A guide showing you how to start and complete “A Genius Inventor” Side Story in Octopath Traveler 2. By completing this quest, you will unlock all the Inventor Skills in the game!
How to Start “A Genius Inventor” Side Story quest
This story can be started by any character just outside of the town of New Delsta, on the Eastern New Delsta Highroad.
We can access this location by heading East out of New Delsta, South from Cape Cold, or East then South from the New Delsta Anchorage.
We must speak with Arkar, the Genius Inventor, to begin the quest. He’s in a small house on the northeastern side of the Eastern New Delsta Highroad.
After speaking with him, he encourages us to spread the word about his inventions by using them. He gives us the Proof of the Inventor, enabling the Inventor as a secondary job. He also asks us to bring him a variety of items to create new inventions.
How to Unlock all Inventor Skills
Many of Arkar’s Inventions are staggered out in a way that allows you to unlock new skills as time goes on and you get later and later into the game.
Below are the requirements for building each of the remaining five inventions, and where you can find them. They’ll be listed in the approximate order they can be unlocked.
Once you complete this side story, you will have unlocked all skills for the Inventor Job in the game.
How to get Critical Scope
The Critical scope is the easiest to make, with its components readily available during Chapter 1 Stories from shops. It requires a Critical Earring and an Unerring Earring.
The Critical Earring can be purchased in Canalbrine’s Equipment shop. Likewise, the Unerring Earring can also be purchased in a shop, this time the New Delsta Equipment shop.
How to get Elemental Bomb Bottle
The Elemental Bomb Bottle is another one you’ll get pretty quickly, becoming available as soon as you can make it to Conning Creek. For this, you need Fire, Ice, and Lightning Soulstones, as well as the Rainbow Glass Bottle.
The Rainbow Glass Bottle is found in Conning Creek. It’s found in a chest that sits on the northwesternmost section of the beach north of the main town. It’s by itself in a red chest, so it stands out quite a bit.
The Elemental Soulstones are something you may still have on hand already. If not, you may need to steal them from elementals or find them in chests.
How to get Hastening Hammer
The Hastening Hammer is a bit more of a tricky one. We’ll need to acquire three specific weapons, regardless of where we get them. We’ll need to find a Soldier’s Bow, A Great Blade, and a Guardian’s Axe.
While you can typically find the required weapons just as early as you may find the Rainbow Glass Bottle, a couple of them can take a higher level to get access to early on.
The Soldier’s Bow can be Stolen or Purchased from a Guard found inside the item shop in Conning Creek, who is only present during the day. It can also be purchased in Clockbank for 11,000 leaves.
There are a couple of NPC that carry a Great Blade, notably, the blonde-haired Soldier found in Sai at night and the Elite Sanctum Knight found in the Stormhail tavern during the night. Both of these require a fairly high level to get the item through Entreat and can be tough opponents to Mug.
We can purchase a Great Blade for 36,000 leaves in Sai’s Shop, after we’ve expanded the shop’s inventory through information gathering Path Actions.
The Guardian’s Axe can be bought in Stormhail’s Weapon Shop for 23,000 leaves. We can also obtain one from the Soldier that can be found in the Crackridge Weapon Shop (shown above). He’s there day and night, so take your pick of the item acquisition Path Actions.
How to get Tin Horn
The Tin Horn you won’t have access to until later in the game, as one of its parts is found in a chest during a late story section. We’ll need an Empowering Lychee, a Tin Toy, and a Mythical Horn to make the Tin Horn.
The Tin Toy is accessible after Chapter 3 of Partitio’s story ends in Wellgrove. During the nighttime, there will be a Merchant NPC in the middle of the top floor. Use Entreat or Mug to acquire it from him. Mug tend to be the easier option, as he’s a fairly weak opponent, but a little tough for that exact point in the game.
The Mythical Horn can be found in the Nameless Village, being one of the latest items you’ll get for this quest. The Mythical Horn is located in a chest on the southside of the Nameless Village which is guarded by a beastling (shown below).
Soothe tends to be the best option here, only requiring a Herb of Serenity. Otherwise, we’ll need Throne to be level 48, or be ready to take on a Difficulty 8 foe with Challenge or Provoke.
Of these three items, the Empowering Lychee should be one you already have. Unfortunately, if they were used up early on they’ll be a pain to get back as they aren’t sold in any town. Some weaker enemies can have these as a drop or stealable item, but otherwise, you’ll need to find them from a chest or an unfinished side story.
How to get Arkar’s Coil
You’ll get access to completing Arkar’s Coil at roughly the same time as the Tin Horn, despite requiring three separate items. We’ll need to find Scrap Metal, an Ancient Cog, and Natural Magnetite to make the Arkar’s Coil
Scrap Metal will be the earliest of the three items we find. We can find a Factory Worker with an orange hat in Clockbank who is just outside of the weapon shop. He’s here both day and night, meaning we’ll have our pick of the item acquisition Path Actions to get the item from him.
Next up is the Natural Magnetite, which we can nab from a chest in the Unfinished Tunnel in the Wildlands. It’s not guarded by the strong monster that also resides here, so it’s not difficult to get. We’ll just need to take the side path just before we head down to the pit and follow the path to the chest that holds it.
Finally, for the last item on this list we need to grab the Ancient Cog. This won’t be available until we can reach Roque Island. We’ll be able to steal the item from an NPC in the Worker’s Quarters, the building Slightly east of the Item Shop.
With a low level requirement of only 30 for Entreat to work, that’ll be the easiest option, should you have a hard time with Stealing the item instead. This worker is also a Difficulty 9 duel, should you opt for Mug.
With all inventions completed, you’ll be given access to the Inventor’s Divine Skill, All-Purpose Tool as a reward.
For Completing the full quest you’ll also be given 10,000 leaves and the Mechanical Top Hat helmet.
The Mechanical Top Hat is a unique item that is the only helmet to grant a bonus to Accuracy. In addition to this accuracy bonus, it doesn’t have terrible stats. Even for the point in the game we get it, it’s a solid piece of equipment.
By completing the side story A Genius Inventor in Otcopath Traveler, you unlock all of the Inventor Skills in the game. For further details on the Inventor job, check out our Inventor Job Guide. This guide covers the class in-depth including skills and job synergies.
