Lost Ark is an MMORPG that's currently sweeping the world and getting just about anyone and everyone out there to sink all their time into it. There are a lot of different reasons for this, from the approachability of its general combat, the constant free loot drops, or of course the vast array of endgame content like Chaos Dungeons or Guardian Raids that everyone seems to be praising.
But, another primary factor is simply because Lost Ark has a million different things that player can do at any one point. Whether it's Stronghold Management, Island Token collecting, Rapport grinding, or just simply clearing out Side Quests, every player is basically plagued with choice. And, because of this, there are a ton of little systems or tricks that fall through the cracks and are left mostly or entirely unexplained. So, let's go over some of the most helpful and awesome things Lost Ark players don't know they can do.
7 All The Little Lifehacks
Let's start things off with a category of helpful things rather than just one single tip. This category encapsulates all those little UI and Quality-of-Life things most players don't know about and end up hearing about from a friend or reading online. There are probably a hundred different tips like these, but to name just a few:
- Holding Ctrl + Mouse Wheel changes the appearance of the mouse pointer without having to go into the settings menu, though players will have to go into Accessibility to change the size of the pointer.
- Holding Middle Mouse and moving the mouse around while the Expanded Map is up (Tab) will let the player move this map around the screen, letting players see the full map at all time without it completely covering their character up (though plenty of other UI elements also do this).
- The Sun/Moon icon near the top right of the mini-map lets the player change its transparency, as well as the transparency of the Extended Map
- There's a setting in Combat and Display that changes Auto Move to follow the mouse cursor rather than character direction, so that players can move large distances without constantly clicking their mouse.
Again, there are so many little lifehacks like this the long-time players know about that all add up to vastly improve the moment-to-moment experience with Lost Ark, so make sure to keep an eye out for more.
6 You Can "Lock" Items
By now, most players have probably already figured out that they can use Alt+Left Click to Sort Lock an item in their Inventory so that it doesn't get moved around whenever they sort their bag. Yet, for some reason, so many people seem to be missing the "Lock" feature entirely, which is entirely different. To see this, players just have to Ctrl+Right Click an item to bring up the expanded option menu for it.
In this dropdown, there's a Lock option that makes the item un-tradable, un-dismantlable, and basically un-interactable. Though, there is a drawback to this, as items take an hour after being unlocked before they can be interacted with again, meaning it's likely not the best idea to Lock armor sets currently in use, as this prevents them from being Honed.
5 Turn Off Friendly Particle Effects ASAP
Let's be honest, Lost Ark is a very chaotic game. Every single playable Class in this MMO has tons of particle effects on every move, and the bosses have even more. So, when all of those particle effects congest into one spot during an Abyssal Dungeon or something similar where enemy telegraphs are life or death, it becomes a real problem.
Luckily, there's a way to alleviate this (for the most part). Again, in the Combat and Display settings tab, there's a dropdown option for Battle Effects Display with multiple choices. The top suggestion is to set this to "Include Buff Effects of Party Members" so that players can tell when they're being shielded or healed by a Paladin, Gunlancer, or Bard. But, for those who'd rather only see their effects and no one else's, the "Display Foes Only" should help out a ton to make the combat feel more responsive.
4 Trade Skill HUD Auto Display
Like most MMOs, Lost Ark has a variety of Trade Skills from Mining to Fishing. But, unique to Lost Ark is the Trade Skill HUD which replaces the standard Skill Bar at the bottom of the screen. Now, by default, this bar auto appears every single time a player starts gathering weeds, cutting down trees, or mining ore. This would be fine, except for the fact that many of the best Trade Skill areas are surrounded by annoying enemies who will interrupt the progress bar.
Thankfully, also within the Combat and Display settings, is an option to turn of this auto-appearing aspect of the Trade Skill HUD, making it so players have to purposefully bring it up rather than have it switch out automatically. It's a huge change in terms of convenience, though it does make hunting for Relics with Sonar and Relic Search just a bit more tedious. Though, to be honest, Lost Arkhas a decently-sized list of little changes like this that are still sorely needed.
3 What Happens When My Ship Sinks?
When players first start sailing from Luterra to Anikka, it's incredibly exciting. Suddenly, the whole world of Arkesia has opened up, and players are free to explore each and every little island that interests them along the way. But, to give sailing just a bit of consequence, Lost Ark makes sure to let players know that their ship will be in big trouble if it runs out of durability mid-voyage.
But, as it turns out, this really isn't a big deal at all. Sinking mid-voyage simply gives a player's ship the "Stranded" status. While in this state, there's no durability to be lost, and player's can sail around as much as they want! The only catch is, they need to repair their ship at any large port in order to disembark.
2 Farming Chaos Dungeons
Yet another small piece of common knowledge that has oddly slipped through the cracks when it comes to the mountains of Lost Ark guides out there is the fact that Chaos Dungeons can be farmed endlessly. Yes, every day player's receive one hundred Leap Essence to be used in Chaos Dungeons, with each run taking fifty (for a total of two runs). But, just because the Essence is gone, doesn't mean a player can't head back in.
Basically, when running a Chaos Dungeon without Leap Essence, the drops are different. Instead of Armor Set Pieces, Accessories, and Armor/Weapon Honing Materials, the enemies instead drop Disorder Crystals, Perception Shards, a small amount of Honing Materials, and Accessories as well. These Perception Shards, in particular, can be exchanged at a Vendor NPC right next to the Chaos Dungeon gate for a variety of things, including more Armor/Weapon Honing Materials!
1 Refreshing Potions In Guardian Raids
This last tip is such an important thing to know once the Guardian Raids, those Monster Hunter-esque fights against the lore-canon defenders of Arkesia, start kicking off in terms of difficulty. Even in the second tab of Guardian Raids, things start getting incredibly tough, and players might be wondering how they're even meant to beat these Guardians without coming back when they're massively over-leveled.
Well, the most common culprit is that reluctance to use Battle Items that has been beat into every player's head. So many guides out there have been screaming at players to save all of their Battle Item Chests and Potions for the later content, but never specifying when exactly.
Additionally, so many players are completely unaware that they can also refresh their Potions during a Guardian Raid as well! Once a player runs out of their maximum of four potions to use, simply head back to the spawn point. That little circle of golden energy is a safe area where players are able to switch out their Battle Items, switch between Sets, or switch up their Skill Point/Tripod distribution, but it also automatically refills their four Potions (if they have four more at least in storage).
Essentially, don't keep trying to fight the Guardian at ten percent HP with no Potions. Instead, let the party know, head back, refill, and come back swinging without wasting one of those precious respawn counters.
Lost Ark is available on PC via Steam
