Hi. Magicka Arcanist is cool, fun in Solo mode and reasonably powerful. You stay at range with either a Staff or a Bow.

You'll need a crux builder, ofc. I recommend Writhing Runeblades. Even though it isn't an S tier option, you'll find it isn't the damage that is lacking, but rather the missing passive heal that arcanists mostly have gotten used to. But it is going to cost Magicka and has good damage for a ranged spammable.
You can utilise the scribing system to build yourself a different crux builder, but that is a grind I wouldn't recommend to anyone. It involves the infamous class scripts. I am just pointing out the possibility.

Anyways. Deadly Strike is really good for MagArc for the known reasons. I use Order's Wrath as the second set, because Magicka characters need both light armor options for sustain and still get some sort of boost to crit damage.
The most important part for a solo build is healing, which is obviously best with the Ring of the Pale Order. But Reconstructive Domain in combination with Evolving Runemend can be an option, too, if you do not want to miss out on Velothi-Ur bonus. In that case I sometimes use Pragmatic Runecarver without the cruxes, when a heavy attack comes in or I have been eating too much damage and need a short respite to recover health. Aborting the beam is always possible.

It's a very different way to play Arcanist and I like it very much. Maybe it is something for you too. Theoretically you can use this build with Bows and still stack Stamina. Arcanist is that flexible.

For fun casual solo play, I think Traveling Knife with pull and Create 1 Crux would let you pull enemies in to you and then blast them.

Or you could run Elemental Explosion with Create a Crux combined with Tome-bearer's Inspiration and Cruxweaver Armor. Then you would get 1 Crux from Inspiration, one from getting hit while casting Ele Explosion, and then one when Ele Explosion finished casting. So you make a big boom then have 3 crux for Fatecarver or Tentacular Dread. I've been having a lot of fun using Ele Explosion on my quest char, and it works for Arc 1-2 well.

Depends how casual of a solo build you want. For soloing tough world bosses and stuff, might want a bit more oomf. These would be fun with Scribing, though. I think Arcanist has one of the better class scripts.

You could probably go with an old off-meta Templar build that used Soulshine and pair it with Berserking Warrior. Fatecarver and Flail would proc Soulshine's damage boost. Flail, Deadly Cloak, and LA with daggers would build your crit with Berserking Warrior. Might run into trouble losing stacks on the beam. Or go with War Maiden to up your damage on the beam.