General Raid Guide

Raids in Lost Ark are unique challenges that become available once you reach level 50 and are one of the most important parts of end game PvE content. Raids can be completed solo or in a group and have various restrictions and rewards tied to them. There are many preparations you can make before you enter a Raid that not only increase the chance of success but also reduce the amount of resources used.

This guide includes basic and advanced tips to help you master Raids in Lost Ark. To learn more about Guardian and Boss specifics, check out the Raids and Abyssal Dungeons guides.

Once you reach level 50 you can unlock the Guardian Raid by following the tutorial purple quests in Vern City. Interact with the Raid board to see the Raid window shown above. The Raid board is packed with tons of useful information.

It is important to properly prepare before entering a Guardian Raid. Using the wrong Battle Items or strategy can extend the duration of the fight or lead to a Raid wipe. Every wipe wastes gold and resources making this even more important in the early stages of your progress. The information below will help you to greatly improve your clear time and avoid unnecessary wipes.

Combat Items are game changer in Lost Ark. These items help you to stay alive or interact with certain boss mechanics like the Shell Break mechanic of the Guardian Chromanium.

Once you enter a Guardian Raid or any other instanced content, a usage limit is placed on every Combat Item. The limit is different for each Combat Item and usually increases with rarity of the item. For example a HP Potion can be used up to 5 times but Elemental HP Potion can be used 7 times per Raid. Besides from the usage limit, you can only slot 4 different Combat Items, limited to 1 per category. Here is an overview of all Combat Items separated by category:

Note: Some Guardians can escape mid-battle to a different area on the battleground. To prevent this from happening you should throw Pheromone Bomb at the Guardian right when the escape animation starts. An "Invincible" floating text appears instead of the damage numbers as an indicator for the escape attempt. Not using the Pheromone Bomb forces you and your teammates to waste time by running to the new battle area.

Note: Flare is one of the most important Combat Items. On use it highlights on the minimap the Guardian. If you don't use a Flare, you have to search the entire battle ground for the Guardian which results in a lot of wasted time. It is common that everyone slots flare in their Combat Item slots and uses it in the order dictated by the number on the group UI at the left side of your screen. Player with the number 1 uses his Flare right after entering the battleground, Player number 2 throws his Flare once the Guardian escapes to a new battle area the first time and etc.

Engraving in Lost Ark improve your damage and defense. Class Engravings go one step further and even change the entire playstyle. Additionally, they play a major role in Raids and often dictate the flow of the battle. For an in depth explanation of Engravings, check out the Engraving Guide.

Grudge
In this section, the focus is on the importance of the Grudge Engraving in Raids. This Engraving is must have for most of the damage focused classes and should be obtained and brought to level 3 right after unlocking the Class Engravings. The "+20% Damage Taken" penalty is often used as an argument to avoid using Grudge. But in Lost Ark it is not about reducing the damage you take, it is more about not getting hit at all.
Grudge is the only Normal Engraving which gives you a flat and unconditional 20% Damage increase. Not having it, often results in longer clear times. A longer fight uses more consumables and the boss to do more of their mechanics which can greatly increase the chance of a Raid wipe.

Heavy Armor Equipment
Defensive Engravings like Heavy Armor Equipment are not a viable option for damage focused classes. But it is a different case if you play Bard or Paladin. These support classes are the only two allowed to have Heavy Armor Equipment as a Raid Engraving.

At end game, people tend to avoid accepting damage dealers into their party who either don't have Grudge or use Heavy Armor Equipment. It is usually a "red flag" indicating lack of confidence or skill.

Party synergy is an important factor which can greatly improve your party's performance during the Raid. Some classes provide the team with a buff or apply a debuff to the target. Communicating and synchronizing the buffs and debuffs results in faster clear time.

Be aware that you can't stack buffs and debuffs of the same class. This is why a normal party of 4 consists of 1 support and 3 different damage focused classes with buffs and debuffs.

A skill with this Skill Affix attached to it, does 20% more skill damage and 10% more Stagger damage to the boss as long as you attack their front.

Stagger damage is the damage you deal to the purple bar below the HP of the boss. This bar exists for most of the Guardians but is hidden. Once the purple Stagger bar hits 0, the boss is incapacitated for a few seconds. This situation is usually used to synchronize party buffs and to deal as much damage as possible to the boss. Stagger damage is fixed, based on the level described in the skill tool tip and doesn't scale with your attack power.

In Lost Ark playing a range class doesn't translate into staying at max range to the target at any given time. It is often even disadvantageous. A lot of the end-game Guardians have attacks which are harder to dodge the further away you are from it. You might even miss some of the synergy buffs of your party members so make sure to have always vision on the Boss and stay in buff range of your teammates.

Communication is key to success, that is why Lost Ark has a Ping System that can be used to communicate with your party. Use it to ask for help, mark dangerous areas or place a rally point.