Lost Ark Beginner’s Guide

Lost Ark’s Closed Beta is available right now, and there’s still a few days left to jump in if you want to try the game. If you like playing with friends, epic battles against tons of enemies, plus great loot drops, then I would 100% recommend jumping into Lost Ark. Today I’m going to check out a quick beginners guide for those who haven’t yet jumped in, so if you want the lowdown on this new MMOARPG, then stick around.

First up, the closed beta is running from 4-11 November, and at the time of publishing the video, there’s still time to jump in. You can do this a couple of ways, either by purchasing a founders pack found on the Lost Ark website, or you can check out some Twitch Streams and get a beta key to drop for you. All you need to do is sign up on the Lost Ark website, connect your account, watch some Lost Ark Streams with key drops enabled, and bingo… you should get a key after 20-30mins. I’d recommend giving the game a try before it goes away. The closed beta lasts until Thursday 11th November, then after that, the NA and EU version is leaving us until March 2022.

 

What is Lost Ark?

This is a free-to-play MMOARPG and it’s been available in Korea since 2018, plus it’s in beta in Russia and Japan since 2020. The gameplay is from a perspective similar to Diablo, and you have classes, loot, exploration, and combat. You can customize your skills, weapons, and gear to spec into different playstyles.

The combat is in an ARPG-style and you’ll be able to level up your weapons and armor through quests and raids. While battling world bosses and also PVP opponents too. Lost Ark promises easy-to-learn combat features that lean into their Tripod system where you can unlock three tiers of customization for your abilities, letting you control how you want to fight.

It’s easy to control, and there’s the potential for massive battles, and this is going to be an awesome game to jump into with friends. Given it’s free to play, then hopefully getting some friends together shouldn’t be a major issue. If that is, then there’s pretty good matchmaking available.

 

What class should I Choose In Lost Ark?

The first major decision in the game is which class to pick, and at launch, the NA and EU version is going to have 5 classes. You can then specialise into subclasses. You’ll be able to create a character, then in the opening minutes of the game, you’ll have to select a class. Don’t worry too much about which one to pick. As you can always create another character, plus there are some good videos that will run you through what else class is and their playstyles.

You have 5 main classes to choose from. Then at level 10, you’ll get to select your specialization class or subclass. In the NA and EU beta, this happens immediately as you start at level 10.

Let’s have a close look at the classes and subclasses.

Warrior

• Berserker
• Paladin
• Gunlancer

The Warrior is your classic DPS class. Berserker deals big damage with the Great Sword. Paladins are heavy support and Gunlancer takes a leaf out of the Monster Hunter playbook. Plus they are a very tanky class too. If you like to take on the role of DPS and play slightly bigger, heavier classes, then The Warrior is for you.

Martial Artist

• Striker
• Wardancer
• Scrapper
• Soulfist

Martial Artists are all about the melee action, getting in there up close and personal with enemies. You have a male and female option here, who share similar traits but are slightly different in the detail. If you like to punch, kick and juggle opponents up in the air with your martial arts skills, then this is the class for you.

Gunner

• Gunslinger
• Artillerist
• Deadeye
• Sharpshooter

Gunners dish out the damage from the range with their guns and tech. They are great for DPS, especially the Artillerist who have their rockets. Sharpshooters on the other hand use arrows, plus you have your standard Gunslinger and Deadeye sharpshooters. If you like to attack from range with some awesome weapons, this is the class for you.

Mage

• Bard
• Summoner

The Mage is split into 2 subclasses, the damage-dishing Summoner, and the support-focused Bard. If you play the support role in other MMOs and are looking to support Lost Ark, then the Bard could be for you. If you want to dish out magic-orientated attacks, then go for the Summoner.

Assassin

• Shadowhunter
• Deathblade

Assassins are your classic Rouge/Hunter class. Quick, nimble, operating in the shadows. The subclasses are split into two with the Deathblade and Shadowhunter. Assassins are all about speed and big damage, so if this is what you are looking for, then try out the Assassin.

That’s it for the classes and subclasses in Lost Ark, next, let’s have a look at some beginner tips.

You can read more about What class should you play here.

 

Lost Ark Guide Beginner Tips

In the beta, you’ll start at level 10. And you’ll want to work your way to level 50 – this is the max level. In the full game release I imagine you start at level 0 or 1. But given this is a closed beta I imagine the developers wanted to get us to the fun as quickly as possible. Once you get one character to max level, you can then level up an alt to max level too. I believe you can do one for free, then additional characters you may have to pay for through the store.

Keep an eye out for Tripods, which is the fast travel system in Lost Ark. These are going to help you get around nice and quickly for a small fee. Also, as you make your way through the story you’ll get amount early on, use this regularly to speed up your travel on land.

You can get yourself a FREE pet in the game, and it’s not just cosmetic, they help you pick up items when they are on the floor, with a nice time-saving auto pick-up feature. Get a free pet by looking out for the quest “Learning about Pets” early on in the game.

As you play you’ll gather Skill Points. Use these Skill Points to level up your stats and attributes in the game. Also, you can respec for free at any moment.

 

Dungeons Guide

On each continent, there’s a series of Dungeons, which in the early game are some of the most fun content in Lost Ark, while you make your way to endgame. You can solo any Dungeon, or you can take advantage of the matchmaking and go in with a team. There are normal and hard mode Dungeons, and on hard mode, you’ll get slightly better rewards.

Run through Dungeons on normal difficulty to get through the content quickly. If you want to take your time, then do hard mode with a group.

You can’t use a mount inside the Dungeon, but you can run past groups of enemies. Sometimes you’ll hit a brick wall that doesn’t get removed until you beat the enemies, bear this in mind if you want to speed through the content.

Dungeons have a series of mob enemies, and you’ll face off against a big enemy at the end. Kill them, and you’ll get the Dungeon Loot. After you kill the boss, make sure you equip your new loot to level up your character.

Secret Dungeons do exist, these can be found by getting scrolls off NPCs in the game.

 

How to level up to max level quickly

Leveling up is an important part of Lost Ark, as in any MMO these days. The gameplay loop is pretty satisfying, you’ll pick up the main quest, run through that, pick up optional side quests and rapport quests to build relationships with characters. Activities include story quests, side quests, Dungeons, Raids, and PVP. As with other MMOs, the endgame is where things get interesting. Ưhich includes the best loot and the best battles, so getting to the endgame quickly is beneficial.

Here are some leveling tips for those who want to do it quickly:

Focus on the main story quest, ignore the side missions, and any other distracting activities like rapport quests and secret Dungeons. You can always come back and do that later on. Mainline the story quest, and you’ll level up to the max level in approx 15-20 hours.

If you want to solo the game then you can, all content is level appropriately to how many people are playing. If you go into a Dungeon with friends. However, either through matchmaking or from your friend’s list, the difficulty is going to scale. This does mean the game is pretty good at catering for solo players if you don’t have a group.

To get to max level fast, then you can use a class with high mobility, get to max level, and then use your free leveling up feature to level the class you want to max level. For example, Martial Artists are very fast and are going to get through the content quicker than the warrior. just down to the speed.

Use your mount where possible to fast travel through zones. You won’t be able to use these in Dungeons. But whenever you are in the outside world and traveling, then using the mount is the fastest way to get to the next checkpoint.

 

Lost Ark PvP Guide

You’ll have to reach level 27 to start with PVP. Although it’s not clear at this time if this is going to remain for the full release or simply the beta so you can try it out early. In the original Korean version of the game, you had to be level 50 and I did read there was a bug in the NA/EU version where the PVP scaling isn’t working correctly until you reach level 50.

There are different PVP modes but ranked 3v3 is the most popular version of PVP. All gear is equalized for all participants, making PVP quite balanced. Classes perform differently in PVE and PVP, making some better for PVP.

That’s it for the beginner’s guide, let me know what you think of Lost Ark in the comments and if you have any beginners tips, share them in the comments.

 

That’s it for this Lost Ark Beginners Guide. If you have any other information requests, feel free to contact us on web-chat, Facebook. Golden Horse Gaming is always open to suggestions and feedback from the community and customers.