Arene

General overview

Arene fills a unique role among ranged guards with his drone priority, and his skill 2 helps him fill even more gaps by essentially turning him into a ground caster. If you don't need the hybrid damage, you may find that you’d be better served by bringing a dedicated sniper or caster, but his flexibility and low cost make him extremely valuable, especially in CC/IS, where your roster may be limited.

E2? He does his job fine at E1, but for how cheap it is, you may want to get him to E2 once you have your more urgent priorities taken care of. He does a lot more damage to drones at E2.

Game modes

Arene is a staple in IS. He's cheap to recruit, doesn't need to be E2'd, and can fill multiple niches at once, thereby saving you hope and team space. He's more of an early game carry, but he can absolutely pull his weight into late game with the right relics. His hybrid damage and drone priority also allow him to circumvent sniper/caster bans or squad size limitations in CC, though his DPS is a bit worse than some of the other members of his archetype.

Talents

Talent - Structural Decomposition

E1 Prioritize attacking drones; ATK +20% (+3%) when attacking drones

E2 Prioritize attacking drones; ATK +40% (+3%) when attacking drones

Keep in mind that blocking enemies will cause him to attack them first, so if you want him to always prioritize drones, don’t let him block anything.

Skills

Skill 1 - Just Kidding

Skill effect: Cannot block enemies. Attacks strike twice and deal 130%/150% physical damage each.

Overview: In most cases, skill 2 will be more appealing, but he gets pretty impressive single target damage from skill 1. Turning off blocking also lets him focus on shooting down drones without getting distracted by ground enemies.

Skill 2 - Deadly Prank

Skill effect: Range expands and ranged attacks no longer do reduced damage. Attacks deal 140%/160% Arts damage and target an additional enemy.

Skill range:

Overview: This skill is pretty similar to Lappland skill 2 with a few key differences. His DPS isn't quite as high as Lappland's, but it charges by the second and is activated manually, so the timing can be controlled more reliably. The range expansion comes in handy sometimes as well. With this skill and his talent, he can quickly tear through armored drones that snipers would struggle with.

M3? M3 doesn't offer a very steep power increase, but it’s relatively cheap, it fills some good niches, and it takes 5 seconds off the charge time. It certainly won't hurt if you use it a lot.