Arcane Scepter

The Arcane Scepter is one of the selectable **Melee Weapons**, it costs 16 loadout points to equip.

## Overview

The Arcane Scepter is a specialized melee weapon which offers a far greater melee range than other melee options. It's specialized more for keeping a distance but also excels in hitting normally hard to hit small targets like **Saboteurs** and **Rats**. However it has lesser base melee damage compared to other melees, making it weaker against tougher opponents or those with lifesteal such as **Furies** and **Wolves**. Its activated ability, the Arcane Mark, acts both to halt rushing demons with powerful damage and to protect fellow survivors.

Attack: 10

Attacking with this weapon will fire a beam of energy in the direction you are facing.

Range: 10 Blocks

Usage of this weapon prevents vanilla melee attacks from connecting.

## Abilities

### Arcane Beam

Attacking with this weapon will fire a beam of arcane energy in the direction you are facing, hitting all enemies it makes contact with to a range of 10 blocks. The beam travels its entire range instantly and is only active for one (1) mincraft tick. The beam is stopped short if it contacts a solid block. Any lesser demon hit by the beam will be greatly slowed.

Cooldown: 0.4 Seconds

Range: 10 Blocks

Usage of Arcane Scepter prevents vanilla melee attacks from connecting.

Arcane Scepter cannot crit.

Lesser Demons recieve **Slowness 2** for 5 seconds when hit.

### Arcane Mark

Right clicking with Arcane Scepter will deploy a powerful arcane mark centered on the user's feet. The circle will affect any living entity which stands on it, protecting and healing survivors while simultaneously harming demons. The mark can be canceled early at any time but can only be toggled on and off after at least a second has passed.

Duration from 100%: 15 Seconds

Max Recharge time from 0%: 70 Seconds

Radius: 2.5 Blocks

Usage Cooldown: 1 Second

Enemies are harmed every 0.25 seconds while in the circle:

* Damage: 4
* Arcane Mark will do 6 damage instead if activated at 95% or greater charge until it disappears.
* Arcane Mark will oneshot any Lesser Demon.

Survivors gain Night Vision and Resistance 2 while in the circle.

Survivors are healed every 0.15 seconds while in the circle:

* Health Healing: 0.45 Hp (0.225 Hearts)
* Mana Healing: 1
	+ 45 Hp(22.5 Hearts) and 100 Mana are restored across the full duration.
	+ 3 Hp(1.5 Hearts) is healed per second.

## Strategy

Due to the nature of the beam attack not being a regular minecraft attack, its hitbox tries to intercept player hurtboxes rather than Mob Disguise hurtboxes, making it comparatively easier to land hits on greater demons with smaller mob models like Rats, Saboteurs, and Spiderlings but comparatively harder against larger ones such as **Iron Golems** and **Battering Rams**.

* As such, it is advisable to not aim down trying to hit small targets, just aim for the "player head" instead.
* The beam's aim is affected by the user proning or sneaking.

Despite Arcane Scepter being a multi-hitting melee weapon, Bonus Attack effects apply full potency to beam attacks, making Berserker Armor in particular a great passive synergy to give scepter a respectable damage output.

* On the opposite end, running scepter without bonus attack damage effects active make the user extremely vulnerable to Weakness, as -4 or -8 on 10 base damage is.... Lets just say you are not killing anything fast by dealing TWO (2) damage at a time...

Procs on multi-hit weapons are gud, it clears crowds fast, be it Lesser Demons or any of the myriad of Proccable Greater Demons. Proc'd Arcane Scepter in particular is a nightmare to dodge for Fury Zombies and Wolves compared to the cleaving weapons.

All of Arcane Scepters individual attacks -which includes the **Beams** and **Arcane Mark**- deal quite low base damage, which is a really bad trait to have against Mama Bear's **Greater Arctic Breath** as each individually weak but fast damage source will charge the ability very quickly and at little cost to the Mama Bear's own health.

* This weakness is compounded further when you consider the fact that Polar Babes' **Arctic Breath** inflicts the Weakness effect.
* Feel free to hedge this advise if you are under excessive influence of **Bonus Attack** effects when considering Beam attacks.
* **Arcane Marks** will get you and anyone else nearby killed very fast, and the Resistance 2 is not enough to protect against the damage, let alone the Armor Shred.