Lost Ark: Which is the Best Solo Class? Ranking All the Classes

Image: Tripod Studio Smilegate RPG via HGG / Bella Yaeger

Human Made

Penned by Bella Yaeger

Biography coming soon!

Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

One of the most challenging parts of picking up a new game is deciding which class to play. This is particularly difficult with Lost Ark, as all the classes shown on the character creation menu have subclass options that aren’t presented until after you’ve finished designing your avatar. Seasoned players of Lost Ark regard each subclass as its own entity, so it’s important to keep in mind which subclasses you’ll be able to pick from when selecting your initial class. We’ll help you work that out with this Lost Ark Best Solo Classes guide.

Ranking classes for Lost Ark solo play is heavily determined by playstyle. The main concern for solo play is easy of getting through the leveling stages (as the harder late-game content isn’t available in solo play). All classes are viable for solo play, as well as PVE and PVP, and each has its pros and cons. We’ll discuss them all in detail in this article.

Let’s get started!

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The Best Classes for Beginners in Lost Ark

Lost Ark: Best Solo Classes Overview

Lost Ark has class options for every type of player. While some classes have better damage or sustainability than others, it’s more important that you feel comfortable with the combos and damage style of your chosen class. The engravings you receive throughout the leveling stages also change the power of each class — when utilized properly, they can bring a mid to low-tier class to the power level of classes at the top of this list.

Personally, I experimented with multiple different classes before choosing my main, the Shadow Hunter. I love her aesthetic, and I have a lot of fun transforming into a powerful half-demon. Let’s find the class that’s right for you!

All 15 Lost Ark Solo Classes, Ranked From Worst To Best in Terms of Soloing Potential

We ranked the Lost Ark classes based on soloing potential. They’re in order from worst to best, with plenty of details to help get you started on choosing which class to play.

15/15

Sharpshooter (Gunner)

• Pros: Long range, good mobility, easy to learn
• Cons: Low DPS, requires a lot of support in raids to stay alive

Leveling

Leveling the right abilities for the Sharpshooter is essential if you hope to be successful in solo play. They only have a few important skills, which makes it much more important to focus on the ones that matter.

While leveling, your main focus should be the following abilities:

• Blade Storm
• Claymore Mine
• Charged Shot
• Arrow Shower
• Moving Slash

Moving Slash won’t grant you a lot of damage, but it’s essential for this class, as it’s the only mobility skill the Sharpshooter has.

Combos

The Sharpshooter class has a few different combo options, but the best combo for solo play is relatively simple. It isn’t always possible to get a complete combo off in large mobs, but it’s generally a good idea to keep this sequence in mind:

Deadly Slash Blade Storm ➡️ Rapid Shot ➡️ Arrow Wave ➡️ Sharpshooter ➡️ Snipe ➡️ Charged Shot ➡️ Moving Slash.

Obviously, due to the low mobility of this class, it may be necessary to move the Moving Slash to an earlier position in your combo. Just go with what works best for you!

Class Engravings

The Sharpshooter has two class-specific engravings. Both are viable depending on how you want to play the game. For solo play, I recommend taking the Death Strike engraving. This increases the damage done by Last Rush, which somewhat makes up for the Sharpshooter’s lack of DPS.

The other option is the Loyal Companion engraving. This boosts the stats of your pet and grants movement speed to anyone in your party. The latter aspect is obviously irrelevant in solo play, making it a less desirable option.

Verdict

The Sharpshooter is a simple class with few important abilities to learn. They do have long-range and good mobility, but lack significant damage. They have low health, defense, and AOE damage, as well as very few melee attacks. Since the Hawk they rely on for help also doesn’t have great DPS, it’s especially important that you don’t get surrounded by enemies.

In other words, this class is hard to play in solo mode — clearing mobs will be much more difficult without a support to keep you alive or a melee damage dealer to distract enemies.

14/15

Deadeye (Gunner)

• Pros: Shotgun does reliable damage, challenging to play, high mobility
• Cons: Short range (for a “ranged” class), few viable build paths, only one out of three guns has reliable damage

Leveling

The Deadeye has a lot of useless skills, so knowing which ones to focus is crucial. Most of their important abilities revolve around their shotgun — you’ll want Equilibrium, Sign of the Apocalypse, Last Request, and Shotgun Rapid Fire for their damage.

By the time you’re done leveling, you should have twelve skill points invested in Shotgun Rapid Fire, Last Request, and Shotgun Dominator. This last one won’t be as important, but will come in handy during late-game content. You should also invest in Dextrous Shot, which is the Deadeye’s main mobility ability.

Combos

The Deadeye has three different guns, so there are a few different viable combos to choose from. The main focus in any combo will be your shotgun, which outputs the most damage. The best Deadeye players begin their combo with a different gun (typically the pistol), and then switch to the shotgun to obliterate their enemies. A combo could look something like this:

Start with pistol. Grenade ➡️ Cruel Tracker ➡️ Dexterous Shot ➡️ Spiral Tracker ➡️ Equilibrium ➡️ Grenade.

Swap to shotgun. Shotgun Rapid Fire ➡️ Last Request ➡️ Sign of the Apocalypse ➡️ Shotgun Dominator.

The Deadeye is not a tanky class, so getting off a full combo will be difficult. Weaving in and out of combat range with large mobs is important, which is why it’s so hard to nail down a set combination for this class. The Deadeye can be a great class for a very experienced player, but it does come with significant challenges.

Class Engravings

The Deadeye only has one viable class engraving — Enhanced Weapon. It provides extra crit chance when swapping weapons, so it helps when performing long combos where you’re switching back and forth from pistol to shotgun.

The other option is The Pistoleer, which eliminates the use of the other two guns in their kit. As mentioned before, the best Deadeye players focus most of their energy on the shotgun, so this engraving is more harmful to the class than anything else. You might take it for an extra challenge when playing Deadeye, or if your playstyle matches the pistol, but most players utilize the Enhanced Weapon engraving.

Verdict

The Deadeye is similar to the Gunslinger, but significantly less powerful. They have less range and fewer viable build paths, as the shotgun is the only reliable form of damage. It’s also complicated to learn and play without any of the Gunslinger’s flexibility.

13/15

Soulfist (Martial Artist)

• Pros: High burst damage, lots of mobility
• Cons: Squishy, low auto-attack damage, higher learning curve

Leveling

The Soulfist is one of the hardest classes to level as a new player due to their squishiness and cooldown times. While your abilities are on cooldown, you basically have to run around without dealing much damage. Knowing when to use your abilities is important!

The best way to play the Soulfist is to group your enemies and take them out with a single combo. Large bosses are tough for this class, as you have to precisely time your attacks and dodges. most classes have some leeway in this area, but the Soulfist relies on your dodging abilities.

To maximize the leveling experience, focus on these abilities;

• Lightning Palm
• Heavenly Squash
• Magnetic Palm
• Deadly Finger
• Flash Step

Combos

The best combo for the Soulfist begins with Hype Mode. This won’t always be available, as it does need to be built up by using other abilities, but it’s the best option when you have it ready.

Hype Mode Level 3 ➡️ Energy Release ➡️ Merciless Pummel ➡️ Shadowbreaker ➡️ Force Orb ➡️ Pulverizing Palm ➡️ Heavenly Squish ➡️ Lightning Palm

Weave in Flash Step for mobility whenever you need to — it fits in pretty well at any point in the combo.

Class Engravings

Both the class engravings for the Soulfist are viable for solo play, but your choice does inform your overall build path and playstyle.

Energy Overflow makes it so the Soulfist basically never runs out of energy. I like Energy Overflow for solo play because it allows you to constantly be attacking. Running out of energy when you’re alone is one of the worst things in solo play, as it leaves you in a vulnerable position while waiting for your energy to regenerate.

Robust Spirit is less favorable to me, but creates a unique playstyle that’s still viable for solo play. It focuses on the Soulfist’s awakening ability, granting extra damage and energy regeneration to Hype Mode specifically. Since this is the most important ability in the Soulfist’s kit, Robust Spirit is a fantastic choice.

Verdict

The Soulfist has high burst damage and great mobility, but they’re very squishy. They also have low damage when their abilities are on cooldown, making solo boss fights longer and harder. Knowing when to use your important abilities is essential to playing the Soulfist, which makes them a very difficult class to master.

12/15

Bard (Mage)

• Pros: Great support, high healing, fantastic buffs
• Cons: Slow auto-attack, very low damage, squishy

Leveling

Playing a solo Bard is one of the hardest things to do in Lost Ark. Bards are invaluable for late-game content and eventually have some of the best access to raids or boss fights, but they struggle on their own in the early levels. Bards have almost no damage, their auto-attacks are incredibly slow (though the animations are beautiful), and they’re super squishy. Killing mobs or bosses feels impossible if you don’t know exactly which skills to put ability points into.

There are only three main skills to focus on as a solo Bard:

• Dissonance
• Soundholic
• Stigma

After maxing out these abilities, you can focus on other damage or support abilities based on your playstyle. It’s important to know when and where to use your healings and buffs to keep yourself alive during long boss fights. Dodging is essential as well — the Bard has relatively low mobility compared to some of the other classes, so being able to run around effectively will keep you from dying.

Combos

Knowing the right combo as a Bard will save your life in many instances throughout leveling. Your ideal combo will change depending on the type of boss or mob you’re facing, so it’s important to keep in mind which buffs are being used, and when. There are buffs for increasing damage, as well as buffs that decrease damage taken. Depending on where you’re at in a fight, it may make more sense to swap around the combination a little bit.

You also need to have a good amount of patience — all fights will take longer to solo as a Bard versus any other class in the game. This doesn’t mean you can’t get through the fight, just that it will take significantly longer.

The best general combo for the Bard is:

Wind of Music (right before starting a fight) ➡️ Heavenly Tune ➡️ Sonic Vibration ➡️ Dissonance ➡️ Soundholic ➡️ Sound Shock ➡️ Stigma. Add a Guardian Tune if you’re facing large amounts of incoming damage.

Class Engravings

There are two class engravings for the Bard. Since they’re a support class, both focus on their support elements, but one is significantly better for solo play. Desperate Salvation increases your healing and can keep you alive during long fights.

True Courage, on the other hand, focuses exclusively on buffing your allies’ damage. It’s great for late-game content and getting through raids (as is Desperate Salvation), but you won’t have any use for it during solo play.

Verdict

The Bard is the best support class in Lost Ark, and are invaluable in late-game content when supports are required to get through raids. In the early levels, however, their low damage and slow auto-attack speed make it hard for them to get through content as a solo class.

11/15

Striker (Martial Artist)

• Pros: Great CC, strong ultimate, great for PVP, speedy
• Cons: Long build-up time for ultimate ability, crowd control not as effective against mobs

Leveling

The Striker is the male version of the Wardancer, meaning they’re very similar classes. The Striker is slightly less effective in a few areas, though, and the areas he excels in can be tough for new players to master.

He’s known for his speed — he’s fast at attacking and moving, and has quite a few mobility abilities. However, for an inexperienced player, this speed can be hard to keep up with. The Striker relies on weaving in and out of fights during the leveling stage, so be aware of when to duck in or run away if you plan on staying alive.

There are a few key abilities to focus on when leveling the Striker:

• Swift Wind Kick
• Tiger Emerges
• Sweeping Kick
• Violent Tiger
• Call of the Wind God

Combos

An effective Striker combo involves crowd controlling enemies and using your powerful ultimate at just the right time. The idea is to build up esoteric orbs, then use your esoteric skills.

Lighting Whisperer ➡️ Moon Flash Kick ➡️ Violent Tiger ➡️ Sweeping Kick.

This combo should cover your build-up. At this point, use Call of the Wind God, Tiger Emerges.

Class Engravings

There are two class engravings for the Striker. Death Blow is completely unique to the class, and gives you the ability to gain one extra esoteric orb and deal more damage with your esoteric abilities. Keep in mind, however, that all the orbs will be consumed when using these abilities. The best way to use it is to build up all four orbs, then use them to deal one large blow to enemies.

The other option is Esoteric Flurry, which makes it so your esoteric abilities only consume one orb apiece, rather than two. I prefer this engraving for solo play, as it creates more sustained damage. The burst damage from Death Blow is great for late-game content, but Esoteric Flurry is superior in solo.

Verdict

The Striker is great for PVP, but doesn’t feel as strong when playing solo. They have fantastic crowd control abilities that can eliminate a squishy target, such as a support in the PVP arena, but the crowd control doesn’t do nearly as much when fighting a mob alone. They also have strong ultimate abilities, but they take a while to build up, as you need to generate and collect elemental orbs to use them.

10/15

Artillerist (Gunner)

• Pros: Good DPS, easy to hit abilities, great ultimate
• Cons: Low mobility, turret mode locks Artillerist in place

Leveling

The Artillerist is great for group play, but is much more difficult when playing solo. They have great DPS, as their turrets can shred through enemies like paper. However, their low mobility makes staying alive against large mobs or late-game bosses difficult. Being locked in place for the duration of a skill isn’t beneficial when you don’t have a support to heal or buff you.

Some specific skills will help keep the Artillerist alive while they deal massive amounts of damage. You’ll want to focus on boosting these skills:

• Energy Field (self buff)
• Flamethrower
• Napalm Shot
• Summon Turret

Combos

Getting your combos right on the Artillerist is pivotal when playing solo. The Artillerist isn’t a very tanky class, so you can die quite quickly if you’re not careful. Your DPS helps make up for this, and the Energy Field self-buff is good when taking on big groups of enemies. If you’re fighting a boss, pop this just before entering turret mode.

Homing Barrage ➡️ Air Raid ➡️ Multiple Rocket Launcher ➡️ Napalm Shot ➡️ Forward Barrage ➡️ Flamethrower.

Remember to summon turrets throughout the combo!

Class Engravings

There’s only one viable class engraving for the Artillerist — Firepower Enhancement. This grants you extra crit chance based on your firepower damage, as well as increased resistances in turret mode. Firepower Enhancement is great for solo play because it gives you extra damage and lets you take a few more hits.

The other option for the class is called Barrage Enhancement, which gives a damage buff to barrage skills if there’s no firepower buff in place. Since the firepower buffs are where most of the Artillerist’s damage comes from, very few players go this route.

Verdict

The Artillerist has good DPS, and their abilities are easy to hit compared to some of the other classes. Their ultimate turret mode ability can solo mobs and bosses with very high damage. Unfortunately, this class has low mobility and loses the ability to move or dodge entirely while in turret mode. Playing without a healer can be difficult when the highest-damage ability leaves you standing in one place for the whole duration.

9/15

Wardancer (Martial Artist)

• Pros: High burst damage, good mobility, great team player
• Cons: Poor consistent DPS, harder to hit combo, long cooldowns, better suited for team play

Leveling

The Wardancer is one of the few melee classes in Lost Ark that relies heavily on her auto-attack. After using her abilities, she has to stand and auto-attack enemies for the thirty-second cooldown time. Back attacks are also important in this class, as attacking from behind will give her 5% bonus damage and 10% crit chance. For a new player, maneuvering around enemies and attacking precisely from the back is much harder than it sounds.

It’s best to put points into the following skills:

• Moon Flash Kick
• Energy Combustion
• Wind’s Whisper (self-buff)
• Lightning Kick

Combos

Wardancers have a very strong combo that can wipe out enemies quickly. The majority of her damage comes from a super powerful, charged-up attack sequence. However, their cooldowns are so long that if you miss your shot, fights get much harder and much longer — you’ll be left running around and auto-attacking for a long time.

Energy Combustion ➡️ Lightning Kick ➡️ Moon Flash Kick ➡️ Flash Heat Fang ➡️ Wind’s Whisper ➡️ Roar of Courage

Once you’ve done this, use esoteric skills like Call of the Wind God or Blast Formation.

Class Engravings

The best engraving for solo play on the Wardancer is called Esoteric Skill Enhancer. This buffs your damage based on the number of orbs you have at activation, so keep an eye on your orb count to maximize damage.

This engraving is essentially the same as Esoteric Flurry on the Striker, the main difference being that Esoteric Skill Enhancer doesn’t make the Wardancer’s abilities take all of her orbs. In other words, you don’t have to worry about sustain like you do with Esoteric Flurry.

The other option for the Wardancer is First Intention. This engraving gives you a flat damage buff, but the downside is that you can no longer use esoteric abilities. Since the Wardancer’s main appeal is the burst damage from her esoteric abilities, this engraving feels a little boring. Even with the flat damage buff, you typically end up doing less burst damage.

Verdict

Wardancers have great burst damage and pretty good mobility, but fall short when it comes to consistent DPS. After performing a combo, there’s little to nothing the Wardancer can do until her cooldowns reset. If you miss this combo, the Wardancer is essentially useless in fights.

Because of her low DPS and high burst, the Wardancer is better suited to PVP than solo play.

8/15

Scrapper (Martial Artist)

• Pros: High mobility, no mana, easy to pick up (hard to master)
• Cons: Animation locks, super small range

Leveling

Scrappers have two main playstyles, which largely center around their available class engravings. We’ll go into more detail on that later — for now, it’s enough to say that one is certainly better than the other for solo play.

The Taijutsu option offers higher mobility and higher sustain than its counterpart, Shock Training. Taijutsu is a little more forgiving of mistakes, giving you some helpful wiggle room in tough fights. The Scrapper’s abilities will have slightly lower burst damage potential this way, but the sustain is worth it in solo play (particularly when leveling).

Focus on these abilities when leveling the Scrapper:

• Charging Blow
• Death Rattle
• Instant Hit
• Earthquake Chain

Combos

Scrappers have a few different viable combinations, but the best option for solo play is as follows:

Charging Blow ➡️ Judgement / Fierce Tiger Strike (depending on your preferred playstyle) ➡️ Death Rattle ➡️ Earthquake Chain ➡️ Charging Blow.

While the two playstyles do have some unique abilities, they mainly do the same things. The biggest difference between Taijutsu and Shock Training is going to be the burst damage output.

Class Engravings

As mentioned before, the Scrapper has two class engravings. The Taijutsu engraving works much better for leveling and solo play, as it boosts your stamina energy recovery speed to 600% and increases damage from 30–60% (based on the engraving level) for stamina abilities. The downside is that shock abilities do 30% less damage.

Shock Training is more or less the opposite of Taijutsu. Shock skills deal an extra 10–20% damage, and the shock regen is set to 2–4% of the Scrapper’s max shock energy every second.

Taijutsu is preferable because it gives you the ability to spam abilities more frequently. Even with the extra regeneration on shock abilities, Shock Training doesn’t regen shock energy nearly as fast as Taijutsu regenerates stamina.

Of course, Shock Training is a viable choice for a confident player who knows exactly when to use the Scrapper’s high damage abilities. For a new player who plans on playing alone, Taijutsu will make the leveling experience significantly easier.

Verdict

Scrappers are a unique class due to their reliance on “stagger,” which lets them knock down and stun enemies. This makes them one of the best classes for PVP, but they struggle in solo play compared to other classes. They have decent damage as long as you learn how to use the identity gauge and hit the self buffs. Without understanding the optimal way to play the Scrapper, they become pretty weak.

7/15

Shadow Hunter (Assassin)

• Pros: High mobility, medium-range, powerful transformation
• Cons: Long cooldowns on most skills, squishy, hard to master

Leveling

The Shadow Hunter isn’t your typical assassin — they don’t fall back on stealth. They’re all about attacking a lot, building up their shadow meter, and letting out their powerful inner demon. When they transform, they deal a lot of damage and even regain a small amount of health. Knowing when to transform is crucial — using it too early might make it unavailable for the boss, but using it too late could spell certain death.

Shadow Hunters can be difficult to play solo because they’re better with single-target damage. When Shadow Hunters have to fight large mobs alone, it can get a little tricky. You’ll want to focus on leveling the following skills:

• Howl
• Demonic Slash
• Decimate
• Thrust Impact

Combos

Shadow Hunters have many different combinations, all of which can be effective in the right scenario. Reading a situation well is important when playing the Shadow Hunter. An effective all-around combo might look like this:

Demonic Clone ➡️ Howl ➡️ Demolition ➡️ Thrust Impact ➡️ Decimate ➡️ Cruel Cutter ➡️ Demonic Slash.

At any point during this combination, you can transform and use the Demonic abilities rather than the basic abilities. Once the transformation is complete, it’s important to reset the combo and rebuild your shadow meter.

Class Engravings

The best engraving for Shadow Hunter depends on whether you want to embrace your human or demonic form. The latter is a little easier in solo play, since you get access to burst abilities with lower cooldowns, not to mention the handy self-heal you get from transforming. Choose the Demonic Impulse engraving if you go this route — it allows you to use your demon form more often, and increases your crit chance while in demon form.

Perfect Suppression is the human-focused engraving, and cuts off your ability to transform at all. It does slightly improve the stats of the Shadow Hunter’s human abilities, but the trade-off is too steep for this to be a good choice in solo play.

Verdict

Shadow Hunters are a fantastic Assassin class choice for Lost Ark. The visuals alone make this class worth playing. The animations are beautiful, and the demonic transformation is incredibly unique. The transformation also comes with a self-heal that’s unique to Lost Ark. When the Shadow Hunter embraces their demonic form, they pump out a lot of damage, and their cooldowns are heavily reduced.

However, Shadow Hunter is a tough class to learn how to play, and it takes a while before it feels really strong. Cooldowns take a while when building up the shadow burst meter, and knowing when to weave in and out of combat is essential to mastering this class.

6/15

Deathblade (Assassin)

• Pros: High damage, high mobility, quick clear speed
• Cons: Very squishy, missing abilities will nullify most damage, good positioning is essential

Leveling

Understanding the enemy’s attack patterns is important for this squishy assassin. Larger mobs are less of an issue for the Deathblade because they have such high DPS and can easily run through large mobs that have relatively small health pools. The smartest way to play is saving your ultimate abilities for the more challenging bosses.

Getting through the leveling portion of Lost Ark with the Deathblade can be difficult. For a new player, learning this class may be challenging, as it requires a lot of very quick movement and precision when using skills. Knowing which skills to level early will be helpful when trying to live through the first fifty levels:

• Blitz Rush
• Spincutter
• Earth Cleaver
• Maelstrom

Combos

Hitting a great combo on the Deathblade feels amazing. You’ll decimate enemies with high damage, and the fun, fast animations are exhilirating. It’s devastating to miss a combo as the Deathblade, though — the cooldowns are relatively long, and there’s not much you can do while waiting for your abilities to come back.

The best combo for solo play looks something like this:

Maelstrom ➡️ Blitz Rush ➡️ Soul Absorber ➡️ Spincutter ➡️ Surge (if needed).

Rotating in other abilities for self buffs or movements may be required, but this string of abilities will be the main focus in fights.

Class Engravings

The best class engraving option for the solo Deathblade is Remaining Energy. This gives you attack power buffs when using Surge and allows for a faster build-up of the death orb meter, which in turn lets you use your death orb meter ability more frequently. The more often you can utilize this powerful ability, the better Remaining Energy will work for you.

This is great for solo play, as you’ll need to use Surge as much as possible to pump out high damage numbers while weaving in and out of battle to stay alive.

The Surge engraving changes the Surge ability to Surge 0 and buffs the damage on the Surge ability. The damage increase is significant, and it’s great for a confident player who always hits the ability. However, if you miss Surge 0, this engraving loses all of its effects. Remaining Energy is a much safer choice for a solo player.

Verdict

The Deathblade is a fun, high-mobility, high-damage assassin. They have a super quick clear speed and can slash their way through mobs with ease. Their cooldowns are relatively short on many of their abilities, and their ultimate ability decimates bosses.

They can be hard to learn, however, especially if you’re new to games like Lost Ark. Due to the squishy nature of the assassin, it is important to use their high mobility to be constantly jumping around and dodging attacks.

5/15

Gunlancer (Gunner)

• Pros: Tanky, lots of shields and buffs, lower DPS
• Cons: Immobile, backward dash, short attack range

Leveling

Since the Gunlancer is so tanky, staying alive is less of a concern for solo play. The most important thing is knowing how to put out damage. Fights can go on for a very long time, so knowing which damage abilities to level while still embracing the Gunlancer’s tanky nature is essential for a solo player.

Focusing on these abilities will give you the best chance of success during the leveling stage:

• Dash Upper Fire
• Shield Bash
• Gunlance Shot
• Charged Stinger

Combos

Knowing the right combo for the Gunlancer isn’t as important as it is for the more squishy classes. You don’t have to worry as much about dying in a fight if you miss an ability or string the wrong ability types together. Still, knowing a good combo for the class is always beneficial.

Grudge ➡️ Super Charge ➡️ Solo Knight ➡️ Master Brawler ➡️ Cursed Doll ➡️ Spirit Absorption.

Class Engravings

The best class engraving choice for solo play is Combat Readiness. This gives you increased damage, as well as bonus shield when you’re in defensive stance. You get a damage boost when hit while in defensive stance, so don’t hesitate to put yourself in harm’s way while you have this engraving. You can tank a lot of damage, and the buff is well worth taking a few hits to the face.

The other option is Lone Knight, which is exclusively focused on damage and takes away a lot of your tankiness. It makes surviving fights slightly more difficult and removes the specialty of the class. Since the Gunlancer is the only tank class in Lost Ark, I personally prefer to embrace that specialty.

Verdict

The Gunlancer is the closest class to a tank that Lost Ark has. They have a ton of shields and buffs that allow them to take massive amounts of damage without actually losing any health. They have decent damage themselves, but the main pull of this class is their ability to simply outlast the enemy. The clear speed on Gunlancers is slower than in other classes, and it is the only class with a backward dash, which can be hard to learn how to use correctly.

4/15

Sorceress (Mage)

• Pros: High damage, easy to play, ranged
• Cons: Squishy, long cast time, easily CC’d

Leveling

The Sorceress is one of the most powerful and popular classes in Lost Ark. She’s fun to play and deals a ton of ranged damage, so understanding positioning isn’t essential. For a beginning solo player, the Sorceress is a great starter class. In early levels, she does enough damage to carry through large mobs and hard bosses. In late-game, she has incredible damage output and she is loved in raid groups.

There are a few great skills to focus while in the leveling stage:

• Punishing Strike
• Frost’s Call
• Seraphic Hail
• Explosion

Combos

The Sorceress is strong no matter which order you use her abilities in, which makes her perfect for beginning players! The most important combo requirement to remember is to use Blaze first — this will debuff enemies, causing them to take increased damage for seven seconds. Any follow-up spells will be much more effective if you use Blaze first.

Class Engravings

The best engraving for a solo Sorceress is Reflux. The Reflux engraving takes away the ability to use Arcane Rupture, but increases your crit chance for all your other abilities. The idea is to use your abilities as often as possible — as soon as one comes off cooldown, mash it again as soon as you can.

The other option is Igniter, which is all about building up the gauge for Arcane Rupture. If played correctly, the Igniter build can spark a ton of burst damage. It’s much more difficult and takes a bit more finesse than Reflux, though, making it significantly harder to play solo. It’s important to be protected while going through your combo when playing Igniter — you lose a lot of mobility with it.

Verdict

The Sorceress has incredibly high DPS from early game through late-game content. She has great burst damage, often being able to put out over 100M damage in late-game boss fights. She’s easy to pick up and has decent mobility for dodging attacks, but she’s squishy. Learning boss mechanics will be important for surviving boss fights, especially when playing solo.

3/15

Gunslinger (Gunner)

• Pros: Super fun to play, good mobility, different playstyle options
• Cons: Squishy, complicated

Leveling

The Gunslinger is considered the most complicated class in Lost Ark, and for good reason. They’re often compared to the Deadeye, since they both have gun rotation mechanics, but where the Deadeye only has one reliable weapon (the shotgun), the Gunslinger has three. This results in more options and more complicated playstyles — learning to rotate through guns and knowing which to use in particular situations is important. They may not be the best choice for a new player.

Fortunately, the Gunslinger is strong enough to get through leveling relatively easily, allowing you to learn on the go while fighting easier mobs and bosses. For a successful leveling experience, try focusing on these skills:

• Equilibrium
• Sharpshooter
• Bullet Rain
• Focused Shot
• Quick-Step

Combos

Since the Gunslinger has so many different options (and because you’re likely to develop a preference), it’s hard to put together a definitive combo. The most important thing is to manage your cooldowns, learn which guns work best at which range, and know when to switch between them.

That last one is the biggest sticking point for new players. It’s tempting to choose a favorite gun and use it exclusively. The Gunslinger’s auto-attack feels very natural, and it may seem like you’re doing decent damage with your favorite gun. This isn’t the case — the best way to play the Gunslinger is to rotate through her guns effectively and utilize the skills from each different weapon.

Class Engravings

Time to Hunt is the best engraving for a solo Gunslinger, though both it and Peacemaker are viable depending on your preferred playstyle. The main difference is whether you want to play at long range (Time to Hunt) or close range (Peacemaker).

I prefer Time to Hunt in solo play because the range advantage gives you a bit more safety. The builds are also easier to learn and follow, which is better for new players. Time to Hunt also eliminates the use of the shotgun, making rotations a little simpler since you only have to worry about the pistol and the rifle.

Verdict

The Gunslinger is one of the most complicated classes in Lost Ark, but are incredibly strong when utilized effectively. Having three different guns offers a lot of versatility — they can operate at both long and melee range, seamlessly switching between the pistol, sniper, and shotgun. This class has good mobility with two built-in dashes, and allows for optimization of playstyle with different build paths for a player’s preferred weapon.

However, while the Gunslinger has great damage and mobility, they’re very squishy and hard to learn how to play.

2/15

Paladin (Warrior)

• Pros: Hybrid class, good survivability, decent damage, easy to play
• Cons: Lower DPS than full damage classes, slow clear time

Leveling

Leveling as a Paladin can feel relatively difficult, just because it can be very slow. The Paladin is a hybrid class, which means they’re part support, and part damage dealer. This is a great starting class for new players because they have buffs and debuffs to boost survivability, as well as some great damage abilities that allow them to clear dungeons on their own.

Early to mid-game may be the most difficult for the Paladin, as their damage can take some time to ramp up. To be the most successful in the leveling stage, focus on putting points into these skills:

• Charge (for mobility)
• Wrath of God
• Holy Land
• Holy Sword

Combos

Knowing a good combo will help you deal more damage without giving up any of your survivability. Understanding how and when to use the Paladin’s abilities is more important than with a class like the Sorceress, who will do a ton of damage no matter what.

Light Shock or Godsent Law ➡️ Holy Protection ➡️ Wrath of God ➡️ Heavenly Blessings ➡️ Holy Sword ➡️ Charge.

Starting with Light Shock or Godsent Law is important, as they apply debuffs to enemies. The placement of Charge in the combination is flexible, as it’s mostly for mobility.

Class Engravings

Judgment is by far the best class engraving option for solo players, as it focuses on damage over support. You don’t lose access to your support skills, you just get great buffs to your damage skills.

Blessed Aura does the opposite, giving you fantastic buffs to your support abilities. It’s a viable choice for the Paladin and will be very useful in supporting a raid group during late-game content — it’s just not as useful as Judgment in the early game.

Verdict

The Paladin is a great hybrid class that’s strong both in early-game leveling and late-game content. This class has great buffs that make them very hard to kill. Paladins have lower damage than other classes, so the clear time is slower for large mobs, but patient players know that they won’t go down easy.

1/15

Berseker (Warrior)

• Pros: High health, high DPS, decent AOE damage
• Cons: Hard to master, easy to play incorrectly

Leveling

The Berserker class is all about Berserker mode. All their abilities go toward unlocking their ultimate, and both class engravings enhance Berserker mode in different ways. They’re an easy class for a beginner to pick up, providing a great melee damage alternative to the ranged Sorceress.

You don’t need to be as careful in early levels when playing the Berserker compared to some of the other melee classes, which rely heavily on great mechanics and a good understanding of positioning. There are, however, a few abilities to keep in mind:

• Tempest Slash
• Finish Strike
• Whirlwind
• Shoulder Charge

Combos

Since the Berserker is such a forgiving class, knowing the right combo for him is an added benefit but not a necessity. That said, a great combination for the Berserker is as follows:

Red Dust ➡️ Tempest Slash ➡️ Chain Sword ➡️ Finish Strike ➡️ Strike Wave ➡️ Shoulder Charge.

Shoulder Charge is a mobility-focused skill and can be used at any point in the combo effectively, depending on where the enemies are and how much health you have left. Of course, the main goal is getting to Berserker mode, where you’ll be able to shine and do a lot of damage.

Class Engravings

Both of the class engravings for the Berserker are focused on Berserker mode. Both are viable options for the class, depending on your preferred playstyle.

The first option is Mayhem (my personal favorite). This increases the duration of Berserker mode, the damage you deal, your attack speed, and your movement speed. It also reduces your damage taken, making you a little tankier. It’s great for solo play because it offers a little more safety than the other option, Berserker’s Technique.

Berserker’s Technique may be more exciting and flashier than Mayhem, as it adds enormous crits to attacks done while in Berserker mode. However, it does not provide the reduced damage taken like Mayhem does, and it does rely a bit more on a player understanding how and when to use abilities properly.

Verdict

The Berserker class is one of the most commonly played classes in Lost Ark, and for good reason. This class has high DPS, relatively high health and defense compared to the other classes, and decent AOE damage. Not to mention, you get to look super cool wielding a gigantic sword.

The Berserker class does have some downfalls, though. It’s an easy class to pick up, but it is difficult to master. The best Berserker players know when to use their abilities with long cooldowns and animations to get the most out of their damage.

Join the High Ground

We hope this list helps you in selecting a class to play in Lost Ark. Thanks for reading, and good luck on your quest to find The Arks! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to comment below and follow us on social media. Keep your eyes peeled for more guides on Lost Ark!

Happy gaming!