Arcane Keep guide: how to beat the Arcane Guardian at Stage 20

The Arcane Keep is where you farm Lesser, Greater and Superior Arcane Potions. Every Champion needs these alongside their own Affinity Potions to Ascend, so it matters at every stage of an account. Ascending adds base stats, unlocks Amulets and Banners at the required Ascension Levels, and can improve certain skills, such as unlocking passives.

Unlike the Affinity Keeps, it is permanently available. You do not need to wait for a scheduled day or spend Gems to open it.

Which stage to farm

Farm the highest stage you can clear consistently, aiming for Stage 20. At that stage Lesser Potions drop out of the reward pool, leaving Greater and Superior. If you need Lesser Potions for lower rarity Champions, drop back to an earlier stage.

The Arcane Guardian's skills

• Wind Slash hits all enemies, but deals 75% less damage to Champions with active buffs. Keeping even one buff on everyone is the simplest way to stay alive.
• Last Stand puts 60% Increase DEF and 30% Increase SPD on the Arcane Guardian for 2 turns. Block Buffs stops it landing, while Remove Buffs or Steal Buffs strips it afterwards.
• Almighty Immunity (P) makes him immune to most crowd control, including Stun, Freeze, Sleep, Provoke, Fear and Block Active Skills. He also ignores HP exchange, HP balancing and cooldown increasing effects. Decrease SPD and Turn Meter reduction still work.

The minions and the waves

He fights alongside two minions. The left one places Decrease ATK. The right one removes buffs from your team, which is dangerous because his attacks hit harder against Champions with no buffs. Deal with the right minion first, by killing or controlling it.

You also clear two waves before the boss. Decrease DEF and Weaken help your damage dealers get through them quickly. Seer or Poison Explosion teams can tear through both waves. If you struggle to survive them, Stun, Freeze and Provoke limit incoming attacks.

Team roles

• Debuffers: Decrease DEF and Weaken for damage, Decrease ATK to reduce incoming damage, Decrease SPD to slow him.
• Buff control: Block Buffs, Remove Buffs or Steal Buffs, useful but not essential.
• Protection: team wide Increase DEF, Shields, Strengthen and Increase SPD keep Wind Slash weak.
• Speed control: Decrease SPD and Turn Meter reduction, paired with your own Increase SPD and Turn Meter fills, can stop him taking a turn at all.
• Damage: raw damage, Enemy MAX HP attacks, Poison and HP Burn.

An example team

The guide suggests five Champions, stressing that alternatives work too: Eostrid, Ezio, Uugo, Coldheart and Royal Guard.

Eostrid brings Increase SPD, Increase ATK, Decrease SPD and Weaken, and fills allies' Turn Meters while reducing the enemy's. Ezio supplies Poison damage and a strong A3. Uugo adds Decrease DEF, Block Buffs, healing and Leech, and can remove a random debuff such as the left minion's Decrease ATK. Coldheart uses Heartseeker for an Enemy MAX HP hit and full Turn Meter depletion once the minions are dead. Royal Guard adds an AoE Enemy MAX HP attack, Decrease SPD and a chance to reduce Turn Meter with each hit of his A3.

Builds

The Arcane Guardian and his minions are all Void Affinity, so you need not worry about Weak Hits against the boss, though the waves still matter. For debuffers, aim for around 25 more ACC than the boss's RES. Perception, Pinpoint, Feral and Accuracy focused sets help. Damage dealers should aim for 100% C.RATE and strong C.DMG, with Ignore DEF sets such as Savage, Merciless, Cruel or Lethal.