The Arcanist

The arcanist is one one of the 4 different classes you can choose from when you create a new character. The best thing about the arcanist is that none of the other classes but the cleric has any protection against mana (the attack used by arcanists).



Arcanist ley is a blessing and a curse. The power of the arcanist is derived directly from earthblood pools. They are the only class that can cast spells while in a pool not completely biased to their team. But while in an earthblood pool an arcanists ley is full, after they leave the pool, their ley stays full for only a short time, afterwhich their ley quickly falls to nothing. Arcanists then need to recharge their ley by standing in an earthblood pool, watching the purple bar go up slowly. The best thing for an arc to do is to stay in or have a readily accessible pool nearby to make sure that they never run out of ley.



Arcanists have the unique attack called void. Other than most conventional attacks, void barely does any damage compared to other spells of its level. The real value of void, is its ability to suck up an opponent's power points, thereby lessening their ability to cast spells. In the higher levels, void will be an invaluable weapon to use against your enemies, stealing their power before they can do you much damage. Especially useful against the other teams' clerics who are BHing the people you are trying to kill.



The arcs most useful ability, in my opinion, is the ability to lay signs. The arc has the unique ability to lay down runes that activate when an enemy comes in contact with it. Signs vary from power stealing to impairing movement to slowly stealing life. You can even jump higher with sign expulse. The most sought after sign however is sign explode (level 9 spell), more commonly refered to as a bomb. When an enemy comes into contact with this sign, a huge amount of fire damage is done to him/her, roughly equal to the magician's level 14 spell, Fireball I. This sign is the primary source of kills in an arc's early levels. This sign, like all signs, can be hidden inside pools and under water so that they can't be seen.



The last advantage that arcs have is their walls. Arcs may get void walls (level 3 spell) and manawalls (level 10 spell). Void walls are black, non-solid walls that steal power from anybody passing through it, even the caster. Manawalls are white non-solid walls that do damage to everyone who passes through them. These walls have an advantage over all the other walls in the game due to the fact that they can't be destroyed like other walls. They stay where they are cast until they disappear. These walls can be used in several different combinations that I've found effective. The last advantage over other walls in that void walls and manawalls can be cast ABOVE the ground, leaving you room in your pool to shoot under them at your enemies.