Lost Ark News

Free-to-play Korean MMO Lost Ark is getting a new update, Under The Arkesian Sun, on August 24. This update welcomes Legendary Pet status, with useful perks that can buff your max HP, and a new spot in the Stronghold called the Pet Ranch.

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Heroes of Arkesia,

Long ago, the mages in the Vern Magick Society were researching the mighty Guardians when they created Pets by combining traces and elements of Guardians.

The August “Under the Arkesian Sun” Update arrives next week on August 24 after the weekly maintenance and reset, bringing with it the Pet Ranch and Legendary Pets. The Pet Ranch is a new location in the Stronghold where Pets can play, grow into more helpful companions, and help you earn valuable rewards. The cute and precious Pets aiding adventurers across Arkesia are ready to further help their worthy leaders by creating Jam Cookies and earning Pet Expertise to level up and unlock new abilities.




In the Pet Ranch, your Pets are training to become stronger while generating valuable resources. Pets earn Pet Expertise to level up, while producing Jam Cookies you can exchange for rewards. But Pets can’t continue to earn Expertise and produce Jam Cookies without some well-deserved breaks. To balance your Pet’s morale, the Pet Ranch is separated into two sections; the Cookie Workshop and the Ranch.

Ranch & Cookie Workshop
In the Ranch, Pets regain Morale while they relax and play with other Pets. Pets can either be placed in the Ranch or the Cookie Workshop as they regain morale or spend it while creating Jam cookies, but not both at the same time. Working in the Cookie Workshop will decrease a Pet’s morale, and a Pet without morale can no longer produce Jam Cookies.

Pets earn both Expertise and Jam Cookies simultaneously in the Cookie Workshop, and when the Pet’s Expertise reaches max it can be upgraded. You can unlock additional Cookie Workshop slots through Stronghold research to place more Pets and increase your output. The amount of Jam Cookies produced depends on the Pet’s grade, increasing as the Pet is upgraded from Rare to Epic to Legendary. Before we dive into the items and rewards you can exchange Jam Cookies for, let’s dive into why you want to earn Pet Expertise— upgrading your Pets to Legendary.



[h3]Legendary Pets[/h3]
Pets can be upgraded to Legendary by reaching max Pet Expertise and spending Pet Growth Tokens, which can be earned by exchanging Jam Cookies. Once a Pet has been upgraded to Legendary, several features are unlocked. Legendary Pets are granted a (random) powerful skill, and at random intermittent intervals, one of 3 effects granted by the skill will be applied to you while in combat. There are 5 Pet Skills which can be randomly unlocked, or switched between:

Cheers of the Heart

• 20% chance of recovering 8% of Max HP
  
• 40% chance of casting a 5s Shield for 10% of Max HP
  
• 40% chance of recovering 3% of Max HP
  

Cheers of Serenity

• 20% chance of resetting Cooldown of Movement and Stand Up Skills, and reducing the Cooldown by 40% for 8s
  
• 40% chance of casting a 5s Shield for 10% of Max HP
  
• 40% chance of recovering 3% of Max HP
  

Cheers of Heaven

• 20% chance of Attack Speed +3% for 8s
  
• 40% chance of casting a 5s Shield for 10% of Max HP
  
• 40% chance of recovering 3% of Max HP
  

Cheers of Courage

• 20% chance of Move Speed +5% for 8s
  
• 40% chance of casting a 5s Shield for 10% of Max HP
  
• 40% chance of recovering 3% of Max HP
  

Cheers of Resonance

• 20% chance of Specialty Meter gain +10% for 8s
  
• 40% chance of casting a 5s Shield for 10% of Max HP
  
• 40% chance of recovering 3% of Max HP
  

A Pet Skill can be changed at a Pet Management NPC in exchange for 20 Crystals. You can select which skill you want, and it can be changed again whenever you’d like.

Legendary Pets can also have their appearance changed to match that of another unlocked Pet. Changing a Pet’s looks requires a Pet Customization Potion obtained from the Cookie Vendor, but it only needs to be used once per Pet. Afterwards, that Pet can have their appearance changed any number of times. Finally, obtaining a Legendary Pet unlocks access to purchase one more slot in the Pet Inventory for more storage space.



[h3]Pet Ranch Items & Rewards[/h3]
The Jam Cookie Vendor has a variety of unique rewards which can be exchanged for Jam Cookies. From pet-themed cosmetics to weekly rewards such as Card Packs and Phoenix Plumes to Pet Ranch specific items, there are plenty of valuable rewards to be earned. Some of the Pet Ranch items include:

• Vitameow - a consumable vitamin that gives vitality to Pets, recovering 10% of a Pet’s Morale.
  
• Arcane Battery - a battery booster created by the Nebelhorn Lab in Arthentine. When a booster is applied, 3 extra Jam cookies will be produced every 10mins in the Cookie Workshop.
  
• Pet Expertise Potion - a potion created by the Vern Magick Society to increase Pet Expertise.
  
• Pet Customization Potion - a morph potion for Pets, which can be used on Legendary Pets to unlock the reskin feature.
  
• Pet Growth Token - a mysterious enchanted token produced by the Vern Magick Society, used when upgrading Pets.

[h3]Pet Ranch Helpers[/h3]
There are four helpers in the Pet Ranch ready to assist you in managing the Pet Ranch:

• Totocookie is a vendor, and will take the Jam Cookies that you've obtained from the Pet Ranch and exchange them other items.
  
• Dispatched Chromarong will help you place your Pets in the Ranch or the Cookie Workshop.
  
• Minky, Protector of Pets will exchange Rapport Gifts for Vitameow.
  
• Working Achatemeow manages Pet functions; retraining, upgrading, or changing Pet Skills.
  

[h3]Getting Started[/h3]
To unlock the Pet Ranch, you’ll need to be Stronghold Level 15, unlocked the Stronghold Farm, the Cave, and have a Pet. When you’ve accomplished those, you can complete the quest "Yay, Pet Ranch!!", given by Butler Adeline. If you haven't been working on leveling up your Stronghold— now's the time— as, after all, the exclusive Achatemeow Hoodie is a wardrobe staple and the latest in Arkesian fashion.



We wish you and your Pets luck as they train to become Legendary after the update on August 24! In the meantime, we’ll see you in Arkesia.

Heroes of Arkesia,

The recent Spells in Spades Update included the Inferno difficulty of the Valtan Legion Raid. While Legion Raid Normal and Hard modes prove to be a challenging experience for many— Inferno takes it to the next level. It’s all about proving you’re the among the best of the best in Arkesia, and earning the accompanying prestige. We partnered with veteran Lost Ark raiders Saintone, ATK, and EndieM8 to provide tips, tricks, and other advice for groups looking to rise to the challenge.



Before we dive in, here’s a quick refresher on how Inferno mode varies from Normal and Hard. Rather than chasing the normal rewards of gear, honing materials, and everything else you’d receive in a Legion Raid, Inferno rewards instead showcase your victory with titles, achievements, and Stronghold structures! On top of differing rewards, there are a few key changes between Normal/Hard and Inferno difficulties:

• ‘Scale of Balance’ is applied, and the raid requires use of the Book of Coordination, so everyone’s gear is normalized against the level of your Legion Commander opponent.
  
• The gate progression system will not be active - you can’t make it half-way and come back later in the week.
  
• Inferno mode will not count against your weekly attempt limit for Legion Raids, so you can battle a Legion Raid Commander on Normal/Hard and Inferno in the same week, and try Inferno as many times as you’d like.
  

From team composition, to Battle Items, to mental approach, there’s a lot that goes into clearing a tough, team-based activity. For each of these sections we’ll provide advice from our veterans, and end with some specific tips for the Valtan Legion Raid. Before we dive in, a word of encouragement from Saintone, ATK, and EndieM8:

“So you’re thinking about challenging Inferno mode! Inferno mode is significantly harder than non-Inferno content, but you are more than good enough to clear it. Inferno mode grants you prestigious titles and other vanity that you can show off with, but by far the best thing about doing Inferno mode is that you’ll learn things about the raids and your class that you didn’t know before. It will help you get better as a player and you can enjoy utilizing that mastery in even your weekly non-Inferno runs.” -Saintone

“I’ve personally increased my performance in raids by a lot after trying out Inferno mode with my friends. If you desire to increase your mechanical skills, playing Inferno mode will definitely boost your performance for regular raids.” - ATK

“The hardest part can often be starting. We all have to start somewhere, be prepared for a few sessions of progression with many wipes. Don't psyche yourself out! It's as challenging as it is fun and exciting— and very doable by anyone!” - EndieM8





[h3]Commitments Advice - Battle Items & Time[/h3]

Saintone:
Inferno mode can be costly when we consider the cost of battle items used, but the real cost is time. Something that many Inferno mode raiders experience is that they spend so much time and effort trying the fight, that they have no time for dailies and weeklies. Try to allocate a fair amount of time for both, or be prepared to rest your dailies accordingly. Realistically for your first clear, you’ll spend thousands of Gold (or tens of thousand) in Battle Items. The next major raid for the West is coming in September, so this downtime is a great opportunity to make time to try out Inferno mode!

ATK:
I recommend to only play Inferno mode a few hours at a time. Inferno uses a lot of Battle Items, but the reward is titles and personal skill gains. Not everyone can be focused for such a long time, and pushing for 5-10 hours can be a waste of time if no real progress is achieved, and can add stress when games are supposed to be fun. It is actually smarter and more efficient to try a few runs for a few hours every day or every week with static groups of the same members.

Inferno Mode's difficulty significantly decreases the more damage you deal, and the more items you throw at the boss. This means using Sacred Charms right away to cleanse negative effects, Darkbombs at every downtime, always using Adrophine in certain DPS windows. If all 8 players have this mentality, you actually use less Battle Items overall.



From friends, guildmates, Lost Ark Discords, the in-game Party Finder tool and more, there are plenty of ways to find like-minded raiders up for the challenge of Inferno mode. While static groups working together can help promote chemistry and progressing together, there are plenty of dedicated raiders always looking for one more.

Saintone:
The trick is to find teammates that you mesh well with, as sometimes even if you’re good enough to pass the encounter, your teammates may require more practice. That’s why my first tip is patience. Everyone learns at different paces, and while you may pick up a mechanic really quick, someone else may require several more tries to get it right. Take breaks occasionally to allow everyone to refresh their mental, and try to look at everything objectively when looking for solutions.
Likewise, some may not have a static party for Inferno mode. If you jump from party to party sometimes strangers you meet might not be as experienced as you. You (as a raider) need to recognize when you should ask to leave the party to look for teammates closer to your own skill level. If you ask politely, there shouldn’t be offense taken if you don’t want to be there.

EndieM8:
Find a group of like minded players that want to clear the content and have a good time. Encourage your teammates when they make mistakes and be open for suggestions! Learn and have a good time together, and get that cool Valtan Statue for your Stronghold and flex that Inferno clear title!





When it comes to structuring a team, ATK has has some advice on how to best think about your team’s roles and how to set up classes using the Book of Coordination.

[h3]Class Set-Up[/h3]

Every class is viable for Inferno mode. It’s always about how many skills you can land with giving up time you have. For example, keep asking yourself how many times can you squeeze in more skills while others are running around dodging patterns? Inferno mode really tests your uptime and DPS cycles for your class so it is a really nice content to try to boost your mechanical skills.

As for builds, it’s always about your comfort zone. For example, with Gunslingers, Swiftness makes your character go faster, but you can actually have a build with 0 Swiftness. While it does the most damage, you’d be slow, taking hits, or possibly dying more often which cause resets. When I do Inferno mode, I invest a few of my combat stat points (roughly 200 to 300) into Swiftness to make my animations feel a little more fluid. The lower damage can be covered by higher uptime and faster rotation of skills.



[h3]Party Set-Up[/h3]

When Creating parties, It is critical for the raid leader to understand how party synergies work, like crit synergy from Gunslingers and Deadeye, and back/front attack damage synergies from Deathblade and Gunlancers. You can research and communicate with your teammates what their classes can deliver to your party. It is also very important for someone in the raid to calculate overall DPS outputs in the raid.

While it’s different for every raid group, DPS classes are split into two general groups: broken bone and consistent DPS. For broken bone DPS (which do additional damage during stagger windows) it is important to save all their skills to unload at certain points, such as when Bosses are staggered. Supports will also need to time their buffs and darkbombs at this critical timeframe to best maximize their damage. On the other hand, consistent DPS builds don’t have to worry about saving cooldowns, but their uptime is very important. Since the uptime of landing all skills is very important, the party’s support will need to play around this. Bards tend to activate Serenade of Courage at 2 bubbles, and Paladins take Magick Stream to rotate through their buffs more often. If both broken bone and consistent DPS players exist in the group, they are often split into different parties to organize support buffs accordingly.



Valtan Inferno difficulty requires item level 1445 for participation. Once you’ve set-up your build in the book of coordination, stocked up on Battle Items, and found a team, you’re ready to challenge Inferno. Below you’ll find advice from EndieM8 on first gate and Saintone’s advice on the second gate— but we’ll kick it off with a general tip from ATK:

It is critical to stay alive, so play at your comfort zone first and slowly take risks. Inferno mode often requires you to reset the fight if one person dies, because the DPS checks are really tight. Myself, alongside the majority of players, have problems with being greedy when attacking the boss and taking hits as a result. You are severely punished for taking hits in Inferno mode, (as they often result in death) so prioritize dodging first and rotating your skills, and add in more uptime once you’re comfortable dodging the patterns. You don’t want to die early and force your team to reset, as you won’t get as much practice dodging patterns.

[h3]G1 - Wolves[/h3]



For the first gate in the Legion Raid, EndieM8 has a few tips and tricks to help vanquish Valtan’s beasts:

Every attack in Inferno Valtan hits like a truck. It’s important, more than ever, that you learn and can quickly identify the boss’s patterns. One of the most lethal mechanics in Gate 1 are the slash attacks spawned by bleed stacks. Try your best to avoid all of the attacks from the red wolf (and be sure to use Panacea on yourself at 2 stacks of bleed), or call for a cleanse from your teammates (such as a Paladin or Gunlancer). Sacred Charms are also critical here— use them liberally to prevent your team from eating these lethal attacks. The Purify Rune is also incredibly useful in this encounter to cleanse bleed stacks.

Try and stack up for traps and move together as a group! Every now and then the wolf you are fighting will have a green, blue or red glow in their hands. Try to stack up and stand near each other as a group, since each player will have a trap thrown at their feet. Once the traps have been deployed, move together as a group to dodge the explosions.

The damage check for this gate is tight! An interesting strategy to safely beat Gate 1 within the enrage timer is to use Thirain's Sidereal ability to hit both of the wolves simultaneously. This is often done by first separating the red and blue wolves to 12 and 6 o'clock (North/South) so they don't take reduced damage. Keep in mind it's easier to move the blue wolf than the red wolf, so players targeted by the blue wolf should move away from the red. Try and find the perfect moment to land Thirain (you'll find an almost perfect moment every time) to hit both Wolves and deal massive damage. Thirain's ability has incredible range— but it's not limitless!



[h3]G2 - Valtan[/h3]

Saintone has some advice when facing the Demon Beast Legion Commander at the second gate:

Inferno Valtan is the easiest of the Inferno bosses by a long shot, and as such the DPS check isn’t terribly hard. Because of that, you can afford to play a little more cautiously and you don’t have to be greedy on literally every DPS window while you’re still learning. Focus on positioning and learning the patterns. However, because of the nature of the battle, the more damage you deal, the less dangerous patterns you will encounter. This reduces the chances that you or your allies face a sudden death, which could end up being a domino effect.

It’s possible to outright skip some of the random patterns that frequently cause raid wipes if you can proceed through the fight fast enough. For example, if your damage is on the low side, the 5x counter pattern can occur as early as 90 lines of health, and as late as 30 lines. The pattern isn’t tied to a specific HP amount though, so for some who challenge the fight it might not happen at all in your run.

Bonus tip:

“Did you know? Valtan will periodically prime himself up to do a pizza ground slam, followed by a second slam. If a player gets hit by the first ground slam (preferably a tanky class or support with shield/damage reductions) the second ground slam will be cancelled, potentially saving lives!” - EndieM8





With the end-game beginning to enter the Western version of Lost Ark in the Destined for Destruction Update, we hope these tips were helpful! Make sure to follow Saintone, ATK, and EndieM8 for more raiding tips, guides, live high-level Lost Ark gameplay, and more original content on their Twitch and YouTube channels, found here:

Saintone - Twitch, YouTube, and Twitter
ATK - Twitch, YouTube, and Twitter
EndieM8 - Twitch, YouTube, and Twitter

We could supply nearly endless tips for these difficult raids. For those looking for more advice, Saintone welcomes all interested raiders to the Hell Academy Discord, a place for Inferno mode enthusiasts to learn more about the fights, builds for classes, and find other raiders in a server that he helps run.

Thanks for joining us for this special edition of Lost Ark Academy, and we wish you luck in your Inferno battles!

Heroes of Arkesia,

All Lost Ark servers and regions will be coming offline on Wednesday, August 3rd at 12 AM PT / 7 AM UTC / 9 AM CEST for our weekly maintenance. Downtime is estimated to last up to 4 hours, and this update will include the following fixes and changes:

Gold earned from the Rapport system will be received as “withheld funds”, which are subject to a 3-day withholding period during which they are restricted in the following ways:

• Cannot send withheld funds through mail
  
• Cannot deduct from withheld funds when accepting billing mail
  
• Cannot use on 1:1 trades
  
• Cannot use in Auction House
  
• Cannot use in Marketplace
  
• Cannot use in Loot Auctions
  

For the first 72 hours after using a paid Powerpass, all gold earned by trading Una’s Tokens will be received as withheld funds and subject to the 3-day withholding period.

• Please note that all Powerpasses are currently disabled as we work to resolve an issue with the feature. We will provide an additional update on Powerpasses update later this week.
  

Thanks for your patience, and we’ll see you in Arkesia soon!

Lost Ark's next class, Machinist, is coming to the game this September, alongside a range of other content.

Earlier this week (July 29), Smilegate outlined the content roadmap across August and September for Lost Ark. Starting things off in August, the Pet Ranch will be joining as a new way to spend some time in the game. "The Pet Ranch is the perfect place to play, grow, and earn rewards with your pet," reads the roadmap. "Recover your pet’s morale, manage pet functions, and earn Jelly Cookies that can be exchanged for valuable rewards!"

Also coming in August are some new activities for the ongoing Maharaka festival. In the upcoming update, you'll be tasked with collecting as many leaves from the Maharaka Tree in Maharaka Paradise as you can, which you can then exchange for mounts, animal skins, and more.

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