Best Lost Ark Gunlancer build: recommended skill levelling, engravings, and awakening skills
Blow your foes away with this Gunlancer build
Need the best Gunlancer build in Lost Ark? Another tier list topper, Gunlancer is one of the fastest-clearing classes in Lost Ark. Packing huge AoE damage, powerful team buffs, and the best defensive utility in the game, Gunlancers have a place in every party. The class has some unusual quirks, but once you get the hang of it you’ll be blasting through mobs with ease. This guide will equip you with everything you need to level to 50 and start tackling Lost Ark’s endgame as the Gunlancer.
Looking for more Lost Ark class build guides?
- Artillerist
- Bard
- Berserker
- Deadeye
- Deathblade
- Destroyer
- Glaivier
- Gunlancer
- Gunslinger
- Paladin
- Scrapper
- Shadowhunter
- Sharpshooter
- Sorceress
- Soulfist
- Striker
- Wardancer
Best Lost Ark Gunlancer build: overview
Lost Ark’s awakening classes are defined by their Identity Skills, unique abilities that establish a playstyle for the class. For Gunlancer, this is Defensive Stance, which is powered by the Shield Meter. Your Shield Meter will regenerate automatically when outside of Defensive Stance, as well as when you strike enemies. When you toggle Defensive Stance on, you will become much slower. However, all incoming damage will reduce your Shield Meter instead of your health. Plus, you gain Push Immunity, enabling you to ignore most interrupts.
Gunlancers won’t want to have Defensive Stance active all the time, as the reduced movement speed isn’t worth the defenses against average trash mobs. In harder content and boss fights though, Defensive Stance allows Gunlancers to unleash their most powerful charged attacks without concern for crowd control or damage. Managing your Shield Meter properly can be tricky, but if you master this mechanic you will be invaluable in endgame parties.
Best Lost Ark Gunlancer build: skills and leveling
Gunlancer, much like its Warrior cousin, Berserker, has tons of massive, powerful AoE abilities. These abilities make it very easy to clear through the main story, so you will want to focus on leveling them up. Toggle Defensive Stance on to use charge-type attacks and you will clean out leveling zones with ease.
You earn skill points each time you level up, as well as from Skill Potions you can acquire in the endgame. Raising the level of a skill to 10 costs progressively more skill points, so you won’t be maxing all of them out. Skills also earn Tripods at levels 4, 7, and 10. These are powerful bonuses that sometimes drastically modify a skill’s functionality. Invest in the skills below throughout the main story until you hit the listed Tripods, and you will have a powerful content-clearing build ready for endgame at level 50.
Best PvE skills for Gunlancer
| Skills | Tripod 1 | Tripod 2 | Tripod 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sharp Gunlance | Giant Wheel | Unexpected Twist | Pummel |
| Charged Stinger | Weak Point Detection | Charge Enhancement | Last Charge |
| Surge Cannon | Scatter Shot | Precise Barrage | Rotating Barrag |
| Guardian's Thunderbolt | Damage Luck | Tough Strike | Lightning Stalk |
| Shout of Hatred | Quick Prep | Law of the Jungle | Open Weakness |
| Leap Attack | Quick Prep | ||
| Shield Shock | Armor Destruction | ||
| Fire Bullet | Lucky Chance |
Best PvP skills for Gunlancer
| Skills | Tripod 1 | Tripod 2 | Tripod 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gunlance Shot | Tenacity | Enhanced Strike | Exploding Spear |
| Counter Gunlance | Ready Attack | Quick Prep | Lightning Strike Spear |
| Surge Cannon | Piercing Shot | Precise Barrage | Focus Fire |
| Hook Chain | Quick Prep | Shackles | Wide Hit |
| Shout of Hatred | Wide Hit | Shield | Shout |
| Shield Charge | Quick Prep | Wide Hit | Unending Attack |
| Nellasia's Energy | Quick Prep | Effectiveness | Survive |
| Dash Fire | Excellent Mobility |
Arena PvP grants normalized pools of stats and skill points to work with, so you'll be able to max out more skills. You have some flexibility as well based on your playstyle, but the build above should be a great starting point. These skill builds will help you transition into endgame, where further customization becomes available.
Best Lost Ark Gunlancer build: Engravings
Once you’ve reached level 50 you can start to focus on Engravings. These powerful bonuses are acquired from Engraving books, or accessories like necklaces, rings, and earrings. There are many generic Engravings usable by any class, but each class also has two Class Engravings that can significantly alter how you play your class. For Gunlancer, these are:
- Lone Knight: the more offensive-minded Gunlancer Engraving, increasing your crit rate with Lance Skills by 5% and crit damage by 30%. However, Shield Meter consumption in Defensive Stance is doubled.
- Combat Readiness: here the Gunlancer gets a +20% damage boost to Normal Skills, plus an additional damage bonus each time you are hit during Defensive Stance, stacking up to three times. Combat Readiness Gunlancer also absorbs an additional 30% damage in Defensive Stance.
It is important for Gunlancers to distinguish between Lance Skills and Normal Skills when setting up their Class Engravings. Lance Skills have reddish icons and a [Lance Skill] tag in their descriptions, while Normal Skills have a blue icon and a [Normal Skill] tag. This is why you may hear players refer to Lone Knight as Red Gunlancer and Combat Readiness as Blue Gunlancer. You will eventually want to tweak your skill set up to focus on the Class Engraving you are using. You can also save a skill preset for each Engraving and swap between them at your leisure.
For your generic Engravings, you have some flexibility. The suggestions below all synergize beautifully with Gunlancer’s defensive area attacks and defensive advantages.
- Barricade grants bonus damage while shielded. This is pretty much best-in-slot for Combat Readiness Gunlancers, but it can be worthwhile on Lone Knight too.
- Spirit Absorption provides generic attack and movement speed bonuses with no drawbacks. The movement speed is particularly nice in Defensive Stance.
- Awakening reduces Awakening Skill cooldowns, which is huge for regenerating your Shield Meter. We’ll talk more about Awakening Skills next.
Best Lost Ark Gunlancer build: Combat Stats and accessories
In addition to Engravings, accessory items in Lost Ark (necklaces, earrings, and rings) are your source for Combat Stats. These substats can have a major effect on your character, and it is important to target gear with the right stats for your build. While leveling, look for Specialization gear, which both helps you build shield meter faster and increases the damage of Normal Skills. Crit will raise your critical strike rate and damage, making it a good secondary stat for a bit of extra damage.
Once you’ve reached level 50 and have access to class Engravings, base your target stats on the Engraving you’ve chosen. Combat Readiness Gunlancers should look for more Specialization for the same reasons as above. Unlike Normal Skills though, Lance Skills don’t scale with Specialization. So, Lone Knight users should stack Swiftness to reduce their longer cooldowns. For both specs, Crit remains the best secondary stat. Look for accessories that combine your Engraving of choice with its correlating stat in Abyssal Dungeons and on the Auction House.
Best Lost Ark Gunlancer build: Awakening Skills
Awakening Skills are extremely powerful abilities with lengthy cooldowns, sort of like an ultimate move. You can unlock them by following the Trixion questline after level 50. Each class has two, but you can only equip one at a time. Gunlancer’s Awakening Skills are:
- Guardian’s Protection fills your Shield Meter to max and creates a protective aura that lasts 10 seconds. The initial cast deals damage to enemies and stuns them. Party members in range of the aura take 40% less damage and are immune to Pushes and debuffs.
- Lance of Judgement summons a massive spear that damages enemies and launches them into the air. It creates an aura on impact that increases allies' crit rate by 10% for 10 seconds.
For most endgame PvE content, you’re going to want Guardian’s Protection. Refilling your Shield Meter is obviously massive, and the defensive bonuses are incredibly powerful. Of course, Lance of Judgement deals more damage, and the increased crit rate can increase your party’s total damage output by more. However, the crowd-control immunity from Guardian’s Protection means more DPS uptime, and that can often lead to more total damage dealt. There’s a time and place for Lance of Judgement, but you should default to Guardian’s Protection. In PvP however, the huge AoE nuke from Lance of Judgement can be valuable. It is up to you and your team to decide wether you need the damage or the defense more.
That’s everything you need to start Lost Ark’s endgame with the Gunlancer! If you’re looking for the fastest ways to get there, our guide to speed leveling in Lost Ark can help. If you’re thinking about making Gunlancer your second character, our guide to Knowledge Transfers will get you set up.