Lost Ark’s leveling experience is very linear. You will feel how the game takes you by the hand and carries you through the main story until you reach level 50. While you can go beyond level 50, reaching this milestone is important as you begin unlocking endgame content. At level 50, you unlock Chaos Dungeons by completing the main storyline. You will start grinding through the 3 tiers of progression which means that you will simply farm dungeons and raids for endgame gear.
Tier 1 Progression
Awakening Quest
The Tier 1 Progression starts by completing the first Awakening quest. Once you reach level 50, you want to progress with the main story until you unlock Chaos Dungeon, Guardian Raids, and Una’s Tasks dailies.
Dailies
With these dailies unlocked, you need to press F2 and play Song of Trixion. You will be Teleported to Trixion to meet an NPC called Beatrice. She will offer you the first Awakening quest. It will take you around 15 minutes to complete the quest. Once completed you will have the Awakening skill unlocked and your level 50 skill.
Builds
The next step is to make two builds. You need to have a build centered around one AOE skill for Chaos Dungeons and a build for single target DPS for Guardian Raids. You will get your 302 item level set from the Chaos Dungeons and Guardian Raids in North Bern. The alternative is to get to Shushire and complete the main story quests there. They will award you the same gear. You will complete the Shushire questline in around 2 hours.
Farm Dungeons and Raids
To move forward with your progression, you will need to farm materials from Chaos Dungeons and Guardian Raids. Those materials will be used to upgrade your gear to item level 460.
Once you reach that point, head to Rohendel. You will also unlock a higher tier of content in Void Dungeons and Guardian Raids. While you can only complete Chaos Dungeons twice per day, you can keep grinding them for Cataclysm Crystals, which you can again exchange for materials to upgrade your gear.
Guardian raids
If you want to complete Guardian Raids to get more rewards and materials, make sure you have the Harvest guardian soul box ticket. This will unlock the first clear rewards, which means you get a Guardian Storm Chest that can contain powerful loot.
Una’s Tasks
For Una’s Tasks, you want to complete those daily quests that award the most Harmony Leap Stones. You can do 3 quests per day. Make sure you focus on farming Harmony Leap Stones and this applies to weekly quests and weekly PvP quests.
2nd Awakening Quest
As you sort out your daily quest routine, dungeon runs, and raid runs, you should use your spare time to complete the 2nd Awakening quest. You can pick this quest up in Rohendel in Queen’s Garden from the NPC next to the mailbox.
Your daily routine of completing 2 Chaos Dungeons, 2 Guardian Raids, and 3 Una’s Tasks should continue until your reach item level 600. At that stage, you will reach the Tier 2 of progression.
Tier 2 Progression
Main Story
When you unlock the Yorn continent, you have reached Tier 2. Once you get to Yorn, you will need to complete the main story quest here. If you do not complete the main story quest, you will not have the daily and weekly content unlocked. Without it, you will not be able to progress with your gear.
Chaos/Void Dungeons, Dailies and Guardian Raids
After completing the story, you will need to complete two Chaos Dungeon runs in Yorn. The two runs will award you a complete gear set with an item level of 802. With your new gear, you will start your daily routine again.
Your daily Chaos Dungeon runs, Void Dungeon runs, Guardian Raids, Una’s Tasks dailies will be the main source of upgrade materials. Farm as many materials as you can to upgrade your gear. Remember not to waste your dailies on low-tier Chaos Dungeons and Guardian Raids. You get more rewards by doing just the highest tier of dailies unlocked for your item level.
Abyss Dungeons
The dailies you can do here are of a higher tier than the ones in Yorn. At item level 960, you will need to travel to Payton. Again you will have to complete the main story quest here to unlock your dailies. When you complete the Payton questline, you will also unlock 3 new Abyss Dungeons that you want to complete each week.
Alternatively, instead of upgrading your 802 sets, you can use the materials from Abyss Dungeons to craft higher-tier gear. This can be very time-consuming and not very rewarding. The best way to progress is to upgrade your 802 item level gear to item level 1100.
At item level 1100, you need to travel to Papunika.
Tier 3 Progression
Chaos Dungeons, Void Dungeons and Guardian Raids
Once in Papunika, you can expect more of the same thing. You will need to complete the main story questline to unlock the Chaos Dungeons and Guardian Raids here. You will get your next gear set from your first Chaos Dungeon run here. You will now have a full set of item level 1302. After you get your purple set though, you can start with Abyss Raids
Papunika Abyss Raids
With your purple set equipped, you will need to farm materials to upgrade it until you unlock Papunika Abyss Raids. You will be stuck with this purple set for a while. Until new content is released, this purple set is the highest tier you can get. All your farmed materials should be invested in this set. Your goal should be item level 1415 which is +18. With such a high item level, you should run any Dungeon or Raid in a hard mode that grants you the best awards possible.
Remember to replace your Tier 2 gems with Tier 3 gems. Tier 2 gems are 50% less effective when paired with Tier 3 gear and accessories.
Purple Set
The first 1302 item set that you get from the Chaos Dungeon is blue or rare. You will need to upgrade it to +6 to get your item level to 1325. At item level 1325 you will unlock the next Chaos Dungeon tier. From this Chaos Dungeon, you will get the Purple 1302 item set with better stats than the blue one.
