Endgame Guide | Lost Ark Wiki

Lost Ark Endgame Best Tips

1. What to Expect in Lost Ark Endgame
2. Lost Ark Sailing and Stronghold Guide
3. Other Tips for Endgame

 

Lost Ark How to Reach Endgame

In Lost Ark, to properly identify that you've reached Endgame is when you've spent countless hours of gameplay going through the main storyline, completing the various Quests (if you're that player who is a completionist and who likes to take on every task you encounter), and once you've reached the max cap or max level of your character. During the Open Beta of Lost Ark in Russia, the maximum level of the player's character is capped at 50. And this where the game really takes off

Lost Ark Chaos Dungeons

First off, we'll talk about Chaos Dungeons. Chaos Dungeons is a PvE mode that serves as the principal starting point towards your movement of gearing up and this is what we would suggest you to participate in, the moment you reach Endgame in Lost Ark. Chaos Dungeons become available for the player once you reach Level 50. Upon unlocking the Chaos Dungeons feature, these will take you to a domain where you will have to fight hordes of enemies within three stages, it's non-stop, it's back-to-back waves of enemies and you will need to do this within a 5 minute timer on each stage in order to progress to the next. The location of Chaos Dungeons differentiate from each other as well as the enemies you will encounter, especially as you unlock the higher tiers. Regardless, the concept is the same where you will be fighting many groups of enemies within three stages and before the timer runs out.

Upon completing a Chaos Dungeon, you will obtain various rewards such as base level gear but as well as upgrading materials that are needed to upgrade the gear that you've acquired, apart from that, you can also obtain Accessories and many more items that are surely to be useful for your character or build. Our tip for getting the most out of it is to complete the highest level of a Chaos Dungeon (that you or your team can take on) in order to acquire better rewards. Chaos Dungeons can only be done twice a day and it roughly takes around 5-10 minutes to complete. You can partake in completing a Chaos Dungeon on your own or invite other players or friends.

Lost Ark Guardian Raids

Next up is Guardian Raids where players are sent and dropped in on a random section of a map, and your goal is to find the target boss of the mission. Guardian Raids also become available upon reaching Level 50 and once you've completed a couple of runs via Chaos Dungeons. In Guardian Raids, you can run around the map until you encounter the boss, or by using a flare item that temporarily shows you the position of where the boss is. Upon finding the boss, you or alongside your team will have to defeat the boss before the timer runs out. Think of it like a quest in Monster Hunter where you travel to a zone, hunt down the monster, and defeat it before the timer expires. As easy at it may sounds, a boss within a Guardian Raid typically is capable of executing a couple of strong attacks and will have phases as they get close to being beaten.

Apart from that, a Guardian Raid will also have various restrictions such as a minimal amount of reviving an incapacitated member of your team, as well as the number of Consumable Items that you can bring or use. With constant encounters with a specific boss and enough experience, trying to learn the moves of the boss, as well as being aware of when it shifts into another phase will help you to adapt easily and to take out the boss as quickly as possible. With added restrictions, you and your team will have to play smart and carefully to avoid being incapacitated and eventually, failing the event. Similar to Chaos Dungeons, a Guardian Raid can only be done twice a day and rewards players with useful, rare items, upgrade materials, and many more. Of course, if ever you do receive items that aren't really helpful for your character, you can simply transfer them to an Alt or just sell them in exchange for gold or silver.

Lost Ark Towers

Towers or the Tower Challenge as what we would like to call it, is a PvE event that can only be done Solo. The Tower Challenge reminded us of Godfall's Tower of Trials where you go through gauntlets until you reach the top. Lost Ark offers the same concept where you have to climb to higher floors of the tower which progressively gets harder in exchange for better rewards if you successfully clear it. All players who participate in the Tower Challenge start off at Floor 1 and each tower differs with the number of floors that is has. Although you may be a capable player who can take on this challenge, but similar to the other PvE modes in Lost Ark, like Guardian Raids, Towers also have Limitations or Restrictions towards the various mechanics of the game.

Completing a Tower requires you to strategize and to use all the tools available at your disposal. There is also of course a time limit here where you need to complete each floor as you defeat hordes of enemies and a boss. Upon completing a floor within a time limit, you will be given a reward and unlock the next floor level. Take note that each floor has different tasks or encounters, so always be ready before you start to take on a floor level. You should consider participating and clearing a Tower Challenge since not only does it reward you with helpful items, but it holds one of the vital items in the game which are Skill Potions that are needed to fully max out your Skills.

Lost Ark Abyssal Dungeons

The next PvE content for Lost Ark's Endgame are Abyssal Dungeons. Abyssal Dungeons is another type of Domain that are much difficult to complete compared to the regular dungeons you encountered during the Main Campaign or when you were just leveling up. Completing an Abyssal Dungeon yields various materials needed for your Equipment as well as other pieces of Gear.

Abyssal Dungeons only become available once you reach the Level 50 and upon arriving in Vern. The player must then continue the Blue World Quest line within the Northern Vern region and complete it, upon completion, you will receive a message prompting that the Abyssal Dungeon is unlocked. Unlike Chaos Dungeons where you can participate in it in Solo, Abyssal Dungeons require a group of up to 4 players to start - you can either start the Matchmaking or invite/join your friends.

 

Lost Ark The Cube

The Cube is yet another Endgame mode for players who are at Level 50. Players can participate in completing the Cube Solo or with a Party where you can queue with other players or with your friends. The Cube contains random floor levels, unique, and different mechanics that will raise your awareness and ability to quickly adapt towards the situation that is thrown at you. If you looking to make more Gold, as well as acquiring more loot to upgrade your character, then participating in completing The Cube is recommended for you.

In order to gain access into The Cube, first, you have to reach Level 50 and complete the Guide Quest titled Announcement: Cube. Once it is available, you will need to find and acquire Cube Entrance Tickets which drop from the 2nd floor boss level of Chaos Dungeons. Also, completing a Chaos Dungeon via using the daily resource, Aura of Resonance, awards the ticket as loot. It is strongly advisable to join this event with a team to further increase the chances of survivability. The rewards you acquire depend on the number of floors you are able to clear, as well as the number of players that are alive.

Floor Level Types of The Cube

As mentioned, there are different Floor Levels within the cube that work similar to the Towers, the only difference is in The Cube, there are only 5 different types of Levels here and it will always be randomized once you start. Despite it being random, you can identify what stage will come next from the color of the light coming from the portal that you need to use in order to continue.

• White: Regular Floor Level that contains Normal Enemies with a few Elite Type Enemies.
• Purple: Elite Floor Level where you will encounter a majority of Elite Enemies.
• Orange: Boss Floor Level that has a one or two Bosses, accompanied by some Enemies.
• Blue: Survival Floor Level, think of it as a "mini-game" where you will have to survive waves of enemies, avoid getting hit, and eliminate the remaining enemies.
• Gold: Treasure/Loot Floor Level or a Lucky Floor Level where you will find items for you to loot.

Floor Level Effects

Apart from the different types of Floor Levels, each floor will also contain random Positive and Negative effects to further increase the challenge of this Endgame mode. To identify what effects are active in each floor, it will be shown on the top right corner of the screen, here are some of the many Positive and Negative Effects a player can encounter during The Cube challenge:

Positive Effects:

• + Damage
• + Crit. Rate
• + Attack and Movement Speed
• Life Steal
• Cooldown Reductions
• + Max Health
• Increased Health Regen
• Many more...

Negative Effects:

• Decreased Movement Speed
• Decreased Attack Power
• Disabling the use of Battle Items
• Increased Damage Received
• Increased Cooldown of Skills
• Reduced Max Health
• Many more...

Do Not Forget World Events

All these activities tie hand-in-hand once you reach Endgame since you are collecting items, materials, and gear vital for your upgrades, and as you do so, successfully completing the mentioned dungeons and challenges allows you to unlock higher tiered versions of the dungeons, raids, and challenges where you can encounter harder enemies and bosses within the activities in exchange for greater rewards. Apart from that, other PvE Events also become available such as World Events containing Field Bosses, Chaos Gates, and many more.

World Events are additional challenges that you can complete if ever you are out of Raids, Dungeons, or Challenges to do for the day, World Events becomes periodically available and can be done at any time of the day. If you check the upper left corner of the UI, you can actually find an in-game tracker that lists down all of the current events that are available, upcoming ones, its location, and the rewards that you can acquire from it. This makes it easier for you to determine which event you want to complete since it shows you the rewards that you need for your resources and upgrades.

Lost Ark Stronghold

What is the Stronghold in Lost Ark? The Stronghold or Island Stronghold is a Private Housing mechanic that the player can unlock as they progress in the game. The Island Stronghold not only offers a customizable home space for players but a variety of practical features as well. Within their Stronghold, players can research various Crafting recipes and upgrades, craft items, send crew members on Naval Missions, passively train alt characters and more. This page covers information on the Island Stronghold and its many mechanics. The Island Stronghold is important when you reach Endgame simply because of the fact that Crafting is your best feature that you can do here, especially if you want to obtain unique items for your character, especially the ones that can only be acquired through crafting. Apart form that, Sailing also goes hand-in-hand with the Isalnd Stronghold, it holds your port where you prepare your ship and crew for sailing.

How do I Unlock the Island Stronghold?

The Island Stronghold is unlocked by following your Main Story quests up to Eadalin's Gift in North Vern. After this is completed, you can accept the guide quest (purple) Secretary Theo's Invitation in your Quest Journal. The quest tasks you with meeting with King Syilian in Luterra who will grant you your very own Island Stronghold. Once the quest is complete, you will learn the Song of Hearth and Home Teleportation Song that will transport you to the Island instantly. Once in the Stronghold, speak to Adeline and follow her short quest line to learn the ropes and unlock the base features of your Stronghold.

The Different Facilities of the Stronghold

The Lab

It is the most important Facility of the Island Stronghold. Within the Research Lab, you will be able to unlock features of all other Facilities such as Crafting Slots for the Workshop. Most things you can on the Island Stronghold will first need to be researched at the Lab. You can access your Lab menu via the Stronghold Management Menu by pressing CTRL + 1 while in the Stronghold. Select the Lab to access the Research window where you can begin work on available research items. Interacting with the Lab itself within the Stronghold will also grant access to the Research window.  Available items will be limited in the early stages but more research items can be accessed upon leveling your Lab, which is also done through the Lab menu. Successfully researching certain items will also unlock more items in the same branch. Most research will require common Stone and Wood materials as well as Silver to complete.

All research items will also require time to complete. In the early stages, research items will take only several seconds to complete but most items thereafter will take several minutes and even hours to finish. You are also limited to one research item at a time in the early stages, but you can unlock more research slots as you level your Lab, allowing for simultaneous researching.

Workshop

The Workshop or Crafting Workshop is used to create all manner of things such as Battle Items, Food, Stronghold Items, Life Skill Tools and more. The Workshop can be accessed via the Stronghold Management menu (CTRL +1) or by interacting with the Workshop itself. As with all the Facilities on the Island Stronghold, you will need to first research the Crafting Recipes for items you wish to craft and then have the materials ready. Most of the items that can be crafted here will require materials gathered via Life Skills. You can also purchase those materials from players but if you're looking to save, it may be worth investing into one or more Life Skills.

In the early stages, you will be limited to 1 Crafting Project, displayed on the left of the Workshop window. However, each Crafting Project gives you 10 Crafting Slots which allows simultaneous crafting with the caveat that you can only craft items of the same type in the same Crafting Project slot. For example, you can simultaneously craft the HP Potion x 3 recipe up to 10 times all within the same Crafting Project slot which will yield 30 HP Potions once complete. More Crafting Project slots can be unlocked by leveling your Crafting Workshop via Lab Research.  All crafting projects will also require time to complete, with more complex recipes requiring longer. In the case of simultaneous crafting, each item added will increase the project's overall completion time. You can also spend Pirate Coins to reduce crafting time.

The Station

The Station is used to dispatch your Stronghold Crew of Sailors and Pets on your boats to take on missions and acquire various resources as well as Stronghold XP for you. The Mission menu can be accessed via the Stronghold Management menu (CTRL +1) or by interacting with the Station itself. Before you can send your crew out on missions, you will first need to acquire a Ship. Ships can be unlocked by researching at the Lab. At higher Stronghold and Lab levels, you will be able to acquire more ships. There are two types of missions that can be undertaken: Normal Missions and Special Missions. 

• Normal Missions: Normal Missions send your crew out to various locations around the world to resolve issues, fight off pirates and creatures and acquire treasure. These missions are automated and simply require Action Energy, some Gold and time. Normal Missions reward Pirate Coins, Stronghold XP, as well as various Seals that can be exchanged with Trade Merchants visiting your Stronghold. Normal Missions refresh every few hours, indicated at the bottom of the Missions window.
• Special Missions: Special Missions send your crew out to complete endgame content for you such as Cube Dungeons, Chaos Dungeons, Platinum Fields, Guardian Raids and more. Similar to Normal Missions, these will require Action Energy, Gold and time. In addition, taking on Special Missions will use up the same special resources or daily limits as these activities would were you to do it yourself outside. For example, sending your crew out to complete a Guardian Raid will cost one out of two of your daily attempts, leaving you with only one left regardless of whether you send another crew out or do it yourself.

The Manor

The Manor is the largest structure on the Island but it serves a simple purpose. The Manor provides buffs and bonuses to activities within the Stronghold. This is done by equipping special Structures onto the Manor such as Fountains, Mailboxes and many more. These Structures can be crafted at the Crafting Workshop after their recipes are researched at the Lab. In the early stages, you are limited to 1 Slot for Structures, but you can freely switch between equipped Structures and can unlock more slots upon leveling up your Manor.

There are many different Structures you can craft with varying effects such as reducing Action Energy costs for specific activities, gold and material costs, reduced time and more.  There is also an Outfit tab within the Manor menu where you can display your collected Outfits to gain their passive bonuses, much like the Structures. Outfits can be obtained by maxing out your Rapport with certain NPCs.

Training Zone

The Training zone allows you to train any of your Alt characters passively. Only characters level 50 and above can use the Training function. Furthermore, you can only train characters up to one level below your highest level character. For example, if your highest level character is at level 59, you will only be able to train alts between levels 50-58. Characters can train and accumulate XP for up to 7 days in a row and you can stop training at any time and collect XP relative to the time spent training - training costs Action Energy and Gold, increased by the amount of time you set for a character's training.

Trade Merchants

Trade Merchants are various NPCs that will come to visit your Stronghold, selling various goods in exchange for Seals obtained through the Station mission dispatches. Trade Merchants refresh once every server reset and each refresh brings a new set of items available for purchase. In order to allow Merchants into your Stronghold, you must first sign a contract with them via research at the Lab.

 

 

Lost Ark Sailing

Sailing for Lost Ark is a feature that players can unlock after reaching Level 35 and arriving at Wavestrand Port within East Luterra, if you are following the Main Storyline of the game, you will eventually end up in that location. What is Sailing in Lost Ark anyway? It's the main travel feature that you will need in order to travel to different continents, as well as the many islands surrounded by it, sailing is different and is not a fast travel system unlike "Tripods" that allows you to travel between set locations within the same continent at any given time in exchange for a small amount of silver.

Sailing is a helpful way to further explore the vast sea, especially if you reach Endgame since you can discover some islands that can only be found through sailing, each island has its own inhabitant/s, as well as related Quests that you can compete to acquire Island Hearts or Island Tokens that can be exchanged for unique rewards

Things you Should Remember About Sailing

Types of Ships

In Lost Ark, there are 8 featured types of ships that you can use for sailing, each having its own base stats as well as resistances, and as you progress, you can manually upgrade or enhance those related stats. These stats and attributes for the ship provide different bonuses that will help towards traversing the vast sea such as Sailing Speed, Sailing Duration, Sailing Recovery, Durability Consumption, Sailing Grade, and many more. These are important for your ship since there are different encounters out there such as hazardous waters, areas that are invaded by sea inhabitants, and even harsh weathers. This is where the types of ships come in or how your equally enhance your ship to withstand those challenges.

Manage your Crew

If you have the perfect ship, the next feature for sailing that you need to look at is your crew. Just like any ship that goes out to sail, a captain that has a ship must have his/her crew. The higher stats or upgraded ship will allow you to bring more members of your crew. Each crew also comes with its own stats and bonuses, similar to the ship. So before setting out to sail, make it a habit to check each crew on the list and bring the ones that are vital to sailing. In order to recruit or acquire more sailors for your crew is by exchanging a unique ocean currency called "Gienah's Coin" or sometimes acquired as random rewards from completing the endgame dungeons and challenges.

How to Get Ocean Currency

When you want to upgrade your ship and crew, the main currency needed is called Pirate Coins. Pirate Coins are primarily obtained by participating and completing various activities and or challenges during sailing, apart from Pirate Coins, there are also other currencies like Gienah's Coin and such, which can also be used as a way to exchange or trade Pirate Coins. As you sail, you will come across islands and ports where you can find other ships to trade. We highly recommend interacting with a friendly ship if you come across one to trade for items and other things you need.

Cargo, Carp, and Caches

There is no restriction when it comes to sailing since you can travel wherever you want provided that your ship and crew can handle the many encounters you'll find out in the sea. There are mainly four kinds of activities here that you can do when you are sailing, Fishing, Retrieving Cargo, Finding Treasure, and Exploring Sunken Ships. When you are sailing, these activities are mapped on the map and you can travel there at your discretion. By doing these activities, you can find valuable loot, ocean currencies, and other useful items that are vital to your progress.

Sailing Events

Sometimes, you will find events as well where you can join and participate in. To find events that are related to sailing, simply click on the clock icon at the upper left corner of the screen, followed by the cogwheel, then choose "Sailing" to find all the sailing events. Each event will take place in random locations and become active for a certain period of time, so always check the events menu to find rare or special ones, especially for those that reward items that you are looking for. If you find one, all of you have to do is sail to that location and partake in four mini-games which contains some activities that you mainly do in sailing.

Cutstomize and Care

Yes, you can upgrade your ship here by changing the base skin, the sail glyph, full skins, and such. If you're one to explore the vast sea, might as well show off your unique ship and sense of style. One last tip to let you know is to take good care of your ship. This mode of transportation also has its own health that is displayed in the middle of your screen, so keep an eye on it, especially when you are sailing through hazardous areas since it periodically decreases just by simply sailing. Before the health of your ship reaches zero, you must reach a dock to repair it, failing to do so will cost you more money and time to fix your ship. A fully damaged ship cannot be used until it is fully repaired.

That is why using a suitable ship before sailing is a best practice since using a ship that is (for example) weak against strong waves of water can easily deplete its health. Before you sail, always check the ocean map to properly identify what kind of hazardous environment you'll encounter if you are wanting to explore or reach a specific location/island. A better understanding of the sea and using the right ship with the right crew will make it easier for you to maneuver dangerous terrain. If you also want to avoid these hazardous areas, you can open the World Map and set an auto-route destination or checkpoints and your ship will automatically move and follow the route you've indicated.

Endgame Content & Item Tiers

In order to understand Item Tiers, it is important to understand Content Tiers as the two go hand-in-hand once you hit level 50 and are beginning endgame content.  Endgame Content in Lost Ark is segmented into Tiers, with major content releases signifying the start of the next tier. For example, the Vern and Rohendel Chaos Dungeons, the Ur'nil and Lumerus Guardian Raids, and the Valley of Beasts and Dream Palace Abyss Dungeons are all considered Tier 1(T1) content. As such, these activities will drop T1 Equipment and/or the materials required to craft/upgrade them.

Important: The NA/EU version of Lost Ark will launch with T1 content and will take some time to catch up to T2 and T3 which are available in other regions at the time of this writing.

Within Content Tiers, endgame activities are further segmented into three subtiers: Lower T1, Middle T1 and Upper T1. Equipment available within a content tier will also correspond to these subtiers. In this example, Lower T1 Gear will have a base Item Level of 302. Middle T1 Gear will drop with a base Item Level of 340 and Upper T1 Gear will drop with a base Item Level of 385. However, keep in mind that activities are gated by a player's Average Item Level, so you cannot simply go for the Upper T1 activities in order to obtain the best possible gear.

This is where item Upgrading comes in as each piece of equipment's Item Level can be improved in small increments until you are able to hit Item Level requirements for the content you are looking to do.  Therefore, the general endgame progression is starting at the lowest subtier and acquiring gear from activities that you have unlocked, upgrading them to increase their Item Levels in order to hit the next subtier and so on.

Recycle your Gear

What is recycling? Normally, when you would just want to upgrade the level of piece of gear or equipment the traditional way, find the related materials and use them to upgrade its level. Recycling can actually save you the time and effort, especially if you want to get rid of gear that you no longer need or if you don't want to sell it. When you recycle, it allows you to take over the level of the current gear and apply it onto the new one. You can always use recycle any time, for example, if you have a high level blue gear, you can recycle that onto a new purple gear that you just obtained, you can also recycle gear with the same color, the choice is yours and it is up to you on what you want to use when it comes to recycling. This feature should not be overlooked and should be considered to be used, instead of the traditional way of just selling or keeping unwanted gear.

 

Where do I Find Arctus/Givena Crystals?

Givena or Actruc Crystals is an upgrade material used to increase the level or upgrade your gear. It is quite difficult to find this material since you can only obtain this via Crafting which is done at your Island Stronghold or by checking and purchasing it from the Auction House.

Lock your Gear

A simple yet effective tip is to lock your gear. In Lost Ark, items can be overwhelming and you are (for most of the time) bombarded with rewards and loot that contain different pieces of equipment, upgrade materials, and many more. Lock your gear, especially the ones you are always upgrading or want to keep. This way, you can save yourself with the mistake of dismantling it or selling it. To lock an item, just hold CTRL, Right-Click, and choose Lock. If you want to unlock locked items, do the same process, just choose Unlock. By unlocking, it will give you a prompt message asking if you are sure to unlock the item, and usually, it will have a time-frame before it is unlocked.

Queue Anywhere

You can queue up anywhere and join Endgame, Party-Based Activities such as Guardian Raids, Chaos Dungeons, Cubes, and such. This also applies to PvP if you want to queue up for it.