original assumption.
Phase 1: lvl 1 to post-Rebirth lvl 100
Primary Skill: 
Fire Ball
Core item:
Rod [4] (1602) with 4x Mutating White Knight Card (27384)
Estimated Time (Consumed On Battle Manual, re-gearing and resupplying time is not counted): 3-5 minutes
Steps:
1. Payon Dungeon + Eden Quest, don't claim yet.
2. Orc Dungeon + Eden Quest, don't claim yet.
3. Amatsu Dungeon + Eden Quest, don't claim yet.
4. Keep hitting either Orc Dungeon 2 mobs or the kill Novus outside Abyss Lake (is also Eden Quest) until Rebirth.
5. Rebirth and kill mobs on Payon Dungeon until you change class into high mage, then start to claim Eden Quests as you progress.
6. Keep hitting either Orc Dungeon 2 mobs or the kill Novus outside Abyss Lake (is also Eden Quest) until job change to Job 3.
Phase 2: lvl 100 Job 3 to lvl 200
Primary Skill: 
Soul Expansion + 
Telekinesis Intense, 
Hell Inferno & 
Jack Frost depending on the leveling map.
Core item:
- double +9~+11
Illusion Thorny Staff of Darkness [2] (550030) with 2x Mutating White Knight Card (27384) at lvl 120. Get Vct% enchantment which is very strong. - double +9~+11
Detecting Staff [2] (2058) with 2x Mutating White Knight Card (27384) at lvl 170. Nice staff that boosts fire and ghost element. Ples DM me if you find better staff for lvl 170 range (not gonna lie this staff feels kind of weak).
Favorite item (optional but all from my personal experience, aim for as much vct% as possible ideally 100% for instant cast):
Celine's Ribbon [1] (18849) , 
Evil Thread Glove [1] (2980) , 
Celine's Brooch [1] (32237) , 
Celine's Dress [1] (450179) combo because of the great amount of vct% reduction and some FCT reduction
Temporal INT Boots [1] (22009) with 
Spell Lv5 (4826) and 
Runaway Magic (4876) hits above its weight, also with some vct% reduction.
Convertible Magical Wing [1] (480125) and its <mid> slot combo (pick one) hits above its weight. Buy it if there's seller who offers fair price because it took a long time with a lot of grinding effort to craft it.
Estimated Time (Consumed On Battle Manual, re-gearing and resupplying time is not counted): 15 minutes or more
Steps:
1. Claim previously stacked Eden Quests.
2. Do and claim Illusion of Moonlight until lvl 150.
3. Do and claim Illusion of Teddy Bear until you are strong enough for Illusion of Twins.
4. Do and claim Illusion of Twins until lvl 200. Otherwise do easier illusion dungeons.
5. (optional, credit to Mango's guide Mango's guide to leveling and farming with SA) ) At lvl 180 do Thanatos Fragments quest from Daily Hunts NPC, buy 10 each of these 
Fragment of Agony (7436) , 
Fragment of Misery (7437) , 
Fragment of Hatred (7438) and 
Fragment of Despair (7439) .
Phase 3: Job 4 lvl 200 to 250 and beyond
Primary Skill: Soul Vulcan Strike
Core item: 
Temporal Circlet (Warlock) [1] (19482) with ME and +9 
Glacier Wand (550069) fully enchanted at level 230. Get one with 
Glacier Flower Spell (MATK) (311343) , 
Glacier Flower Spell (Illusion Soul Magic) (311294) , and double 
Glacier Flower Spell (Magical-Element) (311353) . Otherwise generic magical enchantment is fine.
Estimated Time (Consumed On Battle Manual, re-gearing and resupplying time is not counted): 10-15 minutes or more
Steps:
1. Do and claim Powerplant 2 until you are lvl 230. The Eden coin side farming is nice.
2. Do and claim Amiticia 2 until you are 240.
3. Do and claim either Biosphere Glade (if you can OH the Pegasus and all the other mobs) or Biosphere Death (still have to OH all mobs). Otherwise do nif2 as you are farming while leveling up (will be slower). You can also be edgy and farm on Mjol with Crimson Arrow (faster than nif2, slower than Varmundts).
4. You are at maximum power at lvl 250 able to wield any equipment (e.g. your main character's best equipment except weapons at lvl 230). D1 or D2 runs would be great at this point provided you are in a good company. Otherwise solo is only recommended if you know what you are doing.
Afterword
(30/Dec/2025)
COME BACK PLAYING MR CHOI AND UPDATE YOUR GUIDE. ALSO GIOIA IS NOT EXODIA ANYMORE!!!
Glossary
- BiS: Best in Slot, refers to items/cards that are considered the best according to the ongoing meta. May be subject to change, that is why I put emphasize on dates whenever the term BiS is mentioned on that part.
- Old BiS: Old Best in Slot, was the BiS on previous meta. Some have the potential to be BiS again in the future (e.g. Bio5 MVP Ranger Shecil card in the case future Job 4 Wind Hawk Bio MVP cards will give strong combo bonus), so they are generally still top tier recommended items, though not to die for.
- Experimental: Strong items that could possibly be BiS on some setups, but are not widely accepted as the BiS and still need a lot of testing and discussion for it to be universally designated as BiS. Or items that are situationally considerably better than BiS or offering niches that are considered worth trading with the boons gained from the BiS items depending on your personal playing style.
- Core Item: Item that is characteristic of the build.
- Damage Flow (characteristics that are the underlying of your DPS): Your continuous stream of damage flowing through, it is considered good if you have only skill unique CD as your bottleneck. If your bottleneck is anything else (could be your non-instacast, your ASPD, your aftercast delay,etc) it means your damage flow is not good and you will have to improve upon that. If your bottleneck is PC power or connection (like me) well then it's too bad can't do anything about that but also it means you can be more relaxed and be a bit below theoretical values on some aspects like your acd% reduction.
Acknowledgements
- Discussions and demonstrations from Various Masters (ain't namedropping y'all but you know who you are) mostly but not limited to #archer, #swordsman, and #mage class channels of MuhRo Discord that have educated me on so many things regarding this class beyond general guides.
- Hurt Locker's Wind Hawk Guide character picture format was used for character picture formatting of this guide.
- Goldie's EM Guide Endgame part table format was used for gears part formatting of this guide.