Want to know which Lost Ark Class is the best? Or maybe which one will suit your playstyle the most? With five base classes, which break down into 15 sub-classes total, there is plenty to choose from in Lost Ark! The major drawback of this “freedom of choice” is that classes are each associated with one gender or the other. You cannot be a female warrior or a male mage.
I have broken down all the classes to provide a brief description of each to see if it fits within your expectations. It is worth mentioning that Lost Ark lets you try out each subclass in-game when you pick each class. Without further ado, here are the Lost Ark classes, along with the playstyles of each subclass. For a more in-depth breakdown of Lost Ark classes, make sure to check our Lost Ark class tier list.
Lost Ark's Warrior Class
A basic bread and butter MMO class that hits mobs for significant damage. But his subclasses break him down into either a DPS, Tank, or a Support. Let us go over all of them in order.
Berserker (Melee/[Tanky]DPS/Male Only)
Berserker is a DPS-type character with great defense stats. His identity skill is burst mode which grants increased attack and movement speeds. Berserker is one of the less advanced classes in the game, but he feels great to play. He is an excellent pick for PVE, but his PVP presence is not that great. To find out more about this sub-class, check out our Best Berserker Lost Ark Build and Class Guide!
Paladin (Melee/Support/Male Only)
If you want to feel adored by the community and make sure that you will ALWAYS find a group for a raid or team for PVP matches, pick Paladin. His identity skill either empowers your abilities, or you can spend your meter to grant yourself and anyone around you a damage buff. His options for shielding and buffing are second to none. To find out more about this sub-class, check out our Best Paladin Lost Ark Build and Class Guide!
Gunlancer (Melee/Tank[With Great DPS]/Male Only)
Gunlancer is a DPS-Tank hybrid. And believe me, he can do both! Gunlancer's identity skill makes him enter a shielded stance which reduces his movement speed by 50%, and it creates an insane amount of shield over his HP bar. Instead, his other identity skill shields anyone around him in a vast radius, but you cannot move or cast spells for the duration. With his impressive array of disables and stuns he is a welcome addition to any PVE raid or PVP battle. To find out more about this sub-class, check out our Best Gunlancer Lost Ark Build and Class Guide!
The Martial Artists of Lost Ark
Martial artists, in general, are DPS with excellent damage-dealing skills who also have a bunch of movement and mobility options. Making them great at diving in and repositioning when a boss starts some crazy insta-wipe attack.
Striker (Melee/DPS/Male Only)
The Striker is great. He has extremely flashy animations, he can cross the field in a flash, and his skills come out oh so fast. His identity skill is all about filling out an esoteric gauge, which has 3 nodes. Once the nodes are filled you can spend them to unleash even more devastating skills. Striker does get out damaged by some other sub-classes, most notably Wardancer but expects to be doing good in PVE and PVP if you stick to Striker. To find out more about this sub-class check out our Best Striker Lost Ark Build And Class Guide.
Wardancer (Melee/DPS/Female Only)
The Wardancer is essentially a female Striker, or the Striker is a male Wardancer. Whichever works for you. Her identity skill is the same as Striker's. Fill out the nodes and unleash slightly different attacks that do “big damage”. As I said, the Wardancer does get access to different moves and unfortunately, they are just overall better than Striker's, giving Wardancer the edge in both PVP and PVE. To find out more about this sub-class check out our Best Wardancer Lost Ark Build And Class Guide.
Scrapper (Melee/DPS/Female Only)
The Scrapper is basically a very similar thing all over again. Mobility, speed, and damage. As the Scrapper you play a constant back and forth with the two of your meters as part of your class identity. One of them is yellow and the other one is green. Green skills consume the green meter and build the yellow meter, yellow skills do the opposite. So Scrapper is supposed to juggle between two sets of abilities constantly. In terms of power, Scrapper and Striker are very alike. They can get good results in both PVP and PVE.
Soulfist (Melee/DPS/Female Only)
Soulfist uses a mixture of melee and ranged abilities while also retaining excellent mobility and damage. She also has an identity gauge to empower yourself and her attacks. Each press of the identity skill hotkey brings you up a level. Each level has its separate time limit. So it would help if you went level 1, then use up all of your energy, and then switch to level 2, and so on. Soulfist has easily one of the worst DPS outputs out of all the damage-oriented classes.
Gunner Classes From Lost Ark
Gunners are all about that ranged attack, and for a good reason! Gunner's subclasses are extremely squishy compared to most melee classes. So you better be all about that ranged attack too. Otherwise, a boss might turn you into a red stain before you blink.
Gunslinger (Ranged/DPS/Female Only)
The Gunslinger is a highly mobile class that can switch between three guns depending on the situation she finds herself in. Her three guns are her identity skills. And when rotating them correctly, you can reach absurd DPS rates. But, this subclass is very complex. You need to rotate your buffs/debuffs correctly; you are incredibly squishy so certain bosses can one-shot you. This is one of the best subclasses in the game for PVE, a slightly less but non the less good class for PVP. But expect to put in a TON of work to learn her. To find out more about this sub-class check out our Best Gunslinger Lost Ark Build And Class Guide.
Artillerist (Ranged/[Tanky]DPS/Male Only)
The Artillerist cannot move like the Gunslinger, but he definitely can take more hits. While retaining that high damage. His class identity is the firepower gauge that fills up during combat, empowering your attack powers. When you fill it up you can fire one of your two awakening skills much like all the other classes in the game. Overall, I would describe him as slightly worse than Gunslinger at both PVE and PVP, but much less skill-intensive.
Deadeye ([Very Close]Ranged/DPS/Male Only)
The Deadeye is male Gunslinger. Obviously, they have access to slightly different skills while having the exact same identity skill, which is the 3 weapons. Deadeye is considerably worse than Gunslinger if we are being honest. Most efficient builds focus on his shotgun, while the rifle becomes a “filler” gun. The shotgun focus turns Deadeye into almost a melee class due to its poor range. And he still is a “glass cannon” type of character.
Sharpshooter (Ranged/DPS/Male Only)
The Sharpshooter is the only Gunner class that can keep his distance at all times. He is also not as APM (actions per minute) intensive as other Gunner sub-classes, making him probably the easiest one to play. Your damage can be considered average across the board. In my opinion, Sharpshooter still performs better than Soulfist or Deadeye, but the rest of the pack leaves him behind somewhat.
Lost Ark Classes of The Mage
Mages are the usual spell-casting staple of any fantasy-based MMORPG. You cast for a long time, you hit hard, and have an even harder time taking damage.
Bard (Ranged/Support/Female Only)
The de facto healer of Lost Ark. A healer that can still kick some ass mind you! Without the Bard, parties would wipe and teams would lose. The lack of their defense and DPS capabilities is completely offset by great heals and even greater buffs. The Bard is the perfect medium-difficulty class. You do not need the perfect positioning, the ideal situational awareness, or lightning reflexes. But you still need to get used to some of the timings. Truly irreplaceable for any raid. To find out more about this sub-class check out our Best Bard Lost Ark Build And Class Guide.
Sorceress (Ranged/DPS/Female Only)
The classic Mage-archetype sub-class. Your spells have long casting times compared to all the other classes but hit like a truck. Her identity skill is based on an arcane meter that you build up in combat. You can spend it to empower your spells or perform a dodge dash spell to get out of a tight spot. Empower at the correct time to devastate anyone in your path. But mistime it, and you might be a goner. Due to the delicate balance you need to perform between positioning, timing, and general strategy, I would consider the Sorceress, an advanced difficulty class that can perform well in PVP and PVE.
ASSASSIN (MELEE)
The Assassin subclasses are both melee fighters with excellent DPS and great mobility. But get hit, and you are toast, as they are both the squishiest melee fighters in the entire game.
Shadowhunter (Melee/DPS/Female Only)
The Shadowhunter is a fairly standard “Rogue” type of class. You dive in, combo as much as you can, and then try to dash or dodge your way out. This is because, much like Deathblade, this class is extremely squishy. But unlike Deathblade, your identity skill helps you out with that a bit. Shadowhunter can become a demonic entity when she fills out her gauge. This transformation replenishes some of her HP. So she can take some more beatings while not dishing out as much damage as Deathblade.
Deathblade (Melee/DPS/Female Only)
The Deathblade does pretty much what Shadowhunter does but slightly better, with more minor healing. Deathblade is an advanced class with one of the best damage outputs in the game. Her identity skill acts a little bit like the Berserkers. Your power and speed up and gain access to the awakening skills like any other class when using identity-related meters or skills. To find out more about this sub-class check out our Best Deathblade Lost Ark Build And Class Guide.