Lost Ark has been available for a few days, and marks one of the most successful launches of the year 2022. The free-to-play MMORPG straight from South Korea presents a unique class system, quite difficult to understand for a new player. We guide you in your first steps.
With more than 500,000 players in less than 24 hours, Lost Ark confirms its status as a big fish in the MMORPG pool. The creation of SmileGate and Tripod Studio had already shown us its potential when it was released a little over three years ago in South Korea. The game has since met with huge success in Southeast Asia, which prompted Amazon Games to partner with its creators to export it to the West in the form of free-to-play. A successful operation since the game already includes nearly half a million players for its early access. A number of players who must discover its unique gameplay and its particular class system, with no less than 15 different classes. If you do not yet know which class to choose, we have deciphered all the classes in order to guide you in this important choice.
The assassins
Bloodblade
With its three blades and its warlock powers, the Bloodblade is one of the most powerful DPS in the game. With attack speed buffs and its ultra-fast combos, it is formidable in PvP, a little less in PVE. These are real “glass-cannon” classes, with very high damage but not very resistant. Far from being one of the easiest to play, the Bloodblade is nevertheless quite accessible. It has decent area damage and hits very hard on single entities. Small defect, the Bloodblade has a fairly reduced variety of builds, due to the balancing of its spells.
The Warlock
Still in the field of assassins, Warlocks are also quite tough DPS. They combine magic skills and different melee combat techniques, allowing them to have excellent damage on groups of enemies and against single entities. Like the Bloodblade, the Warlock is a fairly fragile class, which can turn into a demon once its Shadow gauge is filled. In demon form, the Warlock is more resilient and hits very, very hard. It’s also one of the classes with the flashiest spells and it’s quite easy to play, which will convince a lot of players. She is quite weak in PvP. It also has a number of very varied possible builds.
The Warriors
The Berserker
The Berserker is quite clearly the equivalent of the classic warrior in any MMORPG. He has a huge sword that he uses to overcome many enemies. While fighting, the Berserker fills his rage in order to transform into…Berserker. In this form, he is formidable against waves of enemies, but he is also relatively good in PvP. It’s a fairly easy class to play, with fairly slow animations and fairly long cooldowns when it comes to burst a target.
The Paladin
The Paladin is a half-DPS half-support class in Lost Ark. While this class benefits from decent damage in the early and mid game, it excels in its support role in high-level activities. Truth be told, a DPS Paladin is extremely weak in the late game. He uses his skills to shield his allies and give them various damage and survivability bonuses. Its decent DPS allows it to level up quite easily, and it’s a relatively easy class to play.
The Gunslinger
The Lancer Gun is one of if not the best tank in Lost Ark. It can soak up damage from the toughest bosses with ease, and also has a pretty solid burst damage. This is a rather particular style of play reserved for those who appreciate being on the front line. He has very little mobility and his ability to move is, very rarely in Lost Ark, a backward jump. That being said, he is relatively easy to play and is quite simply the best tank in the game.
The Martialists
The Essentialist
The Essentialist is a class specialized in CC (crowd-control), his kit has many ways to stun, slow down and more generally control the waves of enemies. While fighting, he accumulates Chakras which allow him to unlock Esoteric skills which give him a good amount of damage. He is also very mobile, which makes him one of the most useful classes in PvP, his role being to disturb the healers and the DPS of the enemy team. However, he has low defensive stats and relies heavily on his passive to be effective, and is quite weak in PvE.
The Elementists
The Elementists are also a class with a lot of mobility. Unlike Essentialists, they excel as DPS with their lightning-fast skills and elemental attacks. They are very popular in PvP, having a fairly large burst allowing them to overcome enemies fairly quickly. That being said, they are quite limited in PvE, since their damage windows are quite short, but very effective. While waiting for your skills, you may find yourself often idle on the battlefield. They are also very fragile.
The Pugilist
No need for a sword, ax or magic to overcome your opponents. The Pugilist uses his fists to defeat his enemies, combining sustained damage with a great ability to unbalance his enemies, which is very useful in a PvE group. He can also give buffs to his allies and debuffs enemies. It’s a pretty solid class, with lots of PvE utility, but takes a bit more investment to master than others.
The Spiritist
The Spiritist is quite simply the best PvP DPS in the game. He is a melee DPS, relying on his mobility and colossal damage to carry his team to victory. In PvE, it’s also a very solid choice, despite its great fragility. However, the Spiritist is also one of the hardest classes in the game to master. It takes time to get to grips with its rather complex kit and get used to its spell rotations. But with plenty of motivation and time, the results in PvP can be phenomenal.
Snipers
The Fusilier
If throwing yourself into the fray isn’t exactly your thing, the Fusilier is for you. His kit relies on rotating between his three weapons, pistols, shotgun and sniper rifle, which allow him to be effective at all ranges. These rotations are quite difficult to master but its gameplay can be very rewarding with a little practice. It is a DPS as solid in PvE as in PvP, not very resistant but devastating.
The Gunner
The Gunner is the explosive class of Lost Ark. Between big explosions, relative resistance and extremely fun gameplay, it’s a solid choice in any situation. He is extremely effective in PvE activities, even late game, establishing himself as a solid DPS with great burst potential. He possesses relatively low mobility, especially during his ultimate ability, but has many anti-CC spells.
The maverick
Just like the Fusilier, the Sniper has three weapons, pistols which give him mobility, buffs and debuffs, a shotgun which constitutes the bulk of his burst and his damage, and a sniper which gives him offers some range. He has less range than the Fusilier but compensates with many buffs for him and his group and a lot of mobility. However, he must put himself in danger to do as much damage as possible. It is a class that is not necessarily very easy to master, and which suffers a little from its comparison with the Fusilier.
The Relentless Blast
If you’re more Robin Hood than Matrix, Relentless Salve is for you. Armed with his bow, this class has one of the highest ranges in the game. Comparable to the typical hunter in any MMO, he has great mobility and fairly simple and straightforward gameplay, allowing him to be one of the classes the most accessible in the game. It has more than decent DPS and is very popular in high-level PvE content.
The Magi
The Bard
The Bard is one of the most popular support classes in the game. With its high healing potential, more than that of the Paladin, it is classified as the Heal class in the game. It has many skills of buffs and debuffs, but little damage which makes his gain of experience in solo quite complex. It is a highly sought after class in PvP and PvE content at all levels of play. In terms of gameplay, it lacks a bit of the explosive and impressive side that other classes have.
The witch
By handling the elements, the Witch is clearly the Mage of the game. With her high DPS contribution, her low mobility, she is a fairly classic class. His style of play is quite direct, devastate groups of enemies with your area damage skills, while staying safe from enemy sources of damage. It is a relatively easy class to play, effective in PvE but which can suffer from its lack of mobility in PvP.