There are many ways to get good gears in Lost Ark, but one of the safest way (beside going into dungeon) is through crafting system. But in order to craft good gear, you will need not just Lost Ark gold, but many raw materials found in the world. So in this article, MmoGah will explain to you how to craft, get materials and what does Stronghold have to do with this.
What Is Crafting System
Crafting in Lost Ark is the ability to create items ranging from Weapons, Consumables, Upgrade Materials, Housing Features and more. Unlike other titles, there are no Crafting skills for the player to invest in. Instead, crafting is performed by Craftsmen NPCs at various locations. After progressing enough in the game, players can also craft items on their own at their Island Stronghold.
How to Craft
Crafting is performed by NPCs in major cities. These craftsmen have varying items available for crafting. Players will need to have the appropriate materials on hand as well as some gold in order to craft items. Refer to the NPCs section for relevant craftsmen.
But before you go to those NPCs to craft some stuffs, you are going to need to gather raw materials as well as stock some Lost Ark gold for yourself. So how do you gather raw materials from the world? Here come your trade skills.
What Is Trade Skills
Trade Skills in Lost Ark are essentially gathering professions that players can invest in and master. Trade Skills allow players to collect various materials and resources used in Crafting. Players will eventually have access to all six Trade Skills and are not limited in which they can use. However, leveling them up requires frequent use and investing in the various abilities each skill offers.
Crafting goes hand-in-hand with Life Skills, which are essentially gathering professions that players can invest in to collect materials. Life Skills each have their own progression and leveling system, as well as a unique set of abilities that improves the player's ability to gather materials.
Leveling up a Life Skill is not absolutely necessary, as materials can always be purchased from other players using the Auction House. However, investing in a Life Skill or two can significantly cut costs for you, and some can even be a good source of income.
Trade Skills Must Know
Trade Skills are unlocked as part of the Crown of Lakebar quest chain. Following the Main Story will take you to Lakebar in around 6-8 hours from the beginning.
Using any Trade Skill will consume your Work Energy. This meter regenerates at a rate of 30 energy every 10 minutes, with a max cap of 10,000. Note that Work Energy is shared among all characters on the same account.
Using a Trade Skill requires a Trade Skill Tool. These come in various rarities and can roll random special effects when obtained.
Trade Skill Tools have a durability meter which depletes as you use the skill. You can repair tools at the cost of silver but this will also reduce their max durability by a small amount per repair. Tools can be sharpened using Crystals purchased from the Cash Shop to rebuild their max durability.
Trade Skills Type
Mining: A Trade Skill used to mine ore and minerals, useful for Stronghold upgrades and gear.
Forging: Used to gather plants and mushrooms. Materials are primarily used in crafting Potions and Bombs.
Logging: A Trade Skill focused on cutting down trees and gathering wood. Materials are used to upgrade your Stronghold and Ships.
Fishing: A Trade Skill focused on gathering fish and other items from bodies of water. Materials are primarily used to make food.
Hunting: Used to gather materials from animals such as meat and leather which can be used in cooking and crafting gear.
Excavating: A Trade Skill focused on unearthing buried Relics and other treasure. Relics are used in the crafting of Tools and certain pieces of equipment.
How to Unlock Trade Skills?
Trade Skills are unlocked by completing a series of Tutorial Quests in Lakebar beginning with the Crown of Lakebar quest. Following the Main Story quest will lead you to Lakebar so you can't miss it. If strictly following the Main Story quest, you should arrive in Lakebar around 6-8 hours in. Completing the Crown of Lakebar quest will unlock the ability to purchase Trade Skill Tools, as well as grant you access to the Mining skill. From here, follow the quest chain which gradually introduces each Trade Skill to unlock them.
How to Use Trade Skills?
To use Trade Skills, enter Trade Skill mode (default key 'B'). This replaces your Skill bar with Trade Skill abilities. Each skill has at least one active ability used to interact with material nodes and other points of gathering.
For Mining, Foraging and Logging, you can find their respective material nodes in an area. The type of materials available will vary from location to location. Material nodes can be viewed on the mini-map as well. Mining nodes are represented by a blue rock; foraging nodes are represented by a leaf and Logging nodes are represented by a wooden log. Use your default active skill to gather from a node.
For Hunting, players can use the Search active ability to mark game animals such as Rabbits. After marking, use the Throw ability to lob axes at your target. Once an animal is killed, you can skin it to obtain materials such as meat and leather..
The Excavating trade skill does not have any gathering nodes. Instead, you utilize a Sonar ability which creates a blue tracker above your character's head. The tracker beeps slowly at first, speeding up in tempo the closer you get to a buried relic. When you are close enough, you can use the Relic Search skill to reveal the location of a Relic in the area, after which you can walk over to unearth it.
Fishing can be done at any body of water marked with a Fish Hook icon on the mini-map. Use the Float Fishing active skill to cast your line in the water. After a brief moment, a fish will swim up to your lure. Once it drags the lure under water, press the skill again to catch the fish.
Trade Skills Tools Basics
Trade Skill tools are special equipment required in order to use a Trade Skill. Each Trade Skill uses a different tool and they can be equipped in the Trade Skills Menu (default shortcut key 'L').
Tools all follow the same naming convention, with its quality followed by the tool type (i.e., Adept Excavation Tool). Tools can be acquired in many different ways including purchasing from Vendors, Crafting, or received as a reward from Quests and other activities.
When a Trade Skill tool is acquired, it will randomly 'roll' Bonuses which grant special effects when using the tool. Such effects include improved gathering speed, reduced chance for durability loss and increased yield for rare items. Each type of tool has a pool of 6 of these Bonuses that can be rolled, differing depending on the type of tool. How many of these Bonuses can be rolled onto a tool will depend on its rarity.
Similarly, to all other items, Trade Skill Tools come in varying rarities: Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary and Relic. Rarity increases the amount of Bonuses that can roll onto a tool when acquired, starting from 1 Bonus with Uncommon tools and up to 5 Bonuses with Relic tools. Each Bonus also has a degree of effectiveness, which is also randomly rolled.
Work Energy
Work Energy is a special resource that allows you to obtain gatherables or use Trade Skills. You cannot obtain gatherables or use Trade Skills when you do not have enough energy. It is represented by a green bar above your hotkey bar, at the bottom portion of your HUD.
Work Energy is depleted at varying rates with every use of Trade Skills. Certain Trade Skill abilities can drain Work Energy at a much faster rate, but this is usually compensated by one or more benefits from using the ability. Work Energy has a Maximum Capacity of 10,000 and regenerates at a rate of ~30 Energy every 10 minutes. When the energy is capped, you can no longer gain energy until you use some up. It is advised to never let your energy cap so as not to waste the recharge. This system is identical to a lot of mobile games that use a similar energy meter in order to limit activities.
Work Energy is shared across all of your characters on the same server which puts a limitation on farming materials with alt characters. However, your Trade Skill levels are also shared across characters so you only ever need to level them up once.
When gathering at Platinum Fields, Work Energy is not consumed.
Stronghold
The Island Stronghold is a large island estate that players can gain access to as they follow the main storyline in Lost Ark. The Stronghold is an instanced, customizable space that players can decorate with various furniture and structures.
Aside from cosmetic features, the Stronghold also offers an array of facilities that provide practical features pertaining to Crafting, quality of life upgrades and even features that allow you to complete certain endgame content and acquire materials and resources in case you have no time to play.
Facilities Detail
The facilities available at the Stronghold are as follows:
Lab - Used to acquire upgrades for all other facilities, as well as crafting recipes. Most features of the Island Stronghold will first need to be researched at the Lab before they can be unlocked.
Crafting Workshop - A crafting base that allows the player to Battle Items from resources gathered through Life Skills such as potions and bombs. The Workshop also allows for the creation of Food, Life Skill Tools, Stronghold furnishings and other miscellaneous items.
Station - Allows you to send a crew of sailors and pets to take on Naval Missions for you, rewarding you with resources such as Pirate Coins and special Seals for trading. There are also Special Missions your crew can undertake that send them to complete certain endgame content for you.
Manor - The largest building on the island provides players with a space to mount several support structures which provide passive bonuses such as reduced Stronghold crafting time, energy costs, etc. You can also equip Costumes acquired which also provide small passive bonuses to Stronghold activities.
Training - The training zone allows players to passively train an alt character, earning experience and leveling them up automatically.
And here is the information regarding the entire crafting system and system related to it. And should you in need of any Lost Ark gold purchase, be sure to check out our page for more information.