Ultimate Arcane Lineage Beginner’s Guide [Dark & Light]

This Arcane Lineage beginner's guide will take you through all the most important mechanics, NPCs, quests, and tricks you'll need to know to make the most out of your gameplay. We also included a step-by-step early-game progression guide to help you speed run to the mid-game. So, scroll down, and let's start Arcane Lineaging!

Arcane Lineage Controls & Combat Tips

Combat in Arcane Lineage is reminiscent of JRPGs with a bit of reflex practice as well. To start an encounter, simply walk around or stand and wait (you have to be outside of a city). During an encounter, enemies will use abilities/attacks and trigger Quick-Time Events (QTEs), which, if completed successfully, will have you block/dodge the attack.

Your goal is to hit Space when the white indicator crosses the red/yellow skill check zone. Hitting yellow will allow you to dodge the attack altogether, and hitting red will half the attack's damage. Missing the skill check zone will make the attack deal full damage.

QTEs appear only for enemy attacks. All attacks, consumables, and spells you use won't have skill checks. Instead, there will be a random chance the enemy dodges or halves it based on their and your stats. Here are all the basic controls and combat actions in Arcane Lineage and what they do.

Basic Controls and Combat Actions List

• Dash: Q
• Meditate: M
• Inventory: ~ or B
• Interact: E
• Combat - QTE Activate: Space (use to pass QTE checks)
• Combat - Attack: Use an attack or an ability you know.
• Combat - Item: Use an item from your inventory (scroll, potion, etc.)
• Combat - Guard: Block 75% of the incoming damage, skipping the QTE.
• Combat - Meditate: Regain 1 Energy and increase the damage you receive by 50% for one turn.
• Combat - Escape: Try to escape. The default chance is 20%, and it scales with Speed.

Encounter Tiers & How They Work

Combat encounters in Arcane Lineage are categorized into 6 tiers, and which ones you'll get depends on your level and the difficulty you're playing. Here is the breakdown of all the tiers and what kind of monsters they contain:

Tier	Description	Normal Difficulty	Hard/Legendary Difficulty
1	• 1 enemy	Levels 1-4	Levels 1-2
2	• 2 enemies	Levels 5-9	Levels 3-7
3	• 3 enemies • 1 enemy and 1 strong enemy • Low chance of 4 enemies	Levels 10-14	Levels 8-12
4	• 4 enemies • 2 enemies and 1 stronger enemy	Levels 15-19	Levels 13-17
5	• 4 enemies • 2 stronger enemies and 1 weaker enemy	Levels 20+	Levels 18+
6	• 3 stronger enemies and 1 weaker enemy	Levels ?-? and in a party	Levels ?-? and in a party

How to Wipe & Change Difficulty in Arcane Lineage

To change difficulty in Arcane Lineage, you'll need to perform a clean wipe. To do that, you'll need to die 3 times while having 0 Soul Essence (level-up currency) and being level 1. Doing this after the tutorial is impossible because you get some Soul Essence there, so if you're just starting, you'll have to wipe twice in a row. The fastest way to wipe is to just spam Meditate in combat and miss every QTE.

After you wipe, you'll be teleported to the Purgatory, where you'll find two NPCs. The Soulmaster in the back is the one you need to interact with to change difficulty. The ??? NPC is the one who will resurrect you and let you start over (1st dialogue option).

Difficulty Levels

Difficulty	Effects
Normal	• 3 Lives • Regular combat difficulty
Hard	• 3 Lives • Harder combat difficulty (Block QTE becomes more difficult the more you dodge/block) • 2x Drop Rates, 2x Soul Essence gain, 1.3x Gold • Healing costs 25 Gold
Legendary	• 1 Life • Harder combat difficulty (Block QTE becomes more difficult the more you dodge/block) • 3x Drop Rates, 3x Soul Essence gain, 2x Gold, Exclusive Drops • Non-legendary players can't drop you items • Healing costs 50 Gold

How to Level Up, Use Soul Points & Increase Stats in Arcane Lineage

To level up, use soul points, and increase your stats in Arcane Lineage you'll first have to enter the Spirit Domain by meditating (press M) on a red mat (there is plenty of them in the middle of the starter town). Here, you'll have two key NPCs: Aretim - Raphion's Servant and Soul Interlink Spirit.

Leveling Up & Stat Upgrades

Aretim - Raphion's Servant is the glowing white orb in the light part of the cathedral. When talking with him, you'll have the option of leveling up once (1st dialogue choice) or leveling up as many times as possible (2nd dialogue choice).

The currency required for leveling up is called Soul Essence, and it's displayed on the bottom left of your UI. There is a cap to how much Soul Essence you can store, and it's usually 2 to 3 levels worth of it. For each level up, you'll get 5 stat points to spend. Here is what each stat does:

Stat	Effect
Strength	Increases the amount of damage you do from physical attacks by 1.32% per stat point.
Arcane	Increases the amount of damage you do from ranged and magical attacks by 1.32% per stat point.
Endurance	Increases your maximum HP by 1.5 per stat point.
Luck	Increases crit chance by 0.2% per stat point. Increases crit damage by 0.2x per two stat points. Increases drop loot chance and Soul Essence gain. 100 points - You can't gain old accessories anymore. 200 points - You can't gain average accessories anymore.
Speed	Increases dodge QTE bar size by 1.6% and block QTE bar size by 2.5%. Increases your running speed for each stat point. Every 100 stat points in Speed the QTEs will lose 1 button.

Soul Points & Soul Tree Upgrades

Soul Interlink Spirit, the dark eye NPC, allows you to spend your Soul Points and gain permanent upgrades for your character that will remain despite the wipes. Soul Tree upgrades are shared between all your slots, and you can earn Soul Points on each slot individually (up to 4 slots) by completing achievements. Here is the full list of achievements that reward Soul Points:

• First Base Class: 1 Soul Point
• First Super Class: 2 Soul Points
• First Super Class on Hard Difficulty: 2 Soul Points
• First Super Class on Legendary Difficulty: 2 Soul Points
• First Artifact Used: 2 Soul Points
• First Enchantment Obtained: 1 Soul Points
• First Boss Kills: 3 Soul Points per Boss
• Complete 5 Raids: 1 Soul Point per Raid
• Reach Level 10 of a Covenant: 2 Soul Points
• Reach Level 20 of a Covenant: 3 Soul Points
• First Mark Obtained: 4 Soul Points
• Obtain All Super Classes on Each Slot: 1 Soul Point per obtained unique Super Class on each Slot

Best Soul Tree Upgrades & Stats to Get

The best Soul Tree nodes to get, especially early on, are the HP upgrades (Health 1, Health 2, Health 3, etc.). HP is the stat that outvalues everything else in the early game, as it's usually increased by flat values and not percentages like most others.

Now, for the post-level-up stat allocation, getting Luck and Endurance is by far the most important. The extra loot drop chance and Soul Essence gain from Luck are simply invaluable for quick progression, and the extra survivability is always welcome. The best tactic is to evenly split the points between Luck and Endurance until level ~15-20 and then switch up to your main combat stat.

How to Buy Weapons & Get a Base Class in Arcane Lineage

The first big choice you'll have to make in every one of your Arcane Lineage playthroughs is to pick a class. There are 5 base classes, and each has its own unique weapon and super classes (3 for each base class; check out the Arcane Lineage Trello for specifics). Depending on which weapon you choose in the beginning and which trainer you talk to, you'll lock yourself to that class for that playthrough.

To buy a beginner weapon, you need to visit the weapon shop right next to the main square of the starter town. On its second floor, you'll find all the weapons, and each one costs 50 gold. After you buy a weapon and reach level 5, you'll be able to talk to the class trainers and learn their skills. Here are all the beginner weapons, which class they correspond to, and where to find the class trainers:

Class	Weapon	Trainer Location
Thief	Ferrus Dagger	Behind a building straight across and to the left of the blacksmith.
Warrior	Broadsword	Guarding the gate right next to the item merchant.
Martial Artist	Ferrus Cestus	On top of the rocks, directly behind the golem carriage fast travel NPC.
Slayer	Ferrus Spear	From the center of Caldera, follow the path behind the guild jobs board. Continue forward and then turn left once you see an open cave. He is on the far left end of the cave.
Wizard	Old Staff	On top of a magical tower, behind and to the left of the golem carriage fast travel NPC.

Best Beginner Class

The best beginner class in Arcane Lineage is the Thief. His passives give him bonus movement speed and gold gain, which speed up your progression by quite a bit. Plus, both of the active skills are useful, one being a blind-inflicting skill and the other being a low-cooldown bleed-inflicting attack.

How to Heal in Arcane Lineage

The most reliable way of healing in the early game is to visit the Doctor NPC who is in a building marked with a heart signboard, next to the gems/weapon enhancement store. If you're playing on normal difficulty, the heals are free. If you're playing on hard/legendary, they cost gold (25/50 gold).

Complete Arcane Lineage Early Game Progression Guide

The replayability of Arcane Lineage is borderline infinite, and there are certain strategies that will help you make the most out of every run. Here is a step-by-step guide on what to do to reach max level reliably and also get extra character slots:

1. (Optional, 1st Time Player) Switch to Hard Difficulty: Follow the instructions from the wipe section above to change difficulty. By doing this, you'll progress much more quickly without too many drawbacks. If you're really bad at QTEs, stick to normal difficulty.
2. (1st Time Player) Unlock HP Soul Tree Upgrades: After switching to Hard Difficulty, meditate and get at least the first two Health Soul Tree upgrades. They'll help you with sustain and it's not like you've got anything better to take at that point.
3. Start Quests: Talk to the NPC, leaning at the entrance to the Enhancement Store, and choose "Can you help me out?" Finish the quest to get the Daze skill. Also, take the following quests from the Guild board if there are any: Slime Cleaning, Slime Investigation, Wilderness Hunting, and Bandit Hunting. Just walk around the wilderness to start encounters.
4. Level Up to Encounter Tier Breakpoints: Level up and spend skill points on Luck and Endurance. Make sure not to go past the Encounter Tier breakpoints unless you are strong enough.
5. Reach Level 5 and Get a Class: Once you reach level 5, sell all the junk you have to the merchant and buy a weapon and start learning skills from the designated teacher. Getting the weapon and unlocking all the skills will cost you 250-270 gold.
6. Get a Super Class and Beastmaster Sub Class: Continue grinding and get a Super Class at level 15. Info on how to unlock each Super Class is on the Trello. Also, get the Beastmaster Sub Class for better loot and farming.
7. Continue Grinding Until You Reach Level 40: Continue doing guild quests and other NPC quests until you max out your character. Spend skill points on the DPS stats if you're already tanky enough.
8. (Extra Character Slots) Buy 4 Resplendent Essence and Phoenix Tear: Buy these items from the Mysterious Man who spawns at the starter town every hour. Use 1 Resplendent Essence to get the 2nd slot. Craft the Radiance Elixir and consume it to get the 3rd slot.
9. (Soul Point Grind) Get Soul Points: Start farming Soul Point achievements (check the list above). Prioritize getting all Super Classes individually (unlocking the first skill at level 15 is enough). You can check your Soul Point progression by talking to the NPC across from the Guild board.
10. (End Game Grinding) Kill Bosses: You've reached as far as you can go, and its time you start farming better gear, min-max your build, and eventually start farming Yar'thul, Thorian, and Metrom's Vessel.

Useful Arcane Lineage Links & Resources

• Arcane Lineage Ultimate Trello
• Arcane Lineage Helper's Trello
• Arcane Lineage Fan Wiki
• Arcane Lineage Official Discord

Caldera (Starter Town) Map

And that does it for our ultimate Arcane Lineage beginner's guide. Now that you know all the basics and essential mechanics, progressing will be that much easier. Also, for more AL content, visit the Roblox hub on our website.