As an MMORPG, Lost Ark allows players to play among 15 different classes from the get go, ranging from the melee Berserker class, the ranged Gunslinger class, and the magic-wielding Sorceress class, just to name a few. In this guide, we will look into these classes to help you choose which would would best suit your play style.
Lost Ark is the newest MMORPG that is turning out to be a massive hit in the western side of the world. This game was developed by Smilegate who made other popular games such as CrossFire and Epic Seven.
All 15 Lost Ark Classes
Warrior Class
The Warrior class are your meaty heavy hitters among the other classes. They don’t have the best mobility, but they make it up with their attacks that deal massive damage to whoever gets in their way. This class is further subdivided into three advanced classes: Berserker, Paladin, and Gunlancer.
Berserker
Bersekers are your greatsword-wielding warriors that are known to dish out relentless attacks. They have a burst mode that gives them increased attack and movement speed that helps them make quick work out of their enemies.
Berserker Skills
- Berserk Fury – Infuse your greatsword to create Berserk Fury and deliver a powerful strike. Attack range and damage scale up with how much this skill is charged.
- Strike Wave – Concentrate energy on your greatsword and release it forward, cleaving the ground. This skill can be charged to inflict more damage.
- Whirlwind – Spin around with the greatsword to inflict damage.
- Crime Hazard – Jump and swing your greatsword to deal damage and launch foes into the sky, then strike down to deal damage again and knock them down.
- Hell Blade – Thrust your greatsword into the ground, inflicting damage. Hold and attack to deal more damage. Hit this skill’s Perfect zone to deliver a finishing blow that inflicts even more damage and launches foes in the air.
Paladin
Paladins are known to be the warriors who use the the holy powers to deal offensive attacks as well as provide support to their team, making them a must-have in a party.
Paladin Skills
- Alithanes’ Judgment – Jump up and unleash a holy light that shines toward your cursor position for an attack that penetrates through even guardian monsters. Inflict damage on surrounding foes upon landing and create a barrier for yourself and party members.
- Wrath of God – Call forth the energy of sacred thunder into your weapon and deal damage to surrounding foes.
- Execution of Justice – Hold your sword with one hand and quickly spin in position to deal damage to your foe, then perform a crushing blow that deals damage.
- Law of God – Summon a magick circle of light through holy scriptures. Texts made of infinite light swirl within the magick circle, dealing damage to foes for 2 seconds.
- Flash Slash – Slowly move forward and slash your foe 7 times.
Gunlancer
Gunlancers are considered to be the tankiest tanks amongst the classes. They don’t only provide artillery fire with their gunlances, but they also protect allies from enemy attacks with their shields.
Gunlancer Skills
- Charged Stinger – While in a defensive stance, focus energy and thrust your spear in front of you. You can slowly change the direction of the attack while focusing energy. Damage increases the more you charge up the attack.
- Leap Attack – Leap toward the target location to strike at the ground, inflicting damage.
- Hook Chain – Throw a long chained hook to deal damage, then pull that foe to you to deal more damage.
- Guardian’s Protection – Upon using the skill, recover 100% of your shield meter and release a 10m radius protection aura in the nearby area for 10s. Foes within the aura take damage and become stunned. Within the aura, you and your party take less damage and become immune to pushes and debuffs.
- Fire Bullet – Perform a shelling attack at foes at close range, dealing damage.
Martial Artist Class
Martial Artists use their agility and lightning-fast reflexes to overwhelm the enemy with their combos. They are further subdivided into four advanced classes: Striker, Wardancer, Scrapper, and Soulfist.
Striker
Strikers are martial arts masters that combine their hard-hitting physical strikes with their swiftness akin to the wind. Strikers are a class similar to the Wardancers, but are exclusively males.
Striker Skills
- Tiger Emerges – Advance forward and inflict fire damage, then perform a upward attack for additional damage.
- True Heavenly Awakening – Gather powerful energy in your legs from a wide trajectory before kicking 2 times to inflict damage and send foes airborne.
- Storm Dragon Awakening – Jump up and spin your body, then kick and inflict Damage on foes. Press the skill key again within 2 seconds to perform a knee attack that inflicts Damage. Press the skill key again within 2 seconds to perform a downward strike that inflicts Damage. The first and second attack will send airborne foes back into the air and the last attack slams foes to the ground.
- Moon Flash Kick – Charge forward while kicking, dealing damage. Follow up with 4 fast kicks, another spinning back kick, and a finishing blow that deals additional damage and knocks foes back.
- Swift Wind Kick – Deliver a spinning kick in the air, attacking foes 22 times to inflict damage over 2.5 seconds.
Wardancer
Wardancers are nimble martial arts masters who can subdue opponents with their flurry of attacks, plus they can unleash devastating attacks by storing up elemental energy. Wardancers are a class similar to Strikers, but are exclusively females.
Wardancer Skills
- Fist of Dominance – Use the power of elementals and release an energy field, pulling foes close. Fly past foes and attack up to 6 times while absorbing 6 elemental forces, inflicting damage. After the last attack, absorb the barren energy field and strike down into the center of it, inflicting damage and knocking foes back. You receive less damage from incoming attacks while flying past foes.
- Advent of the Phoenix – Focus your fire energy and soar into the air to land at a cursor position. Inflict damage as you come down and upon hitting the ground, knocking foes down.
- Flash Heat Fang – Throw multiple punches to inflict damage, followed by a more damaging finishing blow.
- Lightning Kick – Deliver a flurry of kicks that inflict lightning damage, and strike down at foes causing more damage. Downed foes are lifted off the ground, and airborne foes are slammed onto the ground for additional damage.
- Triple Fist – Violently swing your fists forward and damage foes.
Scrapper
Scrappers are martial artists who wield huge gauntlets into fights. Each of the gauntlets generate their own energy that the other half of the pair feeds off of, opening the possibility of chaining combos.
Scrapper Skills
- Mysterious Art: Blast of Ruination – Focus your mind and reinforce your gauntlets to deliver a powerful strike. Gather the energy in the air onto your gauntlets and thrust forward. The ground cracks, dispersing an energy wave, knocking foes back. The damage of the wave decreases with the distance it travels.
- Crushing Smite – Launch up to 3 shockwaves in front of you, dealing damage.
- Undefeated Dragon King – Concentrate energy throughout your body and deal damage at your cursor position while moving toward the target location. Two black dragons emerge from the ground and fly alongside you, obliterating your target in tandem.
- Chain Destruction Fist – Smash the ground to shake the earth. You attack foes up to 4 times, the damage radius increasing with each hit. The last strike will knock foes back.
- Death Sentence – Release all condensed shock energy, dealing damage and knocking foes back. The damage increases with the amount of shock energy you have.
Soulfist
Soulfists use a special form of energy called Adamance which they imbue on both their melee and ranged attacks for some added punch.
Soulfist Skills
- Annihilating Ray – Gather energy and shoot an energy ray forward. Hold the skill up to 1.5s to damage foes up to 5 times. Afterwards, a friendly soul appears to lend you energy and hurl an even stronger blast that attacks and damages foes in front of you for 1.2s, knocking them back. If you stop holding before the meter is maxed out, the soul will appear and attack foes instantly.
- Heavenly Squash – Drop a massive palm at the cursor position, inflicting damage. Foes already down on the ground or in the air take an extra 30% damage.
- Magnetic Palm – Jump forward and inflict damage 3 times. Smash the ground with your palm and draw foes near while inflicting damage. Release your palm to launch the pulled foes in the air for more damage. Hold the skill hotkey to send your energy into the ground for up to 1s.
- Pulverizing Palm – Quickly dash forward, inflicting damage. Strike foes with energy-charged palms for damage and deliver the last strike to inflict more damage. The last strike inflicts 100% more damage on airborne foes.
- Deadly Finger – Dodge backward and quickly thrust your finger diagonally at the sky multiple times, for 6 hits. Damage to airborne foes increases by 30%.
Gunner Class
Gunners are your ranged weapon specialists who like to take care of enemies from a distance. They are further subdivided into four advanced classes: Gunslinger, Deadeye, Artillerist, and Sharpshooter.
Gunslinger
Gunslingers are quick and agile gunners who carry with them different guns for different situations. They are similar to the Deadeye class, but the class is only exclusive to females.
Gunslinger Skills
- Eye of Twilight – Turn back from your closest foe, mark them as a dueling target, and apply the Eye of Twilight debuff on them, reducing your target’s move and attack speed. After 2s, fire with your revolver, damaging all foes and staggering foes with the Eye of Twilight debuff.
- Last Request – Fires a powerful explosive bullet, inflicting damage and launching foes into the air.
- Plasma Bullet – Fire a plasma bullet that travels at a low speed while continuously inflicting damage.
- Peacekeeper – Fire your handgun to inflict damage in front of you. As a combo, fire the handgun in a burst, then deliver a powerful kick, and then fire the handgun rapidly. You can change direction during the combo, and the first hit allows for a counter attack.
- Hour of Judgment – Fire 3 bullets that spread in a cone-shaped range, with each bullet fragmenting upon impact and hitting foes behind the hit targets for additional damage.
Deadeye
Deadeyes have an arsenal the comprises a double handgun, a shotgun, and a rifle and can easily switch among them as needed. This class is similar to the Gunslingers, but it is exclusive for males.
Deadeye Skills
- Bursting Flare – Summon a large-caliber rifle and shoot 3 times. The first 2 bullets directly hit foes and create a rear blast along the trajectory that pulls foes in and inflicts damage. The last shot damages foes and knocks them down.
- Meteor Stream – Fire a volley of bullets to the sky, then sends them to impact at the cursor position, inflicting damage and launching foes into the air.
- Spiral Flame – Fire a powerful flame bullet, launching foes in the air, inflicting fire damage, and setting the ground ablaze, inflicting more fire damage over time.
- Shotgun Rapid Fire – Fire the shotgun 3 times, inflicting damage with each shot. The third hit will push your foes and deal damage to nearby targets.
- Death Fire – Fire a volley of bullets at all nearby foes. Hit this skill’s Perfect zone to also throw a grenade as you jump backward, inflicting damage and launching foes in the air.
Artillerist
Artillerists bring the big guns, literally. With their massive firepower, they could blast enemies into smithereens without any problems.
Artillerist Skills
- Missile Barrage – Fire 20 rockets in the sky. The missiles fly to the cursor position and explode, inflicting damage.
- Buckshot – Fire a conal blast with a shotgun, inflicting damage and pushing foes away.
- Flamethrower – Fire your flamethrower in a single direction while moving freely. The flames last for a while, inflicting fire damage.
- Gatling Gun – Spin in the cursor’s direction while firing your machine gun.
- Napalm Shot – Detonate a napalm shell, damaging foes and launching them in the air. The napalm shell sets the ground ablaze on impact, inflicting fire damage every second for 5s.
Sharpshooter
Sharpshooters are masters of the mechanical bow and can juggle between both single-target and AoE attacks to clear out the battlefield.
Sharpshooter Skills
- Golden Eye – Summon 4 golden hawks that fly around and create a devastating whirlwind that gradually grows stronger, damaging foes and launching them in the air. When the whirlwind is created, you become stealthy. Stealth lets you move past foes and is not canceled by taking damage.
- Arrow Shower – Shoot multiple arrows in the sky, causing a shower of arrows at the cursor position, which inflict damage for 2s.
- Arrow Wave – Send a tornado arrow flying toward the cursor and periodically inflict damage to foes. The tornado arrow can hit the same foe up to 4 times.
- Blade Storm – Quickly spin and throw 6 blades, inflicting damage, then throw another round of blades to inflict damage 3 more times.
- Charged Shot – Charge to inflict increasing amounts of damage depending on the charge. Also knocks foes away.
Mage Class
Mages are the conjurers of ancient magic and cast a plethora of spells, ranging from ones that provide support to the party, and ones that bring destruction to those that oppose them. This class is further subdivided into two advanced classes: Bard and Sorceress.
Bard
Bards specialize in serenades that provide buffs that powers up the team, as well as healing spells to help sustain them. Though more versed with the supportive spells, they still have offensive ones that can deal some damage.
Bard Skills
- Oratorio – Play the giant harp and sing with angels, inflicting holy damage in an explosion that decreases foes’ crit resistance and attacks against you and your party for a while.
- Stigma – Cast a Stigma at the target location. The Stigma attacks foes up to 5 times. As the tempo increases, damage from each attack increases.
- Rhythm Buckshot – Pull the string of the harp to blow up a musical note, inflicting damage and knocking foes away.
- Heavenly Tune – Inflict damage on nearby foes and boost attack speed and MP regeneration speed for yourself and nearby party members.
- Prelude of Storm – Play a powerful tune to call forth a storm that inflicts damage and stuns foes
Sorceress
Sorceress are wielders of elemental magic that can deal damage in an area, making them the go-to for crowd control.
Sorceress Skills
- Incinerate – Drop meteor fragments from the sky to inflict damage on enemies. A giant pillar then raises from the target area launching foes into the air and explodes dealing even more damage.
- Frost Explosion – Frost bursts from the body dealing damage and causing Chill Status, reducing attack and movement speed by 60%.
- Ice Arrow – Fire ice arrows, piercing foes and dealing damage. This also grants Chill Status slowing target’s attack and movement speed by 60% for six seconds.
- Lightning Burst – Fire lightning to attack enemies. This grants Electrocution status, dealing additional damage.
- Doomsday – Calls forth a giant Meteor at the cursor location within meters, inflicting Fire damage to foes and knockback foes.
Assassin Class
Assassins use the power of chaos to fight on the side of order. They’re well known at executing fast and powerful attacks that leave the enemy with no time to react. This class is further subdivided into two advanced classes: Shadowhunter and Deathblade.
Shadowhunter
Shadowhunters tap into their demonic powers to fight against the demons themselves, gaining immense power and breakneck speed.
Shadowhunter Skills
- Demon Vision – Focus demonic energy and shoot a ray of death forward to inflict damage and knock foes away. Charge to channel longer before knocking foes away for more damage.
- Sharpened Cut – Pierce through foes in front of you as you spin, inflicting damage.
- Fallen Ruin – Soar into the air and shoot an energy ray straight into the ground to inflict damage. The laser causes an explosion moments later, knocking foes away for more damage. This skill can only be used while in Demonize mode.
- Demonic Clone – Call forth an incarnation of the devil to attack by your side. Move forward and punch 2 times for damage, then strike the ground with a final damaging blow.
- Spinning Weapon – Launch the weapon on your left arm forward and make it spin to inflict damage. Press the skill key again to launch the weapon on your right arm to inflict periodic damage.
Deathblade
Deathblades make use of their three swords to inflict damage to their enemies through multiple quick slashes. Their skills are also imbued with chaos energy, making every hit fatal.
Deathblade Skills
- Flash Blink – Dash toward the cursor direction, slashing through foes with all your swords. Foes in the path receive damage at the moment of impact, then get launched in the air moments later for more damage. This skill allows you to pierce through enemy guardians as well.
- Spin Cutter – Spin and move toward the cursor direction, inflicting damage. This skill can be used up to 2 times in a row.
- Soul Absorber – Spin and move toward the cursor direction, inflicting damage. This skill can be used up to 2 times in a row.
- Blitz Rush – Charge forward and when the charge is over, advance and attack. When attacking, inflict damage with your dualsword, and when overcharged, inflict more damage and knock foes away while inflicting further damage with your longsword.
- Moonlight Sonic – Perform a sweeping slash in front of you to pull foes close and inflict damage.
Lost Ark – Shadowhunter vs. Deathblade
For the uninitiated, both assassin classes may look similar since they’re both masters of being agile and specialize at killing in a blink, with just a few differences between their skills. The main difference between the Shadowhunter and the Deathblade lies on the rate of damage that they do in a given time.
Deathblades deal damage through a thousand cuts and find it easy to chain their skills into combos. With this, their attack output is more or less consistent throughout a fight.
Shadowhunters on the other hand deal relatively weaker damage while on their normal state, but their damage output spikes once they unleash their inner demon. So in a fight, Shadowhunter’s damage output comes in bursts.
Another difference between the two classes is their range of attack, with Shadowhunters having a couple of skills that have longer range, while Deathblades have skills that are within or just a bit away from melee range.
Lost Ark Class Tier List – PvE and PvP
We’ve compiled a list of the finest classes in Lost Ark for both PvE and PvP.
The best Lost Ark PvE classes are as follows:
- S+ Tier: Bard, Berserker, Gunlancer
- S Tier: Gunslinger, Paladin, Sorceress
- A Tier: Artillerist, Deathblade, Wardancer
- B Tier: Deadeye, Shadowhunter, Sharpshooter
- C Tier: Scrapper, Soulfist, Striker
The best Lost Ark PvP classes are as follows:
- S+ Tier: Bard, Deathblade
- S Tier: Deadeye, Gunlancer, Paladin
- A Tier: Gunslinger, Sorceress, Wardancer
- B Tier: Striker, Soulfist, Sharpshooter, Shadowhunter, Berserker
- C Tier: Scrapper, Artillerist
This Lost Ark tier ranking in PvE and PvP considers four primary factors:
- Build cost
- Party buffs and support
- Damage ceiling – DPS or Initiator
- Class difficulty
Build Cost
Some classes will require a lot of gold to start. A character becomes stronger when you can afford all your jewels, skill books, awakenings, gear upgrades, and more. So a class may take a while to get going.
Party buffs and Support
Every class has a party buff who aids the team. Some classes increase flat damage while others reduce defensive stats or increase critical chance damage.
Damage Ceiling – DPS or Initiator
Optimally played classes have astounding numbers when it comes to damage dealt. To maximize team fights and group composition, you must first understand how it works.
Class difficulty
Lastly, we are also looking into the class’s difficulty. There are many classes that are more difficult to play than other classes. Some builds are more squishy but deal additional damage, some classes have skill mechanics that require timing, experience and more practice to master. You should choose a class that suits your playstyle best.
Lost Ark – Best PvE classes
Bard
In large part, Bards are sought after in groups because of their table-turning heals and buffs, which make them a popular choice regardless of difficulty. A safe bet if you’re more comfortable playing a supporting role in battles than than taking the most damage.
Berserker
Players who don’t want the support or tanky elements of the Bard or Gunlancer may prefer the Berserker, a great DPS class for individuals who enjoy getting close to the action and causing havoc. If you don’t want to spend a lot of time thinking about your Lost Ark class, this is the one for you.
Gunlancer
As a counterbalance to the Bard, the Gunlancer serves as a stomping ground for all other tanks. Because of its high maximum HP and wide AOE shield, Gunlancers are a great way to keep the rest of your party safe while you take care of protecting fragile teammates with your durability and can manage to deal high damage to the enemies at the same time.
Because of its howl, this class has a special interrupt ability. When he cries, enemy skills will be canceled. Furthermore, the Gunlancer has a large shield, making it more likely to stand when facing a boss and gain aggro.
Lost Ark – Best PvP classes
Bard
The Bard is an excellent choice for competitive fighting if you prefer team game settings where they can provide support to DPS players. Interestingly, it does so for the same reason it does in PVE – outstanding utility in the form of heals and buffs make it essential in any PVP setup.
The Bard’s identity skill, Courage, can boost damage and crit. This class also tends to use engravings, such as Awakening and Specialist Engravings, which are cheaper because only supports use them. Because support classes are less popular, these engravings are in less demand. They’re still pricey, but not as much as the core DPS engravings.
Deathblade
The Deathblade class is a fantastic choice for PVP because of its high mobility and damage output, making it a formidable adversary. The Deathblade is a great class if you enjoy slashing through an enemy’s life bar quickly.
If you like this guide, check out our other Lost Ark articles:
- Lost Ark Connection Timeout – Steam Download Queued
- Lost Ark Peaks Over 500,000 Concurrent Players Before Release
Check out this video by RageGamingVideos going over each of the available classes in Lost Ark:
