There have been class balance updates on the Korean servers of Lost Ark. The balance changes may not be available immediately on the global servers, but players can get a glimpse of what may happen in the near future.

Lost Ark opened their test server with a myriad of balance changes for all classes about two weeks ago. There were both positive and negative reactions to the changes from members of the game's community, and the development team took all the feedback into consideration when creating the new update.

Here are the balance changes on the KR server, including some insight from the development team as to why the changes took place:

*Note: Unavailable classes on the global servers are excluded.

Deadeye

Skills

Enforce Execution

- Head Attack from the upper kick removed

Quick Shot

- Push back distance decreased when selecting the Final Light tripod (3-1 tripod, name pending) 

Cruel Tracker

- Push back distance after final shot decreased

Clay Bombardment

- Attack hits between the visualization and the Deadeye

Engravings

Hand Gunner

- Enhanced damage for Lv. 2 and Lv. 3

Developer’s Comments

Enhanced Weapon Deadeyes have been dealing very high average damage in top-tier content. This is what had been intended as the Deadeye should be a class that can deal the most damage depending on the player’s proficiency. As for Hand Gunner Deadeyes, it was still slightly underwhelming, so we buffed the damage. However, the push back distance made it inconvenient when transitioning to shotgun skills, so we made additional adjustments.

Artillerist

Skills

PVE normal skill damage enhanced

Gatling Gun

- Back attack effect removed

Flamethrower

- Back attack effect removed

Gravity Explosion

- Back attack effect removed

Homing Barrage

- Stagger changed from High to Lowest

Air Raid

- Stagger changed from High to Lowest

- Additional damage to Challenger or higher monsters added to Flame Bombardment tripod

Multiple Rocket Launcher

- Stagger changed from Mid-High to High

- Flame Rocket tripod changed to enhanced damage

Napalm Shot

- Head Attack effect removed

- Stagger changed from Mid-High to Highest

Swing

- Stagger changed from Lowest to High

Forward Barrage

- Counter Attack effect added

Awakening Skills

Heavy Turret

- Additional HP during PVEs

Specialty

- Mobility skills can be used during Barrage Mode, Barrage Mode deactivated when using mobility skills

- Barrage Mode can be deactivated while being Silenced

- Time Stop potion, Camouflage Robe, Shiny Camouflage Robe (Item name pending) can be used in Barrage Mode

- When entering the 3rd level, an extra gauge has been added to show buff duration time

Specialty Skills

- Bombardment: Howitzer cooldown reduced

- Bombardment: Focus Fire range increased, attack speed increased, attack duration decreased

Developer’s Comments

Artillerists had to go through inconvenient issues while working on certain contents due to the limits of the Barrage Mode, so we made some adjustments to improve that. Also, the Stagger values were adjusted so that Artillerists can deal with monsters that change patterns when their Stagger meter is filled. As for Artillerists who use the Firepower Enhancement engraving, the damage was rather low, so the damage of some skills was enhanced. Some tripods were buffed, and Bombardment skills were improved.

Sharpshooter

Skills

Deadly Slash

- Head Attack effect removed

Stalker

- Head Attack effect removed

Atomic Arrow

- Part Break Level 1 effect added

Charged Shot

- Part Break Level 1 changed to Level 2

Sharp Shooter

- Focus Shot tripod changed from enhanced crit damage to enhanced damage

Blade Storm

- “Hawk Meter gauge recovery whenever using skill when selecting the Shadow Dance tripod” added to tooltip

Snipe

- Easy Prey crit rate increased, enhanced crit damage changed to enhance damage

Awakening Skills

Fenrir’s Messenger

- When overcharged, the Hawk Meter is recovered by 100%, when charge isn’t finished, the Hawk Meter is recovered by 25%

- Hawk Meter recovery doesn’t get affected by Specialization

Specialty

Hawk Meter natural recovery increased in PVEs

Engravings

Death Strike

- Damage increased

Loyal Companion

- Hawk Meter recovery decreased

Developer’s Comments

We adjusted the structure of supplying the Hawk Meter and changed the engravings’ performance, but the combat difficulty got higher, and the skill cycle didn’t work properly in certain setups during the test server. So we rolled the Blade Dance skill back to before the test server and readjusted the performance of the Death Strike Sharpshooter. For Loyal Companion Sharpshooters, the damage was lower than expected, so we improved it so that it can gain additional effects while having the Silverhawk summoned.

Machinist

Skills

Mobile Shot

- Additional time to reuse skill

Overcharged Battery

- Added Part Break Level 1

- Fighting Spirit Enhancement tripod changed from On explosion hit to On hit

- Weak Point Enhancement tripod changed to Ranged Throw

High Voltage Bullet

- Attack type changed from Head Attack to Back Attack

Avalanche

- Skill cooldown reduced

- PVE damage increased

- PVP damage decreased

- Battery charge decreased

- Added Counter effect to the rush motion

- Weak Point Detection tripod changed to Battery Charge

- Quick Preparation tripod changed to Weak Prey Shot

- Zero Degree Aim tripod Enhanced Crit Rate changed to Enhanced Damage to single target

Command: Carpet

- Cooldown increased

- Drone range decreased

- Drone speed increased

ㄴ When using the Precision Barrage tripod, the drone speed is the same

- PVE damage increased

- PVP damage increased

- Battery usage increased

- Battery Discharge tripod changed to Battery Saving Mode

Annihilation Mode

- PVE damage increased

- Weak Point Detection tripod changed to Battery Saving Mode

Energy Buster

- PVE damage increased

Specialty

Skills

Comet Strike

- Skill action speed increased, connection time adjusted

Laser Blade

- Added Part Break Level 1

Developer’s Comments

Arthetinean Skill Machinists are supposed to use their skills constantly. However, some skills weren’t usable with drone skills, and the battery consumption was high compared to the damage, so we increased the damage. The moving distance of the Carpet skill was too long, so the damage difference against small monsters and large monsters was too big. We improved the skill to deal the intended amount of damage against small monsters so that it can compete with the Flare Beam skill. For the Avalanche skill, we added a counter effect to the first hit and adjusted some tripod effects.

Gunslinger

Skill

Peacekeeper

- Attack type changed from Head Attack to Back Attack

Catastrophe

- PVE damage increased

- Kill Confirmation tripod changed from enhanced crit rate to foes with 50% or less HP to enhanced damage to all foes and extra enhanced damage to foes with 50% or less HP

Bullet Rain

- PVE damage increased

- PVP damage decreased

- Ambush tripod damage decreased

- Vital Point Shot tripod changed to In a Tight Spot

- Flame Shot tripod enhanced crit damage changed to enhanced damage

Engravings

Time to Hunt

- Crit rate increased

Developer’s Comments 

The Time to Hunt engraving was to provide an easier play experience than Peacemaker, but the Bullet Rain tripod forced a specific position, and the play difficulty was higher than intended. We changed the tripods for Bullet Rain and adjusted the tripod of Catastrophe, which is one of the main skills, so that the gameplay would get easier for Time to Hunt Gunslingers and for them to deal the amount of damage intended.

Bard

Skills

Prelude of Storm

- Counter attack effect added

Sound Shock

- Sacred Shock tripod mark time increased

Stigma

- Brilliant Stigma tripod mark time increased

Note Bundle

- Sacred Note tripod mark time increased

Harp of Rythm

- Note Brand tripod mark time increased

Rhapsody of Light

- Note Brand tripod mark time increased

Developer’s Comments

It has been becoming harder and harder to maintain the mark for Bards as the combat environment changed. Taking this into consideration, we increased the mark time.

Sorceress

Skills

Ice Shower

- Counter Attack effect added

Squall

- Attack type changed from Head Attack to Back Attack

Specialty

Arcane Rupture damage decreased to monsters

Arcane Torrent damage decreased to monsters

Developer’s Comments

Our initial plan for the Igniter Sorceress was to have them deal massive damage in a short period. Although this was our initial intention, the damage is rather excessive now. To adjust this, we slightly decreased the specialty values.

Deathblade

Skills

Earth Cleaver

- Head Attack removed

Engravings

Surge

- Damage decreased

Developer’s Comments

The damage of Surge Deathblades has increased steadily as players researched different skill trees. Currently, Deathblades are recording the most damage in the endgame contents, so we adjusted the performance of the Surge engraving. We will be adjusting the Surge Deathblades as we move forward so that it can be utilized in many ways.

Shadow Hunter

Movement Skills

Rush

- Distance increased

Skills

Slasher

- Counter Attack effect added

Grind Chain

- Quick Preparation tripod changed to Amplified Damage

Demonic Slash

- Movement distance increased

- When the skill is used slantly to monsters, the skill will now move past monsters without colliding

- Excellent Mobility tripod changed to Amplified Damage

Rising Claw

- Attack type changed from Head Attack to Back Attack

Howl

- Cooldown reduced

- PVP/PVE damage decreased

- Mana consumption reduced

- Quick Preparation tripod changed to Amplified Damage

- Scream of Fury tripod effect changed from enhanced damage to foes from all party members to enhanced damage from self on targets on Fear

Ruin Rush

- “Foes hit by attack take extra damage from enemies” added

Death Claw

- Head Attack removed

- “Foes hit by attack take extra damage from enemies” added

Developer’s Comments

There were a lot of inconveniences for Shadowhunters as they had to Demonize, so we adjusted the party synergies for the class. For the Perfect Suppression engraving, the balance was adjusted.