Arcana
Arcana is the magic in the world of Wild ARMs 3. Learned by invoking the power of the Guardians of Filgaia, Arcana is not only useful for taking down stubborn enemies, you are actually required to use most of the spells in the game to succeed! Of course, your enemies may also use Arcana on you from time to time!
Characters do not "learn" Arcana in Wild ARMs 3, as you should know. Rather, each Medium you invoke (equip) comes with a set of 4 Arcana spells unique to that Medium. Consider that when outfitting your team; you may want a character with a high magic-attack stat to have attack Arcana, or you may want to equip Gallows with a certain Medium so that you can "extend" spells with his unique Force Ability. There are many possibilities, and you are very free to experiment.
You should know by now that casting Arcana has no "penalty"; there are no Magic Points consumed or anything. However, to cast an Arcana, you must have a predetermined amount of FP for that character. Once reached, you can cast that spell as much as you want as long as your FP stays at that number: casting Arcana does NOT reduce your FP total. Also note that each Arcana targets one enemy or ally, unless you use Gallows' Extension ability beforehand. Finally, positive or negative statuses given by Arcana generally last for about 3-5 turns, so keep this in mind (Weaken lasts until the end of the battle.) If you want positive statuses to last longer, simply cast Permanence on the character with the statuses, and they will last until the end of battle.
Finally, note that it will sometimes be beneficial to "temporarily" switch your Medium setups around to allow other characters to access different Arcana.
Listed below are the Arcana in the game, their FP cost, their effects, their "range" when cast with Extension, whether or not they can be reflected, and their in-game description to make them sound cool. They are sorted into 12 tables, each representing the Medium that bestows the group of Arcana to you.
Schturdark's Arcana
Name: | FP Cost: | Effect: | Extension Range: | Can be Reflected? | Description: |
Pressure | 10 FP | A Water-elemental magic attack to one target | One enemy group | Yes | A water attack that crushes and suffocates the target. |
Refrigerate | 10 FP | An Ice-elemental magic attack to one target | One enemy group | Yes | An ice attack that instantly freezes a confined space. |
Heal | 12 FP | Restores some HP to one target | All party members | No | Heals injuries by accelerating the target's metabolism. |
Analyze | 4 FP | "Scans" a monster and displays its HP, EXP, Gella, status ailments it is suffering, and elemental information (Halved, Resist, Weak, Active, Absorb). After the spell is cast, you can view the monster's status when inputting battle commands by targeting the monster and holding Triangle. Also, upon scanning a monster, the information on it is "saved", and you'll be able to view the status of any more monsters of the same type using the aforementioned method at any point in the game. | One enemy group | No | Scans an enemy and reveals some of its attack patterns |
Name: | FP Cost: | Effect: | Extension Range: | Can be Reflected? | Description: |
Petrify | 10 FP | An Earth-elemental magic attack to one target. | One enemy group | Yes | Instantly petrifies target, inflicting earth damage |
Shield | 8 FP | Halves damage caused by physical attacks to target. | All party members | No | Deploys a barrier that softens physical attacks |
Protect | 8 FP | Halves damage caused by magical attacks to target. | All party members | No | Deploys a barrier that softens magical attacks |
Decelerate | 8 FP | Lowers the target's RFX (speed) stat. | One enemy group | Yes | Affects target's reflexes, slowing its response time |
Name: | FP Cost: | Effect: | Extension Range: | Can be Reflected? | Description: |
Vortex | 10 FP | A Wind-elemental magic attack to one target. | One enemy group | Yes | A wind attack of tornadoes and cyclones |
Inspire | 10 FP | A Thunder-elemental magic attack to one target. | One enemy group | Yes | A thunder attack that disrupts atmospheric charges |
Turbulence | 12 FP | Doubles target's EVA (evade) stat. | All party members | No | Weaves a veil of turbulent air to enhance evasion |
Quicken | 8 FP | Increases target's RFX (speed) stat. | All party members | No | Enhances speed by affecting the target's reflexes |
Name: | FP Cost: | Effect: | Extension Range: | Can be Reflected? | Description: |
Cremate | 10 FP | A Fire-elemental magic attack to one target. | One enemy group | Yes | A fire attack that stimulates molecular activity |
Devastate | 20 FP | A Non-elemental magic attack to target. | One enemy group | Yes | Release an explosive energy to inflict non-elemental damage |
Fragile | 6 FP | Halves DEF (physical defense) stat of target. | One enemy group | Yes | Weakens target's vitality, lowering physical defense |
Revive | 8 FP | Revives a fallen character back to 1 HP | All party members | No | Revives a fallen ally by stimulating his survival instincts |
Name: | FP Cost: | Effect: | Extension Range: | Can be Reflected? | Description: |
Feeble Mind | 16 FP | Lower's target's MGR (Magic Resistance) stat. | One enemy group | Yes | Weaken's target's willpower, lowering magic defense |
Sleep | 32 FP | Attempts to inflict Sleep status to target | One enemy group | Yes | Causes target's brain to secrete sleep-inducing substances |
Eraser | 24 FP | Erases all positive statuses on target. | One enemy group | No | Removes restrictive magical effects from the target |
Grav | 24 FP | Halves the HP of target if it succeeds; some enemies are immune to this | One enemy group | Yes | Modulates vital balance through irregular tidal power |
Name: | FP Cost: | Effect: | Extension Range: | Can be Reflected? | Description: |
Spectre | 10 FP | A Light-elemental magic attack to one target. | One enemy group | Yes | Bursts of laser fire that inflict elemental light damage |
Clearance | 32 FP | Cures all status ailments of target, aside from Bomb status or Fallen status | All party members | No | Activates self-purification, relieving abnormal status |
Reflect | 36 FP | Puts Reflect status on target, meaning that certain attack Arcana that hit target will be "bounced back" to the caster | All party members | No | Reflects Arcana attacks |
Valiant | 24 FP | Raises the ATT (attack power) of target by an amount corresponding to Max HP - Current HP. Lower HP means more attack power! This spell is continually updated, so if you cast it and your HP is decreased further or increased further, your attack power is updated right away! | All party members | No | Converts lost vitality into physical strength |
Name: | FP Cost: | Effect: | Extension Range: | Can be Reflected? | Description: |
Hox Pox | 18 FP | Increases target's luck by one level temporarily | All party members | No | Temporarily enhances luck |
Pickpocket | 32 FP | Attempts to steal the target's item. Has a very low success rate. | One enemy group | Yes | Steal items currently possessed by the target |
Randomizer | 0 FP | Casts a random spell from caster's list of spells to a random target, without worrying about FP cost | Depends on Arcana cast | Depends on Arcana cast | Invokes random Arcana in possession, regardless of FP total |
Familiar | 64 FP | Does elemental magic damage to target, but the element is randomly chosen! If element is supposed to be Absorbed by enemy, it still takes damage. | One enemy group | Yes | Random elemental attack through servant device |
Name: | FP Cost: | Effect: | Extension Range: | Can be Reflected? | Description: |
Banish | 48 FP | Attempts to instantly kill an enemy | One enemy group | Yes | Instantly extinguishes the target's life force |
Replay | 100 FP | Target repeats the command they just selected at the end of the turn. Meaning, if you have a character attack, and a character cast Replay on the attacker, the attacker attacks AGAIN at the end of the turn! | All party members | No | Repeat the previous command at the end of your turn |
Escape | 5 FP | Attempts to make your party escape from battle. Low success rate. | N/A | N/A | Escape from battle |
Reset | 100 FP | Restarts the battle from the beginning | N/A | N/A | Restarts current battle |
Name: | FP Cost: | Effect: | Extension Range: | Can be Reflected? | Description: |
Weaken | 32 FP | Attempts to puts an elemental weakness on target. You can choose which element from the elements that the caster can do elemental damage with. For example, if you cast Weaken and that character can cast Vortex and Inspire, you will be able to put Wind or Thunder elemental weaknesses on target. | One enemy group | Yes | Forces an elemental weakness upon the target |
Copy Ability | 64 FP | Attempts to copy an enemy's skill set so that you may use its skills and Arcana, though it means you will not be able to use your own Arcana until you complete the battle or "delete" the enemy skillset. Doesn't work on all enemies. A full list of enemy skills and enemies that can be Copied can be found in the Beastiary. | One enemy group | Yes | Temporarily acquire a special attack from the target |
Status Lock | 38 FP | Protects target from all negative statuses except for "fallen" (instant KO). Cast Permanence afterwards! *hint hint* | All party members | No | Shields against all negative status effects |
Requiem | 24 FP | Instantly kills the target if it is Undead | One enemy group | Yes | Instantly extinguishes undead's negative life force |
Name: | FP Cost: | Effect: | Extension Range: | Can be Reflected? | Description: |
Magnarize | 32 FP | Non-elemental magic attack based on FP total | One enemy group | Yes | Non-elemental attack with damage based on current FP total |
Synchronizer | 48 FP | Synchronizes caster's status with target. This basically means that if you sync with an enemy and a status ailment is put on the synched character, the target you synched with gets the ailment, too. | One enemy group | Yes | Synchronizes caster's status with that of the target |
Distortion | 36 FP | Puts a barrier on target that blocks out a certain amount of damage to that target. The number of damage blocked out is equal to 1/4 of target's MAX HP | All party members | No | Deploys a barrier that absorbs a certain amount of damage |
Hyper | 48 FP | Doubles the ATT (attack power) of target. | All party members | No | Doubles damage of physical attacks |
Name: | FP Cost: | Effect: | Extension Range: | Can be Reflected? | Description: |
Arc Impulse | 32 FP | Does non-elemental magic damage to one enemy, with the damage being relative to caster's total magic power, and the amount of characters defending that turn. | One enemy group | Yes | Binds your team's powers together for a non-elemental attack |
Attachment | 24 FP | Gives target an elemental attack property. Elements you can choose from are the one the caster of Attachment can cast. For example, if your Attachment caster has only Cremate, he will only be able to add Fire elemental attack | All party members | No | Endows physical attacks with elemental properties |
Permanence | 48 FP | Target retains all positive statuses until end of battle | All party members | No | Removes the turn limit on Arcana effects |
Exploder | 64 FP | Turns target into a bomb, exploding it on its next turn, which kills it. When it explodes, damage equal to half of bomb's HP is dealt to all targets on bomb's team. Does not work very often, nor does it work on very many enemies. | One enemy group | Yes | Turns target into a bomb. Its HP is converted into damage |
Name: | FP Cost: | Effect: | Extension Range: | Can be Reflected? | Description: |
Dark Matter | 10 FP | Dark-elemental magic damage to one enemy | One enemy group | Yes | Corrosive dark matter that inflicts dark damage |
Lifedrain | 16 FP | Drains some HP from target and adds it to caster's HP | One enemy group | Yes | Absorbs HP from the target and transfers it to the caster |
Dark Luceid | 32 FP | Non-elemental magic damage that damages target based on the amount of elemental types that target has halved or resistance against. | One enemy group | Yes | Non-elemental attack through the mysterious Dark Blade. |
Curse | 48 FP | Halves target's resistance to status ailments | One enemy group | Yes | Reduces resistance to status ailments through a deadly curse |