Lost Ark: Tips and tricks for getting started (class selection, leveling, travel)

Lost Art is an extensive online role-playing game that presents you with a choice right from the character creation stage and also has some pitfalls afterward. With our tips and tricks, we want to make it easier for you to enter the world of Arkesia.

If you’ve read our other Lost Ark guides, such as housing, crafting, or endgame, then you already know that the online role-playing game is huge. At the same time, it can quickly overwhelm beginners with the multitude of class specializations, systems, and currencies. To help you get started in the world of Arkesia, here are some tips and tricks that we wish we knew before we launched a few months ago.

Choosing the right class

On paper, there are only five classes available for Lost Ark’s EU launch, but these are broken down into a total of 15 class specializations for you to choose from. The bad news: A lot of the gameplay just looks outrageously good in gameplay trailers. Also, they all seem to prefer to deal damage. How are you supposed to find the right class? Especially since there is no possibility of reskilling later. You can customize your skill selection, but not your chosen specialization.

Support trio

In fact, there are only three subclasses that stand out from the DPS monotony. On the one hand there are the paladin (base class warrior) and the bard (base class mage), who have the strongest support abilities (heals, buffs, debuffs, shields) of all styles of play. On the other hand, there is the Pistol Lancer (basic class Warrior), which can withstand a lot and can sometimes draw the attention of enemies. If you want to take on such a support job, these are the right ways for you to play.

Who is the best claims specialist?

If you prefer to play an offensive front-line soldier, we recommend the Berserker (basic class warrior), which comes along comparatively sluggishly due to its massive two-handed sword, which can be tricky in the endgame. The Death Blade, the War Dancer, and the Battle Monk are much more mobile and can also cause high damage.

Do you prefer targeting enemies from a distance or with spells? The sorceress deals enormous damage, but also withstands very little. Artistic Archer, Sniper, and Artilleryman are also good choices. An experienced player can also get high damage values ​​from all of the previously unmentioned ways of playing.

So you should rather ask yourself the following questions: Do you prefer to play ranged or melee fighters? A male or female hero? And based on that, you then “play” the classes that come into question for you, up to the choice of specialization, right at the beginning. There you can then test them extensively against hordes of monsters and bosses and make a sensible choice.

Tips and tricks for leveling

In Lost Ark you can level your characters up to a maximum level of 60 at launch. However, this is not necessary. You unlock the actual endgame at level 50 in the soft cap. You can reach this milestone quite quickly by fully focusing on the main scenario quests. You save even more time if you skip the tutorial and cancel as many in-game sequences as possible (which is not always possible).

However, we recommend that you give yourself a little more time. The endgame doesn’t run away from you, the main scenario is also really entertaining for the most part, and you’ll learn important basics in the tutorial. In addition: Many tutorial tasks (which introduce new systems), side missions, and time-limited region quests are on the way anyway. You can take them with you without much loss of time and usually have to hand them in at places that the main scenario takes you to anyway.

For the first few hours of play, main scenario quests are marked by gold, double-boxed, double-arrowed icon. However, this changes with the opening of the world and the unlocking of shipping. Then you have an all-encompassing quest, which will still be marked with that icon, plus the “normal” main scenario quests, which will now be represented by a light blue planet icon.

Attention: You will occasionally encounter dungeons during the course of the main scenario. You can tackle these alone or with up to three friends, and on Normal or Hard. In the latter mode, the rewards are a bit better, but you will also exchange these items again very quickly in the level phase. If speed is what you’re after, make every story dungeon fix solo and on Normal. If you want to get the adventure book to 100 percent in all zones, you have to go into every dungeon on normal and hard anyway. What is not worth it at all: Grinding dungeons for the experience.

Account-wide progression

In Lost Ark, you not only level your character but also your account. This way, you unlock bonuses that benefit all characters. At the same time there are some systems in Lost Ark that apply to all characters on a server – for example the housing progression, your crafts, or the mounts and pets you have earned.

Finally level 50 – now what?

Continue following the main scenario quests until you are allowed to visit the first Chaos Dungeons. Also check out Trixion (with the appropriate clef, hotkey F2) because Beatrice will give you the quest for your powerful Awakening skill.

Tips for traveling and the map

Throughout the areas of Arkesia you will come across teleporter platforms. Once you have clicked on it, you have activated this triparter and can henceforth travel to this teleporter from anywhere on the continent. Warning: This fast travel system does not work across continents! You can get to other continents with your own ship or with an automatic overseas trip. In both cases, you have to head for a port zone on a continent to board your ship or book an overseas trip.

Tip: You can use the tab key to display a transparent version of the minimap in order to see triporters, quest givers, important NPCs, traders, and much more at a glance. Hold down the middle mouse button to move this map section. You can even use Alt and left-click to start a Triporter teleport directly in this map display. So you don’t have to switch to the real map (shortcut M).

The Bifrost is even more practical when it comes to traveling. With the Bifrost, you can save a point in the world and jump there when you need it, no matter where it is in Arkesia. You can earn up to three Bifrost points this way. Two more are only available with the optional Crystalline Aura subscription. For example, with that many Bifrost saves, you can cover your entire daily quest routine without having to walk too far between tasks.

More tips and tricks for Lost Ark

• You will always receive account-bound boxes containing countless items, but you have to choose one of the items. Our tip: Wait until you can actually assess what each item will bring you in detail or where you will later need it. Put them in your account storage, for example.
• Almost all hotkeys in Lost Ark can be customized. The only exceptions: left and right mouse button (for movement and attack, can only be switched) and the interaction keys G and H.
• Lost Ark supports controllers. Feel free to try it out.
• With Alt + X you can gradually hide the different elements of the interface.
• All NPCs that are shown with a heart on the map have a reputation that you can increase. This is possible via emotes, songs, gifts or quests. However, you can only perform limited songs and emotes every day. Do this as early as possible in order to waste a few of the related actions as possible. You don’t have to choose some of the NPCs. In the long term, you can max out all relationships.
• Try out all of your class’s skills and their upgrades. You can easily reset your skill points over and over again.
• If possible, always use your F1 healing potions when leveling. These cheap F1 potions are available from NPC vendors for silver. In endgame challenges, you are often not allowed to use them anyway. The better healing potions, on the other hand, are not available for silver but can be used in limited numbers in endgame challenges. If possible, don’t skin them beforehand.
• You unlock PvP automatically during the course of the main scenario (level 26/27). The equipment will be normalized for all participants. You also have access to all skills and skill improvements.