Beginner’s and Returner’s Guide

Are you about to take your first steps into the world of Arkesia? Or perhaps you have decided to return to the game after a break. No matter the case, if you feel overwhelmed by the amount of content and systems you’re being thrown into, this article is here to provide you with step-by-step instructions and guide you toward the appropriate sources, helping you overcome challenges and reach the juicy endgame!

Welcome, dear Mokoko!

This marks the start of a wonderful journey through Arkesia, where everything is new and exciting! If you need some guidance on picking a class or a build to play, keep reading the next section. Otherwise, you can skip ahead to the Leveling section.

Welcome back!

You've just returned to Arkesia, but you are unsure where to start and what you missed during your time of absence? Let's start with a simple question - do you want to continue playing your old characters and just need to know where you are and how to continue? If you just said yes, then skip ahead to Gear Progression. If you want to try out one of the recently introduced classes and would appreciate some guidance, then move to the next section below.

Choosing the correct class and build to fit your personal playstyle is very important, and can make your journey truly memorable. Before you make such an important choice, think first about your preferences, the amount of free time you have available to spend in the game, and your skill level. Picking a class based on these factors is bound to lead to satisfaction!

For example, if your available playtime is limited, it would be unwise to pick a build that requires a high amount of time and resource investment to make it work properly. Without proper min-maxing, some builds might negatively impact your overall raid experience and that of your party members.

Now take a look at the Class Overview article and pay close attention to the Pros & Cons of each build. Once you have made your choice, either use the links in that article or go to the Build Guides category to learn more about your class and build.

If you want to level your first character or an alt without the help of any boost or skip events, use the following articles listed below as guidance. If you want to jump into the endgame with accelerated progress, then skip ahead to the next section of this article.

In Lost Ark, you will be introduced to numerous events that either provide you with a ticket to boost a character closer to the endgame, or accelerate your progress by rewarding you with additional materials. Take a look at the different sections below for more details!

The Powerpass is a ticket which you can assign to a character of your choice to take give it a significant head-start towards the endgame. To use it on your char, follow the steps below!

Express is a lengthy event which usually works in tandem with the Powerpass. It won't give you any instant item level boost, but it significantly reduces the amount of materials and Gold required when honing your gear, up to a certain point. Additionally, it provides materials upon reaching certain item level milestones, helping accelerate your progress even further.

This event can only be assigned to a single character, which you can do by clicking on the Event Quest gift box icon left of your minimap. Additionally, the selected character can choose between two Battle Styles (one for each Class Engraving) and click on Auto Apply to get basic Engravings, Gems and a Skill Build automatically assigned. However, we still recommend that you manually adjust these things based on the Build Guides, since some of the builds provided by this event are not always optimal.

The Event Quest window can have multiple different ongoing events at the same time, so make sure to check out each tab if there's more than one. Aside from the Express Events, which are meant for one character only, there might be others providing you with free materials for completing specific goals. Here are all the currently available events and what rewards you should expect from participating.

The Arkesia Tour Event (or Horizontal Express) helps players quickly and easily unlock important collectibles, such as Runes or Skill Point Potions, through completing a series of special tasks listed in the event window.

Here are all the activities you must finish for each stage of the Arkesia Tour.

For more details on unlocking the remaining Skill Points, check out the Skill Point Collection Guide.

Normally, there will be an event running, accompanied by a shop. You can access it by clicking on the Event Shop icon left of your minimap. You can exchange special Event Currencies or Gold for Honing Materials, Cards, Silver and other valuable items.

Gear Progression (or Vertical Progression) is the main way of unlocking access to new content and empowering your characters. To avoid wasting your precious time or upgrade materials, make sure to check out the guides below.

This section is essential, we recommend that you don't skip it!

If you're a Returner, you can get started by scanning through the Gear Progression Guide until you find the item level closest to yours, then following from that point on. If you're a Beginner, keep reading from this point to familiarize yourself with the game's essential systems and learn about how you can become stronger!

While you should first familiarize yourself with the Gear Progression Guide, it only offers an overview of how your gear evolves from the beginning right up until endgame, and does not give in-depth explanations about the systems you'll be interacting with along the way. Here are some of the most important aspects you should learn about how to acquire gear and how to enhance it:

Dailies and Weeklies are your main sources to obtain Honing Materials, Gold, and Silver. Check out the list below and learn more about each daily and weekly activity.

Note: For additional one-time rewards, check out the Tower and Thronespire Guides.

Engravings are a great source of power. This is a system you should try to understand as quickly as possible, especially if you are currently using the free setup provided by the Express Event. Once the Express Event goes away, so does your free Engravings setup, which means you have to properly set up the Engravings on your own.

The Skill Tree System modifies and enhances each of your skills, hence it is a major contributor to your overall strength. Learn how to use it and set up a proper Skill Tree filter by checking out the guide linked below!

You get Skill Points each time your character levels up, allowing you to raise the level of your skills, increasing their damage and granting you access to Skill Tree effects. You can unlock additional Skill Points by acquiring Skill Point Potions, which can be obtained by completing various challenges throughout the game. Once you are done with your dailies and weeklies, you should focus on completing content which unlocks Skill Point Potions.

Cards are collectibles that become increasingly important as you progress further into the endgame. You should never lose track of the most crucial card sets for your class build. Whenever you have time, you should explore the various sources for cards that the game has to offer and try to participate. With each card set that you complete, all of your characters become stronger!

Runes work in tandem with your skills. Some class builds heavily rely on specific Runes to perform well. Similar to cards and Skill Point Potions, you should try to unlock additional or higher quality Runes for your skills.

As you keep progressing with your gear enhancements and unlocking essential collectibles, you will often be required to spend specific currencies, such as Gold, Silver, Pirate Coins, Gienah's Coin or Procyon's Coin. Check out the guides below to learn more about them!

"You need to make alts in Lost Ark to progress at an adequate pace, otherwise you will fall behind!" - you might have heard this sentence more than once from content creators or by just hanging around in the community. This statement is not entirely wrong, since creating alts and doing daily & weekly content on them to funnel the materials indeed helps you progress faster. However, before making the decision to create alts, you should be aware of the following things.

Creating alts and pushing (honing) them to relevant item level thresholds requires resources, which you could have otherwise used towards progressing on your main. However, if you play these characters diligently, you will naturally acquire most of the honing resources you need in the form of bound materials.

Once new endgame content releases, you usually have to upgrade your alts to a higher item level to still make use of the resources they generate. You can think of this as a constantly moving goalpost. If you lack the time to play your alts, you should either restrict the amount of alts you have or avoid them entirely!

As a bottom line, this game allows you to have more than one character, and with enough dedication and effort they can all be close to each other in terms of strength and progression. You should ask yourself how much free time you have at your disposal after doing all the necessary content on your main. If you find that you have enough time to regularly do daily & weekly content on more than one character, check out the following guide!

Your stronghold is more than a cozy home for you, your friends and the members of the community. It is a place where you can craft items required for honing, unlock research to aid your progression, train your alts and pets to make them stronger, and more! Learn everything you need to know about your stronghold by checking out the guides below!

Being part of an active guild comes with a lot of benefits. You get access to the guild vendor, where you can purchase additional honing materials. It will be easier to find people to play with and form static groups, and you can even participate in guild-specific content and compete with other guilds on your server!

If you want to kick back and relax after doing all the important dailies, weeklies, and other vertical progression content, you should give the activities below a try. By completing these you will not only learn more about the lore of the world of Arkesia, but you can also unlock new costumes, mounts, furniture for your stronghold, and other rewards!

Some collectibles are easy to get but others might require more than a few weeks to complete. If you don't have enough time to complete your collections, you should at least try to unlock the things which are closely tied to your vertical progression!

Most of the major areas and continents have their own dedicated Aventure Tome. By completing tasks in those areas, you can unlock Music Sheets, Collectibles, Runes, Skill Point Potions, and more.

This is the true end content! Improve your relationship with NPCs by interacting with them on a daily basis. By maximizing your affinity with some specific NPCs, you might even unlock some "alone time" with them!

There are quite a few interactions and tricks in Lost Ark which are left unexplained. Knowing about some of these can make your everyday life in Arkesia so much easier! We've also prepared some tools to greatly improve your ability to learn and plan ahead.

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