Best Lost Ark Deadeye build: recommended skill levelling, engraving, and awakening skills for PvE and PvP
Double the skills, double the fun
Need the best Deadeye build in Lost Ark? The Deadeye is the male counterpart to the Gunslinger, swapping through an entire arsenal of weapons and skills to take on Lost Ark’s many foes. While the two classes have a lot of surface-level similarities, they ultimately play quite differently. If you aren’t sure which class is for you or have started up your Deadeye and need a build, this guide is here to help.
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 Deadeye build: class overview
Deadeye is an extremely flexible class, thanks in large part to his weapon swapping Identity Skill. Like the Gunslinger, Deadeye cycles between dual pistols, a shotgun, and a rifle, each with their own unique skills attached. You can equip eight pistol skills plus four shotgun skills and four rifle skills at any time. Your pistols provide tons of utility in the form of debuffs and mobility on short cooldowns. Meanwhile, the shotgun provides excellent damage and AoE at close ranges, while the rifle bursts foes down from afar. Skilled Deadeye players will quickly cycle through their weapons, expending their long-cooldown shotgun and sniper abilities for huge damage, then filling those cooldown times with supplementary pistol damage. This will change in the late game when you unlock your class engravings, which we will discuss further below.
Best Lost Ark Deadeye build: leveling and skills
During the main story, Deadeye players will want to swap weapons based on the situation and available cooldowns. The shotgun has your strongest close-range AoEs, allowing you to quickly deal with most mob groups. When your shotgun skills are on cooldown, the rifle has plenty of high-damage, straight-line skill shots with which to snipe groups of monsters. Against bosses, you will want to weave in your pistol skills debuffs between cooldowns on your other weapons.
You will earn skill points each time you level up and can spend them to raise the levels of your eight chosen skills. Each level of a skill requires more skill points, so you won’t be maxing all of them out until you’ve earned more Skill Potions in the deep endgame. Skills also earn powerful Tripod bonuses at levels 4, 7, and 10, so start out by aiming for the Tripod setup below at level 50. This will get you rolling in the endgame. Because Deadeye has double the skills to work with, you're also going to have several with no Tripods.
Best Deadeye PvE skills
| Skills | Tripod 1 | Tripod 2 | Tripod 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equilibrium | Weakness Exposure | Enemy Raid | Vital Point Shot |
| Death Fire | Keen Strike | Flame Bomb | Infinite Decimation |
| Sign of Apocalypse | Full Range | Enhanced Shot | Aftermath of Calamity |
| Shotgun Rapid Fire | Full Range | Enhanced Shot | Special Bullet |
| Shotgun Dominator | Full Range | Enhanced Fire | Master of CQC |
| Somersault Shot | Agile Movement | ||
| Enforce Execution | Light Footwork | ||
| Dexterous Shot | Agile Movement | ||
| Spiral Tracker | |||
| AT02 Grenade | |||
| Cruel Tracker | |||
| Hour of Judgement | |||
| Spiral Flame | |||
| Catastrophe | |||
| Triple Explosion | |||
| Perfect Shot |
Best Deadeye PvP skils
| Skills | Tripod 1 | Tripod 2 | Tripod 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Somersault Shot | Agile Movement | Master of Evasion | Super Armor |
| Death Fire | Tenacity | Chain Throw | Infiltrate Decimation |
| Last Request | Quick Prep | Execution | Volley |
| Catastrophe | Tenacity | Defenseless Target | Carpet Bombing |
| Aimed Shot | Quick Aim | Stun Effect | High-Speed Shot |
| Perfect Shot | Stable Stance | Perfect Aim | |
| AT02 Grenade | Ranged Throw | Freeze Grenade | |
| Enforce Execution | Vital Point Hit | Tenacity | |
| Dexterous Shot | Agile Movement | Excellent Mobility | |
| Spiral Tracker | Weakness Exposure | ||
| Equilibrium | High-Speed Shot | ||
| Quick Shot | Repulse | ||
| Shotgun Rapid Fire | Combo Rapid Fire | ||
| Spiral Flame | Quick Aim | ||
| Hour of Judgement | |||
| Shotgun Dominator |
Arena PvP normalizes skill point totals, so you can max most of your skills right off the bat. Use that to set up this build, which leans into mobility to help you outmaneuver enemies. Your pistols will help you dance around engagements until you or a teammate land some crowd control on an enemy. Then, use the shotgun or sniper to blow them away.
Best Lost Ark Deadeye build: Engravings
Engravings are a late-game customization option, used to augment your class after level 50. There are a number of generic Engravings that each class can use, plus two class-specific Engravings per class. Deadeye’s are:
- Enhanced Weapon increases your crit rate for nine seconds when you switch weapons.
- Pistoleer disables your shotgun and rifle but increases your pistol damage, stagger damage, and Awakening skill damage.
When played well, Enhanced Weapon has higher damage potential than Pistoleer. Your Shotgun and Rifle provide the bulk of your damage, so losing them is obviously a major blow. However, Pistoleer is still quite good, and much easier to play. Give both styles a shot and see what feels right for you.
Your generic Engraving choices are fairly flexible, but some options are always stronger than others. We recommend:
- Adrenaline provides a stacking crit and attack buff as you use skills, which you will be doing constantly.
- Master of Ambush increases Back Attack damage. Deadeye’s shotgun attacks all have the Back Attack property, so this works well as long as you aren’t using Pistoleer.
- Spirit Absorption provides generic attack and movement speed buffs with no downsides or caveats.
- Grudge is the biggest damage boost you can get but increases incoming damage as well. Don’t use Grudge until you can reach Engraving level 3 with it in the late endgame.
Best Lost Ark Deadeye 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. Most classes will shift their Combat Stat choices after leveling based on their class Engraving choices, but things are simpler for Deadeye. Specialization increases your damage for all weapon types, so it will always be your top priority. For your secondary stat, go with either Crit or Swiftness to increase critical strike damage or reduce your cooldowns.
Best Lost Ark Deadeye build: Awakening skills
Awakening skills are your ultimate abilities, dealing massive damage in exchange for long cooldowns. Each class unlocks two via the post-50 Trixion questlines. However, you can only equip one at a time. Deadeye’s Awakening skills are:
- Bursting Flare fires three massive rifle shots, dealing damage in a line before exploding at the end of their trajectory for massive damage.
- Clay Bombardment throws multiple explosives into the air before detonating them to deal huge damage and launch foes into the air.
Bursting Flare can potentially deal more damage than Clay Bombardment, but it has a longer, riskier cast time. Plus, if you miss one of the three shots Bursting Flare loses a ton of damage. Consider using Clay Bombardment while learning encounters, then switching to Bursting Flare once you’re confident you can safely land it.
That’s everything you need to get going with Deadeye in Lost Ark’s expansive endgame! Be sure to check out our Gunslinger guide if you’re interested in the weapon-swapping playstyle but aren’t sure which class is right for you. For further inspiration on your next character, visit our handy tier list. If you’re already three characters deep and are ready to boost a fourth, our guide to Knowledge Transfers can help.