
Introduction
Welcome to the Class Overview article! Here we provide a brief summary of all the classes available on the EU/NA servers. Each class is broken down into its sub-classes, including an overview going over the identity, playstyle, leveling speed and role each class plays in a group. Learn about their strengths and weaknesses so you can decide which class is right for you.
Disclaimer: The leveling speed shouldn't be the deciding factor for your class of choice. The average player needs about 15 hours to reach level 50 and unlock the end game content. Once you reach that point, the leveling speed of a class won't matter anymore for the rest of your journey in the world of Arkesia.
Assassin

Identity
Deathblades have an Identity Gauge called Death Orb Meter that is charged by using any of his skills and is separated into 3 Death Orbs. You can enter Death Trance as long as 1 Death Orb is filled, immediately reducing the Cooldowns of all your skills and gaining access to a new big damage skill Burst.
Playstyle
Deathblades have two viable Raid builds centered around each of their Class Engravings, Remaining Energy and Burst. Burst gives the Deathblade the ability to build up to 20 buff stacks and converts Burst to Zero, dealing full damage regardless of the amount of Death Orbs. Remaining Energy grants Attack Speed, Movement Speed, and increased Damage depending on how many Death Orbs are filled when using Burst.
Deathblade's skill Spincutter applies a debuff to the target, which increases the Back Attack damage dealt to the target.
In PvP, the Deathblade revolves around quick catches with their dashes and crowd control. Her quickness and strong protection skills allow her to climb high in the 3v3 tier list, making her an excellent choice for players to get into PvP.
The Deathblade has big Area of Effect (AoE) skills with high damage to cut through big mob groups quickly. She also has good mobility to make the leveling process a breeze.
PvE Pros & Cons
For more details, check out the Surge and Remaining Energy Raid Guides!
PvP Pros & Cons
✔ High Mobility
✔ High Damage
✔ Good Crowd Control
✔ High Push Immunity
❌ Somewhat Squishy
❌ DPS Skills High Cooldowns
❌ Could Struggle into Ranged
For more details, check out the Deathblade PvP Guide!
Gunner

Identity
Sharpshooter is not a fully ranged character as you might otherwise believe. Both Class Engravings revolve around building Sharpshooter's Identity Gauge called Hawk Meter. In addition, some skills have tripods which boost the amount of Identity gained on hit. When your Hawk Meter is full, you can activate Summon Silverhawk to gain access to Wings of Storm and Last Rush.
Playstyle
Sharpshooters have two Class Engravings available to them, Death Strike and Loyal Companion, but the playstyle remains the same regardless of how you use them. Sharpshooters can choose to use either Class Engraving or both Class Engravings at the same time.
Sharpshooters suffer from low Stagger and Part Break, so they don't contribute too much to the party besides damage. Two of their biggest hitting skills, Snipe and Charged Shot require them to stand in place. Against immobile bosses, this isn't a problem, but you have to be careful against active bosses.
In PvP, the Sharpshooter plays more like a hit-and-run assassin. His meta-defining build plays off Stealth. With Stealth, he can serve as a ranged initiator and a huge nuisance to their back line. His damage is quite high and is an excellent choice for someone looking to play as a ranged assassin. With proper positioning and good aim, this class can be devastating in battle.
The Sharpshooter class has skills with low Cooldown and quick animations. His high mobility helps in avoiding hits and dealing consistent damage to enemies during the leveling phase. Clearing speed might be slightly slower compared to other classes but the Sharpshooter can certainly get the job done.
PvE Pros & Cons
Death Strike
Loyal Companion
For more details, check out the Death Strike and Loyal Companion Raid Guides!
PvP Pros & Cons
✔ Stealth
✔ Good Peels
✔ Good Mobility
✔ Good Push Immunity
❌ Squishy
❌ RNG Damage
❌ High CDs on DPS Skills
❌ Requires Good Positioning
For more details, check out the Sharpshooter PvP Guide!
Mage

Identity
The Sorceress has access to 2 Identity Skills. By consuming your Identity Gauge you can use Arcana Rupture to increase your damage DPS or Blink for mobility.
Playstyle
Igniter builds are designed around dealing maximum burst damage in a small window, with moments in between building back up to it. She has very little mobility and has to be very careful with her positioning prior to committing to a cast. Reflux builds are designed around dealing consistent damage with little downtime and without relying on her identity gauge. She has considerably higher mobility compared to Hightened Sense Build because she's free to use her identity gauge on her Blink without losing damage.
This class ranks decently high on the overall PvP tier list for Team Deathmatch (3v3). Although her damage is above average, most of it is tied with hitting skill shots. She is vulnerable when there isn't enough Identity Gauge for teleports and is susceptible to aggressive enemies with heavy Push Immunity. The meta build for this class has zero Push Immunity skills, so be cautious.
Sorceress can feel especially powerful early into the leveling process with access to powerful Area of Effect (AoE) spells within the first hour of gameplay.
PvE Pros & Cons
Igniter
Reflux
PvP Pros & Cons
✔ Good Peels
✔ High Mobility
✔ Good Damage
✔ Low Cooldowns
❌ Squishy
❌ Skillshot Reliant
❌ Low Push Immunity
❌ Vulnerable Early Game
For more details, check out the Sorceress PvP Guide!
Martial Artist

Identity
The Wardancer generates Elemental Orbs by dealing damage. Esoteric skills like Esoteric Skill: Call of the Wind God and Esoteric Skill: Blast Formation consume the orbs to deal high burst damage.
Playstyle
Esoteric Skill Enhancement Wardancer focuses on the Combat Stat Specialization, which increases the damage of all Esoteric Skills. The First Intention Wardancer seals the Elemental Orb gain and gets a flat damage boost for all skills. She has some of the lowest cooldowns and fastest animation Counter Attacks Sky Shattering Blow in Lost Ark.
Wardancers are a burst damage synergy classes because of the attack & movement speed buff of Wind's Whisper and increased crit chance of Roar of Courage that she provides for the team.
In PvP, the Wardancer revolves around pressuring the opposing back line with her hit-and-run play style. There are a lot of ways this class can engage. Picking the right engagements and targets allows you to shine. She's a decent class in 3v3s when played right.
Wardancer is a high mobility class with skills like Lightning Kick. This skill has low Cooldown and increases the overall traveling speed during the leveling phase. She lacks Area of Effect skills, but makes up for it with the high damage singe target skills Moon Flash Kick and Sweeping Kick.
PvE Pros & Cons
Esoteric Skill Enhancement
First Intention
For more details, check out the Esoteric Skill Enhancement and First Intention Raid Guides!
PvP Pros & Cons
✔ High Mobility
✔ High Defense
✔ High Disruption
❌ Mana Issues
❌ No Push Immunity
❌ Lack of Crowd Control
For more details, check out the Wardancer PvP Guide!
Warrior

Identity
Paladin has Sacred Executioner and Holy Aura as his identity skills. As a support Paladin, you mainly use Holy Aura to support your team with a Attack Damage buff and a Heal over Time (HoT) once you have the Blessed Aura class Engraving.
Playstyle
Paladin is one of the 2 support classes in Lost Ark. If you want to sacrifice the Bard shields for high Damage Reduction uptime, this is the class for you.
The Damage Reduction buff of Holy Land and Godsent Law have a high uptime similar to the damage increase buff of Wrath of God and Heavenly Blessings. This combination makes the Paladin a great support for classes focused on constant damage.
The Paladin is a tanky support class in PvP. He synergizes well with offensive classes because of Holy Protection and Heavenly Blessings. He gives his team more control over the battlefield with skills like Holy Sword, Dash Slash and Executor's Sword. Make no mistake, the Paladin is also capable of dealing damage. You can choose to amplify your own damage with Sacred Executioner instead of supporting your team with Holy Aura.
The Paladin mainly serves as a support class in groups and is a highly requested role for endgame content. However, this does not mean he is incapable of playing solo. He has a decent amount of Area of Effect (AoE) Damage Skills available from the start to accelerate the leveling process. Group up enemies before using AoE skills for efficiency.
PvE Pros & Cons
For more details, check out the Paladin Raid Guide!
PvP Pros & Cons
✔ High Peel
✔ High Mobility
✔ Offensive Support
✔ Decent Damage
❌ Lower Defense Buff Uptime
❌ Lack of Super Armor
❌ Lower Solo Carry Potential
For more details, check out the Paladin PvP Guide!
Specialist

Identity
The other strong point of Artist support, it's her Harmony Orbs mechanic, Whereas Bards can't choose how much meter they use for Heals and Buffs as their identity skills consume all the filled bar that she has and Paladins will always consume the entire bar regardless, Artist heals with Sunrise only cost 1 Harmony Orb each while Moonfall the damage buff only cost 2 Orbs. This allows Artist able to Heal or Buffs without accidentally consuming their entire Identity Gauge unlike other supports.
Playstyle
Artist is one of the 3 support classes in Lost Ark. Whereas Bards prevent damage by focusing on high shield uptime, Paladins with consistent area wide team buffs and Artist is possibly 1 of the best babysitter support with the high healing rate and portals for allies that mispositioned.
The most unique tool that Artist offers is summoning portals with Paint: Door of Illusion that your allies can interact with to get a massive shield and gets teleport to your location it can be improved by having properties to remove debuffs without allies interacting but the worst part of the skill is hoping your allies have the awareness to take your portal even if you tried to save them.
The Arist is Lost Ark's new Specialist class that wields a magical paintbrush to dish out damage or support their team. She'll be the 3rd support added to the roster.
As an Artist, your job is to support your teammates in battle first and foremost. She can summon a multitude of holy beasts by painting them with her trusty brush. When in danger, she has a lot of protection options for her and the team. She is a very solid pick in any team composition and as a support, has incredible value when played well.
PvE Pros & Cons
For more details, check out the Artist Raid Guide!
PvP Pros & Cons
For more details, check out the Artist PvP Guide!
Summary
Hopefully, this article could provide you some insight about the basics of each class. If you were able to narrow down to 2 or 3 final classes but still can't pick your main, check out the in depth Class Guides here! Joining our Discord and asking our lovely Maxroll Lost Ark community and veterans, might be of additional help to choose the correct class for you.
Credits
Written by Perciculum
Reviewed by Facefoot