Choi's SVS Arch Mage Guide
Introduction
The main purpose of this guide is to provide information on the gear progression for Soul Vulcan Strike-focused Arch Mages. However, as the gear and concepts are similar across different builds, this should also be helpful for other Arch Mage builds as well as other Magic Damage classes like Soul Ascetic and Elemental Master. Please feel free to reach out to me (IGN: Choi) for any questions or feedback!
Notes
The Soul Vulcan Strike build has a very fluid progression that will allow the user to be strong throughout all parts of the game. Among the Arch Mage skills, Soul Vulcan Strike has the shortest Fixed Cast Time at 1s. Along with its short cooldown, high damage, and 11 x 11 AoE, Soul Vulcan Strike is a very effective ability for leveling and farming. Additionally, with the Warlock Telekenesis Intense skill providing a 3x damage buff for ghost damage, the Soul Vulcan Strike scales very well into the late game allowing you to MVP even the toughest MVPs.
However, due to the nature of Dim Glacier Weapons providing large damage bonuses to specific abilities and the strength of specific elemental MVP cards, you will be mostly gated to having Soul Vulcan Strike as your main magic damage ability. As such, you will be weaker against Neutral, Holy, Poison, and Shadow Elemental MvPs and mobs (The main one to note here is Betelgeuse). Even so, you will still be a highly effective MVPer!
For other classes and builds, the gear progression and concepts should be fairly similar other than a change in weapon and gear.
| Relevant Skills |
Relevant Skills
Your other Arch Mage skills are still powerful, so feel free to use what you would like! |
Soul Vulcan Strike: Soul Vulcan Strike is your bread-and-butter ability.
Mystery Illusion: Mystery Illusion will be your secondary ability due to the enchantment on your Dim Glacier Weapon. It also pairs well with Soul Vulcan Strike as Mystery Illusion does Shadow Property damage which is effective against holy and not resisted by Neutral.
Telekinesis Intense: Telekinesis Intense provides a 3x Ghost Magic Damage and 50% Variable Cast Time Reduction Buff for 1 minute or until death. However, it has a 5-minute cooldown, so use it wisely, but don't be frugal about it!
Mystical Amplification: Mystical Amplication provides a 1.5x Matk buff. It has no cooldown, so you should always try to keep it up!
Recognized Spell: Recognized Spell provides a buff that lets you do the maximum damage. It's a great overall buff and also allows you to test different gear effectively.
Drain Life: Drain Life has a 90% chance to absorb 40% of the damage you do with this skill. It should basically full heal you when you use it on a mob.
Rain of Crystal: Rain of Crystal is a water elemental 13x13 AoE skill that hits targets around you. Very useful for farming.
Comet AKA 
Reading Spell Book and 
Release: Comet is a large AoE skill that provides decent damage. However, it's main use is that it applies a 50% elemental resist decrease debuff for 20s to targets hit by it. However, rather than casting the actual ability, most Arch Mages opt to using Reading Spell Book with 
Gear Progression
[Yvonne's Guide] 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 SVS Build Arch Mages.
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 |
Phase EdenAt Level 100, you can talk with Labraham and Louis at @go Eden to get your [Advanced Paradise Gear]. These gears will require |
| Phase One | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Phase OneMoving 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. Abilities will have a specific Fixed Cast Time and Variable Cast Time. For Soul Vulcan Strike your fixed cast time is 1s and your Variable Cast time is 3s. At Level 150, you can start using
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| Phase Two |
Phase Two1s Fixed Cast Reduction is what you need. However, 1.5s is better since most of your other skills (Mystery Illusion, Rain of Crystal, etc.) have 1.5s Fixed Cast. It's up to you to decide whether you want to upgrade to 1.5s by getting the
The [Brilliant]/[Sinful] Saphire Accessory Pairs give a good amount of damage and provide .2s and .3s FCT reduction respectively. With the In terms of Priority:
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| Phase Three |
Phase ThreeYou 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 [Master 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 [To craft] the
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| Phase Four | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Phase FourWe'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). Note: The Vesper Headgear is time-gated, requiring mysterious ores from a 24hr cooldown instance. I recommend going ahead and farming these daily with some friends before you get to Phase Four.
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| Phase Five |
Phase FiveAKA the final phase. I was considering combining Phase Four with Phase Five, but Phase Five is essentially gated by the Gear that you get from Constellation Tower. 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. |
| Misc | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
MiscShadow Gear: the [Master Shadow Gear] provides the greatest damage boost for magic classes. Especially those that primarily focus on one ability, as [the enchants will increase the damage for one ability].
Costume Stones: The Arch Bishop (
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