There is the Extend Force Gauge, underneath the character portrait. It's got a lot of uses that I won't go into for now. Only usable when full. The main use in regards to meter management is the ability to CANCEL most grounded attacks (Roman Cancel, Rapid Cancel, Anime Cancel) and most grounded Arcana attacks regardless of hit/block/whiff

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Then theres the Arcana Gauge, (aka AG) at the bottom. The Number shows how many full bars you currently have, the green shows how much you have and the red part shows how much you have recovering. The AG has a tonne of uses, all which are critical to the game. The amount of green combined with the red section of the Arcana gauge, shows how much MAXIMUM AG you have

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We will be focusing on the AG since EF is quite simple to understand in terms of beginners meter management (You use it, it regens). It will have its own section later diving deeper into EFs fun properties

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Arcana Gauge Properties​

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• You start with 1 maximum meter at the beginning of round 1.

• After usage, it regenerates back to the current maximum. The rate it recharges is affected by your Arcana Choice

• If the AG is used during a combo, it does not start regenerating until the combo is over

• The time it takes for the AG to begin recharging after use, depends on the action that used it. Most notably, supers can add a very large penalty before it begins recharging

• Attacking, blocking and getting hit builds meter if you are at your current maximum (so no red meter). This also is affected by Arcana Choice

• The max meter you have built will carry between rounds, so the game changes from round to round

• 1st bar regenerates faster than the 3rd which regenerates faster than the second

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Arcana Gauge uses

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• Homing Cancels

• Guard Cancels

• Supers

• Critical Heart

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Now without gameplay context, it would seem like the AG is the same as meters in other games, does about the same stuff. Cancels, Defensive options and supers

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The difference is in the way the game is designed in terms of risk/reward and pressure flow.

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Without Homing Cancels, the reward from air hits can drop by quite a bit unless they get hit by something major. Without Homing Cancels or Extend Force Cancels, most characters don't have reliable, high reward ground combos. With cancels, things which are unsafe...actually stay unsafe. 

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In pressure, without Guard Cancels, there are a tonne of attacks which are + on block and pressure can be endless. There are also straight up unblockable setups that people can do which are inescapable if you don't have any resources.

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So while you do get alot more uses of meter options in Arcana compared to other games, you need it to play a large part of the game properly. The tl;dr is - you need resources to do most things in this game

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Don't get caught if you don't have any resources. 

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Since Extend Force does not build in any special way and just recharges to its max over time, if there is any time where you can substitute using AG for EF, you should do it. The EF usage will either build you more AG or let it regen for longer to build AG, but an AG usage would not really help EF much. There are some situations and playstyles where you may prefer to use AG, but its quite niche and something I would not recommend for a beginner.

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If you can choose between using EF or using AG, in the majority of cases, choose EF

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I personally advise against Bursting early. If you Burst, it locks your EF for a long time, and if you burst early, it can get pretty difficult to build AG if your character has no strong meterless options for combos

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