If you haven’t tried Arcane Lineage (Light & Dark) yet, then now’s the perfect time to do so. With the latest update, getting started is way smoother, so even if you’re a complete beginner, you won’t be stuck wandering around like a bot. My guide is here to make sure you don’t end up as just another nameless player wiped out by slimes. From picking the right difficulty (seriously, Normal mode is a trap) to getting your first skills and finding your way to Caldera Town’s key NPCs, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know. I’ve been through the grind myself, so I’ll throw in some personal tips to help you survive and maybe even thrive!
Complete Beginner’s Guide (Light & Dark)
It’s worth noting that there are 3 difficulty modes in the game. These are Normal, Hard, and Legendary. As a new player, the default difficulty is set to Normal mode. However, you’d want to play on Hard mode instead for a handful of reasons.
For starters, Normal mode doesn’t provide any sort of benefits to your character while leveling up. Meanwhile, Hard mode grants you 2x drop rates, 1.3x gold from selling stuff, and 2x Essence gain. The caveat, however, is that healing will cost 25 gold, but since you’re earning more gold, this can be easily mitigated.
I don’t recommend going Legendary if you’re a new beginner, though. While you’ll have higher gold drops and drop rates, you will only have 1 life, which is quite tough for newbies. With that out of the way, let’s get to the tips you’d want to follow as a beginner.
Change Your Difficulty While Dying 3 Times
As soon as you enter the game, you want to change the difficulty ASAP. You can do this by performing a clean wipe. This can be achieved at level 1 by dying 3 times while you still have 0 Essence.
There are a few ways to do this. One is by looking for an enemy encounter outside of the starting area and getting killed 3 times.
The other is by jumping into the void which you can find outside the starting area. Feel free to choose which method you want to follow depending on which one you find easier. I would take the second option since it’s a lot more reliable and far less time-consuming.
After dying 3 times, you’ll be teleported into the Fractured Realm. Here, you want to talk to The Soulmaster which you can find on the right side of the area after spawning.
Talk to this NPC and choose “I’d like to challenge myself” to change the difficulty to Hard mode. Once you’re done, you’ll respawn at the starting area with the new difficulty.
Party with Friends or Other Players
Now that you’re playing on Hard mode, it’s worth noting that the game can get really hard if you’re playing solo. As such, I highly recommend playing with friends to take on enemies in the game.
Doing so will make your experience a whole lot easier. While the difficulty of an encounter will scale depending on your party, it will still be a lot easier compared to fighting enemies alone given the game’s steep learning curve.
Also, when you’re fighting a boss, it can be hard – sometimes impossible – to take it down solo unless you’re playing a specific build.
So, you’d want to get used to the game’s multiplayer aspect as soon as you can. Besides, you only have 3 lives, so you want to make the most out of it.
Always Do Guild or Bounty Board Quests
In the starting area, you can find the Bounty Board just close to your spawn point. As much as possible, make sure to do all of these quests you can find on the board.
Doing so grants you various rewards such as gold and experience which can be pretty useful if you’re starting out. If you don’t like the current quests on the board, you can simply talk to the Guild Clerk right next to it to change them.
Obtain the Daze Skill ASAP
Just across the Bounty Board, you’ll find an NPC named Yorn. Talk to him.
Choose the “Can you help me out?” option, and he’ll then give you a quest to kill 3 Slimes. You can find slimes just outside of the starting area.
Once you’re done, talk to Yorn, and he’ll then give you the Daze skill. This is a very good skill you want to use early in the game as it doubles the damage of your hit and even weakens your target.
He’ll also give you the Abhorrent Elixir which basically reduces the chance of an enemy encounter whenever you’re walking outside.
Unlock the Mator’s Encyclopedia
Not far from the spawn point to the far left from where you can find Yorn, you want to talk to an NPC named H.T Louie. Doing so unlocks the Mator’s Encyclopedia.
What the encyclopedia does is it records every monster you kill as well as every gear and potion you acquire. You can come back here each time you do any of the following to get an idea of what they do, where and how to find them, etc.
It’s essentially a guidebook for players and one that’s really handy for beginners.
You also want to familiarize yourself with the map of the starting area, Caldera Town, to get an idea of where to find every NPC in the area.
Choose Your Base Class
After you reach level 5, you’ll then be able to pick your Base class.
To do so, head inside the weapon shop you can find to the left of Yorn near the spawn point. You’ll find a ladder inside. Climb the ladder to reach the second floor where you can find all sorts of weapons.
You’ll find weapons like a dagger, staff, spear, cestus, and a broadsword. Your choice of a weapon will determine the Base class you’ll get. Buy your weapon for 50 gold and then head to your respective NPC trainer afterward.
Leveling Up Your Character
Leveling up in Arcane Lineage doesn’t follow the traditional method of leveling up in other games. Instead of gaining experience points, you gain a resource called Essence which you can get by killing monsters or completing quests.
The amount of Essence you get will depend on your current difficulty, the type of quest you completed, and the type of mob you killed.
Note: There’s a limit to the amount of Essence you can hold. Once you’ve reached the cap, you’ll need to level up to increase it again.
Once you have enough Essence, head toward the spawn point and look for this mat on the ground. Stand on top of the map and press M to Meditate. Doing so teleports you to The Spirit Domain.
After arriving, head to the center where the massive glowing orb is. Interact with the orb to use your Essence to level up.
Keep in mind that the higher your level, the more Essence you’ll need to level up. However, your difficulty won’t affect the Essence requirement for leveling up – only the Essence you gain.
Also, if you have enough Essence to reach a certain level, then the game will treat you as such. For example, if you’re only level 3 but have enough Essence to reach level 5, then you can advance to level 5 right away.
In return, this will increase the difficulty of the monsters you’ll encounter.
Upon leveling up, you’ll receive three points to allocate to your preferred stats. Simply press M after to return to Caldera Town.
Upgrading Your Soul Tree
On the opposite side of The Spirit Domain is the Soul Point area. This is where you can upgrade your Soul Tree using Soul points to grant you a variety of bonuses.
There are various ways to get Soul points, some of which are as follows:
- Getting your first Artifact
- Getting a Super Class for the first time
- Getting a Super Class (repeatable)
- Killing a Boss for the first time
- Getting your first Mark
- Completing the Metrom’s Vessel raid
Once you have enough Soul points, simply talk to the huge eye in the center and choose the Interlink option to open the Soul Tree.
Feel free to allocate your Soul points to whatever you want. Just hover your mouse over the white dots for more details on what they grant.
Personally, I would go for the Path of Empowerment and allocate my points to health to increase my max HP and essentially double its value.
If you want a more in-depth guide, I highly recommend reading this Soul Points complete guide.
Wrapping Things Up
Once you’ve grasped the basics of the game, feel free to do whatever you want to do. Most people would head over to the desert once they’re done with the starting area. Good luck!
