The MMORPG Lost Ark, developed by Smilegate, is set to debut in just a few days—on February 8 for those who purchased the Founder’s Pack and February 11 for the general public. At Inven Global, we are dedicated to helping newcomers navigate the enchanting realm of Arkesia.

This guide provides essential information that every newcomer should be familiar with, including the roles of different classes, the process of leveling up a character, and the method of enhancing alternate characters through Knowledge Transfer.

Steps to access your advanced class in Lost Ark

Once you finish creating your character and watch a brief cutscene, you will be taken to Trixion to choose your advanced class. Gone are the days of tedious tutorials; you can dive straight into the gameplay of your chosen class!

Understanding the roles of DPS and Support in Lost Ark.

In Lost Ark, each class falls into one of two categories: DPS or Support. Understanding the role of your class is crucial before choosing which one to play.

DPS classes, as indicated by their title, are designed primarily to inflict damage, serving as their main contribution to the group. Although these classes can offer additional benefits like Stagger Damage, Weak Point, or Part Break, their primary role is to eliminate threats. Typically, DPS classes prioritize Specialization, Critical, and Agility as their secondary stats, as these attributes enhance their damage output in various ways.

Support classes, as implied by their name, are designed to assist their teammates, contributing to the party’s overall effectiveness. They primarily enhance performance through damage boosts, damage mitigation, shielding, and, on rare occasions, healing. Typically, support classes prioritize Specialization and Agility as their secondary stats, as these enhance the duration and effectiveness of their buffs, shields, and healing abilities. In terms of damage output, support classes generally fall short compared to traditional DPS classes, even when optimized for damage. At the moment of release, the two support classes available are Bard and Paladin.

In Lost Ark, each DPS class possesses at least one supportive skill, known as their DPS Synergy ability. These abilities do not stack when used by the same class, ensuring that all players contribute to the overall damage output, even if they aren’t classified as a “support” class. This dynamic enhances the value of dedicated support classes, which primarily focus on providing utility to the team. For challenging content, a common recommendation is to include one support class for every three DPS classes in a group. However, since all classes offer some level of support to one another, this is not a strict requirement, especially if players demonstrate strong mechanical skills and manage their health potions wisely. Support classes primarily serve to reduce the burden on DPS players, and the game does not impose mandatory “heal checks” as seen in other MMORPGs.

Below is a compilation of Synergy abilities for all the DPS classes that have been released.

Flat Damage Synergy

When the Amplified Damage tripod is activated, Berserker (Red Dust) and Shadowhunter (Howling) boost the damage received by the party by 12% for a duration of 6 seconds.

When the Amplified Damage tripod is activated, the Scrapper (Fierce Tiger Strike and Crushing Smite), Sorceress (Blaze and Lightning Vortex), and Sharpshooter (Rapid Shot and Atomic Arrow) enhance the damage received by the party by 6% for a duration of 8 seconds.

When the Fighting Spirit Enhancement tripod is activated, Soulfist (Energy Release and Pulverizing Palm) boosts the attack power of the party by 6% for a duration of 8 seconds.

Deathblade (Spincutter) boosts the damage received from Head Attacks and Back Attacks by 9% for a duration of 10 seconds. Additionally, when the Open Weakness tripod is active, it enhances all damage from the party by 3%.

Synergy for Critical Hit Probability

Wardancer (Wind’s Whisper) provides a natural boost of up to 8% attack speed and 16% movement speed to all allies for a duration of 6 seconds. Additionally, when the Oath of the Wind tripod is active, it grants a 10% increase to the party’s critical hit chance. On the other hand, Wardancer (Roar of Courage) inherently lowers the critical resistance of enemies by 3% and, when the Fatal Wave tripod is equipped, it further decreases their resistance by an extra 10%. This effectively translates to a 13% increase in critical hit chance for the party, albeit described differently due to it being a debuff.

Striker (Lightning Whisper) inherently lowers the critical resistance of enemies by 3% and provides an 8% boost to attack speed for all allies when the Lightning’s Blessing tripod is active. Additionally, when the Fatal Lightning tripod is equipped, it further decreases critical resistance by an extra 10%.

When the Weakness Exposure tripod is activated, Deadeye and Gunslinger (Spiral Tracker and AT02 Grenade) lower the critical resistance of foes by 10% for a duration of 6 seconds.

Synergy in Defense Mitigation

When equipped with the Armor Destruction tripod, the Gunlancer (Bash and Shield Push) and the Artillerist (Summon Turret) lower the enemy’s defense by 12% for a duration of 6 seconds.

Progressing your character classes in Lost Ark

Raising the level of your initial character

In Lost Ark, each class has the ability to independently reach level 50 by finishing the Main Story quests, which are marked in orange and blue, no matter the class’s role. You will find it easy to defeat bosses and accomplish quests. The game encourages players to explore various characters, and since you will likely experience the leveling journey several times, it’s important to familiarize yourself with the fundamentals to optimize your time.

For your initial character, I recommend tackling any Guide Quests (marked in purple) as soon as they become available. These quests are designed to introduce you to key game mechanics, making them crucial for your early experiences in Arkesia. While side quests are not mandatory, it’s advisable to complete them all once you reach level 50 with at least one character. This is important because side quests offer valuable rewards, including skill potions, engraving books, consumable boxes, and permanent stat potions. Additionally, they can assist in completing your Adventure Book, which is essential for acquiring specific collectibles.

Upon departing from the initial continent, your primary questline will transition from the orange Main Story quests to the blue Region quests. From this moment on, your quest tracker will focus on the overarching narrative titled “Finding the Ark.”

For a newcomer to the game, the journey to level up is expected to require approximately 12 to 15 hours of playtime.

Understanding Knowledge Transfer in Lost Ark: Its Definition and Functionality

In the Stronghold, there exists a feature called Knowledge Transfer, which enables players to automatically elevate a chosen class to a specific point in the story for a fee in gold. In the western edition of Lost Ark, players must first manually level at least one character to level 50 to gain access to Knowledge Transfer. To level a different character to Vern, it costs 600 gold and requires 8 hours of time, which is quicker than the average player’s pace, making it a worthwhile investment if you have the gold. Once your first character reaches level 50, you can use Knowledge Transfer for another character, and for every two characters you level to 50, an additional Knowledge Transfer option becomes available. Therefore, you will need a total of three characters to unlock the second Knowledge Transfer for another character.

As you advance through the upcoming continents with your current character (up to Punika), you will gain the option to utilize Knowledge Transfer to bypass these continents for any future characters. You can keep using Knowledge Transfer as long as your character achieves the required item level to enter the next continent, but you must complete each continent in order. This will incur extra gold expenses and an additional waiting period of 8 hours for each continent you aim to advance through. Given that the subsequent continents after Vern only require 1 to 3 hours each, I believe this approach is not worthwhile.