With 15 Lost Ark classes to choose from, Amazon's new MMO can be tough to get your head around. Though with millions of players on Steam alone, you may want to get into the game while it's hot.
While 15 classes is a lot, the positive is that Lost Ark supports loads of different play styles. However you like to play MMOs, there is likely a class that will appeal to you.
To help you find the class that's a good fit in Lost Ark, check out our overview of each class and how it handles against other players and the AI enemies you'll find in the world of Arkesia.
Think about buying Lost Ark? The game is free-to-play but there are some founders packs that might interest you.
How do Lost Ark classes work?
Lost Ark has five major classes, each with further subclasses. The five major classes are Warrior, Martial artist, Gunner, Mage, and Assassin.
Once you choose a major class, you then get to pick an advanced class. Not all major classes have the same number of advanced classes.
You may be drawn to certain classes because of how they behave in other MMOs. For instance, the Mage is traditionally a character that focuses on damage-per-second (DPS). But in Lost Ark be sure to check the advanced role has that same focus. If you pick the Mage's Bard advanced class in Lost Ark your character will actually serve a support function, you need to pick the Sorceress for the DPS focus.
Something else to be aware of when picking a Lost Ark class is that they are gender-locked. If you want to play as a female-presenting character you will need to pick from certain classes, such as the Sorceress, and vice versa for male-presenting, such as the Paladin.
Lost Ark Warrior
Characterized by wearing huge pieces of armor and a more direct style of gameplay, the Lost Ark's warrior advanced classes can go from dealing a lot of damage with their massive swords, protecting their companions by using magic, to pulling enemies closer to them to launch a deadly attack.
Berserker
The Warrior advanced class is the Berserker, a traditional role for warriors in RPGs. By using a greatsword, Berserkers can strike with whirlwind attacks or hit the ground, making giant spikes that lift and incapacitate their enemies. It has a very simple and intuitive function, and it's great for Player vs Environment (PVE), since it deals very well with big groups of enemies.
In Player vs Player (PVP), you need to keep on top of your ability cooldowns, you don't want to find yourself facing another player with only your basic attack to fight them with.
Paladin
The Warrior’s second advanced class is the Paladin. Another traditional class, the Paladin is exactly what you may expect: an armor-clad soldier who wields a sword and a sacred book. Paladins have powerful melee skills, like thrust attacks and sword combos, but they stand out thanks to their support abilities. Playing as the Paladin, you can be hugely useful to a party thanks to your potent shield spells.
You should be useful in both PvE and PvP thanks to your powerful attacks and shields. A well-timed shield can save you and your friends from your enemies' most powerful attacks.
Gunlancer
The Gunlancer is where the Warrior’s advanced classes get unusual. Carrying a huge lance in one hand and a shield in the other, Gunlancers are the closest of the three to a traditional 'tank'. Its attacks are based on thrusting or “shooting” its lance, which lets you close the distance between you and your target.
While it has less utility compared to the Paladin, the Gunlancer's Hook Chain skill is a powerful tool in PVP and PVE, allowing you to combo attacks with party members.
Lost Ark Martial Artist
Lost Ark's Martial Artist class is melee-focused and great for chaining together fast, powerful attacks. If you're a Diablo player, this class tree is similar to that series' Monk.
Striker
Striker is the only male Martial Artist. Because of their steep learning curve, you may not want to pick the striker as your starting class. In part, this is because their starting attacks focus on one-to-one combat, making the Striker poor at handling crowds of enemies.
However, if you upgrade skills like Moon Flash Kick, it becomes much easier to handle groups. You can do some real damage in PvP, by using the Striker to interrupt your enemy's attacks.
Wardancer
The Martial Artist's second advanced class is the Wardancer. Keeping with the close combat style, Wardancers excel in speed and damage. They have a lot of combos, like the Sleeping Ascent Celebration skill which does significantly more damage when used as a follow-up from another attack.
The Wardancer can even control its adversary's movements with skills like Call of the Wind God, summoning a tornado that pulls opponents to its center.
The Wardancer can be understood as a similar class to the striker, but even more fast-paced. You need to focus on staying in the right position around adversaries to attain the highest damage, making it a difficult class of beginners.
The Wardancer is powerful in PvP thanks to its mobility and buffs, but its positional aspect makes it hard to play.
Scrapper
What Scrapper lacks in elemental attacks, they have in raw power. A melee fighter that uses a heavy gauntlet, the Scrapper looks fierce and can blow away its opponents with attacks such as Death Sentence.
Scrappers work around two types of energy: Stamina and Shock. While playing this class, you will alternate between yellow skills that use stamina and green skills that use shock. This class is a good starting point for new players due to its simple mechanics and being tankier than the other Martial Artist advanced classes. They can work well in PvE because of their strong attacks and defenses. In PVP though, you might find the class struggles a little more.
Soulfist
The last advanced class for martial artists is the Soulfist. The most stylish among the four, Soulfist has a good combination of melee and ranged attacks. By using Adamance, a type of special energy, it can summon a giant hand of energy to hit the ground or create a barrier to slow its enemies.
Soulfist’s skills make it a great option for PVE, with it being easy to deal with big groups of enemies. It holds its own PvP too since it has some options to incapacitate opponents.
Lost Ark Gunner
If the Martial Artist is the DPS melee class, Gunners are the ranged one. All of its four options of advanced classes are characterized by its long-distance combat style - a lot of firepower packed into a more vulnerable frame. They're glass cannons, essentially.
However, it is a very diverse class with good options for PvP and PvE among its advanced classes.
Gunslinger and Deadeye
Gunslinger and Deadeye stand out because of how versatile they are as ranged classes. They both have three sets of skills: one that uses two pistols and has more area damage, one that uses a shotgun for short distance situations and explosive damage, and one that uses a rifle for long-distance attacks affecting enemies' movement speed.
They are amazing classes for PvP and PvE, but they are very fragile, having no sustain or damage mitigation skill.
Artillerist
As the second option, the Artillerist brings the big guns to the battleground. This class uses mechanical launchers to explode its enemies with skills like the Napalm Shot.
All this firepower comes with a price though - poor mobility. Artillerists have low movement, which makes it hard to avoid taking damage and their actions too predictable. On the other hand, it's a good class for beginners thanks to how easy its mechanics are.
The Artillerist is not an easy class to use in PvP however, making itself an easy target if it's not well-positioned. It is a great class for PvE, however, because so many of its attacks can deal with large groups of enemies.
Sharpshooter
Representing the more traditional bow-user, Sharpshooter can affect enemies with its different types of arrows. It also takes advantage of some stealth skills to catch its opponents off-guard.
As a standard ranged class, Sharpshooter works quite well in PvE content. Its skills allow players to control groups of enemies as well as able to avoid damage due to having a decent level of mobility. In PvP, some preparation might be needed because players will depend on staying stealthy to help the party.
Lost Ark Mage
When thinking about an MMO, it is hard to imagine it without a Mage. Casters are a staple of the genre with their massive elemental attacks and deadly spells. All this power comes with a cost though as Mages are one of the lowest health classes.
If you want to play a Mage well you need to look for opportunities to unleash your spells without getting caught in direct combat with your enemies.
Bard
Between Mage’s two options of the advanced classes, Bards are more support-oriented. Instead of a staff, bards fight with a harp, using it to cast spells that help your friends or disrupt the enemy formation.
It is a class with so much utility that it is hard to imagine any scenario, from PvP to PvE, without a Bard. While in PvE Bards can deal with big mob groups, cleaning waves of enemies pretty fast, they can annoy their adversary by drawing enemies towards them. Once they are stunned, Bards can give the final flow by using the Soundholic skill, shooting a deadly ray of light.
This class is not easy to play for beginners, but once an opponent is caught in one of its attacks, they won’t be able to move for some time, making easy prey for your allies.
Sorceress
The other Mage advanced class is the Sorceress. This is a more traditional spellcaster class, you will be using attacks that opponents in waves of fire or freezing themwith blasts of cold wind.
As a Sorceress, you can deal a huge amount of damage, especially against groups of enemies.
The Sorceress is a great option for PvE, but it requires more skill in PvP. Against other players, you will need to be aware of space, keep your distance from your opponents, and keep a close eye on your spell cooldowns.
To help you keep your distance, the Sorceress has the Blink skill as well as the standard dash. It's charged up by performing attacks, so you'll have to be aggressive to use it well.
Lost Ark Assassin
Lost Ark's fifth class is the Assassin. A fast-paced fighter that uses sequences of attacks as well as dark powers to fight hordes of demons, you will have to pick the right moment to strike to play the Assassin well.
Shadowhunter
This advanced class plays with the traditional Assassin style adding the capacity to transform into a demon to use stronger attacks. Shadowhunter’s skillset is a mixture of melee and ranged abilities with low cooldowns. You can use close-ranged attacks, exploding demonic energy around your enemies or cutting them down with your claws. You also throw weapons and spikes at distant opponents. The class has a lot of mobility too, with some leap and dash skills.
Shadowhunters are excellent for PvP, you can use your skills to flank your enemies and cut down retreating opponents.
The Shadowhunter stumbles when facing crowds. You have few multi-target attacks, making the hordes of enemies you face in PvE a serious threat.
Deathblade
If you want a more traditional assassin class, the Deathblade is your best choice. Not happy with one, or even two swords, the Deathblade carries three and uses them all in fast, high-damage combos.
While playing as a Deathblade, You must keep in mind that this class is a strong DPS, but unlike Shadowhunters, it has few tools to reach distant enemies. You're in the difficult position of trying to close the gap with your target while avoiding damage on the approach. However, when you do get to your opponent, you will make mincemeat of them.
You have a suite of skills that let you throw your enemies and launch them into the air, interrupting their attacks and repositioning them away from their allies. The Deathblade is one of the best classes in PvP.
The Deathblade is good in PvE, especially for eviscerating tough bosses.
Choosing from the many Lost Ark classes may be overwhelming, but the developers have done what they can to help. It's easy to create an alternate character if you want to experiment. There's a class out there for you, and Lost Ark wants you to find your favorite.
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