Summoner Guide
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An up-to-date Summoner job guide is provided by The Balance.
Arcanist Mechanics
- Arcanist starts with only
Ruin unlocked. For the early levels, this will be the button that is pushed most often. - At level 2, arcanists gain access to
Summon Carbuncle and 
Radiant Aegis.
- Summon Carbuncle summons a pet carbuncle to your side. A good arcanist should always try to make sure carbuncle is summoned, as they provide access to numerous important spells and abilities later. Keep in mind that carbuncles retreat when their summoner falls in battle, so they need to be re-summoned after a raise or when returning to the start of a dungeon.
- Radiant Aegis is the first ability an arcanist learns that requires carbuncle summoned to be used. It orders carbuncle to execute an ability of the same name on the summoner, which creates a barrier around them, which absorbs **all** damage totaling 20% of their maximum HP. This effect lasts 30 seconds, and is best used before a large attack.
- At level 4, arcanists gain access to
Physick, the only healing spell in the arcanist kit.
- Unlike Red Mage's
Vercure, which is based on intelligence, Physick is based on mind. While going through A Realm Reborn, arcanists are likely to find gear which increases both mind and intelligence, making this a useful spell during solo content. However, in Heavensward and later expansions, arcanist and summoner gear are more likely going to ignore mind in favor of intelligence, making this spell less useful in later content.
- Unlike Red Mage's
- At level 6, arcanists first job gauge, the trance gauge, as well as a few spells:
Aethercharge is the first of these. For 15 seconds, this increases the potency Ruin. At the end of Aethercharge, the arcanums are refreshed (at this point, only the ruby arcanum). Arcanums can't be used for the duration of Aethercharge.- While the ruby arcanum is available,
Summon Ruby can be used. This will turn carbuncle into a ruby carbuncle, and attacks their summoner's target for 400 potency. It also grants 2 fire attunements for 30 seconds. - Without any attunement available,
Gemshine is unusable. However, with the fire attunements granted by Summon Ruby, Gemshine is replaced with 
Ruby Ruin. - Ruby Ruin costs 1 fire attunement, which is consumed after the spell has finished casting. It takes 2.8 seconds to cast and has a recast of 3 seconds, but deals 340 potency damage. After Summon Ruby, this spell can be used twice.
- At level 10, arcanist learns 2 more abilities,
Energy Drain and 
Fester, as well as another gauge, the aetherflow gauge.
- These actions are abilities and off the global cooldown (oGCD), meaning they can be used in-between spells (though not during casts).
- Energy Drain deals damage with a potency of 200, and also grants 2 aetherflow. It can be used once every 60 seconds.
- Fester costs 1 aetherflow, and deals damage with a potency of 300. It can be used once every second, but is limited by how much aetherflow there is.
- At level 12,
Resurrection becomes available. It has a high MP cost and a long cast time, but can be used to raise a fallen player.
- Because of the long cast time, it's recommended to be paired with
Swiftcast if available. If it is not available, it's recommended to know when it's safe to stand in place for a long time during a fight. Also keep in mind that raising someone gives them the 
Weakness debuff. Raising someone with weakness gives them 
Brink of Death instead. This debuff is not given when a player returns to the start of a dungeon, so it may be better to let them use that instead.
- Because of the long cast time, it's recommended to be paired with
- At level 15, the class quest Topaz Teachings is available. This quest rewards the arcanist with access to the topaz arcanum.
- Aethercharge now grants the ruby arcanum and the topaz arcanum.
- While the topaz arcanum is available,
Summon Topaz can be used. This will turn carbuncle into a topaz carbuncle, and attacks their summoner's target for 400 potency. It also grants 4 earth attunements for 30 seconds. - With earth attunements,
Topaz Ruin replaces Gemshine. It costs 1 earth attunement, has an instant cast time and a 2.5 second recast, and deals damage with a potency of 240. - Because of the instant cast time, in between Topaz Ruins is a great time to use Energy Drain and Fester.
- At level 22, the emerald arcanum is added to aethercharge.
- With the emerald arcanum, it becomes possible to use
Summon Emerald. This will turn carbuncle into an emerald carbuncle, and attacks their summoner's target for 400 potency. It also grants 4 wind attunements for 30 seconds. - With wind attunements,
Emerald Ruin replaces Gemshine. It costs 1 wind attunement, has an instant cast time and a 1.5 second recast, and deals damage with a potency of 160. - Emerald Ruin is weak, but instantly cast and has a shorter recast timer than anything else, making it easy to spam.
- With the emerald arcanum, it becomes possible to use
- At level 26, two more spells become available:
Outburst and 
Precious Brilliance.
- These are both AoE, or area of effect, spells, meaning they deal damage to a group of enemies surrounding the targeted enemy. As a rule of thumb, they are best used on a group of three or more enemies.
- Outburst is the basic AoE spell, similar to Ruin. It is also affected by Aethercharge.
- Precious Brilliance is the AoE version of Gemshine, being replaced with
Ruby Outburst with fire attunements, 
Topaz Outburst with earth attunements, and 
Emerald Outburst with wind attunements. They function similarly to the single-target version, with ruby hitting harder but having a longer cast and recast, topaz dealing decent damage and being an instant cast, and emerald dealing weak damage but being an instant cast and having a shorter recast.
- The level 30 quest Sinking Doesmaga provides an upgrade to Ruin and Gemshine.
Ruin II replaces Ruin.
Ruby Ruin II replaces Ruby Ruin.
Topaz Ruin II replaces Topaz Ruin.
Emerald Ruin II replaces Emerald Ruin.- These are all simply potency upgrades, functionality of these spells remains the same.
Basic Rotation
The skills unlocked during arcanist provide a basic framework for a rotation of actions for summoners.
- After joining combat (it may be required to use an auto-attack or Ruin II/ Outburst), Aethercharge should be used as soon as possible.
- Because Aethercharge is instant and triggers the global cooldown (GCD), Energy Drain should be used immediately after.
- Because
- During the duration of Aethercharge, Ruin II or Outburst should be used as often as possible to make use of the increased potency window.
- After the effects of Aethercharge have worn off and the arcanums are available, two paths are available: Summon Topaz or Summon Emerald.
- While Summon Ruby is also available, fire attunement isn't as easy to use as earth or wind.
- Once one path ends, the other should be taken. For example, if Summon Topaz is used first, Summon Emerald should be used after all of the earth attunements are used.
- While