It’s worth mentioning right at the top that all classes can be played even at the highest level of Lost Ark, so the most important thing is – as always – to pick the class that seems the most enjoyable to you.
Lost Ark class tier list
For quick reference on the best classes in Lost Ark, we’ve created a quick list of the best classes for both PvE and PvP content. For more detailed justification on the best picks, check below to the PvE and PvP sections for additional information. The best PvE classes are as follows:
S Tier: Bard / Berserker / Gunlancer A Tier: Paladin / Gunslinger / Artillerist / Sorceress / Wardancer B Tier: Shadowhunter / Sharpshooter / Deadeye / Deathblade C Tier: Striker / Deadeye / Soulfist / Scrapper
The best PvP classes are as follows:
S Tier: Bard / Deadblade / Deadeye A Tier: Paladin / Gunlancer / Gunslinger / Sorceress / Wardancer B Tier: Striker / Soulfist / Sharpshooter / Shadowhunter / Berserker C Tier: Scrapper / Artillerist
Lost Ark – what class should I pick?
If you’re coming into Lost Ark from another MMO or action RPG, you may be leaning towards a class that fits an archetype you are already familiar with. While each of the five classes have their own set of subclasses, each with its own differences and intricacies, they all share a general class identity that will appeal to a certain type of player. These classes are:
Warrior – slow and melee focused. This class can either specialize into having amazing damage output with the Berserker, a tanky DPS as the Gunlancer, or act as a DPS / support hybrid as a Paladin. Martial Artist – another melee class but with an emphasis on faster movement and dealing damage. The Martial Artist has four different subclasses: the Striker with their aerial combos and devastating kicks, the Wardancer with their powerful elemental abilities, the Scrapper who makes use of an energy resource to decimate enemies with gigantic attacks, or the Soulfist who transitions between melee and ranged attacks to gain the upper hand. Gunner – your dedicated ranged class, the Gunner is all about dishing out blows from afar. With the quick fingered Gunslinger able to swap between multiple firearms quickly, the Artillerist with their giant guns and massive damage potential, the Deadeye with their walking arsenal of weapons, and the Sharpshooter who uses a bow to tactfully take out foes from a distance. Mage – the dedicated magic class! Mage players are able to make use of mystical powers to take enemies out in their droves. In terms of subclass choices, they have the Sorcerous who makes use of the elements to inflict massive damage as the Mage’s only dedicated DPS subclass, or the Bard who can both bring the pain or heal their allies. Assassin – Another melee DPS like the Striker, the Assassin is all about quick and devastating combos that can eliminate monsters quickly and with ease. Assassin players have the choice between the Deathblade who uses three swords to dice up enemies and dashes across the battlefield, or the Shadowhunter who uses shapeshifting and dark powers to treat monsters to a taste of their own medicine.
Looking at each of these, you should have the general gist of what playstyle sounds best to you! However, if you are more competitively minded…
Lost Ark – Best PVE meta classes
While it’s worth noting that all classes in Lost Ark are viable, even in extremely difficult content, there are a few that stand out among the rest. These upper echelon classes include:
Bard: Due in large part to the unparalleled support capabilities available to Bard players – such as their table-turning heals and buffs – this class is always desired in groups regardless of the difficulty level. If you’re comfortable playing a background role in fights rather than dealing the most damage, this is a safe pick. Berserker: A brilliant DPS class for those who like to get in close and mess things up, the Berserker is an easy to use, hard to master pick for players who aren’t feeling the support or tanky aspects of the Bard or Gunlancer. If you don’t want to put too much thought into your Lost Ark class, choose this and you’ll be fine throughout the whole game. Gunlancer: If the Bard is the go-to support class, the Gunlancer is the tank at the tippity top of the mountain. With a huge amount of health, DPS, and abilities that allow you to halt enemy attacks immediately, the Gunlancer is a brilliant pick if you want to hold the line for the rest of your party.
Lost Ark – Best PVP meta classes
Bard: Once again, the Bard finds itself right at the top of the pack. What’s funny is it does so for largely the same reason as in PVE - excellent utility in the form of heals and buffs make it invaluable in any PVP composition. Obviously, they are best suited for team game modes where they can support DPS players, so if that sounds you choice of competitive combat the Bard is an ideal pick. Deathblade: An excellent class for PVP, the Deathblade is a monstrous foe to run into thanks to the sheer amount of mobility and damage output present in their kit. If you’re a fan of moving fast and slicing your way through an enemy’s life bar, then the Deathblade is a fantastic choice. Deadeye: A ranged class that specialises in medium / close range, the Deadeye is great at keeping melee fighters just out of range while you pick them apart. Add on top of that the reliable crowd control the Deadeye has at their disposal, and the huge burst DPS potential, and the Deadeye is no slouch when it comes to any PVP situation.
What are the best Lost Ark builds?
Lost Ark’s classes offer extensive flexibility, and that’s good seeing as you’re locked into your class unless you make a new character. While you’re free to experiment with skills and Engravings, these are solid builds for some of the more popular choices to see you through both PvE and PvP challenges. All builds are optimized for the late game, when you should have the necessary 250 points to pour into your skills.
What is the best Lost Ark Gunslinger build? What is the best Lost Ark Sorceress build? What is the best Lost Ark Bard build? What is the best Lost Ark Berserker build? What is the best Lost Ark Paladin build? What is the best Lost Ark Gunlancer build? What is the best Lost Ark Striker build? What is the best Lost Ark Wardancer build? What is the best Lost Ark Scrapper build? What is the best Lost Ark Soulfist build? What is the best Lost Ark Artillerist build? What is the best Lost Ark Deadeye build? What is the best Lost Ark Sharpshooter build? What is the best Lost Ark Shadowhunter build? What is the best Lost Ark Deathblade build?
What is the best Lost Ark Gunslinger build?
The Gunslinger is an agile DPS class designed to deal heavy damage at close and long range with three guns: a sniper rifle for distance, a shotgun for close range, and pistols for mid-range. While it didn’t make our picks for the best meta classes, the Gunslinger is a popular choice among players thanks to its flexibility and powerful skills. We prefer Time to Hunt for the Gunslinger’s class Engraving. It removes the ability to use the shotgun, but buffs the pistol and rifle’s critical rate by 30%. The Gunslinger’s best skills are focused on long-range attacks anyway, so you aren’t missing out. For non-class Engravings, we recommend:
Cursed Doll: Attack +16%, incoming healing -25% Grudge: Increases damage against bosses and higher-leveled enemies by up to 20% and decreases damage taken by the same amount.
These skills increase your mobility and DPS, with a few added bonuses with higher-tier Tripods that reduce enemy resistances and expand your area of effect.
Perfect Shot Focused Shot Dextrous Shot Peacekeeper Spiral Tracker Spiral Flame A02 Grenade
We chose High-Caliber HE Bullet for the best Awakening skill since it removes you from danger and inflicts heavy damage and debuffs on any enemies it hits.
What is the best Lost Ark Sorceress build?
The Sorceress is a deadly spellcaster and one of the best ranged DPS classes in Lost Ark. You’ll need to monitor her health, though. Like other spellweavers, the Sorceress is easily overwhelmed. The Sorceress’ biggest strength is her Identity Skill, the Arcane Meter. It fills up over time, and once it reaches 30%, you can activate one of two special skills: Arcane Rupture, which reduces spell cooldown and increases power, or Blink, which boosts mobility. The Igniter class Engraving reduces skill cooldown by 50% and boosts skill and normal attack damage during Magick Amplification, and it’s the ideal choice for a build focused on heavy damage. Reflux blocks you from using Arcane Rupture, and the buff to cooldowns and power is only worthwhile at higher skill levels, so while it’s a viable option, we prefer Igniter. Grudge is a good pick for the Sorceress as well, and we recommend Precise Dagger for its boost to attack and critical hit rates. Best Sorceress skills in Lost Ark Our skill list is a varied mix of potent elemental attacks that deal high damage, sometimes over extended periods.
Blaze Frost’s Call Seraphic Hail Esoteric Reaction Punishing Strike Explosion Lightning Bolt
Enviska’s Might takes a while for its full effects to unfold, but it deals incredibly high damage. The Sorceress summons a drone that pulls enemies in and deals damage in pulses, before exploding and dealing even more damage in a wide AoE.
What is the best Lost Ark Bard build?
The Bard in Lost Ark is an unusual class. Its main benefit is in providing support, but it does this so well, it’s easily one of the best classes in the game. The Bard’s Identity Skill, Serenade, grants you Bubbles for attacking. You can hold up to three Bubbles, and spend one Bubble to either heal the party or buff their attack and speed. It’s incredibly useful in all situations, hence the Bard landing the top spot in both our class tier lists. Best Bard Engravings in Lost Ark Serenade of Courage already buffs the party, so True Courage is a bit redundant. We recommend Desperate Salvation for the Bard’s class Engraving, since it adds an extra 24% of healing at the end of any recovery effect. You’ve got a few choices for the two ordinary Engravings, but these are our top picks:
Awakening: Reduces Awakening skill cooldown time by 50% and can be used three times at max level Increased Max MP: Increases max MP by 30%
Best Bard skills in Lost Ark This set of skills includes some extra support options with Guardian Tune, but is primarily focused on dealing damage and keeping foes away from the fragile Bard.
SoundHolic Prelude of Storm Heavenly Performance Guardian Tune Sonic Vibration Wind of Music Rhythmic Buckshot
Symphonia is an excellent complement to the Bard’s hybrid mix of support and DPS skills. It generates a shield for all nearby allies that absorbs damage equal to 100% of the Bard’s HP, damages foes, and reduces their attack, move speed, and attack speed. Some players swap in Heavy Armor to get an extra defense boost, so consider that if your Bard gets injured too often.
What is the best Lost Ark Berserker build?
The Berserker is a massive melee DPS presence in Lost Ark, able to cleave their way through both bosses and large packs of enemies at once with ease. The reason it found itself on our best PvE class list is due to the ease at which players can extract this damage potential out of the berserker, as well as the versatility inherent to the class. When picking between class specific Engravings for the Berserker, we lean towards Berserker’s Technique as the main focus. This allows the class to deal massive critical hit damage during Berserker Mode, which is great for those looking to build up to short but sweet bursts of damage. For non-class Engravings, we recommend:
Grudge: Increases damage against bosses and higher-levelled enemies by up to 20% and decreases damage taken by the same amount. Awakening: Reduces Awakening skill cooldown time by 50% and can be used three times at max level
These skills increase your single target DPS significantly, as well as reduce the cooldown of a few select abilities that will prove your damage output overtime.
Shoulder Charge Hell Blade Strike Wave Red Dust Tempest Slash Finish Strike Chain Sword Windblade
We chose Berserk Fury for the best Awakening skill due to the sheer amount of damage it does. Using it whenever reasonable will keep you a threat regardless of what content you’re taking on.
What is the best Lost Ark Paladin build?
The Paladin is the support pick for warrior players, a great pick for those who want to deal damage and buff up their friends at the same time. While not quite making the cut for either our PvE or PvP top three, they’re still an invaluable class at every point in the game. When picking a class specific engraving for the Paladin, there are two choices. You can either go towards a DPS engraving with Judgement, and a support engraving with Blessed Aura. We believe that a Paladin focusing on supporting other party members is better overall, therefore we suggest you choose Blessed Aura. This reduces damage you take by 20%, and restores 2.5% HP every second for all party members. This allows you and your team to stay in the fray longer, and feel more comfortable in tricky situations. As a quick note, while levelling it’s worth your while leaning more DPS focused so that you can kill enemies and complete quests faster. We recommend you switch over to a support build once you hit level 50 so that you don’t shoot yourself in the foot early on. For non-class Engravings, we recommend:
Awakening: Reduces Awakening skill cooldown time by 50% and can be used three times at max level Specialist:Shield and HP recovery effects used on self and party members increase by 24%, and when the target’s HP is below 50%, this effect increases by an additional 12%.
These skill maximise the
Wrath of God Holy Protection Light Shock Godsent Law Heavenly Blessing Charge Executor’s Sword Holy Sword
We chose Alithane’s Judgement for this build, as it provides support for your teams as well as deals a nice chunk of damage too! This support comes in the form of a shield for your entire party for 80% of your max HP, so it’s a great skill to use when you’re in a bind or anticipate lots of damage incoming.
What is the best Lost Ark Gunlancer build?
When picking from the three unique Warrior subclasses, the Gunlancer is the tankier of the three. While they can deal substantial damage, their ability to hold the line for a party earnt this class a place on our top three PvE list for a good reason. As a tank class, the Gunlancer has a great Engraving choice in Combat Readiness. It’s a damage engraving, sure, but it provides these damage bonuses while in defensive stance, something you’ll be doing a lot as a tank! It buffs your normal skills damage by 20%, your shield amount by 30% in defensive stance, and your damage by 4% when hit in defensive stance for a short time. Following Combat Readiness, you’ll want to take these engravings. The best two are:
Master Brawler: Increases your damage to the head (the front) of enemies by 25% Grudge: Increases damage against bosses and higher-leveled enemies by up to 20% and decreases damage taken by the same amount.
These skills maximise the tankiness of the Gunlancer - it’s all about staying in an enemies’ face and gettign their attention with a mix of powerful melee attacks, stuns, and taunts.
Bash Counter Gunlance Guardian’s Thunderbolt Leap Attack Shield Bash Shield Charge Shield Shock Shout of Hatred
The obvious Awakening Skill for a tanky Gunlancer build is Guardian’s Protection which increases your shield metre by 100% and sends out a protective aura This aura stuns enemies inside it, and provides a damage reduction buff to allies too!
What is the best Lost Ark Striker build?
The first of the four martial artist subclasses is the Striker, who is the closest to a ‘traditional’ martial artist of the group. If you like punching, kicking, and high-flying combos this is the pick for you. While it didn’t make our best PvE or PvE class list above, the class does pack a massive punch. Solely a DPS class, you essentially have two options as a Striker. One one hand, you can use the Death Blow Engraving, which provides an additional Elemental Orb resource and makes any Esoteric Skill consume all your orbs for one massive strike. Alternatively, there’s the Esoteric Flurry Engraving. This makes your Esoteric skills use only a single orb - so you can use them more often albeit with less damage output at once. For our build, we’ll be going with the Death Blow build. This means you’ll be focusing on being as efficient as possible generating orbs, then cashing out this resource for one giant burst of damage. It’s also incredibly cool to see this one gigantic strike wipe out enemies! For non-class Engravings, we recommend the standard DPS Engravings used across many other classes. These are:
Cursed Doll: Attack +16%, incoming healing -25% Grudge: Increases damage against bosses and higher-leveled enemies by up to 20% and decreases damage taken by the same amount.
These skill maximise the damage output of the Striker considerably, while not focusing on too many Esoteric Skills as we won’t be using them too often. If you have the skill points and feel it’s worth the investment, you can also bump up another Esoteric Skill (such as Blast Formation) so you can choose an appropriate attack for the battle you’re in.
Lightning Kick Lightning Whisper Esoteric Skill Lightning Tiger Strike Moon Flash Kick Phoenix Advent Sweeping Kick Storm Dragon Awakening
For an Awakening Skill, Heat Awakening is the perfect choice for Strikers looking to deal a series of devastating blows. However, while we prefer this pick you may prefer True Heavenly Awakening which has far more AOE potential. We recommend playing around with the build for a bit, then if you find you miss that AOE clear to swap over.
What is the best Lost Ark Wardancer build?
If you want a faster class of DPS, the Wardancer is a difficult yet rewarding choice for those who like to weave around foes to deal massive damage. This class didn’t’ pass the bar set by the other exceptional classes in our best PvE and PvP picks, but it’s still a powerful option for certain skilled players. There are, as usual, two picks for the primary Engraving. The first option Wardancers can pick is Esoteric Skill Enhancement, a great Engraving which grants an additional Esoteric Orb and makes Esoteric skills deal more damage per orb you have. However, First Intention is our Wardancer-specific Engraving pick. This stops you from gaining Esoteric metre altogether, but grants a flat 25% increased damage. For non-class Engravings, we recommend the standard DPS Engravings used across many other classes. These are:
Cursed Doll: Attack +16%, incoming healing -25% Grudge: Increases damage against bosses and higher-levelled enemies by up to 20% and decreases damage taken by the same amount.
As we’re creating a First Intention build, all Esoteric Skills are out the window. As such, we can pick regular skills and not have to focus on any pesky resources. This doesn’t mean you can turn your brain off, but it does mean you can focus more on positioning and using what skills you do have efficiently.
Swift Wind Kick Lightning kick Flash Heat Fang Wind’s Whisper Sweeping Kick Moon Flash Kick Roar of Courage
For the Wardancer, Flash Rage Blow is our Awakening Skill of choice. With proper positioning, you can deal massive damage from consistent strikes followed by a massive shockwave. However, if you find yourself in a bad spot, you can always cancel it early for a smaller shockwave and an opportunity to dash away to safety.
What is the best Lost Ark Scrapper build?
While the other Martial Artist subclasses are about many smaller blows, the Scrapper is all about huge, devastating hits with their giant gauntlets. The Scrapper doesn’t quite hold up against some of the best picks, but you can;t go wrong with this class if you build it correctly. With Scrapper you have two options - a Ki focused fast-paced DPS build with Ultimate Skill: Taijutsu as the main Engraving, or Shock Training which as you would imagine focused on the Scrappers numerous shock skills instead. In this build we’ll go for Shock training, as the hard hitting shock abilities provided to the class being more substantial in terms of damage just push it over the edge into a fantastically fun melee DPS. For non-class Engravings, we recommend the standard DPS Engravings used across many other classes. These are:
Cursed Doll: Attack +16%, incoming healing -25% Grudge: Increases damage against bosses and higher-levelled enemies by up to 20% and decreases damage taken by the same amount.
With the Shock training Engraving picked out, many of the skills we’ll be using are shock-focused as you’d assume. However, we will still use a few ki skills due to the movement options or their general usefulness they provide.
Charging Blow Continuous Push Death Rattle Critical Blow Roundup Sweep Shredding Strike Chain Destruction Fist
Undefeated Dragon King is our pick for the best Awakening Skill Scrappers have. Not only does this allow you to deal massive damage alongside two dragons you summon, you also get some useful mobility too, something Scrappers always need.
What is the best Lost Ark Soulfist build?
The Soulfist is perhaps the most out there subclass of the martial artist options, allowing you to switch seamlessly between ranged and melee attacks while throwing out attacks using their own unique resource - adamance - to sustain themselves. The two class engravings choices you have with Soulfist are quite interesting. Energy Overflow causes you to deal more damage to enemies while your energy resource is low, a playstyle that urges you to use up your energy often for consistent attacks. Alternatively, Robust Spirit is all about one massive damage window. During hype you go to level three straight away, gain a huge burst of energy recovery and damage for a short time. We feel that Robust Spirit is the way to go here. Keeping up with your party until you get this one, gigantic moment to wreak house is exhilarating. It’s also not too tricky to pull off, so players of all skill levels may have fun here. For non-class Engravings, we recommend the standard DPS Engravings used across many other classes. These are:
Cursed Doll: Attack +16%, incoming healing -25% Grudge: Increases damage against bosses and higher-levelled enemies by up to 20% and decreases damage taken by the same amount.
With the Shock training Engraving picked out, many of the skills we’ll be using are shock-focused as you’d assume. However, we will still use a few ki skills due to the movement options or their general usefulness they provide.
Force Orb/li> Heavenly Squish Magnetic Palm Pulverising Palm Merciless Pummel Flash Step Force orb
There’s no two ways to cut it, World Decimation is a Dragonball Z sprit bomb and it’s excellent. Not only does the ability look rad, it does a crazy amount of damage to all foes in an area. With a maxed out hype metre, this will decimate foes like nothing else.
What is the best Lost Ark Artillerist build?
Of all the ranged classes in Lost Ark, the Artillerist surely brings the most firepower to the party. With a gigantic gun that takes both hands and a lot of strength to hold up, Artillerists fit in a weird spot between a somewhat tanky DPS class, and an AOE powerhouse.. Artillerists have access to two class engravings, each with their own distinct playstyles. Barrage Enhancement grants you additional damage with barrage skills and speeds up your progression to a full firepower metre, somewhat forcing you into a build using those barrage skills for the most part. On the other hand, Firepower Enhancement provides flat damage reduction and boosts your crit rate while at full firepower. For non-class Engravings, we recommend the standard DPS Engravings used across many other classes. These are:
Cursed Doll: Attack +16%, incoming healing -25% Awakening: Reduces Awakening skill cooldown time by 50% and can be used three times at max level
Here are the skills we feel are best focused on when using this Firepower Enhancement build:
Homing barrage Air Raid Multiple Rocket Launcher Bombardment Impregnability Summon Turret Flamethrower
While each Awakening Skill is good in its own right, missile barrage is a great pick that allows you to significantly boost damage you deal when you hit max firepower.
What is the best Lost Ark Deadeye build?
One of the more versititle gunner subclasses, allowing players to switch between multiple guns in order to blast their way through enemies at a variety of ranges. WIth great mobility, damage, and versatility the Deadeye is a brilliant class for DPS minded players. Deadeye players have two choices, Enhanced Weapon provides you up to 30% additional crit rate when you switch between guns, while Pistoleer removes both your shotgun and sniper in return for a flat 40% damage boost to your damage. While Pistoleer is far simpler to wrap your head around, Enhanced Weapon really allows you to get the most out of all the abilities the class has to offer. It’s not that hard anyway, just keep an eye on the crit buff! For non-class Engravings, we recommend the standard DPS Engravings used across many other classes. These are:
Cursed Doll: Attack +16%, incoming healing -25% Grudge: Increases damage against bosses and higher-levelled enemies by up to 20% and decreases damage taken by the same amount.
Here are the skills we feel are best focused on when using this particular build:
Enforce Execution Somersault Shot Dextrous SHot Last Request Shotgun Dominator Perfect Shot Spiral Flame
Bursting Flare is a 3-shot attack which deals incredible damage to regular and bosses alike. Usable from range, you can more often than not get the full value out of this move no problem.
What is the best Lost Ark Sharpshooter build?
Who needs guns anyway? With the Sharpshooter, you throw away your firearms for a more traditional, and still deadly, bow able to deal significant damage at long distances and hold their own up close. A great damage class, largely able to stay safe while peppering enemies with arrows. The two class Engravings available to the Sharpshooter are as follows: Death Strike, is the first and provides 50% of Hawk metre when using Last Rush, increasing hit foes by up to 40% for a short time. You’ve also got Loyal Companion, which summons an improved Silverhawk with increased move speed, aoe radius, damage, and summon duration. Not only that, but hit foes are applied with Mark of Death, increasing their damage taken. While both are great, we tend to lean towards Death Strike as it provides this super simple damage window for you to build towards. Once you hit Last Rush, you get a short opportunity to deal huge numbers to any boss you’ll run into. For non-class Engravings, we recommend the standard DPS Engravings used across many other classes. These are:
Cursed Doll: Attack +16%, incoming healing -25% Grudge: Increases damage against bosses and higher-levelled enemies by up to 20% and decreases damage taken by the same amount.
Here are the skills we feel are best focused on when using this build:
Snipe/li> Arrow Wave Charged Shot Sharp Shooter Atomic Arrow Blade Storm
Golden Eye is a great pick here, as if used alongside the damage buff from Death Strike, it dishes out damage that is unmatched from anything else you have available. Make sure to make the best use of both the Awakening skill and Death Strike damage window at the same time for maximum value.
What is the best Lost Ark Shadowhunter build?
If you like giving bad guys a bit of their own medicine, then Shadowhunter is for you. An assassin subclass that makes used of demonic powers to take of foes, this DPS choice is great if you want to dash around enemies using gigantic attacks that rips through hordes of monsters. The two class Engraving choices for Shadowhunter focus around the demonic resource they have at their disposal, one embracing the power while the other keeps it under wraps. Demonic Impulse is all about making the most of your demonic powers, resetting all demonic skills upon using Demonise and granting up to 30% crit rate while it’s engaged. The other, Perfect Suppression, takes away your ability to use Demonise. However, it also increases normal skill damage and shadowburst metre gain. Both are good picks for sure, but Demonic Impulse provides ample opportunity to pop your metre and deal huge bursts of damage at once. On top of that, and this is purely aesthetic, what’s the point in playing the demon class if you can’t use all your demon-based abilities? For non-class Engravings, we recommend the standard DPS Engravings used across many other classes. These are:
Cursed Doll: Attack +16%, incoming healing -25% Grudge: Increases damage against bosses and higher-levelled enemies by up to 20% and decreases damage taken by the same amount.
Here are the skills we feel are best focused on when using this build:
Cruel Cutter/li> Thrust Impact Demolition Sharpened Cut
Gate of Eruption is our pick for the best Awakening Skill, due in large part to its sheer damage potential through multiple hits but also the ability to fear enemies. In a bind, this can go a long way in protecting you when swarmed.
What is the best Lost Ark Deathblade build?
The final class we’re covering is a whirling dervish of sharp blades and big damage. Deathblade is the subclass of choice for those who like a high mobility, glass cannon playstyle. For those of you who like to make a massive impact and look good doing it, Deathblade is for you. The two class Engraving choices for Deathblade are Remaining Energy and Surge, both of which being exceptional choices leading to tonnes of damage. Remaining Energy is about hitting hard and fast with attacks that do not consume the Art metre, while also increasing damage per Surge level. Surge on the other hand revolves around stacking a damage buff and dealing consistent damage with Blade Surge. For this build, we recommend Surge as it is all about hitting skills until you hit 20 max stacks, then cashing out with Blade Surge. It’s nice and simple, and provides clear damage windows. For non-class Engravings, we recommend the standard DPS Engravings used across many other classes. These are:
Cursed Doll: Attack +16%, incoming healing -25% Grudge: Increases damage against bosses and higher-levelled enemies by up to 20% and decreases damage taken by the same amount.
Here are the skills we feel are best focused on when using this build:
Windcut/li> Spincutter Dark Axel Soul Absorber Earth Cleaver Blitz Rush/li>
Flash Blink allows you to dash in a chosen direction, doing massive damage to anyone in the path. This is great at killing bosses, clearing waves of enemies, and occasionally moving out the way of a big incoming attack.
Lost Ark – why your first character pick doesn’t matter too much
If you’ve been reading this guide and found yourself anxious about your class choice or frustrated that your initial pick isn’t ‘meta’, you really don’t need to worry too much. In Lost Ark, character development is important, but the most substantial area of progression comes from account progression. Be it card collections or collectable spread across the world, account-wide bonuses are huge in Lost Ark, and allow you maintain many critical stat improvements across all your characters. This means that once you power through the game on your first character, you can level up a new character with huge boons already there. If you get to the end game and feel like you’d rather be a Gunlancer than a Deathblade, the process of getting back up to the same strength is easier than you would initially expect. With this in mind, jump into Lost Ark with the class that seems the most fun to you! After all, that’s the most important thing at the end of the day. If you’re not having fun with a class, you’re likely to stop playing long before you make it to the especially challenging content anyway. If you’re looking for additional tips for your first venture into Lost Ark, check out our article on how to hit max level as fast as possible, as well as our guide covering everything you need to know about Lost Ark cards!
