Lost Ark Tier List for End-Game Content
Lost Ark has a whole roster of different advanced classes; choosing between them as your first character could be confusing. Before we start, I would like to say that I believe that people can play any game in a non-meta way and be better than meta chasers. The player is more important than the selection, and the same rules go for playing Lost Ark. Everyone can do great damage and is viable and awesome, so pick whatever you enjoy the most and master it. That being said, a Lost Ark Tier List is still valuable for figuring out what the meta builds consist of, and hopefully, this guide will help you figure it out.
Table of Contents
Methodology for this Lost Ark Tier List
There are three tiers: S, A, and B. Classes are placed in each tier based on these factors:
- Difficulty: This answer the question of how hard the class is to be effective with and how hard it is to master.
- Versatility: How much can the class do? Is it always useful or sometimes? Do other classes do the same role and bring more?
- Overall Level: This answers how strong the class is compared to others, but Lost Ark is pretty well balanced from my understanding.
S-Tier
Classes in this Lost Ark Tier bring unique contributions to the latest end-game raid you are doing and are almost viable regardless of the player’s skill level.
Paladin
This class is tanky support that is amazing at optimizing the group’s DPS potential and survivability. Paladins can protect your party, cleanse debuff, and provide constant buff uptime. On top of that, they have two reliable counters and are almost impossible to miss. The downside is that his actual healing is lacking, unlike other supports such as Bard and Artist. Paladin is one of the easiest classes to master since you can be effective with minimal decision-making.
Bard
Another support class in this tier list is the bard. Bards provide damage buffs, shields, and other buffs similar to the Paladin. The difference is bards are squishy, and you have the choice to match the Paladin’s sturdiness by opting for Heavy Armor Engraving. Also, bards can do more healing than other support classes and afford the player a more versatile playstyle based on the situation. This class could be harder to use than Paladin, but if you master this class correctly, you have so much to bring to your party members.
Gunlancer
In my opinion, this class is the easiest one to play and enjoy. Imagine being able to challenge the boss head-on, almost impossible to take damage, stagger the boss, and get all the MVPs in your raids. It’s the Gunlancer. Gunlancers can shield their team, break the boss’s armor, stagger and even counter the boss. They also have a ‘taunt’ skill to stop almost all the boss’s deadliest moves.
Destroyer
With the recent balance patches on the western version of the game, Destroyer has been gaining popularity. This class has slow-hitting yet hard-hitting melee attacks that can demolish their enemies at the perfect distance. They could be difficult to play against some bosses that move a lot since lining up your attacks are hard.
A-Tier
Most classes in this list are pretty equal in power level, with some of these being a little easier to get value out of and others a little harder.
Arcanist
Arcanist is an RNG-based DPS class in the game that deals good damage with decent crit synergy. However, Arcanist lack stagger damage and weak point damage, which could be a disadvantage in some other end-game content. She has a little utility, is very squishy, and is one of the most difficult classes to master before being effective.
Glavier
This class is the 4th martial artist class released in the Western version of Lost Ark. Glaviers are the spear-using classes that can deal big damage, counter bosses, and with a decent amount of mobility.
Berserker
This is the squishiest warrior class in the game that deals enormous damage and is easy to pick up and play. However, learning when to commit to the long animations and cooldowns makes this deceptively hard to master.
Sorcerer
This class is for you if you previously played mage classes in other MMORPGs. Sorcerers have plenty of AOE and single target damage that can immediately burst down bosses, especially if you opt for the Igniter build of the sorceress. If more mobility and less cooldown is your thing, Reflux allows you to do damage while having room for error.
Deathblade
This is one of the few assassin classes in the game that have multiple playstyles and a great synergy for most of the melee classes. You have the choice between two builds: Surge and Remaining Energy. Both are strong, but RE is much easier to play and cheap to make effective in the end-game raid.
Shadow Hunter
On the other hand, this assassin class is way cheaper to build and simpler to play. This is because they have high sustain and deal enormous damage because of their demon form. Additionally, you will only need two level 10 gems to make her reach the end-game raid.
Scrapper
An extremely well-rounded martial artist class with a lot of variety across her two playstyles. She can do almost everything in the game: decent, high stagger damage, great mobility, and strong, weak point damage.
Wardancer
This is a super agile class and is comfortable to play, and has high damage. Your play revolves around your 6-second damage buff window, which means you really have to know when to hold your skills and how to do the skill rotation.
Striker
The male counterpart of the Wardancer is much more comfortable to play and not as reliant on gear as the Deathblow setup. This class has great damage output and top-of-the-line counters to make this an effective class to play.
Gunslinger
If you like guns, you will like to play this gunslinger. The peacemaker build allows you to play a style that uses all three weapons (pistol, shotgun, and rifle) with additional buffs. This class is for players that want a challenge and be flexible enough to attack from any range and angle.
Artillerist
This class is considered to be the ranged Gunlancer. They have shields, deal enormous damage, and won’t likely to die. They have burst that functions much like the Sorc, and you could miss your AoE skills due to the boss movements. However, when the players don’t know the boss well, this class can become more difficult to excel at.
B-Tier
These classes can be as powerful as the rest, but the average player will have trouble getting the most valuable out of them. This Lost Ark tier is not recommended for beginners.
Soulfist
This class is famous for the Spirit Bomb, similar to Goku’s Energy Ball. This class deals the most with DPS, yet it’s challenging to play. With two distinct playstyles and both ranged and melee specialization, mastering this class can be frustrating but does have great scaling into the later tiers. However, if you master it, you will be doing some of the highest damage in the game.
Sharpshooter
Sharpshooter is a ranged damage dealer with two strongest skills that require you to be stationary. This leaves you with an easy class to enjoy that doesn’t excel in one area, but mastery will make you effective to other ranged damage dealers.
Deadeye
Last but not least on the list is Deadeye. This range damage class focuses on mid-range and position well, so they get the proper damage modifier from shotgun back attacks. Deadeyes are very challenging to play and can be satisfying to master. Despite that effort, it may feel like you would just have equivalent results to a more simple class.
That’s it! This is the end of the Lost Ark Class Tier List, and if you agree/disagree with anything or want a good discussion, feel free to let me know in the comments below.
