Arcana

Arcana is a gameplay mechanic specific to the Ardent Mages faction which provides a number of abilities in the form of Pillars and Spells at the cost of Dust .

Arcana Levels

The power and cost of of Pillars and Spells increases with their Arcana level; both Pillars and Spells start at an Arcana level of 1, which can be increased up to 5 from technologies that are either researched or obtained as faction quest rewards.

If you play with the Endless Legend Community Patch, there are some changes for smooth out the Spells progression.

The following technologies increase Arcana level:

Technology	Effect		Obtained
	In vanilla version	With ELCP
Dust Purifier	+1 Arcana level for all Spells	+1 Arcana level for all Spells	Research Era II
Dust Mechanics	+1 Arcana level for all Pillars	+1 Arcana level for all Pillars	Research Era III
Painosphere	+1 Arcana level for all Spells	+1 Arcana level for all Spells	Research Era IV
Sacrificial Amplifiers	+1 Arcana level for all Pillars	+1 Arcana level for all Pillars +1 Arcana level for all Spells	Research Era V
Verda's Temple		+1 Arcana level for all Spells	Chapter 4, Part 2 of the faction quest
Secrets of the Virtuals	+2 Arcana level for all Pillars +2 Arcana level for all Spells	+2 Arcana level for all Pillars	Chapter 8, Part 2 of the faction quest

Pillars

Ardent Mage city layouts

Ardent Mage city layouts

Pillars are temporary structures that provide bonuses in an area around where they are placed for 10 turns. All Pillars start with a range of 1, affecting the tile they are placed on and the 6 adjacent, but this can be upgraded as the Arcana level of pillars is increased. While they may be placed outside regions you own, they cannot be placed on:

• Districts (including districts under construction)
• Villages
• Ruins
• Sea or Lake tiles
• Ridges
• Wasteland
• Any tile where you do not have vision

Pillars also affect Fungal Blooms, Converted Villages and Cities of other empires.

Additionally, active Pillars will block the ability to build Districts where they have been placed, so it is important to plan Pillar placement around City expansion.

There are a total of five types of pillars, each providing a different bonus and obtained from a different technology. Be aware that the actual effect of each Pillar depends on its Arcana level, and can be found in full detail on their pages.

Icon	Name	Effect	Obtained
	Pillar of Knowledge	+2 to +16 on tiles	Arcana of Matter
	Pillar of Speed	-50% to -75% Movement Cost on tiles	Arcana of Agility
	Pillar of Influence	+1 to +5 on tiles	Arcana of Authority
	Pillar of Extraction	+2 to +16 on tiles	Arcana of Materializing
	Pillar of Regeneration	+2 to +16 on tiles	Arcana of Renewal

The cost to place a pillar depends on the Arcana level of the Pillars as well as the total number of Pillars already in place. With "N" being the number of pillars already placed and "A" being the Arcana level of pillars, the cost to place a pillar is:

Cost = 20A(N+1) + 5A² + 15(N+1)²

To simplify this somewhat, here is a table containing the cost equation for each level of Arcana, where "N" is the number of pillars already placed:

Arcana	Equation
1	40 + 50N + 15N2
2	75 + 70N + 15N2
3	120 + 90N + 15N2
4	175 + 110N + 15N2
5	240 + 130N + 15N2

At Fast game speed the cost is reduced by 50%.

If you play with the Endless Legend Community Patch, that there is following changes:

• All Pillar cost no longer scales with game speed. The old vanilla "Fast" gamespeed cost is the new default. Since Pillar duration is fixed (10 turns , except for Pillar of Speed), their value dropped rapidly the slower the game speed was, this change makes them equally valuable at all gamespeed settings. In practice this means: no change on fast speed, sizeable buff on all other speed settings.
• Pillar of Speed only lasts 2 turns but cost got reduced by 70%, because in most situations a short duration cheaper speed boost is preferable.
  

Single pillar cost in vanilla game version on Normal game speed

Arcana	Pillar number
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
1	40	105	200	325	480	665	880	1125	1400	1705	2040	2405	2800	3225	3680
2	75	160	275	420	595	800	1035	1300	1595	1920	2275	2660	3075	3520	3995
3	120	225	360	525	720	945	1200	1485	1800	2145	2520	2925	3360	3825	4320
4	175	300	455	640	855	1100	1375	1680	2015	2380	2775	3200	3655	4140	4655
5	240	385	560	765	1000	1265	1560	1885	2240	2625	3040	3485	3960	4465	5000

Total pillar cost in vanilla game version on Normal game speed

Arcana	Pillar number
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
1	40	145	345	670	1150	1815	2695	3820	5220	6925	8965	11370	14170	17395	21075
2	75	235	510	930	1525	2325	3360	4660	6255	8175	10450	13110	16185	19705	23700
3	120	345	705	1230	1950	2895	4095	5580	7380	9525	12045	14970	18330	22155	26475
4	175	475	930	1570	2425	3525	4900	6580	8595	10975	13750	16950	20605	24745	29400
5	240	625	1185	1950	2950	4215	5775	7660	9900	12525	15565	19050	23010	27475	32475

Single pillar cost in vanilla game version on Fast game speed and in ELCP on any game speed

Arcana	Pillar number
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
1	20	53	100	163	240	333	440	563	700	853	1 020	1 203	1 400	1 613	1 840
2	38	80	138	210	298	400	518	650	798	960	1 138	1 330	1 538	1 760	1 998
3	60	113	180	263	360	473	600	743	900	1 073	1 260	1 463	1 680	1 913	2 160
4	88	150	228	320	428	550	688	840	1 008	1 190	1 388	1 600	1 828	2 070	2 328
5	120	193	280	383	500	633	780	943	1 120	1 313	1 520	1 743	1 980	2 233	2 500

Total pillar cost in vanilla game version on Fast game speed and in ELCP on any game speed

Arcana	Pillar number
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
1	20	73	173	335	575	908	1 348	1 910	2 610	3 463	4 483	5 685	7 085	8 698	10 538
2	38	118	255	465	763	1 163	1 680	2 330	3 128	4 088	5 225	6 555	8 093	9 853	11 850
3	60	173	353	615	975	1 448	2 048	2 790	3 690	4 763	6 023	7 485	9 165	11 078	13 238
4	88	238	465	785	1 213	1 763	2 450	3 290	4 298	5 488	6 875	8 475	10 303	12 373	14 700
5	120	313	593	975	1 475	2 108	2 888	3 830	4 950	6 263	7 783	9 525	11 505	13 738	16 238

Spells

Spells - also called Incantations - are immediate effects that can be used in battle to provide buffs or debuffs in an area for up to two rounds. Upon using any spell there is a cooldown of two rounds before you may use another one.

Unlike Pillars, which have restrictions to where they can be used, spells can be placed anywhere, including on tiles outside the battlefield you have no vision on; however, it should be noted that placing a spell outside the battlefield will still be counted as using it, costing Dust and enacting the spell cooldown. Additionally, while it is possible to place a spell from one active battlefield onto a different one, the spell will not affect units that are not part of the battle it originated from.

There are a total of five spells, each providing a different effect and obtained from a different technology. Be aware that the actual effect of each spell depends on its Arcana level, and can be found in full detail on their pages.

If you play with the Endless Legend Community Patch, there is reworked Ardent Mage Spells in order to make the useless ones (all except stun, i.e. Incantation of Enervation) more useful and vice versa:

• Arcana of Renewal is an Era 1 tech (down from Era 4) and is unlocked from the beginning in place of Arcana of Agility.
• All Spells can now hit allied and enemy targets, so watch your aim!
• Reduced the baseline cost of all spells from 30 to 25 dust per Level.
• The Initiative order is calculated after Spell have been cast.
• Each Spell can only by used once per battle.
• The cooldown of all spells (time before OTHER spells can be used) is 1 turn . Except stun (i.e. Incantation of Enervation) which has a unqiue cooldown. Unlike the vanilla game version, where cooldown used to be 2 turns for all spells.
• Note: After Incantation of Restoration is cast, the game sometimes displays a floating damage number additionally to the healing numbers. This is a visual bug only.

Other changes are shown in the table below.

Icon	Name	Effect		Cost	Obtained
		In vanilla game	In ELCP
	Incantation of Defense	+5 to +25 Defense on friendly units in a circle of 1 tile for 2 turns	+10 to +50 Defense on friendly units in a circle of 1 tile for 3 turns . Center target has a 20% to 100% chance (+20% per Arcana Level) to receive +10 Fortification armor . Cooldown 1 turn .	30 per Level (25 per Level with ELCP)	Arcana of Matter
	Incantation of Haste	+7 to +35 Attack on friendly units in a circle of 1 tile for 2 turns	+7 to +35 Attack and +7 to +35 initiative on friendly units in a circle of 1 tile for 2 turns . +7 to +35 Damage on center target for 2 turns . Duration increased to 3 turns on Arcana Level 5. Cooldown 1 turn .	30 per Level (25 per Level with ELCP)	Arcana of Agility
	Incantation of Enervation	Stun 1 unit for 1 turn to Stun and -25% Defense on all units in a circle of 1 tile for 2 turns	Stuns targets in a line for 1 turn . +1 range per Arcana Level. Cooldown 2 turns , decreased to 1 turn at Arcana Level 5. No longer stuns 2 rounds at level 5. Has no increased dust cost.	60 per Level (25 per Level with ELCP)	Arcana of Authority
	Incantation of Deluge	-8 to -40 on all units in a circle of 1 tile	-16 to -80 on all units in a circle of 1 tile and at Arcana Level 5 also deals -10% . Additionally -16 to -80 on target unit and at Arcana Level 5 also deals -10% . Cooldown 1 turn .	30 per Level (25 per Level with ELCP)	Arcana of Materializing
	Incantation of Restoration	+10 to +50 Life regenerated on friendly units in a circle of 1 tile	+45 / 15 / 23 / 30 / 38 on target unit and at Arcana Level 5 also heals 7.5% . +0 / 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 on friendly units in a circle of 1 tile and at Arcana Level 5 also heals 7.5% . No AoE at Arcana Level 1. Cooldown 1 turn .	30 per Level (25 per Level with ELCP)	Arcana of Renewal