5 Things You Should Know Before Starting Lost Ark

Hyped for jumping into Lost Ark? Can’t wait to start demolishing hordes of demons and other creatures? Well, here are five things that you should know before diving headfirst into this massive game.

Save your feathers!

What do I mean by this? Well, during the course of your gameplay you’ll be awarded Phoenix Plume items, which have the ability to instantly resurrect you on the battlefield should you succumb to a rather savage beating. These can be a critical item to use in endgame content and may be the difference between failure and success. As such, don’t bother using these during your initial levelling process, just take the hit and use one of the other death options available to you.

Test out the classes!

Before you get into the main game, you’re taken to Trixion, an ethereal realm which serves as a testing ground for most basic mechanics of each subclass you create. You’ll be given a set of skills and the ability to summon monsters or bosses. It’s here that you can get a good feel of how the combat system works and how your chosen class will operate at a higher level, which is fantastic. No need to sink tens of hours into levelling just to find out that the class isn’t for you. I'd also throw in at this point to try out both control methods — keyboard and mouse or joypad — to see which one suits you best.

Don’t worry about healing potions!

Honestly, the game throws so many at you from defeating mobs and completing quests that you have zero reasons to purchase more from a vendor. During my time, I was never in fear of running out as they are littered all over the world, so don’t feel you need to hoard these like it’s some survival horror game.

Now, I’m going to contradict myself here, but I still maintain that in your early levels, there’s no danger in using the potions you acquire. There are higher rarity potions that should be kept for a rainy day so you have a supply of these for endgame content. These will be obvious to spot as their background will be green, blue, or even purple, so those ones I’d say to put to one side in your storage.

Lost Ark is not a new game!

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There is a plethora of information and resources at your disposal due to the game already having around three years of active service in Russia and South Korea. Many players from our regions would have already gone through this content via VPNs and using KR or RU clients and will be well-versed in all of the systems and nuances Lost Ark has to offer. So don’t be afraid to look things up or reach out to players asking for advice as chances are, the answers are out there. We even have our own class tips, such as this one right here.

Don’t neglect your trade skills.

Relatively early on, you’ll be introduced to your Trade Skills, more commonly known within the community as life skills. These require specialist tools and each map will display what life skills are available in that region. It’s key to ensure you keep levelling these up while you have enough life energy to do so. These skills are Archaeology, Fishing, Herbalism, Hunting, Lumbering, and Mining. All of these will gather resources that you’ll need later on when interacting with Stronghold upgrades, crafting items, or enhancing your character's performance. So take the time, chop some trees, pull some weeds, and fish some fishies!

Have some of your own tips and tricks for new players? Shout out in the comments to let us know how you prepared for Lost Ark.