Ragnarok: The New World – Druid Guide: Glacier Burst Arcanist

Glacier Burst Arcanist V2

This build is designed for the Druid (Alithea) 2nd Advanced Job while the level cap is below 80. It assumes a basic understanding of the game’s progression systems.

The build follows a general-purpose Arcanist approach while incorporating skills from both the Wereraptor and Werewolf trees. These additional skills provide mobility, crowd control, repositioning, and gap-closing tools, particularly useful in team-based PvP.

Stat Allocation

Fast skill execution is the primary DPS goal. Faster casting allows skills and their associated effects to trigger more frequently, increasing overall damage.

The main stats are:

1. DEX: Highest priority. Invest enough DEX to reach the 100% Variable Cast Time (VCT) reduction cap. DEX only reduces VCT and does not reduce Fixed Cast Time (FCT).
2. INT: High priority after reaching the VCT cap. Invest in INT for additional damage.
3. VIT: Optional. Invest in VIT when additional survivability is more valuable than damage.

Do not invest in STR, AGI, or LUK.

Adjust your allocation according to the content you are playing. PvP will generally benefit from a healthier VIT investment, while PvE may allow you to prioritize damage instead.

Cast Time Considerations

Depending on your equipment, cards, Rune Engine resonance, relics, consumables, and access to a Priest’s Blessing and Suffragium, you may be able to reach -100% VCT without investing DEX. If you can already reach the VCT cap through these sources, put your available stat points into INT and VIT instead.

VCT and FCT are separate stats, and both are important for this build:

• VCT reduction should be capped at -100%.
• FCT reduction should be increased as much as reasonably possible without sacrificing too many damage modifiers.

The Natural Harmony basic skill provides -35% VCT and is naturally learned when advancing to Alithea, reducing the amount of additional VCT reduction required from other sources.

Skill Distribution

The build uses mobility and crowd-control skills from the Werewolf and Wereraptor trees to improve repositioning and gap closing, especially in team-based PvP.

Druid, 1st Job

• Transform: Werewolf: Level 1
• Transform: Wereraptor: Level 3
• Bird Feather Shot: Level 5
• Low Altitude Flight: Level 5
• Swift Tornado: Level 1
• Nature’s Shield: Level 5
• Nature’s Truth: Level 5
• Frozen Totem: Level 5
• Gale Blade: Level 5
• Blooming Splendor: Level 5

Kanos, 2nd Job

• Vile Claw Strike: Level 5
• Shred: Level 5
• Shadow Night Hunter: Level 5
• Glacier Monolith: Level 10
• Overload: Level 5
• Earthen Sprout: Level 5
• Force of Nature: Level 5

Alithea, 2nd Advanced Job

• Wrath of Nature: Level 10
• Glacial Stomp: Level 10
• Thunder Charge: Level 5
• Earth’s Bounty: Level 10
• Gravity Well: Level 5

Skill Notes

Frozen Totem, Gale Blade, and Blooming Splendor do not need to be maxed beyond the levels required for this build. Their purpose is to unlock the Kanos skills that synergize with them.

Wrath of Nature can use the following elements:

• Neutral, without converters
• Fire, Wind, Earth, or Water, with the appropriate converters
• Holy, with Aspersio

Force of Nature and Wrath of Nature therefore provide flexibility when adapting the build to different elemental requirements.

Equipment

Equipment choices can vary depending on whether you want to play as a fragile damage dealer who constantly repositions or as an initiator who dives into enemy lines to create opportunities for your party, team, or guild.

The following setup provides a general-purpose equipment configuration:

Slot	Equipment
Main Hand	Royal Penitence Staff, Level 55
Offhand / Shield	Element Resistance Shield II
Body Armor	Sprint Mail II, Set Bonus 1/3
Cape	Rider Insignia II, Set Bonus 1/3
Footgear	Sprint Shoes II, Set Bonus 1/3

Accessories for Cast Time Reduction

If you need additional VCT and FCT reduction:

• Golden Bell
• Clamorous Ring

If your VCT and FCT reduction is already sufficient:

• Orlean’s Necklace
• Orlean’s Gloves

For maximum FCT reduction:

• Clamorous Ring
• Clamorous Ring

Refine Resonance

Aim for Refine Resonance I, with at least +6 on six pieces of equipment. Eventually, work toward Refine Resonance II, with at least +10 on six pieces.

Meeting the resonance requirements across the required number of pieces generally provides more benefit than heavily upgrading only one or two items. Higher refine resonances are preferable when resources allow.

Gear Rating

Do not artificially increase Gear Rating (GR) simply to make the number higher. Focus on equipment, cards, and gear skills that directly improve your damage or survivability.

For example, equipping a Poison Spore card can increase GR because it is a purple-rarity card, but that does not provide a meaningful benefit to this Druid build.

Refining

Unless you are a high spender, avoid refining too aggressively. Refine only when you have enough Oridecon and Elunium to cover potential downgrades.

An alternative is to use dummy equipment for upgrades and later transfer the refinements. This can help preserve your current refine resonance while upgrading other equipment.

Equipment Special Skills

Not every Level 70 offensive skill necessarily provides higher DPS for this build. Some appear better suited to burst-combo setups.

This guide prioritizes sustained DPS and general defensive utility rather than specialized builds.

Offensive Skills, General Use

• Primordial Dread, Level 70 series
• Skyward Soar, Level 70 series
• Nature’s Truth, Level 25 series

Offensive Skill, Honorable Mention

• Majestic Glacier, Level 40 and Level 55 series

Defensive Skills, PvP

• Duelist Guard, starting from the Level 25 series and higher
• PDMG / MDMG Reduction, starting from the Level 25 series and higher

Defensive Skills, PvE

• PDMG Reduction, starting from the Level 25 series and higher
• MDMG Reduction, starting from the Level 25 series and higher

If possible, forge orange special versions of these skills through the enhanced forge system. Higher modifiers provide greater benefits.

For example, a sufficiently high-tier and high-level Skyward Soar can provide more DPS than Majestic Glacier because it also affects other damaging skills and passives.

However, not taking Majestic Glacier reduces the AoE of Glacier Burst, which is not recommended for PvP.

Movement-speed buffs can further increase the benefits of Skyward Soar. Relevant sources mentioned in this build include:

• Increase AGI from Priests
• Sohee’s Level 3 active skill
• Moonlight Flower Card

Forging Priorities

When forging offensive gear skills, craft them on accessories first.

The number of accessory molds available each week is limited, with Level 25 molds having a permanent limit. Determining which skills appear on your accessories first makes it easier to decide what to target on your weapon, where you have more flexibility because more molds can be obtained each week.

Only one instance of a particular gear skill takes effect, regardless of where the skill is placed.

Defensive Skill Selection

Defensive recommendations depend on the content you play most frequently. Other options, such as Curse of Frost and Curse of Stunning, are also viable and can be selected according to your needs.

Shadow Gear

Shadow Gear can increase both DPS and survivability. Obtaining a complete high-rarity set depends heavily on your party’s performance in the Final Mirage raid.

Recommended sets are:

• Shadow Series, with fixed affixes on Legendary / orange grade
• Altered Shadow Series, with randomized fixed affixes on Legendary / orange grade

Complete a set that is relevant to your build. Both recommended sets provide benefits to magic damage.

Higher rarity and tier provide stronger base affixes.

If your party can reach at least an S rank in Final Mirage, obtaining a suitable gear set should be relatively accessible. An S rank has a chance to award Legendary gear, as confirmed by the guide’s author. The author could not confirm whether Royal Shadow Gear can be obtained at that time.

Lower-Rarity Shadow Gear

Blue and purple Shadow Gear has no fixed affixes. These items drop with 2 to 4 random affixes, and rerolling them can change both the number and type of affixes.

Rerolling blue or purple Shadow Gear is discouraged. Save your resources for orange, Legendary, or Royal gear instead.

Shadow Gear Enhancement

You can balance your Shadow Gear enhancement levels across the set.

For additional DPS, prioritize:

1. Gloves
2. Pendant
3. Earring

Shadow Gear can also be enchanted with gems. Use the recommended gem options for the build.

Rune Engine

Rune Engine progression can become expensive because of its RNG-based systems. Prioritize completing the elemental resonances first, as they are likely to provide more consistent benefits and can generally be completed sooner than obtaining specific traits with ideal resonance combinations.

Elemental Resonances

Wind Resonance: Priority

At Level 3, Wind Resonance provides:

• All stats
• ASPD
• FCT reduction
• A short Haste status

Water Resonance

At Level 3, Water Resonance provides:

• MDMG
• Ignore MDEF
• An increasing chance to deal 40% bonus damage

Preferred Traits

• AoE Amplification: Increases the AoE skill damage multiplier.
• Layered Blade: Increases damage as it stacks.

Additional Useful Traits

• Agile Defense: Increases damage while stationary or decreases damage taken while moving.
• Balanced Defense: Increases damage dealt or decreases damage taken depending on your HP percentage.
• Fortune’s Favor: Provides different effects, including increased PATK and MATK, increased all-class damage, or increased movement speed.
• Chance for Bonus DMG: Provides a chance to increase PATK and MATK for a period of time.
• Healing Assault: Increases the PATK and MATK of the healed target. Use First Aid to trigger it.

Any combination of these traits can benefit the Druid. More specialized combinations may be preferable for specific roles, particularly PvP.

Rune Resource Management

Be careful when using FUSE, HARMONY, or REROLL. These systems can consume cores, elemental breath, magic stones, and zeny quickly if used without careful resource management.

Rune boxes are obtained naturally while playing. Rushing to complete your runes can require a large amount of resources unless you are fortunate with RNG.

A practical approach is to maintain two rune sets:

1. A set dedicated to completing your elemental resonances.
2. A set dedicated to developing your preferred traits.

Use FUSE, HARMONY, and REROLL on the second set over time, gradually changing its resonance combinations and rolling affixes that fit your build.

Pets

For this build, prioritize pets that reduce both Variable and Fixed Cast Time. Pets providing raw magic damage bonuses are secondary.

Cast Time Reduction

• Squidgitte (SR): 50% cast-time reduction at maximum active skill level.
• Marina (R): 45% cast-time reduction at maximum active skill level.

Damage Buffs

• Dawn (SSR): 18% MATK increase at maximum active skill level.
• Sohee (SR): 8% MDMG increase at maximum stacks, starting at Level 2 passive skill level.
• Rocker (N): 10% MATK increase at maximum active skill level.

Piamette also provides cast-time reduction, but its active skill provides only 10% at every level, which is considered too low to justify the additional time and investment for this build.

Recommended Pet Loadout

Squidgitte >> Marina >> Any preferred pet >> Sohee

These pets are relatively convenient to advance in tier and affinity because they can be captured in the world.

Locations mentioned in the build:

• Squidgitte: Undersea Tunnel 2F, Bayarlan Island
• Marina: Undersea Tunnel 1F, Bayarlan Island
• Sohee: Munak Cave 3F, Payon’s Archer Village Center

Increasing the affinity of deployed pets provides additional damage and survivability bonuses. Higher affinity and rarity provide stronger benefits.

Miya, an SSR pet, can be considered for the final slot because it can currently be captured in the world, making its pet shards relatively accessible.

Pet Cycling

Pet cycling can increase DPS. Summon pets again after they have used their skills to stack their effects.

Sohee works differently. As long as she remains alive and continues attacking, her MDMG buff continues to stack without expiring.

Playstyle and Rotation

This version of the Arcanist is intended to remain viable across the game’s available content without requiring extensive changes between activities. Specialized builds can provide better performance in specific content, but this build is designed as a general-purpose setup.

Wrath of Nature is the primary damage skill, so avoid interrupting its use while engaging your target.

Before attacking:

1. Ensure VCT reduction is at -100%.
2. Get as much FCT reduction as reasonably possible.
3. Buff yourself with Nature’s Truth and Nature’s Shield.
4. Set up Glacier Monolith if it is not already active.
5. Spam Wrath of Nature.

Wrath of Nature and Glacier Monolith, with Primordial Dread required for the latter, can use the following elements:

• Neutral
• Earth
• Frost
• Storm
• Fire
• Holy

Have the appropriate elemental converters ready, and use a Priest with Aspersio when Holy element is required.

Dive Nuke and Disengage

The Alithea skills allow the build to dive into groups of targets, disable them, and deal damage. The Wereraptor and Werewolf skills are particularly useful for crowd control and disengagement.

After performing the dive nuke rotation, disengage using Vile Claw Strike, followed by Swift Tornado.

The order is important. Vile Claw Strike must connect with a target before you step back. If Swift Tornado is used first, the character will move back toward the target and then step away, defeating the purpose of the disengage sequence.

General Rotation

1. Set the appropriate elemental converters, or receive Aspersio from a Priest if necessary.
2. Buff yourself with Nature’s Shield and Nature’s Truth.
3. Cast Glacier Monolith at the target’s location.
4. Spam Wrath of Nature.

Dive Nuke Rotation

1. Buff yourself with Nature’s Shield and Nature’s Truth.
2. Cast Glacier Monolith at the target’s location.
3. Pre-cast Thunder Charge.
4. Cast Glacial Stomp.
5. Cast Gravity Well.
6. Use Shadow Night Hunter.
7. Spam Wrath of Nature if you can survive staying in range.
8. Disengage with Vile Claw Strike first, followed by Swift Tornado.

Do not reverse the order of the final two skills.