Lost Ark Classes Tier List For PVP And PVE | Which One Is The Best One For You?13 min read

Came to find out which Lost Ark Class is the best? Or maybe which one will suit your playstyle the most? With 5 classes and 15 sub-classes total, there is plenty to chose from in Lost Ark! Take a look at our Tier List of all the Lost Ark Classes.

The major drawback of this “freedom of choice” is that all classes are gender locked. So sadly, you cannot be a female warrior or a male mage. Which might mess with your preferences a tiny bit.

I have broken down all the classes to provide a brief description of each so you can see if it fits within your expectations. Tacked on top of that is their spot on my personal Lost Ark Classes tier list. It is worth mentioning that Lost Ark lets you try out each of the subclass in-game when you pick each class. So consider making 5 characters and trying each subclass in the game before hopping into the world of created by masterminds from Smilegate studios.

At the bottom, you will also find the full Lost Ark PVP and PVE tier list of all the classes in Lost Ark. Without further ado, here are the Lost Ark classes, along with the playstyles of each subclass.

The Warrior Classes

Warrior might just be the most diverse class in Lost Ark. Which is such a wild statement. I mean, you expect Warrior to be just that. A basic bread and butter MMO class that hits mobs for big 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) [S-Tier]
The greatsword wielding Berserker is up first. He is a DPS-type character with quite a respectable amount of defense and a generous HP pool to draw from. His identity skill is burst mode which grants increased attack and movement speeds. It also unlocks ascension abilities that will make sure that your enemies bleed. Berserker is definitely one of the less advanced classes in the game but he feels great to play. He is a great pick for PVE, but his PVP presence is not that great.

Paladin (Melee/Support/Male Only) [S-Tier]
A Paladin will be your greatest ally in both PVP and PVE. 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 own 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. Out of the two supports currently in the game, this one is definitely the easier one, but unlike Bard, the Paladin lacks healing spells. It is also important to mention: supports in this game still do respectable damage, the Paladin is no exception.

Gunlancer (Melee/Tank[With Great DPS]/Male Only) [S-Tier]

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 so he can just breathe down the neck of the boss. His other identity skill instead shields anyone around him in a huge 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.

The Martial Artist Classes

Martial artists, in general, are advertised as DPS with great 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) [A-Tier]
The Striker is great. He has extremely flashy animations, he can cross the field in a flash, and his skills come out so god damn fast and combo so well, that you will feel like you are playing a fighting game or a hack’n’slash rather than an MMO. His identity skill is all about filling out esoteric gauge, which has 3 nodes. Once the nodes are filled you can spend them to unleash even more devastating skills. And to top it all off, his skills look SO COOL. Striker does get out damaged by some other sub-classes, most notably Wardancer which just has a better move set but expect to be doing good in PVE and PVP if you stick to Striker anyway.

Wardancer (Melee/DPS/Female Only) [S-Tier]
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 devastating awakening attacks that do huge damage. Like 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.

Scrapper (Melee/DPS/Female Only) [A-Tier]
The Scrapper is basically a very similar thing all over again. Mobility, speed, and damage. The only thing worthy of note in terms of differences is Scrapper’s identity gauge. As the Scrapper you play a constant back and forth with the two of your meters. 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 more than any other class in the game is supposed to constantly juggle between two sets of abilities. In terms of power Scrapper and Striker are very alike. They can get good results in both PVP and PVE, but expect to be outshined by the likes of Wardancer or Death Blade, and Shadow Hunter.

Soulfist (Melee/DPS/Female Only) [B-Tier]
The Soulfist is the most diverse out of the four Martial Artist sub-classes. Soulfist uses a mixture of melee and ranged abilities while also retaining great mobility and damage. She also has an identity gauge which you use to empower yourself and your attacks. Each press of the identity skill hotkey brings you up a level. Maxing out at level 3. Each level has its own separate time limit. So you should go level 1, then use up all of your energy, and then switch to level 2, and so on. But unfortunately, she is what I would consider the worst pick out of all the Martial Artists. Soulfist has easily one of the worst DPS outputs out of all the damage-oriented classes.

The Gunner Classes

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. Due to this, Gunners are generally considered to be difficult to play.

Gunslinger (Ranged/DPS/Female Only) [S-Tier]
The Gunslinger is an extremely mobile class that can switch between three guns depending on the situation she finds herself in. She also, like Deadeye, has some great team buffs. One of her abilities raises crit chance on a boss by 10%. When rotating skills correctly you can keep up this buff for the entire fight, which makes so much difference it is hard to put into words. Her 3 guns are her identity skills. And when rotating them correctly you can reach absurd DPS rates. Buuuuut, this subclass is so gosh darn complex. You have 3 different weapons at all times, you need to rotate your buffs/debuffs correctly, you are extremely 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 flow.

Artillerist (Ranged/[Tanky]DPS/Male Only) [A-Tier]
The Artillerist cannot move like the Gunslinger, but he definitely can take more hits and live to tell the tale. He also brings very juicy debuffs and buffs to his raid team which are entirely separate from the Gunslinger. 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. And let’s be real, sometimes you do not want to sweat bullets to beat one boss.

Deadeye ([Very Close]Ranged/DPS/Male Only) [B-Tier]
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. But here’s the thing. Deadeye is considerably worse than Gunslinger if we are being honest. Most efficient builds focus on shotgun and pistols, while rifle becomes a “filler” gun when your abilities are on cooldown. Unlike Gunslinger who focuses on pistols and rifle. 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. So you can probably predict how most of your fights go. Deadeye is same-ish difficulty as Gunslinger while also dishing out poorer DPS and putting himself in way more danger.

Sharpshooter (Ranged/DPS/Male Only) [A-Tier]
The Sharpshooter is basically the only Gunner class that can keep his distance at all times. This makes Sharpshooter an extremely safe class to play. 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. Sharpshooter still performs better than Soulfist or Deadeye in my personal opinion, but the rest of the pack leaves him behind somewhat. Also, forget about playing PVP, or get ready to put in some real work, as he is considered one of the weaker subclasses for PVP matches.

The Mage Classes

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) [S-Tier]
The de facto healer of Lost Ark. A healer that can still kick some ass mind you! Without the Bard, paries would wipe and teams would lose. The lack of their defense and DPS capabilities are 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 or PVP battle.

Sorceress (Ranged/DPS/Female Only) [A-Tier]
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 to perform a dodge dash spell to get out 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 as an advanced difficulty class that can perform well in both PVP and PVE.

The Assassin Classes

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) [A-Tier]
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 identity gauge. This transformation actually 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) [S-Tier]
The Deathblade does pretty much what Shadowhunter does but slightly better, with less healing. Deathblade is definitely an advanced class with one of the best damage outputs in the game. Her identity skill acts a little bit like the Berserkers. You power and speed up, and gain access to the awakening skills like any other class when using identity-related meters or skills.

Lost Ark Classes Tier List For PVE Content

S-Tier: Gunlancer, Bard, Wardancer, Paladin, Berserker, Deathblade, Gunslinger

A-Tier: Shadow Hunter, Artillerist, Striker, Scrapper, Sorceress, Sharpshooter

B-Tier: Soulfist, Deadeye

For any clarification as to why certain classes landed in that tier scroll up to my classes explanations, as they were mainly aimed at the PVE content anyway.

Lost Ark Classes Tier List For PVP Content

S-Tier: Paladin, Wardancer, Bard, Deathblade

A-Tier: Gunslinger, Gunlancer, Shadow Hunter, Sorceress

B-Tier: Striker, Artillerist, Deadeye, Berserker, Scrapper

C-Tier: Soulfist, Sharpshooter

So, compared to PVE we have some switches, as is expected. But at the same time, not that much difference. Berserker is the most obvious one. He got knocked down a lot by his long cooldowns and lack of mobility. In general, PVP is way more movement-oriented than PVE due to you fighting actual human beings and not computer programs. So you don’t want to play someone who cannot dodge out of some crazy Sorceress set-up. And forget catching any of the Assassins.

Sharpshooter got dragged to the bottom due to being so easy to avoid most of the time. All his very high damage skills have quite a bit of cast time before being fired. Anyone with decent mobility then becomes a really hard target to hit.

But at the end of the day, you have to remember. Lost Ark Classes perform the best, ESPECIALLY in PVP, in the hands of people who adjust to them fully. A Soulfist or Sharpshooter mains can dominate PVP, they will need to put in more work than Wardancers for example. But do not discredit any class as weak or unplayable.