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Developed by the Korean studio Smilegate, Lost Ark is often considered the most polished action role-playing combat experience in the broader MMORPG genre. The core of Lost Ark's Diablo-like combat is, presumably, the classes. There are six base classes in the game, from which the player can proceed into further specialization with advanced classes.
It is important to note that base and advanced classes can be gender-specific. For example, a male warrior can choose from four advanced classes, while the female counterpart can only progress into the Slayer advanced class. Moreover, newer class releases are added to the Korean version first and only get integrated into the international variant later on.
As the developers aim to maintain balance among classes, you can do nearly all available endgame content in the game with any class solo. However, some classes simply excel in particular domains of the game, and, more importantly, shine with certain playstyle affinities.
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The following should serve as a primer on the strongest classes you can pick up and play in Lost Ark in 2024.
Top 5 Lost Ark classes you should try in 2024
1) Deathblade
If you have played endgame Lost Ark for any stretch of time, you will have likely noticed that Deathblade is the most successful class in any PvE content. Ever since its release, Deathblade has been a consistent powerhouse that delivers during all phases of the game.
You can choose Deathblade as one of your advanced classes if you start as a female Assassin base class. There are two engravings you can branch out into after finishing T1 with Deathblade: Remaining Energy and Surge.
While Surge is near-unanimously considered to be the biggest reason why Deathblade is considered to be a peerless DPS machine, this comes at the cost of a high skill ceiling. It is recommended that beginner players go for the Remaining Energy route, which still deals respectable damage. It is true to the death-by-a-thousand-cuts playstyle that Deathblade signifies.
2) Paladin
Given how the story in Lost Ark deals with following the path of light and killing demons, the Paladin is arguably the best fit for its protagonist thematically. Paladin is a hybrid between the pure support classes, such as Bard, and the damage-centric classes, like Berserker.
Paladin is also arguably the best class choice if you want easy mode PvP content. This goes doubly for team-based PvP game modes, as you make much better use of your healing abilities.
While not particularly peerless outside of PvP, Paladin is a good option for his sheer versatility. Both his blue and yellow skills offer a good combination of melee and ranged options to deal with any given situation. This versatility also makes him likely to be accepted into all raid parties if you want to push endgame content.
However, in Lost Ark, all classes can do at least decent damage in non-Raid endgame content. If you so choose, you can get a DPS-heavy Paladin build going by just investing in critical-boosting itemization.
3) Gunlancer
If you want to play the tankiest possible character in Lost Ark, Gunlancer is the no-brainer choice. An iconic class with a Great Shield, Great Lance, and a built-in cannon, Gunlancer is the closest you get to the over-the-top essence of the Korean MMO power fantasy.
Gunlancer's unique selling point is having the highest amount of shield and party-wide shield provision. This class allows you to take hits like no other and is highly sought after in almost all party comps.
The tradeoff, however, lies in Gunlancer's lackluster damage. He is the only class that cannot solo carry a party comp in terms of damage, no matter how much you invest into it. He is also the only class with a backhop on his dodge skill, which takes some getting used to.
4) Artillerist
If you like a ranged glass cannon, Artillerit will likely be your go-to with Lost Ark. This class has absolutely everything you would expect of an engineer archetype and then some.
You can use a wide variety of abilities by juggling between flamethrowers, missile launchers, and artillery shells, or even rain down fire on enemies by transforming into a mounted cannon yourself.
The functionality of these abilities also echoes this all-rounder quality. Be it damage, crowd-control, or tanking with a shield temporarily, the artillerist has it all. The only blind spot here is mobility.
Positioning is key for this class. As you learn how to better place yourself to kite bosses and climb the learning curve of the ability cast delays, you have a high likelihood of being the raid MVP on a fully decked-out Artillerist more than any other class.
5) Destroyer
The meaty tactile feedback upon hitting enemy units is a major part of what makes Lost Ark combat so satisfying. The Destroyer is the class that arguably lets you indulge this simplistic pleasure the most, wielding a giant hammer to pommel his enemies to oblivion.
As a weapon of this nature would imply, Destroyer is the best class for staggering even the largest enemies in the game. Their kit is reminiscent of General Radahn from Elden Ring, harnessing the power of brute force and gravity magic. The blue skills build you 'Gravity Cores,' while the purple skills let you spend them, proccing stagger on almost all of these abilities.
Spending Gravity Cores with purple skills also builds up Hypergravity, which you can activate to gain a massive amount of shields and the ability to rapidly increase your auto-attack speed for massive DPS on any target.
