Lost Ark: Beginner’s Guide to Engravings
Engravings are essential buffs to your lost ark the builds that happen once you enter the end game. However, maybe some of you are a little confused as to how this all works, especially when you’re overloaded with new end-game content once you hit level 50. Don’t worry. , because in this guide we will discuss everything related to lost ark Engraving mechanics to transform you from beginners to non-beginners. We’ll save min-maxing for another time, don’t worry.
Lost Ark: How Engravings Work
Engravings will be unlocked once you reach level 50 and Vern Castle in North Vern. Engravings are passive abilities that buff your characters so they can take on late-game stuff. In practice, they are divided into three categories:
- Damage bonus.
- Utility enthusiasts.
- And Specific Class Engravings.
The first two are normal Engravings that can be used by any Class in the game; however, as you would expect, class engravings are exclusive to a single class and will drastically change its playstyle. In total, there are 44 engravings shared by all classes and 30 class exclusives at the time.
For “late game newbies” who have just reached level 50 in lost ark, you should first try to focus on your class engravings. Or try to find one damage-mitigating Engraving that has good synergy with your class; for example, Super Charge for Gunlancer and Desperate Salvation for Bard. And for Ability Stones, you can use whatever you want until much later. Start worrying about engraving builds once you farm drops from dungeons and raids.
Guide to Upgrading Engravings in Lost Ark
In order to activate Engravings, you must have at least 5 points allocated to it. And to get the best effect, you will need 15 points in total. It’s actually quite similar to monster hunter pre-gamesWorld if you know them. Here is the breakdown of how the point/leveling of engravings works:
- 5 points: Weak effect.
- 10 points: Normal effect.
- 15 points: powerful effect.
Let’s take the example of one of the Soulfist engravings, Robust Spirit. Robust Spirit forces you to enter your strongest power-up mode; at engraving level 1 you get a 10% damage buff, 20% at level 2 and 30% at level 3. There are three ways to add points for your engravings.
1. Accessories
There are six types of accessories you can equip in the game: a necklace, two earrings, two rings, and at level 3 you will get the bracelet. These equipable items will drop in various end-game activities, including Chaos Dungeon, and each will give you up to +3 points in random engravings. It is recommended that you sell the accessories you don’t need in the auction house and use the money to buy the one you want.
2. Ability Stone
Another late game item to increase your Engraving Points is the Ability Stone. Ability Stones come in four flavors: Rare, Epic, Legendary, and Relic, with random points on two buff etches and one debuff etch. To use them, you’ll first need to facet Ability Stones from any Stonecutter NPCs you find in major cities. You can read more about it in our Ability Stone guide.
3. Learned Engravings / Imprints / Engraving Auras
Going by different names depending on where you play, the latter option is the most efficient way to rack up a massive amount of burn points. You can equip two, different or identical, of these elements on your weapon.
To unlock the learned engravings, imprint or aura, you will need to find the multiple engraving book numbers:
- 20 uncommon engraving books for the first 3 engraving points.
- 20 rare book engraving books for 3 extra points.
- 20 epic engraving books for another set of 3 points
- And 20 legendary books for the last 3 points.
- This means you can get up to 12 points per slot, or 24 points in total.
These can be found in end-game content like the Dailies, Chaos Dungeons, and Guardian Raid. You can also find them after completing island quests and tower dungeons, but these are not repeatable.
The guide to the best and most popular Lost Ark prints
| Engraving | The description |
| Awakening | Level 1: Awakening skill cooldown -10%. +1 Max Usage Level 2: Awakening skill cooldown -25%. +2 max usage Level 3: Awakening skill cooldown -50%. +3 max usage |
| Barricade | Level 1: Damage to enemies with shield +3% Level 2: Damage to enemies with shield +8% Level 3: Damage to enemies with shield +16% |
| cursed doll | Level 1: Attack. power +3%. Scarring -25%, natural recovery excluded Level 2: Attack. power +8%. Scarring -25%, natural recovery excluded Level 3: Attack. power +16%. Scarring -25%, natural recovery excluded |
| Grudge | Level 1: +4% damage against boss or higher rank enemies. +20% damage from them Level 2: +10% damage against boss or higher rank enemies. +20% damage from them Level 3: +20% damage against boss or higher rank enemies. +20% damage from them |
| Blunt edged weapon | Level 1: +10% critical damage, but your attacks have a chance to deal -20% damage Level 2: +25% critical damage, but your attacks have a chance to deal -20% damage Level 3: +50% critical damage, but your attacks have a chance to deal -20% damage |
| master brawler | Level 1: Headshot Attack Damage +5% Level 2: Headshot Damage +12% Level 3: Headshot Attack Damage +25% |
| Ambush Master | Level 1: Damage +5% for successful back attacks Level 2: Damage +12% for successful back attacks Level 3: Damage +25% for successful back attacks |
| precision dagger | Level 1: Increases critical hit rate by 4%, but reduces critical damage by 12% Level 2: Increases critical hit rate by 10%, but reduces critical damage by 12% Level 3: Increases critical hit rate by 20%, but reduces critical damage by 12% |
| Propulsion | Level 1: Increases skill damage except Basic Attack and Awakening by 3% for 5 seconds after using a mobile move Level 2: Increases skill damage except Basic Attack and Awakening by 8% for 5 seconds after using a mobile move Level 3: Increases skill damage excluding Basic Attacks and Awakening by 16% for 5 seconds after using a mobile move |
| raid captain | Level 1: Damage dealt +10% base movement speed bonus percentage Level 2: Outbound Damage +22% Base Movement Speed Bonus Percentage Level 3: Damage dealt +45% of base movement speed bonus percentage |
| super load | Level 1: Charge skill charge speed +8%. Damage +4% Level 2: Charge skill charge speed +20%. Damage +10% Level 3: Charge skill charging speed +40%. Damage +20% |
| Spirit Absorption | Level 1: Attack/Movement Speed +3% Level 2: Attack/Movement Speed +8% Level 3: Attack/Movement Speed +15% |
However, as you can see, some burns, while extremely powerful, come with debuffs that can potentially be fatal if you’re not careful. For this reason, lost ark late-game beginners shouldn’t chase meta burns like Awakening and Cursed Doll early on. Try to focus on global buffs with utility bonuses like Awaken, Spirit Absorb, and Super Charge.
Related:
Lost Ark: Where to Farm Fragments of Harmony
lost ark is now available on PC via Steam.
