Aion 2 arcana

Arcana is a card board that gives stats and skill levels. Ten card types, seven sets, in the KR version he is writing from. Treat a card like a gear slot, and a set bonus like a gear set. Global will not have the full board on day one. Skill levels from these cards are a large part of how actives reach 20. See skills.

The ten cards

Each of the first six carries a pantheon stat plus skills. Key, Hourglass, Dice, and Lantern are stat cards. He does not say which half of the skills sits on Parchment versus Compass, or on Bell versus Mirror.

Leveling and crafting

Transcendence dungeons drop cards and Training Arcana. Smash a card into the one you have equipped, or feed Training Arcana, to level it. Cap is level 5. Each level adds 1 to a random skill line already on the card. If the card has no skills, the level adds a little stat instead.

You can feed the equipped card into a new one with better lines. The experience does not move 1 for 1. Feeding the same card type gives bonus experience. He still does it when the new lines are better.

Crafting, under Transmute, lets you pick the lines on most cards. He says do it when you can. The cost is crystals. Crystals come from substance-morphing shards, and the shards come from Transcendence, with different dungeons dropping different shards. Different cards cost different crystals.

Chalice and Scale can roll any active or any passive, so a perfect one is the rare drop. Scale costs double and will not be at launch. The other cards roll 4 lines from a pool of 6, so the right lines show up often enough from a dungeon drop or a random craft. If you craft one 4-line card, craft the Chalice first.

Name the skills that carry the class, and which card those skills live on. A cheaper board with imperfect lines is enough if it gets two key actives to level 20. Keep that board while you farm the 4-line craft. Global has fewer cards, so the levels come slower.

5-card setup

Early on there are two set bonuses, and both are worth less than the pantheon stat on the card. Take the pantheon stat. Parchment and Compass can be either set. Try to own two Primal Vigor cards so the 2-piece is on. Swapping Parchment and Compass across the sets still works. His ideal is:

• Primal Vigor, 2-piece: +60 PvE Attack while HP is 70% or higher.
• Magic Armor, 2-piece: restore 1,500 MP when MP is 20% or lower. 30 second cooldown.
• The three lines he calls most important: Chalice on Time (combat speed), Bell on Destruction (attack increase %), Mirror on Wisdom (double chance).

8-card setup

This is the later board, once Key, Hourglass, and Scale exist. Dice and Lantern are real cards. He does not put them in either setup.

• 2-piece: +5% Boss Damage Tolerance.
• 4-piece: +60 PvE Attack and +10% PvE Damage Boost while HP is 70% or higher.

• 2-piece: +5% Restoration.
• 4-piece: +5% Weapon Damage Boost, and a shield that blocks 10,000 damage for 5 seconds when HP is 30% or lower. 2 minute cooldown.