How is Arcanist?

propain

Hi I'm looking to start playing a 2nd class and was wondering how good is Arcanist for PVE content? mainly vet dungeons and maybe trials. Also would stam or mag be stronger for an Arcanist? I see a lot of people running around as one and looks fun with the big beam they shoot but how powerful is the class? I will not be doing any PVP so i am not concerned about how they preform with that. Also how easy is the class to learn and is the rotation simple? I am still new to the game and while i have another character already to 50 with 226cp there is still a lot to learn for me and I want a simple class to play and continue to learn the game with.

TaSheen

Uh. Well. That's one of those loaded questions....

Arcanist is pretty damn good in most scenarios. Easy to learn, rotation is extremely easy as well....

VoxAdActa

I like my Arcanist. It's fun and feels pretty powerful. I have heard complaints that some people find it boring, though, which I can completely understand.

Soarora

1. How good is Arcanist for PvE content?
- It is really good. It's not the highest damage persay, but it's very much high enough to clear content. In fact, its the preferred class for a lot of content as DPS due to its sheer AoE damage.

2. Mag or stam?
- Stamina all the way. Magicka arcanist is stamina arcanist but objectively worse. Same rotation, worse sustain.

3. How easy is the class to learn?
- Arcanist is very easy but still has a skill curve to master. It has one of the slowest rotations of all DPS classes, and you can even take your hands off the keyboard while beaming. It also has good defense.

Jestir

You can play the class using however many dots you can keep up with a spammable (the best spammable is the stamina costing Flail, which is an incredibly overloaded skill and is a huge part of what makes stamina preferred for most) and beaming whenever you have 3 crux and absolutely melt through content when compared to the other class

Unmatched cleave and a somewhat different/slower rotation make it incredibly popular in PvE for a reason

Renato90085

pve endgame:arc>dk=necro>all
other pve(overland or dungreon): arc>all
and all role is T0

Barto92

>> How is Arcanist?

Yes.

tohopka_eso

I play a lightning staff, medium armor stamina bosmer arcanist and she survives better in most overland boss, dungeons and IA then my warden does.

Elsonso

Stamina Arcanist is my current main on XBOX EU, which is where I am primarily playing at the moment.

Major_Mangle

The class almost plays itself and require extremely low effort to perform well with.

GloatingSwine

Decently powerful and easy to use, but I got a bit bored of it because it's a bit one dimensional.

Aetherica

I'm playing an Arcanist, but not a plain one. I also use Vampire and Undaunted abilities. Combined, it's AWESOME play

NotaDaedraWorshipper

Headache, migraine and eye pain inducing with their lasershows and whatnot.

Gameplay wise? They are the favoured child and got all the good stuff.

DragonRacer

Class seems very good and relatively easy in any role.

I main one as a tank and love him.

Icy_Waffles

I really like my arc tank. For dungeons and most content he’s been incredible. I still prefer my dk for vet trials but likely just due to familiarity (10 year dk tank)

El_Borracho

Stamina Arcs are very easy to play in group PVE. They are also surprisingly tanky while not sacrificing DPS.

ssewallb14_ESO

If you're not in an optimized group it's the strongest DPS class in the game, both AOE and ST.

MasterSpatula

The right question isn't "How is Arcanist?" It's "How is everything else."

BXR_Lonestar

TaSheen wrote: »

Uh. Well. That's one of those loaded questions....

Arcanist is pretty damn good in most scenarios. Easy to learn, rotation is extremely easy as well....

I don't know about that.

Yes, I know Arcanists are top dog in terms of DPS, but I'm seeing far fewer arcanists outside of sweaty PVE runs. I don't see many in PVP anymore, we've all but scrapped the arcanist healer builds, and while arcanist tanks are okay, they're still not quite as good as a DK tank, especially when you can get arcanist buffs via scribed abilities.

In all, they excel in one area (DPS) but are only okay in other phases of the game. And whether you want to play them as a DPS really just boils down to playstyle. If you don't like light attack weaving, they're great since you can't weave with channeled abilities anyways.

Varana

While stam-arc is objectively better, that still means you can use a backbar staff with Wall, for instance, in the current state of the game. The divide between magicka and stamina builds aren't nearly as clear any more. Go for stamina because of tentacles+beam, but after that, you can mix stam and mag abilities as you like and are comfortable with.

Arcanist DDs have several huge advantages at the moment.
- Their rotation is very easy to learn to a relatively high level of playing. It's much harder to squeeze out the last bits of DPS, but you get to carry your weight in almost all content much easier than with most other classes.
- They have very high area damage, which is really helpful in most situations. And even better, they lose very little if you use the exact same setup in single-target fights. A beam is a beam is a beam, whether it hits multiple targets or one.
- They have really good survivability. After applying DoT abilities, the rotation consists mostly of tentacles and beam. Tentacles heal you when you hit something, and one morph of beam gives you a shield, which means your main damage abilities directly contribute to your survival.

All in all, Arcanist is probably the best choice for a DD for beginners. Its main drawback is that you'll probably find it harder to transition to other classes later on, because you have to learn how to play the classic weaving+spammable playstyle.

sans-culottes

You will melt faces as an Arcanist.