Arcana Heart 3 Tactics Guide – Appendix A2: Choosing Your Main Arcana Part 3

How to Play Arcana Heart 3 series

• Part 1 – Choosing a Character & Arcana
• Part 2 – Basic Movement
• Part 3 – Advanced Movement
• Part 4 – Basic Attacks
• Part 5 – Advanced Attacking – Combos
• Part 6: Spacing and Spacing Mind Games

Arcana Heart 3 Tactics Guide series

• Appendix A1: Choosing Your Main Arcana Part 1
• Appendix A2: Choosing Your Main Arcana Part 2

Not So Good – The Holy Arcana is one of the most underpowered choices in the entire game, not because it is a particularly weak Arcana, but because it is just weaker for a lot of the reasons that you would consider using it for. The Holy Arcana’s special attacks are not good at controlling space, nor are they particularly good for offense or defense, or increasing combo damage. The Holy Arcana allows you to recover health by using the effect of its Extend Force, but the Arcana also greatly lowers your effective health with its weak Defense modifier, so it is really not that useful for that either. In almost all cases, you are better off choosing Love instead, but if you like unicorns and bright lights, the Holy Arcana might just be the right pick.

Zenia

Zenia is a close range fighter with an explosive offense. While Zenia can use any Arcana with a useful projectile to increase her versatility, she can also choose an offensive Arcana to disproportionately increase her attack or Mix-Up power. For an extreme attack power boost, the Punishment Arcana can turn any ground hit combo into a ridiculously powerful one that can defeat an opposing character in one hit if they do not have a burst available. For increasing her Mix-Up power, the Darkness Arcana can allow her to end many of her combos with a difficult to block Mix-Up.

Elsa

Elsa is a character with numerous offensive and defensive tools for fighting up close, trademarked by an ability to reset an opponent to a standing state at the end of a combo. Elsa’s Arcana choices usually revolve around choosing an Arcana to help her ranged game or to completely ignore that weakness and use an Arcana that can take significant advantage of her standing reset. The Fire Arcana is an extremely powerful choice for Elsa as it not only provides her with a projectile but also allows her to create an unblockable attack with a fully charged E attack. As always, the Love Arcana is a good all around choice, which can help Elsa control space and get in close.

Clarice

Clarice is a fast character with both long and close range tools for fighting an opponent. She has some of the best inherent movement options in the game and she can also attack with an extremely fast long range attack as well. She can use the Wind Arcana to complement her already impressive movement options to make her even faster and trickier to deal with, as well as giving her a good defensive option. Alternatively, she can use the Darkness Arcana to use her already good mobility to create powerful Mix-Up options.

Catherine

Catherine is a character with powerful close and long range attacks and also possesses some unique offensive and defensive tools. As a big giant character, her mobility is weak and she has a greater difficulty guarding against an opponent’s offense when they get in on her. Because of these weaknesses, the Wind Arcana is hands down the best choice for starting as Catherine, as it covers up many of these weak points. The Wind Arcana pretty much gives her better everything; her offense, defense, and mobility are all augmented by the Wind Arcana.

Dorothy

Dorothy is a character with projectile attacks and can use cool tricks and traps to attack an opponent. Good Arcana choices for Dorothy often help her create better tricks, or to complement her ranged offense. The Nature Arcana complements Dorothy’s ranged attacks and can greatly help her control space. The Evil Arcana gives Dorothy access to further trickery and traps, complementing her core play style and making it even more difficult for an opponent to deal with.

Akane

Akane is a well rounded close range fighter with some of the strongest close range combat tools in the entire game. Akane can choose just about any Arcana, but benefits the most from choosing an Arcana that can complement her well roundedness or close range prowess. As expected, the Love Arcana will round out Akane’s offense and defensive options by giving her good projectiles that she otherwise lacks. The Thunder Arcana is also a great Arcana for Akane, as she can make use of both the passive ability to defend herself up close and the special attacks to create Mix-Up options.

Nazuna

Nazuna has among the longest ranged Normal Attacks in the game and also can attack with numerous ranged projectiles. Nazuna’s Arcana choice often goes hand in hand with complementing her ranged normal attacks or ranged projectile attacks. The Time Arcana is one of the absolute best Arcana for Nazuna and her synergy with the Time Arcana is very extreme, giving her some amazingly good offensive options for locking down and defeating an opponent. The Nature Arcana is another great choice for her, as the vine attack that the Nature Arcana provides allows Nazuna to greatly augment her mid to long range offense.

That’s it for basic Arcana choices! Hopefully you were able to figure out which Arcana fits your play style and character from these primers. Until next time!