Basics & Spell Recommendations

How Does the Masked Carnivale Work?

Stage Completion

Each stage in the Masked Carnivale contains between one and three acts. In order to complete the stage, you need to complete all three acts. Dying during any act will result in a “Duty Failed” pop-up and you will be removed from the duty. The one exception to this is if you die after the enemies have died, so finishing with something like Final Sting is fine as long as it kills the enemy.

Enemy Elemental Weakness

Some enemies in the Masked Carnivale will be vulnerable to specific elements, meaning the will take double damage from that element. This is indicated by the elemental icon floating over their heads. Note that this is different from Eureka where the icon over an enemy’s head indicates an element that it is resistant to. Stage 2: Much Ado About Pudding serves as a tutorial for this mechanic.

Score & Bonuses

After completing a stage you will see a pop-up indicating what your score was for the stage. The score itself is just for fun and doesn’t have much meaning, but the “bonuses” listed are relevant for achievements and weekly targets. There is a complete list of bonuses and their meaning here.

#77
#73
#58
#53
#55
#15
#105
#33
#92
#109
#104
#44

Most of the stages don’t require very many spells. At minimum you should have these on your bar:

  • Aetheric Mimicry set to Healer mimicry.
    Why Healer mimicry?

    Damage rarely matters in the Masked Carnivale, so the extra DPS we get from DPS mimicry isn't particularly useful. However, using Healer mimicry gives us access to MP-efficient heals. Without mimicry we're really limited to using White Wind for healing which costs 1500 MP. There are some stages where healing isn't required and there are achievements associated with faster kill times (such as Stage 30: The Catch of the Siegfried) and we can benefit from using DPS mimicry, though.

  • A healing spell such as Pom Cure or Exuviation. Pom Cure heals for a little bit more, but Exuviation is required for certain stages because of its dispel effect.
  • A magic filler GCD spell. My personal favorite is Electrogenesis; it’s not necessarily better than the others I just think it sounds cool.
  • A physical filler GCD spell. Sharpened Knife is nice because it has a fast cast time, but requires you to be in melee ranged. Goblin Punch is really powerful in stages with no positionals and is an instant cast. For most purposes Abyssal Transfixion is a good option.
  • Flying Sardine to interrupt enemy spells.

If a stage requires specific spells it will be mentioned on its guide page. In general we can get away with just the spells listed above for most stages, but stages do get much easier with more damage. Adding powerful spells like Breath of Magic, Nightbloom, Feather Rain, etc. will help you kill enemies much faster. Additionally, our “Vibe Check” combo of The Ram's Voice and Ultravibration can be used to cheese some stages completely. If a stage can be Vibe Checked it will also be mentioned on that stage’s guide page.