Octopath Traveler 2: How To Unlock The Arcanist | Advanced Job Guide

The Arcanist is an extremely powerful — and extremely weird — Advanced Job available to unlock in Octopath Traveler 2. At about Level 35+, you’ll be able to easily explore an area called the Sundering Sea. The vast ocean between the two continents is packed with high-level content, valuable treasure, and optional bosses. One of those bosses guards the path to the Arcanist Advanced Job island. If you’re brave enough, learn how to unlock this exotic class and get a full list of skills.

The Arcanist is different than other Advanced Jobs like the Armsmaster or the Inventor. You don’t need to complete quests to unlock more skills — all you need is lots of JP. Each skill costs a huge bounty of JP (2,000 JP each) to unlock, but these are some of the most powerful skills in the game. They’re all weird, so you’ll need to plan ahead and prepare your party accordingly to get the most out of this strange support magician.

More Octopath Traveler 2 guides:

All 8 Standard Job Altars | Inventor Advanced Job Guide | Armsmaster Advanced Job Guide | Secondary Job Guild Locations | Best Weapons You Can Find Early | How To Unlock The Ship & Sea Region | Best Weapons To Get Early | Scent of Commerce Quests Guide | Bottled Nightmare Trick | Secret Sunshadow Staff

Arcanist Advanced Job | Location Guide

The Arcanist is an advanced magic-based job that gives you various powerful support skills — and deadly Light / Dark elemental magic.

• How To Unlock The Arcanist Job: Travel to the Sundering Sea, only accessible after purchasing the ship for 100,000 leaves with Partitio. The ship is located at the dock in Tropu’hopu.
  • Take the ship to the southeast, south of New Delsta on the map and find the huge whirlpool in the water. Approaching the whirlpool will initiate a difficult optional boss fight.
  • Defeat the Scourge of the Sea boss to clear the whirlpool and access the large section of waters to the southeast.
  • Past the whirlpool, look for a labyrinth island — disembark at The Lost Isle and explore the dungeon.

The maze is actually a trick. Climb the ladder and at the center you’ll find a sign. The sign says ‘Find the True Path’ — you don’t need to enter the maze at all. You can find the path to the Arcanist Guildmaster right here.

• How To Solve The Lost Isle: Near the entrance to the maze, there’s a signpost. Walk left into the edge of the stone square to find an invisible path.
  • The invisible path leads far left to a tall tower with an NPC. This is the Arcanist Descendant. Talk to him to unlock the Arcanist Advanced Job.

Unlike other Advanced Jobs, this job costs JP to unlock new skills. Each skill costs 2,000 JP to unlock. The Arcanist is a powerful support magician that can aid other support party members and heal themselves with dark or light magic.

• Arcanist Job Skills:
  • Malice: 25 SP – Deal dark-based damage to all foes, and restore HP to all allies. The more damage you deal, the more HP you restore.
  • Blessing: 25 SP – Deal light-based damage to all foes, and restore SP to all allies. The more damage you deal, the more SP you restore.
  • Hex: 18 SP – Extend the duration of attribute-reducing effects on all foes by 1 turn.
  • Seal of Diffusion: 25 SP – Extend the reach of skills that only target the user to affect all allies for 3 turns.
  • Seal of Inversion: 15 SP – Change 1 attribute-reducing effect on yourself to an attribute-raising effect.
  • Seal of Immortality: 15 SP – Grant yourself an effect that leaves you with 1 HP when hit with an otherwise lethal attack. This effect will disappear once triggered, or after 3 turns.
  • Reflective Barrier: 15 SP – Grant a single ally the ability to reflect 1 elemental attack.
  • Seal of Eternity: 50 SP – [Divine Skill] Indefinitely extend the duration of a random positive status effect on a single ally.

• Arcanist Support Skills:
  • SP Recovery: Upon taking damage, gain an amount of SP equivalent to 1% of damage taken.
  • Lasting Memory: The equipping character’s status effects do not disappear even when they become incapacitated.
  • Price of Power: Doubles the amount of SP consumed when using magic, but increases the effect of spells.
  • Of Equal Might: Equalizes the physical attack and elemental attack of the equipping character to whichever value is higher.

That’s everything you need to know about the Arcanist, one of the best Advanced Jobs.