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Lost Ark best class tier list [July 2022]: All 17 character classes ranked for PvE and PvPWhat is the best Lost Ark character class to play as, including the Destroyer and the Glaivier?
What is the best Lost Ark character class to play as, including the Destroyer and the Glaivier?
What is the best character class to play as in Lost Ark for PvE and PvP after the April update?When you first create a character inLost Ark, you’ll be tasked with picking a class from a list of seven options, and you’ll notice that classes in this game are gender locked: Warriors are always male, while Assassins and Mages are always female. Martial Artists and Gunners have both male and female versions for you to choose from, but they’re still separated out in character creation, since all subclasses in the game are available to just one gender.
The game’sMay 2022 updatesaw the introduction of the second new character class post-release. Just like with April’s introduction of yet another female Martial Artist in the form of the Glaivier, the Destroyer belongs to the already very well-populated Warrior subclass. But what impact has this latest addition had on the game’s meta, and is it worth making your next character a Detroyer? Read on for our comparative rankings of all 17 subclasses for both PvE and PvP activities to help you set up your perfect roster.
The Best (and Worst) Classes In Lost Ark - PvE Class DiscussionWatch on YouTube
The Best (and Worst) Classes In Lost Ark - PvE Class Discussion
Lost Ark classes tier list
Best classes for PvP
Best classes for PvE
In total, there are 17 subclasses in Lost Ark, with seven options for male characters and nine for female characters. Whichever base class you choose to play as, you’ll be taken through a brief tutorial, during which you’re asked to choose a subclass for them to specialise in. With two exceptions — the male Martial Artist and female Gunner have just one subclass apiece — you’ll have at least two or three options for what your character specialises in, based on their class and gender.
On this page we’ll talk a bit more about each character class in detail, starting with our favourites in the S Tier and working our way down the list. Note that while each class and subclass is gender-locked, you can still customise the name and appearance of each character, so while we refer to these classes as “he” or “she”, you’re not locked into a particular design beyond gender and armour options when you choose a class.
Best Lost Ark PvE classes
S Tier
Lost Ark| Pick Your Class: MageWatch on YouTube
Lost Ark| Pick Your Class: Mage
There are only two support classes in Lost Ark at the time of writing, and while they might not seem like the most exciting choices when you’re just starting out, you’ll quickly gain an appreciation for how important it is to have at least one on your roster as you approach the endgame. If you’re looking to group up with other players then having a high-level Bard will be indispensable, as it’s easily the most-requested class when forming parties, thanks to her possessing the best healing and shields in the game. Her only real downside is that she’s not the best at playing an active role in combat, limiting her utility if you’re mucking around in Arkesia solo; though her harp brings a whole suite of damage buffs and debuffs that benefit her team in a fight.
See our guide to the bestLost Ark Bard builds for PvE and PvPto learn how to kit out this powerful songress for your roster.
The Berserker may not be the most exotic choice, as he’s Lost Ark’s answer to the basic fighter from every RPG ever. However, that’s a classic build for a reason; and while the Berserker might be the safe choice for players who aren’t that confident of their survival skills yet, he really stands up to the game’s challenges in the long term. He can buff both himself and his team with a 12% damage increase, and it doesn’t take very long to level him up to a nigh-unstoppable damage-dealing machine. A solid choice for beginners, he nevertheless won’t let you down if you choose to main him until the very end.
For everything you need to know about putting together this beefy warrior’s best build, have a look at ourLost Ark Berserker build guide.
Lost Ark| Pick Your Class: WarriorWatch on YouTube
Lost Ark| Pick Your Class: Warrior
Players who consider themselves a little too savvy for the Berserker, but still crave the classic fighter experience, will want to add a Gunlancer to their roster. Beyond a doubt this is Lost Ark’s tank class, with high HP and defence stats making him a great damage sponge alongside the ability to shield other characters and draw enemy attention to himself; and a special power that lets him interrupt attacks or sometimes even flat-out ignore boss mechanics. If your goal is to power through Lost Ark like a hot knife through butter, the Gunlancer is definitely your man (and that’s without even getting into how cool his weaponry is on purely aesthetic grounds).
Check out ourLost Ark Gunlancer buildguide for everything you need to know to get the most out of this class in both PvE and PvP.
The Gunslinger is one of my personal favourites, and is among the best choices in the game for a PvE DPS class. Her ridiculously swift movement speed and her 10% increased crit buff mean that she’s a sturdy option if you’re playing solo. And if you’re taking advantage of the MMO aspects of thisMMORPGand playing with friends, happy days! Her crit buff benefits the entire group. The only real downside to the Gunslinger is that she can be tricky to get to grips with in the early game, but once you get your eye in you’ll more than feel the payoff as you advance through the later sections.
For an in-depth look at the Gunslinger’s kit, including the mini-arsenal she carries with her at all times, have a look at ourLost Ark Gunslinger buildguide.
Be sure to visit ourLost Ark Paladin buildguide to learn more about his various skills, sub-class specialisms, and late-game kit.
A Tier
The Artillerist is something of a jack-of-all-trades, and though he may be master of none, that’s not to say that he isn’t very capable in every area he chooses to dip into. The Gunlancer is a better tank, the Bard provides better shield support, and there are other heavy damage dealers in the game whose movement speed isn’t so encumbered. But the Artillerist plays all three roles pretty darned well, so if you’re looking to low-key multiclass as a character who can switch between DPS and support as needed, you’ll definitely want a member of this subclass on your roster.
A good build is essential for getting the most out of this class, so be sure to check out our bestLost Ark Artillerist buildguide if you’re planning on playing as this character.
Lost Ark| Pick Your Class: AssassinWatch on YouTube
Lost Ark| Pick Your Class: Assassin
The Deathblade is proving incredibly popular among western players, many of whom it seems are more than willing to overlook the class’s shortcomings thanks to just how much fun you can have as her. Have a look at ourLost Ark Deathblade buildguide to help you make the most of her undeniable potential.
Lost Ark: Battle for the Throne of Chaos | April UpdateWatch on YouTube
Lost Ark: Battle for the Throne of Chaos | April Update
The Glaivier is the first subclass added into the western release of Lost Ark post-launch, and to be honest it’s a little surprising to see yet another Martial Artist class joining the ranks. However, the Glaivier certainly can’t be accused of being a rehash, as she works quite differently from her siblings in the Scrapper, Striker, Soulfist, and Wardancer subclasses. Equipped with both a spear and a glaive, the Glaivier’s kit is built around stance-swapping, effectively giving her access to two completely different attack sets depending on whether she’s in the Focus (glaive-wielding) stance or the Flurry (spear-wielding) stance.
The Sorceress is one of the more recent additions to the South Korean version of Lost Ark ahead of the EU/NA release, so it remains to be seen whether she’ll receive more tweaking down the line. For now, she’s a solid addition to a combat-oriented team thanks to her decent damage buff (6%) and her incredibly high burst radius. I’ve also seen it suggested that she’s a particularly easy character to pick up for players who are more familiar with Western RPGs, which might explain the timing of her introduction. However, she is an example of the infamous squishy wizard, with low defences and HP meaning that she isn’t always the easiest character to manage in a fight, and so it’ll take a more skilled player to get the best performance out of her.
The Sorceress can DPS right up until the endgame if you build her right, so be sure to check out ourLost Ark Sorceress buildguide to help you on your way.
Lost Ark| Pick Your Class: Martial ArtistWatch on YouTube
Lost Ark| Pick Your Class: Martial Artist
Two words: aerial attacks. The Striker has such a high movement speed that he can literally attack foes from almost any angle, and look damned cool doing it too. He’s one of the more difficult classes to control thanks to the key role his positioning plays in landing a good attack. But he has a high damage output and increased crit chance, so there’s room for forgiveness while you’re still learning the ropes, especially since his crit chance and attack speed boosts apply to his teammates as well.
Despite his overall trickiness to play, the Striker is a top choice for crowd control. For details on how to build him for this specialised role, and more general PvE and PvP activities, see ourLost Ark Striker buildguide.
B Tier
Destroyer (Warrior)
The Scrapper is an extremely beginner-friendly subclass if you’re looking to experiment with melee combat in Lost Ark. She has a strong defence, paired with middle-of-the-road damage (including a 6% extra damage buff) — so while you might have to chip away in combat for a while, you’re unlikely to come to an untimely end while you do so. However, the Scrapper is generally regarded as more of a training class, with players who find her combat style to their liking tending to switch over to a Striker character if they decide they want to main a Martial Artist for the long-haul.
If you’re hoping to play Lost Ark as a classic brawler, the Scrapper might well be the class for you. Check out ourLost Ark Scrapper buildpage for more details on her best skills and accessories.
It might be my undeniable bias towards the Deathblade talking, but I find the Shadowhunter to be just a little bit more boring to play than a demonically possessed assassin has any right to be. Her best feature is her 12% additional damage buff, which is a match for the Berserker’s, and in many ways she could be seen as his female equivalent, since she’s also a pretty straightforward starting character. I don’t mean to suggest that there’s anything actively wrong with the Shadowhunter, but while her kit is perfectly serviceable it just doesn’t do that much for me. Her most interesting attribute is her ability to switch to demon form for a temporary boost to her HP and speed, but even then, the comedown might just leave you wishing that you’d picked a class with better base stats in those areas.
If you’re looking to take the field with the Shadowhunter in all her demonic glory, have a look at ourbest Lost Ark Shadowhunter buildpage to learn how best to kit her out for PvE or PvP.
Lost Ark| Pick Your Class: GunnerWatch on YouTube
Lost Ark| Pick Your Class: Gunner
A sniper character can feel a little out-of-place in a fantasy saga, but that’s essentially what the Sharpshooter is. The only purely long-ranged character class in Lost Ark, the Sharpshooter has a high damage output, a strong stagger ability, and adds a 6% damage increase buff to the whole team. On stats alone he’d probably deserve a spot on our A tier were it not for the fact that his whole kit is built around keeping your distance from the fray. This means that you won’t get to experience a lot of Lost Ark’s core combat mechanics, as there’s very little he can do in close combat; so unless this is specifically something that appeals to you, you might want to choose a Gunner with a little more versatility, like the Gunslinger or the Artillerist.
Love him or hate him, the Sharpshooter is certainly unique. Check out ourbest Lost Ark Sharpshooter buildguide for advice and information on how to make the most of this interesting if hard-to-master class.
A good Soulfist build can elevate this mid-tier class considerably, however, so be sure to take a look at ourbest Lost Ark Soulfist buildguide for details on how to make her really shine in both PvP and PvE.
C Tier
Lost Ark usually manages to blend its high fantasy setting with science fiction elements pretty seamlessly, but when it comes to the Deadeye, you can’t help but feel that he’s made a mistake bringing his handcannon to a greatsword fight. To be brutally honest, the Deadeye does everything that the Gunslinger does — wielding three different guns for a variety of occasions, all with a 10% crit buff — but he does it all just a fair bit worse. This might be the fiddliest class to get to grips with mechanically, and even once you’ve become an expert judge of his required range and positioning, his damage, HP, and defence just don’t measure up to those of his nominal female counterpart.
Despite his lowly C-Tier ranking for PvE, the Deadeye really comes into his own in PvP. Read on for more details of our PvP Tier List, but also be sure to check out ourbest Lost Ark Deadye buildfor details on how to bring out the best in him for the other game mode.
If you just can’t say no to those top-class buffs, be sure to check out ourbest Lost Ark Wardancer buildguide for more information on how to make the most of this unusual character class.
Best Lost Ark PvP classes
When you reach the end of Lost Ark’s story and hit Level 50, you’ll be able to take part in PvP endgame activities. You might notice that the PvE and PvP tier lists look quite different: that’s because stats that were a hindrance in PvE activities can become an active plus in PvP, while traits that really shone can become less impressive when you’re up against other human opponents.
S Tier
While the supremacy of theBardandPaladinas the only support classes in town remains unchallenged, theDeadeye’s place on the tier list is completely upended in PvP, where he shoots all the way from C Tier to join his nominal female counterpart (the Gunslinger) on the S Tier. That’s because, despite his difficult controls, it’s hard to overstate the usefulness of having a decent mid-to-long-ranged character on PvP teams. In fact, a sufficiently skilled player can actually perform crowd control even better with the Deadeye than the Gunslinger thanks to the slightly better range to his attacks.
Finally, PvP is where my two favourites —DeathbladeandGunslinger— really get a chance to shine. We all already knew the Gunslinger was great, but what both these powerful ladies have in common is a high movement speed that will keep your opponents nice and off-balance. Furthermore, the Deathblade’s ability to strike rapidly and repeatedly more than makes up for her low base attack damage in PvP settings.
A Tier
On the PvP A Tier, you’ll primarily find all the solid DPS characters. While the tanking qualities of theGunlancerand theBerserkerare slightly less make-or-break than they are in PvE, huge attack and huge defence stats will never go out of style in Lost Ark no matter who you’re up against, so these lads still deserve a spot near the top of the pile. TheShadowhunterascends to join her sort-of-not-really male counterpart the Berserker here for the same reason. TheSorceressremains a strong-yet-squishy option for DPS main, with the added bonus that you can have some real fun deploying her various elemental attacks against real-life opponents. Finally, theGlaiviercontinues to defy easy ranking: built for speed and with a strong defence she can be your best friend as you duck and weave around other players, but she really requiries yet another highly specific build to make the most of her kit in PvP situations.
B Tier
Meanwhile on the PvP B Tier, we find characters whose special abilities are undeniably fun, but are just a bit less likely to impress when everyone you’re up against is able to react to your strats in real time. TheStriker’s whizzing aerial attacks and theSharpshooter’s focus on long-range weapons can prove a troublesome overspecialisation in PvP, since they don’t have much to fall back on once an enemy gets in close. And unfortunately, other players will absolutely know that theDestroyeris likely to be moving slowly, which does quite a bit to neutralise the crowd-control abilities that are one of his stand-out features in PvE, though of course he still packs his unique punch. On the other hand, theArtilleristand theWardancercan both perform some useful support buffing in PvP, even if their actual attacks are respectively too slow and low-damage to make them a good choice of DPS class for this style of gameplay.
C Tier
And finally, poor oldScrapperandSoulfistlanguish down on the C Tier for PvP. The Scrapper’s unofficial status as the Martial Artist “training class”, with mid-level stats to match, means that you’re better picking a different specialisation for this base class (though, to be honest, Martial Artists don’t fare well in PvP in general). Players choosing the Soulfist, meanwhile, just won’t end up having much fun in PvP, since her whole kit is built around a burst attack with relatively long charge and cooldown times, and that comes with an RNG element to damage that can prove costly.
Lost Ark’s publishers at Amazon Games are celebrating the launch of their latest MMORPG with a series of Twich Drops — have a look at ourLegends of Lost Ark Twitch Dropsguide to learn how you can claim some unique in-game goodies. Further down the line as your character roster grows, you might find that you want to level skip a few of your alts, so check out ourLost Ark Knowledge Transferguide to find out how it’s done.
