Lost Ark, the newest gigantic MMORPG made by Smilegate,is doing incredibly wellfor a variety of reasons,whether it’s the lore of the gameor just the incomprehensible number of things to do.
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But, hands down one of the biggest pulls the game has is its unique style of combat. ThisDiablo-esque combat style isn’t something many MMORPGs have tried, and none have managed to nail it asLost Arkdoes. But, for those unfamiliar with this style of combat, or just MMORPG combat in general, here are some of the best ways to excel in every fight.
10A Few Key Settings
This first tip is reallymore of a quality-of-life suggestion than anything else.Basically, there are a few settings that, when changed, make a pretty big impact on the moment-to-moment gameplay. Primarily, these settings areCooldown Sounds, Combat Outline, and Cursor Aim:
9Be Careful With Your Dodges
While the pre-Max Level content might not make it seem that way,Lost Ark’scombat system is pretty unforgiving.There’s no real “tank” role in the game,and it seems like Boss Aggro is very hard to accurately keep on one person. To make matters even more difficult, players don’t have a lot of evasion options in combat. Each Class has its own sort of “Dodge” from a dash to a roll and even a back step, but that all have around ten-second Cooldowns.
Make it a habit to start dodging telegraphed Boss attacks in the early levels (even if the Boss isn’t all that dangerous) so that it’ll be easier to do so when it actually starts to matter such as in the higher-tier Guardian Raids and so on.
8Keep A Movement-Based Skill Equipped At All Times
An easy way to get around the punishing Dodge system inLost Arkis to make sure and have one or two movement-based Skills equipped at all times. For example, every Scrapper build has the Charging Blow Skill as part of the build, even though the damage isn’t great, simply because it’s a fantastic approach or evade option.
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Plus, in areas like any of the Islands or within Dungeons, players can’t ride their mounts, so being able to spam these Skills to gain ground faster makes these areas feel much less tedious.
7Make A Leveling Build & A Bossing Build
Lost Arkis not the type of MMORPG that keeps things simple, there are a million different systems in the late game and an absurd amount of ways to approach each and every boss, Dungeon, or Raid. And, the general rule of thumb (so far), seems to be that it’s a good idea for everyone to have a “Bossing” build and an “Area of Effect” build for endgame content. Basically, have a build ready for Chaos Dungeons and a build for Guardian Raids.
The AoE build is also absolutely what players should be using while leveling up, as a majority of the story quests revolve around killing groups of mobs and fighting one or two easy bosses.
6The Proving Grounds Are An Easy Way To Test Builds Early
Another great tip for players struggling to figure out which Skills to equip and which to leave alone is to experiment. Of course, the Training Room in Trixion is incredible for this, but before learning the Song of Trixion, this is inaccessible. Sometimes, a player might just want to experiment with certain Tripods, Skills, or even stat distributions to see what works with their Class and play style.
Thankfully, the Proving Ground’s Book of Coordination is great for this. This isn’t unlocked until reaching Luterra Castle, but once it is, players can hop into PvP and get the full Skill-set experience early. Plus, the PvP here is balanced, meaning gear and stats are equalized as well, so it really does boil down to raw still and tactics.
5Try To Keep A Balanced Kit Of Cooldowns
This won’t matter much early on, but later, as the monsters get stronger (and especially in the endgame content), one rotation of using all a player’s Skills isn’t going to wipe out the mob and/or the boss anymore.
And, when that starts happening, It’s going to become immediately important to start keeping more of an eye on Cooldowns. It may differ for every Class, but in general, it appears to be a good idea to mix and match low, mid, and long cooldown Skills if possible so that something is always up for use.
4Crowd Control Is Key
As opposed to many of the other tips on here, this one applies right awayfrom the first mission of the Main Quest line.Lost Arkis absolutely a game all about Crowd Control. Even in the first few areas of Rethramis players are going to be fighting relatively large groups of enemies. So, the better a player can group them up,the quicker their leveling will goand the more fun they’ll have.
Certain Skills are amazing for grouping enemies up (at least enemies vulnerable to Push), but running in a little half-circle as they all gather naturally works too. And, it’s extra beneficial as this state of mind translates to the endgame content beautifully with Chaos Dungeons as well as the Tower.
3Learn & Understand Skill Effects
One of the biggest hurdles that new players ofLost Arkseem to be struggling with is remembering all the little things each of their Skills do. Some Skills do more damage as Back Attacks, some are meant to be unleashed right up front, and some are best if used at the perfect time to “counter” a Boss' attack.
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Try and make a conscious effort to build a Skill set that doesn’t mix and match Back and Front attacks too much, memorize which Skills are counter Skills, and always keep an eye out for Skills with high Stagger or Weak Point.
2Figure Out What Combat Stat Matters Most For Your Class
Players ofLost Arkmight be surprised to see that, when they pull up their character menu, the classic Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence stats aren’t there (at first glance) but rather things like Domination, Specialization, and Swiftness are.
These stats all impact a variety of different things, and it’s important to experiment with them a bit when equipping items and see which ones work well with the player’s class. For example, the Scrapper (depending on the average build) works great with a lot of Swiftness, as this stat reduces Cooldowns, and the Scrapper is always using some Skill to gain Shock or Stamina. Learning about this system early should allow players to feel like they have more impact on the way their Class works as well as let them notice these changes depending on stat distribution that much easier.
1Save Battle Items
Lastly, save your Battle Items! The game throws them at the player constantly from level one to level fifty, but there’s rarely any actual need to use them before reaching the endgame content. Even the tougher Story-related bosses post level fifty shouldn’t need any Battle Item usage to beat with relative ease.
This is something that will admittedly hurt combat early on, but having all these Battle Items saved up for Guardian, Abyssal, and Chaos Dungeons in the endgame will be so incredibly beneficial, especiallywhen it comes to Health Potions, Phoenix Plumes,and all the different Grenades.
