Talisman Soul Ascetic Luxury Sub-Guide by Sophie/Joan

R.ClickToRename254519
not Soul Ascetic skin tho

Introduction

<page under construction>

Hello I'm Sophie/Joan (Guide Date: 2/Sep/2025). You would not see me that often playing in D1/Biosphere Venom/Biosphere Temple with my Soul Ascetic (SA) char R.ClickToRename254519. I think I will play SA more though because I think my flight hours on this character is lacking (you can expect more sporadic future updates as I discover stuff). Magic build speaking I still play on my EM more but this job definitely offers niches that EM doesn't have namely mobility and harder hitting single target skills. To think again I really should have telling people to play SA instead as starting class whenever someone asks in #global because the barrier of the requirements are easier to fulfill compared say to the likes of EM because SA talisman build doesn't need acd% and therefore doesn't need [MVP] Kiel Card (4403) or the likes (managing ASPD is easier).

This guide is merely what I do on my talisman SA and is not optimized (dm me on discord/In-game if you can improve upon it). I just tried to write it out because I think other SA mains are inactive while the guide/discussion demands from new players are as high as ever (as of 2/Sep/2025). There's not really different playstyle or skill/stats allocation between Talisman of Blue Dragon Build (Single Target Talisman Build) vs Talisman of White Tiger Build (Area Talisman Build) so you should definitely have both at the same time on your general to go build. The exception might be if you want to maximize Single Target Talisman Build on skills while also grabbing Soul of Heaven and Earth of which probably you will do in instances like HoL. However between both builds, most of it is simply the matter of gear swapping (most significantly between the weapons), so I would advice you readers to familiarize yourself with gear swapping (even easier now that there's a custom skill created for that very purpose).

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 (y'all can refer to this guide as the complementary to the more comprehensive guides such as Mango's guide to leveling and farming with SA and Choi's Soul Ascetic Guide). 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) and have reached 100% Vct (Variable cast time) reduction via item bonus (because those 120 Dex better be put elsewhere). Also you are required to like to Leap (this is a warning).

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 and currently owned assets (e.g. with Time Dimension Jewel (Agility) Lv3 (312700) in your Time Dimensions Rune Crown (Soul Ascetic) [1] (400544) you might want Variable Casting (Magical) Lv.3 (310860) ) to in your Mad Bunny-LT [1] (460020) ), so we will not assume a narrow-minded stance on this issue and would tolerate a bit lesser or bigger DPS and whatnots as long as things work well (shout out to get the DPS envy immunity people!).

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):

1. Instant Cast (very important for both builds: you want to DPS hard with single target talisman build and instant-cast leap+skill with area talisman build)
2. Damage (in general) and OH capability (mostly for area talisman build)
3. ASPD (SA talisman skills have no After Cast Delay so your bottleneck will be ASPD)
4. Survivability, HP pool (mostly for when doing single target talisman build)
5. Curse immunity
6. Non-priority niches (carry weight, SP pool, SP consumption)

Stats

• STR - 80-100; Carry weight. (talisman bundles are heavy)

• AGI - 110-120; reaching 185-187 ASPD would still not be that easy. Also some people have utilized builds with even more ASPD but I have yet to fathom their usage.

• VIT - 90-120; Can put minimum amount when in a party with devo.

• INT - 100-120; SP pool. (SA have high SP consumption problem)

• DEX - 1 (all remaining points here);

• LUK - 89-110; For Curse Immunity, MATK.

Example (My stats for general farming):

• STR - 100

• AGI - 120

• VIT - 108

• INT - 120

• DEX - 2

• LUK - 89

Traits

• SPL - 110; Damage
• CON - 110; Damage (and a bit of survivability)
• WIS/STA - 72; Survivability

Core Skills

Buff/Debuff and Passives

Talisman of Magician: More damage from skills with talismans (what we really care) and a bit of S.MATK (we don't really care). Very important because it is 10-20% damage difference when I tested it after maxxing everything (seriously go max it). Still better damage addition than Soul of Heaven and Earth if you can only pick one.

Circle of Directions and Elementals: More damage from skills with talismans. To activate it, you cast Blue Dragon-->White Tiger-->Red Phoenix-->Black Tortoise-->Circle of Direction and Elementals. For single target talisman spam, it is around 15-35% damage difference than without the buff (tested with full gear).

Soul Mastery: Up to +10 Spl not bad but not that good either. Just put points here if you can't reach Soul of Heaven and Earth with your remaining skill points.

Shadow Soul: We care about the ASPD bonus.

Fairy Soul: We care about the Vct% reduction bonus.

Golem Soul: More DEF and MDEF, mostly used for party play.

Mild Wind: Changing element of your talisman skills (Earth/Wind/Water/Fire/Ghost/Shadow/Holy).

Kaizel: You buff with this and type @die when you want to reset soul/mild wind to neutral again.

Curse of Wicked Soul: Debuff a target to make it take increased damage from Shadow element (mild wind lvl 6). Rarely used it though for some reason.

Talisman of Five Elements: More Enemy_Element% damage modifier against water, wind, earth, fire, and neutral element mobs (very strong so always use it).

Active Skills

Swap Equip: You will want to swap into CB build when Calaminity Gale/Unlimit is not active to recover AP.

Leap: Best mobility skill after Monk's snap. I'd say go play EM or AM if you don't like leaping mechanism (not everyone does).

Talisman of Blue Dragon: Main Single Target DPS skill. auto-casts Red Phoenix (TD combo).

Talisman of White Tiger: Main Area skill. auto-casts Black Tortoise (TD combo).

Gears and Min-Max Technicalities

About Magical Damage Modifiers for Talisman SA Build

The general aim of the min-maxing process (as of Date: 2/Sep/2025) is to equalize these damage modifiers while maximizing their overall multiplicative result. The contextual reason of the importance on this matter is because of the aforementioned One Hit (OH) Objective, that we want each hit of our talisman skills damage to be as high as possible (the DPS for blue dragon and the single burst instance of skill for white tiger).

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.
• Enemy_Element%: Rare modifier mostly seen on more modern iterations of items (post 2016), but is less expensive than Class%. You will have around 40%-100%. Main Sources: CoL Autumn garment and its 2nd slot enchantment, Dimensions/Time Gap Weapons 3rd slot enchant, Jitterbug combo and proc.
• Skill%: Quite hard to get as the source is only from TDRC and Dimensions/Time Gap Weapons for Talismans skill and is already mandatory. You will have around 70%-130%. Haven't tested yet for Yorscalp headgear + card combo (the red phoenix skill).
• Enemy_Race%: kinda rare for magical racial modifier. You will have 50%-130%. Main Sources: [MVP] Falling Bishop Card (4441) -like MVP cards on shoes, HoL accessories and enchantments, various equipments.
• Enemy_Size%: Easy to get and cheap. You will easily have more than 65%-120%. Main Sources: Cards on Weapon slots, TDRC, Shadow Gears.
• MRes_Ignore%: Only source for now is the Magical/Spell/Sorcery Master Shadow Gears for 20%. The effect is only roughly 5-10% pure damage increase, though it is nice, because it is outside all other modifier calculations.
• MATK%: You will have more than 150-250% MATK%. Main Sources: Nebula Robe of Spell [1] (450173) , Shadow Gear Enchantments for MATK%, [MVP] Falling Bishop Card (4441) -like MVP cards on shoes, various 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 350 or more. Main Sources: various equipments,
• Ele%: You will easily have adound 300-500% or more. Main Sources: [MVP] Polluted Queen Spider Card (27362) -like MVP cards on garment, various equipments,

Gears

Recommended gears (as of Date: 2/Sep/2025):

Type	Item	Card	Enchants and Notes
Upper	+12 to +15 [A] Time Dimensions Rune Crown (Soul Ascetic) [1] (400544)	[MVP] Ultra Limacina Card (300377) [MVP] Pharaoh Card (4148) Katrinn Card (4366) Engkanto Card (4583)	Enchanted with Magic Essence Jewel Lv5 (312763) , Time Dimension Jewel (Agility) Lv3 (312700) . You can use Time Dimension Jewel (Wisdom) Lv3 (312718) but it means you will find other ways to enhance your ASPD (while there's easier options for Vct% problem)
Middle	Gambler's Seal [1] (410233)	[MVP] Pharaoh Card (4148) Katrinn Card (4366) Engkanto Card (4583)	Enchanted with any of the following: MATK% +8-10% (Ele% falls in grace as CoL Autumn and HoL acc set and combo gives a lot of that Ele% modifier compared to previous meta) Vct% reduction +8-10% (only if you still have Vct% problem, see here there's no ASPD/reduce delay after attack option) MaxHP +8-10% (Experimental), the reason is sometimes additional HP is simply better when you already have saturated every other damage source modifiers.
Lower	Ace of Spades in Mouth (Magical) (420213) (BiS) and/or Ace of Clovers in Mouth (Defense) (420269) (Experimental)	N/A	Enchanted with any of the following: 1st line: VIT +5 / INT +5 / any (stats are not that important) 2nd line: Ele% +6-7% or S.MATK +6-7% (BiS) or %increases attack speed (reduces delay after attack) (Experimental)
Armor	+12 to +15 [A] Nebula Robe of Spell [1] (450173)	[MVP] Demigod Lasgand Card (300472) (BiS) Yortus Conjurator Card (300529) (Combo with Yordos Investigator Card (300521) or Yordos Judge Card (300522) on garment)	Enchanted with Star Cluster of Spell Lv.3 (310688) , Nebula of Spell Lv.3 (310738) (BiS) or Nebula of Health Lv.3 (310744) (Experimental), and INT+5 (4714) (BiS) or VIT+3 (4742) . For more info on how to enchant, check this page.
Weapon	+12 to +15 [A] Dimensions Soul Stick [2] (550131) (Single Target DPS) and/or +12 to +15 [A] Dimensions Soul Rod [2] (550132) (Area Damage)	Mutating White Knight Card (27384) Copo Card (300455) Yormi Card (300519) Scalleg Card (300506) Gan Ceann Card (300240) Brutal Murderer Card (300241)
Shield	+11 to +12 [C] Glacier Guard [1] (460040) or +12 to +14 [A] Mad Bunny-LT [1] (460020)	[MVP] Golden Thief Bug Card (4128) [MVP] Silent Maya Card (300239) [MVP] Ancient Wootan Defender Card (27298) Mutating Khalitzburg Card (27385) Renovated Upper Rgan (300379)	Glacier Guard enchanted with Glacier Flower Meow Power (Intelligence) (312095) , Glacier Flower Meow Power (Magical Resistance) (312093) or Glacier Flower Meow Power (Physical Resistance) (312092) , and Glacier Flower Meow Power (Attack) (312091) . Mad Bunny-LT enchanted with Variable Casting (Magical) Lv.3 (310860) or Attack Speed Lv.3 (310856) . For a list of possible enchants, refer to this. Enchants of your choice will vary depending on your needs, and the race/elemental property of the mobs you're going to prioritize.
Garment	+12 to +15 [A] Circulation of Life Autumn [1] (480351)	[MVP] Phantom of Himmelmez Card (27381) [MVP] Abysmal Witch Card (300145) [MVP] Aquila Card (300382) [MVP] Polluted Queen Spider Card (27362) 4576 Yordos Investigator Card (300521) (Combo with Yoscopus Conjurator Card on body) Yordos Judge Card (300522) (Combo with Yoscopus Conjurator Card on body)	Enchanted with Life of Autumn (Intelligence) (313018) , Magical Fruit Lv20 (312558) , and Magical Seed Lv1 (312489) .
Shoes	+12 to +14 [A] Moan of Corruption [1] (470204)	[MVP] Death Witch Card (300248) [MVP] The One Card (300262) [MVP] Falling Bishop Card (4441) [MVP] R001 Bestia Card (300281) Icewind Card (300458)	MoC is still very strong with its +Spl bonus
Accessory (Right)	Creative Signet of Star [1] (490135)	Void Mimic Card (300278) Marine Sphere Card (4084)	Enchanted with Star Cluster of Luck Lv5 (313033) , Star of Master Archer Lv5 (310701) and Star of Master Archer Lv5 (310701) (BiS) or Star of Sharp Lv.5 (310706) and Star of Sharp Lv.5 (310706) . For more info on how to enchant, check this page.
Accessory (Left)	Signet of Circulation Winter [1] (490486)	Void Mimic Card (300278) Marine Sphere Card (4084) [MVP] Fallen Angel Iceslug Card (300471) (Experimental)	Enchanted with Signet of Creative Lv5 (313006) and Token of Life (312981) . For more info about purchasing and enchanting the accessory, check this page.

• Shadow Gears:
  • Double Maximum Mammoth combo: very strong if not BiS, theoritically explained by the 12% gain in Enemy_Element% modifier. Only wear double with [MVP] Thanatos Card (4399) otherwise just wear one pair.
  • Needing full penetration/infinity otherwise wear [MVP] Thanatos Card (4399) for 100% def pierce and Infinity Shadow Weapon (24386) or Infinity Shadow Shield (24733) or Mistress Egg (9193) for ignore weapon size
  • Otherwise double +10/+10 Bow/Fatal/Sword Master Shadow Gears is not bad, however it will lock you into using or Mistress Egg (9193) . There's also possibility of using one set of +10 Bow/Fatal/Sword Master Shadow Gears and [MVP] Ancient Tao Gunka Card (27294) (Experimental) and then the rest of the shadow gear will be a pair of Maximum Mammoth
  • With [MVP] Thanatos Card (4399) use +10/+7 Bow/Fatal/Sword Master Shadow Gears instead so the 50% def pierce won't trigger
• Currently not-haves list: [MVP] Ultra Limacina Card (300377) , [MVP] Encroached Tan Card (300533) , [MVP] Boitata Card (27126) , [MVP] Gloom Under Night Card (4408) , [MVP] Jewgoliant Card (300007) , [MVP] Bone Detardeurus Card (300021) , [MVP] Gaia Pol Card (300445) , [MVP] Broken Thanatos Card (300280)

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.

Acknowledgements

• Special Thanks to Tmisn for editing and proofreading.
• 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.
• Credit to Yanalicious for personally contacting me and pointing out that on Creative Signet of Star [1] (490135) the double Star of Master Archer Lv5 (310701) enchantment was actually the slightly better enchantment than double Star of Sharp Lv.5 (310706) enchantment (tested, around 1-2% better). (30/Aug/2025)