Basic Class Guide

Kumapon

I figure with all the Alpha Keys going out, there should be a basic class guide. 

Lost Ark uses the holy trinity with a hack in slash type Diablo style. 

Lost Ark has 5 classes to chose from :

Warrior/Monks/Gunners/Mages/Assassins. When you get to lvl 10 you choose a sub class. 

Warriors

Warriors are mainly tanks. But Berserker and Destoryer sacrifice Defense for Offence.

Berserker

The Berserker is one of the more popular DPS classes due to its durability and impressive damage. Unlike other warrior classes, berserker is very mobile and features a wide arsenal of back attacks. Out of all the sub-classes the Berserker is closest to the prologue warrior in terms of skills so the learning curve is rather forgiving. Learning to time your buffs with your big finishers and managing your rage gauge is key to mastering this class. Among its two class seals, definitely choose Berserker's kill move. While the life-steal of Madness is nice, it simply isn't enough to save you in harder content. The class can utilize a wide variety of seals so make use of whatever is within your budget.

Recommended Seals: Grudge, Berserker's Kill move, Sharp Blunt, Supercharge, Awakening, Backstab(*bonus damage for back attack)

Warlord (Gunlancer in the West)

The Warlord is arguably the only tank class in Lost Ark whose kit includes a taunt and a party cleanse, which makes it one of the most popular raid class along with Bard. However, even by warrior standards, the Warlord is extremely immobile, which can make certain raid bosses an absolute nightmare. On the plus side, the Warlord has received major buffs in Season 2. Between Combat stance and Lonely Knight, the former was the go-to-seal but with the recent nerfs, the two are closer in performance. If you like face-tanking enemies, go with Combat Stance, and if you are willing to sacrifice some durability for more burst damage, go with Lonely Knight.

Recommended Seals: Grudge, A Duel Price Combat Stance: Barricade, Combat Stance Lonely Knight: Super Charge, Lonely Knight,

Destroyer (Not Available in the west atm)

The Destroyer bears a lot of similarities with the Berserker and the Lonely Knight Warlord. It's durable, slow, puts up big numbers, and has many charge attacks. The class primarily uses head attack, meaning a destroyer generally stands face to face with a boss for bonus damage. So if you like seeing big numbers while smashing an enemy in the face like a boss, by all means pick this class.

Recommended Seals: Hammer of Rage, Grudge, Super Charge, Duel Price

Holy Knight (Paladin in the West)

The Holy Knight is one of the rare support classes in Lost Ark. Compared to the Bard, whose kit revolves around building its identity gauged to provide a powerful heal or attack boost, the Holy Knight provides a constant smaller heal by its class seal: Blessed Aura. If you are looking to play a more damage oriented build, go with the other class seal: Judicator, which amplifies your judgement-based skill damage. While both builds are certainly viable, I recommend the former class seal as the Holy Knight best shines when playing a dedicated support. Overall, compared to its competitor the Bard, the Holy Knight is more forgiving with its passive healing and intuitive mechanics, as well as boasting higher base stats.

Recommended Seals: Class Seal (Either), Awakening

Kumapon

Fighter/Monks

Monks use chi to do damage. 

Battlemaster(Scrapper in the west)

Compared to other fighter classes, the Battlemaster is fairly vanilla in terms of mechanics and has a forgiving learning curve. Unlike other DPS classes, the Battlemaster brings a party wide movement speed & crit chance buff in raids but is not best stand alone damage class. Most of the skill animations are quick but because it relies less on its class seals, acquiring the optimal engravings may come as a challenge. The character may run into mana issues but going too heavy into crit may leave you awkwardly auto-attacking as your skills come off cooldown. Leveling a Battlemaster can be tedious if starting from scratch, but if you have a dedicated group, the Battlemaster is an excellent pick.

Recommended Seals: Grudge, Sharp Blunt, Backstabbing Master, Beginner's mind/Enhanced Ultimate.

Infighter (Wardancer in the west)

The Infighter is mana-less melee DPS whose skills are divided into two categories: "energy" and "shock." Using one type of resource will fill the opposite resource gauge. While this may sound complicated at first, it just means her rotation alternates energy and shock skills. Both of her class seals enhance the damage and regeneration of one type of resource. While not on the level of Warlord or Destroyer, the Infighter brings a respectable level of impairment. Despite the name, the infighter plays much closer to an outboxer who bullies opponents hit & run strategies in 1v1 PVP. She also excels in 3v3 by catching pesky Bards and Summoners off-guard. The infighter's versatility makes her a solid pick in every type of content and provides a simple yet rewarding mechanic that is beginner-friendly.

Recommended Seals: Grudge, Sharp Blunt, Spirit Absorption, Backstabbing Master, Taijutsu/Shock Regeneration

Soul Master (Soulfist in the west)

From super saiyan mode, spirit bomb, and kamehameha, the Soul Master is the culmination of the martial artist class fantasy. Like the Infighter, the Soulmaster also lacks mana and instead uses "air" as resource. With air, the Soulmaster can always cast her skills, as long as the bar is not completely depleted. Her identity gives Soul Master access to three stages ("Super Saiyan") that empower her abilities. Between managing air and the empower level, the Soul master is not a beginner friendly class. However, this can be amended with the class seal Meridian Reconstruction, which makes it such that the Soul Master always has at least 1 air and provides bonus damage when air is below 30%. This class seal fundamentally changes how Soul Master is played as the player is encouraged use all abilities on cooldown. In contrast, Heaven Defying Body builds upon the innate strengths of Soul Master by providing a way to instantaneous enter 3rd stage for a bigger burst. I recommend newer players to players to stick to Meridian Reconstruction while learning the ropes and only switch to Heaven Defying Body once they have sufficient mastery (secondary stat) to maximize the 3rd stage bonus damage. For both player styles, Soul Master greatly benefits from awakening as World Annihilation is the single most damaging ability in Lost Ark.

Recommended Seals: Grudge, Awakening, Heaven Defying Body/Meridian Reconstruction

Lance Master(Not available in the west atm)

The Lance Master has all the hallmarks of a great PVP class: multiple dashes, knock ups, good range, and as a cherry on top, a rare counter move. Even her class identity, which allows her to switch stances and receive new skills, is great for switching up patterns to throw off your opponent. That being said, the Lance Master has a very high steep learning curve between managing your stance gauge and all of your abilities. Like most figher classes, Lance Master has low impairment, but makes up for it in raids by its ability to damage enemies from a safe distance. As for class seals, Zenith is by far the superior choice for class seals. Unfortunately, the Lance Master cannot utilize crit stat well enough to justify Sharp Blunt. Backstabbing Master, while providing significant boost, is not optimal as the Lance Master loses damage while moving to position behind an enemy's rear. The current build is to prioritize mastery (~1000+) and the rest in haste to make use of Blitz Commander, which provides bonus damage based on movement speed. All in all, the Lance Master is one of harder to classes to play as it requires very specific gear to perform well. I recommend players to stay away from Lance Master unless they have the resources to get the necessary equipment and seals.

Recommended Seals: Grudge, Zenith, Blitz Commander, Awakening (for longer raids), Cursed Doll (for shorter raids)

Striker(Not available in the west atm)

This class just came out. But it's pretty much the male version of the battlemaster, but with a Bruce Lee twist !

Kumapon

Gunners

This classes use range for their attacks. 

Hawkeye (Sharpshooter in the West)

The Hawkeye is a prime example of what bad PR can do for a class. There was a dark period when Hawkeye was blatantly underpowered. Since then, Hawkeyes have received some buffs and have made their way back. They even accomplished some singular feats, such as clearing the newest raid without taking damage. However, the community still perceives Hawkeyes to be a bad class, which disadvantages them when competing for spots in a raid. As a mobile ranged DPS, they generally excel in harder content when slower melee characters are busy dodging boss patterns. Excluding warriors and Infighters, the Hawkeye has the highest impairment rating and has decent single target DPS. The lack of high damage AOE skills hurts the Hawkeye's performance in mobbing but luckily, raid bosses are the primary content of Lost Ark. The Hawkeye may not be the best PvP class but it is a top contender for the most annoying class. His kit includes vision reduction, mines, and invisibility in addition to his great mobility and range. In a lot of match ups, you hit your opponent once and run around the whole game to force a technical win. In all honesty, the main objective of a Hawkeye is not to win, but rather to deprive the enemy of joy and satisfaction. As for class seals, go with Death Raid if your gear has a lot of mastery and Second Companion if you have a lot of haste. If you want to indulge in a cybernetic ranger class fantasy or just like meme characters, look no further.

Recommended Seals: Grudge, Sharp Blunt, Death Raid/Second Companion

Blaster (Artillerist in the West)

The Blaster is really a warrior disguised as a gunner. Among ranged characters, the Blaster boasts the highest health and defense rating along with one of the highest impairment. In compensation, the Blaster has the worst mobility out of all the ranged classes. His skills generally have long range but they tend to have long animations and delays so farming for Gale runes is mandatory. Ironically, despite the over the top explosions and flames, the Blaster is a sustain DPS rather than a burst DPS like Soul Master or Berserker. For class seals, there really is not a choice as Bombardment is only useful in mobbing, which Blasters already excel at. If you want to play a wholesome and honest gunner, the Blaster is a reliable pick that is both beginner friendly and economical.

Recommended Seals: Grudge, Barricade, Firepower, Sharp Blunt

Scouter (Not available in the west atm)

Like most newer classes in Season 2, the Scouter has a lot going for him: mobility, damage, impairment. His only weakness, low health and defense rating, is largely irrelevant as he is shielded most of the time. The Scouter's identity gauged allows him to either empower his drones or to turn it into an Iron Man suit via hyperlink. The class seals dictates the most efficient use of your identity gauge. Legacy of Evolution reduces the cooldown of your abilities while transformed and refunds your core gauge. This is definitely the more fun as the transformation changes your abilities with cool laser beams and boosters. Arthentine's Technology on the other hand increases the damage of your drone skills. Despite the compel aesthetics, the vast majority of a Scouter's rotation breaks down into self-buff>damage skill>damage skill and repeat. If you are not bothered by simple rotations and enjoy a visual spectacle, the Scouter is an excellent choice without any drawbacks.

Recommended Seals: Grudge, Barricade, Blitz Commander, Arthentine's Technology/Legacy of Evolution

Devil Hunter (Deadeye in the West)

This is the lol of Lost Ark. I have nothing to offer except say that Smilegate really dropped the ball on this one. The class was originally designed around the principle of high risk, high return but has been nerfed and power-crept into oblivion. The Devil Hunter features the steepest learning curve as it tasks the player with switching between 3 firearms that all have separate skills. Outside of PvP, the Devil Hunter primarily uses shotguns as it is by far his most damaging weapon. Do not be fooled by his guns as he is essentially a melee back-attack DPS. As the class with the lowest health and defense, this means the Devil Hunter is prone to dying and using valuable resurrection orbs in raids. Fortunately, it did receive a much warranted buff last month with the release of Gunslinger, but it remains to be seen whether this buff is sufficient.

Recommended Seals: Grudge, Sharp Blunt, Backstabbing Master, Enhanced Weapon

Gunslinger

Welcome to Devil Hunter Plus. As the female version of Devil Hunter, the Gunslinger is often considered a direct upgrade to its male counterpart. They do share a significant portion of their skills, but the Gunslinger seems to be worse at using the shotgun but better at using the rifle than the Devil Hunter. Both Peacemaker and Hunting Time are comparable in performance, so choose your class seal based on whether you want to juggle 3 guns or just snipe from afar. Since the class has only been out for a month, there is good chance that the players have not found the best build for her.

Kumapon

Mages

This is the strongest region in my opinion as it has two of the top 3 DPS classes and the best support class in Lost Ark.

Bard 

As the premiere support, Bards drastically reduce the difficulty of any raids by providing heals, shields, and damage boosts. Despite being the most populous class, there is always a shortage of Bards as a single bard can only take three DPS peasants with her on raids. When playing a Bard, you might experience the following: You will never experience rejection on the basis of your class (unless they already have a bard). People will let you join raids even if you are underleveled or poorly geared. Some parties will pay you by the hour to help them clear a raid. As for downsides, leveling a bard is a nightmare as your lower DPS lengthens every boss encounter. The class itself works by building up bubbles (identity gauged), which can then be used to provide heals or damage boosts. Compared to its competitor (Holy Knight), the Bard has access to stronger buffs, but is weaker, more fragile, and less mobile. Outside of class mechanics, one needs to understand boss patterns as well and communicate well with teammates to coordinate when to ignore mechanics with shields vs when to run away etc. For seals, Urgent Rescue and Awakening are mandatory but the other seals can be left to preference. ex) Heavy Armor for extra survivability, Spirit Absorption for dodging, and Max MP Increase to use skills on CD As for accessories, Mastery (increased healing) and Haste (movement speed and CD reduction) are your best stats.

Recommended Seals: Urgent Rescue, Awakening

Summoner 

The Summoner ranks among the easiest class to learn in Lost Ark as the class summons temporary companions to aid her in combat. Despite being a sustained damage class, it has great burst in the form of Ancient Spear. Most of her non-summon abilities have long cast animations, so expect to farm some gale runes or invest in Spirit Absorption. In terms of utility, the Summoner is extremely versatile as her class identity gives her access to different types of elemental damage, impairment, DOTs, and even CC. Being aware of which class identity skill to use for specific raid bosses and party composition sets apart good Summoners. As a class that has two viable and complimentary class-engravings, expect to shell out lots of gold when playing this class.

Recommended Seals: Grudge, Overflowing Rapport, Senior Summoner

Arcana (Not available in the west atm)

Along with Devil Hunter, Arcana features the steepest learning curve in Lost Ark. Her class motif is heavily inspired by Twisted Fate from League of Legends with magic cards and stack mechanics. The Arcana's class identity gives her 12 card that are chosen at random that have unique abilities. (Some resets cooldowns, restore mana, increase certain stats, etc...) Getting the wrong card at the wrong time means you have wasted your identity but when the stars align, the damage can go off the charts. Empress' Grace is the preferred class seal as it boosts your main source of damage: Ruin, which deals damage based on accrued stacks. Between managing stacks and memorizing cards, this class requires one to be gifted both physically and mentally to utilize to its full potential. Like all mages, it is extremely fragile so being greedy or unlucky can cause you tick a death count. If you enjoy gambling or Hearthstone, this is the class for you.

Recommended Seals: Grudge, Empress' Grace, Spirit Absorption, Cursed Doll, Sharp Blunt

Kumapon

Assassin

Short range DPS melee class. 

Blade  (Deathblade in the West)

The Blade can best be described as a cross between the Berserker and the Lance Master. All three classes are back attack classes with charge abilities, which are unfavorable qualities as bosses have become more mobile and varied in patterns. Like the Berserker, the Blade builds up her identity gauge that provides a temporary buff upon activation. The rate at which you gain orbs is dependent on your mastery stat, but her class seal (Remnant Aura) helps make the most of her burst phase by providing her with extra damage and extra movement speed to chase the Boss. Because both mastery and haste give cooldown reduction for Blade, you will rarely find yourself auto attacking, much like the Lance Master. Compared to the Berserker and Lance Master, the Blade is more reliant on Supercharge. Since having three engravings at level 3 is difficult at lower item levels, Blade players are stuck in a catch-22 situation where they can realistically pick two out of three necessary engravings. (Grudge - flat DPS increase, Supercharge - you get to actually land your abilities, Remnant Aura - DPS & MS steroid) Once you can add Backstabbing Master, the class sees a huge power spike and can properly compete with other DPS classes. In summary, only go for this class if you have either the patience to wait out the early game or the gold to power through the early game.

Recommended Engravings: Grudge, Supercharge, Remnant Aura, Backstabbing Master

Demonic (Shadowhunter in the west)

The Demonic was the undisputed strongest DPS class of Season 1 (Soul Master is a close second). With a rotation even easier than Battlemaster, picking Demonic was a no-brainer until the launch of Season 2. However, after a series of nerfs, the current Demonic is a shell of its former self but is still very viable. The Demonic's abilities in general have little or no delays, which make them easier to land on mobile bosses. Due to its abundance of multiple-hit abilities, the Demonic is a great abuser of Judgement/Condem & Madness runes, which benefit from increased instances of damage. As for class seals, Complete Inhibition, which empowers your skills but deprives the ability to transform, is vastly superior to Unstoppable Urge, which boosts the uptime of your transformation. While one class seal being better is not necessarily gamebreaking, it presents a serious design flaw of playing a character that is predicated on transformations that is weaker when transformed. There is a great chance that Unstoppable Urge will be reworked so be on the lookout in future balance patches.

Recommended Engravings: Grudge, Complete Inhibition, Sharp Blunt, Blitz Commander

Reaper (not available in the west atm)

With an emphasis of stealth and surprise attacks, the Reaper is the first true Assassin among the assassins classes (as strange as that may sound). It is also Lost Ark's first resource less  class, meaning she is less-dependent on a support for increased mana-regeneration. The Reaper hits like a Destroyer, but without having to charge her abilities and in quick succession. She can also strike through bosses like the Blade and has multiple dashes to aid her positioning for back attacks. As a testament to the Reaper's strength, it is the most popular class in end-game content (ilevel 1500+) despite being released last September. The only two class that can currently compete with Reaper in damage output are Summoner and Arcana (RNG-dependent). The two class seals are roughly equal in performance so choose whether you prefer greater burst damage(Sound of Moon?), or better overall damage (Thirst). Although the Reaper does not have an apparent weakness outside of her fragile health and defense, it is most likely scheduled for a much-needed nerf in both PvP and PvE.

Recommended Engravings: Grudge, Backstabbing Master, Sharp Blunt, either class seal