Becoming powerful in Lost Ark takes a while, with many of its systems requiring you to farm time gated content for weeks (if not months). This is absolutely the case for engraving, a system that will define most class builds, but one that you can’t fully take advantage of as a fresh level 50 character. In this guide Lost Ark engraving guide, we’ll go over what engravings are and the multiple ways to level them up.
What Are Lost Ark Engravings?
Engravings offer up a number of beneficial effects (and potentially drawbacks), such as stat boosts under certain conditions or better support abilities. Each can go up to level 3, with higher levels giving bigger bonuses. All engravings are split into 15 points, with the level increasing by 1 for every 5 points in that engraving (5 for level 1, 10 for level 2, and 15 for level 3).
There are three types of engravings that you can get: regular engravings, class engravings, and negative engravings. Regular engravings offer general buffs that can work on all classes, though some are more relevant to certain classes than others. Meanwhile, class engravings are unique to each advanced class and will be the cornerstone of builds at endgame. Each advanced class has 2 class engravings, with some builds requiring you to have levels in both. Finally, negative engravings give you a penalty in some way and should be avoided at all costs.
How to Get Engravings in Lost Ark
After completing the main story quests “A Kingdom Reclaimed”, you’ll start to unlock a number of guide quests for new systems. One of these is the aptly named “Try Out Engravings”, which gives access to the engraving tab in the character menu once completed. Doing this quest will also give you 20 uncommon Drops of Ether Engraving Recipes.
Engraving Recipes are one of the 3 ways you can build points towards engravings. Under the Engraving Effect section of the Roster tab, you can view the Engraving Bonuses available to your character. These are equippable boosts that add points to a certain engraving effect — Combat Engraving Bonuses are available to your entire roster, while Class Bonuses are specific to your advanced class’ exclusive engravings.
To unlock the base Engraving Bonus, you must use 20 uncommon Engraving Recipes of the same type. Once unlocked, each uncommon Engraving Bonus will add 3 points to that specific engraving. To unlock better Engraving Bonuses, you must use 20 Engraving Recipes of the next rarity tier. Higher tiers give more engraving points when equipped (each rarity adds an extra 3 points, up to 12 at legendary), making them essential to endgame builds.
Engraving Recipes can be gained in a number of ways, though most early ones will be obtained via story quests. Many islands will also feature side quests that eventually reward Engraving Recipes. Additionally, level 50 content such as Abyssal Dungeons and Guardian Raids have a chance of dropping random Engraving Recipes. If you’re after certain Engraving Bonuses and don’t mind spending some gold, it’s possible to buy Engraving Recipes from other players via the Auction House.
The next source of engraving points are Ability Stones. Ability Stones can be earned via most level 50 content, with each having 2 positive and one negative engraving effect. However, these stones don't actually do without being faceted. Faceting is done via Ability Stone Cutters, NPCs found in any major town.
Each engraving effect on an Ability Stone has a certain amount of blank nodes. Filling in these nodes with engraving points is RNG based, with the success rate of each attempt capped at 75%. Succeeding in adding a point will drop that percentage by 10, while failing increases it by 10.
To complete faceting an Ability Stone, you must attempt faceting on each node for all 3 engraving effects — including the negative engraving. The best strategy is to attempt faceting on the positive effects while the success rate is 55% or higher, while attempting the negative effect when the percentage is low.
It’s not possible to get class engravings via faceted Ability Stones, and only 1 stone can be equipped at a time. As an added bonus, Ability Stones that were successfully faceted a certain amount of time also grant extra vitality.
How to Get Extra Engraving Points
Finally, you can gain extra engraving points via level 50 accessories. You’ll start earning these accessories after reaching Vern Castle and completing Tier 1 content, with each one having a random set of points.
Like Ability Stones, accessories feature negative engraving effects. Having 5 or more points in a negative engraving across Ability Stones and accessories will lead to a penalty, though this is easily avoided by keeping an eye on your engraving tab in the character menu. Thankfully, it’s also possible to gain class engraving points via accessories, which is necessary if you want to hit level 3.
The process of getting higher level engravings is not something that can be completed in a few days, as you’ll need to keep completing time gated content. You’ll generally want to get a class engraving as soon as possible due to their playstyle defining bonuses, along with regular engravings that are useful for multiple classes.
Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net
Isaac is a Staff Writer at TechRaptor, handling guides — and the occasional review — for games throughout many genres. Some of his more extensive work at… More about Isaac
