Howdy folks, I'm here today with the Best Lost Ark Gunlancer Guide. I will break down how well Gunlancers performs in combat, the best Gunlancer skills to focus on, and which Engravings are the best for this class. But the first order of business is for you to figure out if you want to even play the Gunlancer. Before seriously investing into any Lost Ark class you should give each of them a go. If a Melee DPS Class with the ability to taunt foes and utilize crowd control while also being tanky as all hell speaks to you then this Lost Ark Gunlancer Guide is definitely for you!
And if Gunlancer is not for you, then you could always check out our other builds, like this Paladin build!
Who is The Lost Ark Gunlancer?
Gunlancer is a class that outputs good DPS in either sustained or burst forms, depending on the type of Skills you concentrate on. His tackiness is truly a thing to behold. His large HP pool and great Armor rating make him one of the tankiest classes in all of Lost Ark. Your mobility on the other hand leaves a lot to be desired. For example, his basic dodge is a Back Step that propels you backward. Its travel distance is downright pathetic, but it makes up for it somewhat by being the lowest cooldown dodge in the game.
While the Gunlancer does unlock some skills that involve movement later on. But you will still be sluggish compared to any Assassin or Martial Artist classes. Not that you need those mobility options that much anyway. Being dead center in front of the boss is where you should make yourself comfortable anyway since a lot of his skills are Frontal Attack oriented anyways!
Many of Gunlancer's abilities also interrupt enemies and stagger them. Which creates the perfect opening for your teammates with bigger DPS numbers to pile on. While not as gifted in the buff department as the Support classes, they're still capable of reducing damage taken by the party, debuffing the enemy's movement speed and defenses to make them easy pickings.
Lost Ark Gunlancer's class identity is the shield meter. While filled up it allows you to cast two class abilities, the Defensive Stance and Battlefield Shield. Defensive Stance generates a huge shield over your HP bar which prevents you from taking damage while also being immune to staggers and interrupts. Allowing you to get up close and personal with Arkasias' most deadly creatures. How much shield meter you had at the beginning of this ability directly translates into how long you can keep the shield up. While in the Defensive Stance Gunlancer moves 50% slower. So only cast near the enemy to not waste time!
Battlefield Shield on the other hand will immediately consume all of your shield meter to deploy a bubble shield in the target location. Any teammates standing under your umbrella will be shielded for the duration. Which is not that long to be honest. You should definitely hold out on using this move most of the time when playing the Gunlancer. This skill also has a massive 1-minute cooldown.
If either of these skills is active you won't generate anything for your shield meter. But as soon as you are out of said class skills you can return to building your meter by attacking enemies and using your skills. The energy you stockpile will not deplete over time. So you can hold onto your shield meter until you really need it. And I suggest you take advantage of this information.
The Best Lost Ark Gunlancer Guide To Engravings and Skills
Engravings allow you to further specialize in your chosen Class. You can activate and level them up by reading Recipe Books or equipping Accessories. Which you will be able to obtain as rewards by completing Chaos and Abyss Dungeons, and Guardian Raids. Engravings break down into Class Engravings and Combat Engravings.
There are 2 Class Engravings per Class, and they more or less decide which build you will follow.
Gunlancer Lone Knight Engraving Build
Lone Knight, often referred to as red Gunlancer build, focuses on maximizing burst damage with Lance Skills by boosting their crit rate and crit damage. This engraving disables Battlefield Shield and increases the rate at which you consume Shield Meter by +100%. So you turn your class into a more DPS-oriented version of itself.
Here are the skills you should focus on while building your Red Gunlancer:
| Skill Name | Skill Description |
|---|---|
| Sharp Gunlance | Allows you thrust the spear forward, inflicting 279 Damage |
| Counter Gunlance | Allows you to raise the shield to defend attacks from the front for 2s. You can negate the Damage using 100% of Max HP. If you defend an attack, perform a counterattack within 1s, inflicting 996 Damage and knocking foes back. |
| Bash | Allows you to perform a shield attack that inflicts 200 Damage and stuns foes for 3s. |
| Shout of Hatred | Allows you to let out a fierce roar, inflicts 366 Damage to foes within an 8-meter radius, taunting non-player foes for 5s and disabling certain skills on them. Challenge or higher foes cannot be taunted again for a set period of time. |
| Charged Stinger | Allows you to, while in a defensive stance, focus energy and thrust the spear in front of you. You can slowly change the direction of the attack while focusing energy. Damage varies according to the charge stage: 406 Damage when undercharged. 946 Damage on Level 1, and 1352 Damage when overcharged. |
| Surge Cannon | Compress the energy using the exploder on your weapon, then propel it out in front of you. If the energy is not fully compressed, inflict 373 Damage and push foes away. When fully compressed, inflict 745 Damage and knockback foes. |
| Guardian's Thunderbolt | Allows you call forth a lightning strike from the sky to inflict 706 [Lightning] Damage to foes in a 5-meter radius, electrocuting them for 3s. |
| Nellasia's Energy | Allows you to let out a roar. Damage to all party members in a 24-meter radius -10% for 6s. |
Be sure to upgrade Charged Stinger, Burst Cannon, Guardian's Thunder, and Nellasia's Energy to their maximum level and grab the tripods visible on the infographic above.
Gunlancer Combat Readiness Engraving Build
Combat Readiness often referred to as Blue Gunlancer build, focuses on maximizing survivability via enhancing your Defensive Stance. This engraving, unlike Lone Knight, doesn't disable Battlefield Shield so you can still pull your teammates out of trouble if you so desire. You also get a nice stackable Damage boost while something attacks you in the Defensive stance. On top of a flat 20% skill damage increase.
Here are the skills you should focus on while building your Blue Gunlancer:
| Skill Name | Skill Description |
|---|---|
| Sharp Gunlance | Allows you thrust the spear forward, inflicting 279 Damage |
| Counter Gunlance | Allows you to raise the shield to defend attacks from the front for 2s. You can negate the Damage using 100% of Max HP. If you defend an attack, perform a counterattack within 1s, inflicting 996 Damage and knocking foes back. |
| Bash | Allows you to perform a shield attack that inflicts 200 Damage and stuns foes for 3s. |
| Shout of Hatred | Allows you to let out a fierce roar, inflicts 366 Damage to foes within an 8-meter radius, taunting non-player foes for 5s and disabling certain skills on them. Challenge or higher foes cannot be taunted again for a set period of time. |
| Leap Attack | Allows you to leap 9 meters toward the target location to strike at the ground, inflicting 497 Damage. |
| Surge Cannon | Compress the energy using the exploder on your weapon, then propel it out in front of you. If the energy is not fully compressed, inflict 373 Damage and push foes away. When fully compressed, inflict 745 Damage and knockback foes. |
| Guardian's Thunderbolt | Allows you call forth a lightning strike from the sky to inflict 706 [Lightning] Damage to foes in a 5-meter radius, electrocuting them for 3s. |
| Nellasia's Energy | Allows you to let out a roar. Damage to all party members in a 24-meter radius -10% for 6s. |
Be sure to upgrade Leap Attack, Burst Cannon, Guardian's Thunder, and Nellasia's Energy to their maximum level and grab the tripods visible on the infographic above.
Your Role in A Fight as the Gunlancer
Remember that as the Lost Ark's Gunlancer you are the shield that should blanket your teammates and protect them from the boss. And you have tools that could potentially prevent a party wipe at the tip of your fingers. Besides that, your DPS is something that should not be taken lightly.
Remember to cast Nellasia's Energy if someone gets close to death, or you know that the boss is winding up a powerful strike. With the correct tripods, you can reduce damage taken by your team up to 60%, which is insane! At the same time, the final tripod grants your team shield based on your max HP. In almost any case this shield will be massive. And if you are playing the blue Gunlancer you can always cast Battlefield Shield.
With all of this in mind, you should be set for the end-game content! Climb the ranks and protect your team like the shield you are supposed to be!