There have been class balance updates on the KR servers of Lost Ark. The balance changes may not be something that would be available immediately on the global servers, but you could get a glimpse of what could happen in the future.

Lost Ark opened their test server with many balance changes for all classes about two weeks ago. There were both positive and negative reactions about the changes, and they took all the feedback into consideration to apply to the new update.

Here are the balance changes on the KR server.

*Note: Unavailable classes on the global servers are excluded.

Berserker

Skills

Crime Hazard

- Attack type changed from Head Attack to Back Attack

Chain Sword

- Attack type changed from Head Attack to Back Attack

Assault Blade

- Piercing Strike tripod’s effect has been changed from ignore target defense to foes take increased damage

Mountain Crash

- Counter Attack effect added

- Earthquake effect duration time increased

- Enhance tripod effect changed to foes take increased damage

Hell Blade

- Moving skills can be used while using Hell Blade

- Deadly Blow’s tripod extra damage has been nerfed (80/89.6/99.2/109.6/120% → 55/63.8/72.6/81.4/90.2%)

Red Dust

- Mana consumption decreased

- PVP/PVE damage decreased

- PVP/PVE Berserk Fury gauge obtain percentage decreased

- Cooldown time 30s → 24s

- Skill effect changed from foes taking increased damage to enhanced damage

- Quick preparation tripod effect changed from cooldown reduction to foes take increased damage

- Amplified Damage tripod changed to Red Shock, effect changed to enhanced damage

Sword Storm

- Flame Storm tripod effect damage decreased

Engravings

Berserker’s Technique

- Crit damage increased

Mayhem

- Burst Mode damage decreased

- Heal effect 40% applied, shield effect 25% applied

- Adrophine Potion can be used during Burst Mode

- When HP is max at 25% during burst mode, HP recovery potion unusable

Developer’s Comments

- Mayhem Berserkers have been dealing much damage in many end contents’ indexes since the reorganization of engravings. Originally, the Mayhem was planned to be a high-risk-high-damage engraving, but the high recovery and mobility made it stronger with lower risks, so we tuned the damage and survivability down.

- Berserker’s Technique has been weaker than expected, so we buffed the effects.

- However, the efficiencies of the Level 3 Mayhem can become lower than that of Level 1, and the nerfs were found to be excessive, so we made additional adjustments to the values

Gunlancer

Skills

Surge Cannon

- Increased damage in PVEs

- Perfect Zone tripod damage increased

- Overcharge tripod damage increased

Charged Stinger

- Weak Point Detection tripod damage increased

Counter Gunlance

- Bombardment Spear tripod damage increased

Shield Bash

- Part Break Lv. 1 effect added

Developer’s Comments

- The Gunlancers’ high survivability, utility, and supporting party members are welcomed in many different contents. The index shows stability as well. However, considering the survivability and play difficulty of the Lone Knight Gunlancer, its damage needed to be buffed. Combat Readiness Gunlancers didn’t have any Part Break effects on normal skills, so we added it to the Shield Bash skill.

Paladin

Skills

PVE Punish skills damage increased

Punishment

- Attack type changed from Head Attack to Back Attack

Executor’s Sword

- Attack type changed from Head Attack to Back Attack

Holy Sword

- Attack type changed from Head Attack to Back Attack

Engravings

Judgment

- Duration of Sacred Executioner increased for Lv. 2 and Lv. 3

Developer’s Comments

- Paladins are a great supporting character in party content. However, the Punish skills had made it difficult for Paladins to position during combat due to different attack type settings, so we made some adjustments. The damage was too low for Paladins that are set up to deal damage, so we increased the damage of the Judgment engraving and Punish skills.

Wardancer

Stats

- Exoteric Skills’ damage calculation ratio by Specialization increased

Skills

PVE skill damage increased

Wind’s Whisper

- Oath of the Wind tripod effect changed from Crit Rate to Mana Recovery

Sky Shattering Blow

- Attack type changed from Head Attack/Back Attack to Back Attack

Exoteric Skill: Spiral Impact

- Attack type changed from Head Attack to Back Attack

Engravings

First Intention

- Damage increased

Developer’s Comments

- For the Exoteric Skill Enhancement Wardancers that use the Domination set have been dealing very high average damage, but the other Exoteric Skill Enhancement Wardancers or First Intention Wardancers have been underwhelming. This was because different setups brought a large gap in the performance, so we decided that the attributes of the Wardancer needed adjustment. Therefore, we adjusted the ratio for the Domination set and decreased the efficiency of the Wind’s Whisper skill while increasing skills’ and First Intention’s damage to narrow the performance gap.

However, there was an issue found with the normal skills’ damage overthrowing the potential of Exoteric skills, so we made additional adjustments by restoring the normal skills’ damage and increasing the damage ratio by Specialization on Exoteric skills.

Scrapper

Skills

PVE damage increased

Charging Blow

- Ready Attack tripod changed to Rage Strike (Tripod name pending)

ㄴ Downward Atk. Power enhancement for 3s to Enhanced Damage

Fierce Tiger Strike

- Rough Smash tripod changed from Atk Power enhancement per hit for 3s to Enhanced Damage per hit

Continuous Push

- Sturdy Armor tripod changed to Enduring Fist (Tripod name pending)

ㄴ Decreased Incoming Damage during skill use to Increased damage reduction per stack

Judgment

- Attack type changed from Head Attack to Back Attack

Roundup Sweep

- Attack type changed from Head Attack to Back Attack

- Swift Preparation tripod effect changed from successful Crit hit to successful hit

Critical Blow

- Attack type changed from Head Attack to Back Attack

Shredding Strike

- Attack type changed from Head Attack to Back Attack

Awakening Skills

Mysterious Art: Blast of Ruination

- Damage calculation scale range changed

Engravings

Ultimate Skill: Tajitsu 

- Stamina Skill damage increased

Developer’s Comments

- After the last balance patch, Scrappers had been dealing much more damage in the top tier content, but due to the Ready Attack tripod from the Charging Attack skill, the combat style turned clunky, and the damage deviation from the skill was increased. We removed the increased damage tripod to deal with the clunkiness and adjusted the performance of the Scrapper so that she could fight more freely.

We decided that the performance of Ultimate Skill: Tajitsu Scrappers needed adjustment, so we changed the effect.

Also, we identified an issue with the Swift Preparation tripod of the Roundup Sweep skill, so we adjusted the effect.

Soulfist

Skills

Skill damage except for basic attacks and Awakening skills in PVEs increased

Energy Bullet

- Trance tripod attack speed enhanced

Energy Blast

- PVE damage enhanced

- Switched tripod positions between Concussion and Ranged Hit

- Switched tripod positions between Weak Point Detection and Tenacity

- Weak Point Detection damage increased

- Ruthless tripod changed to Concentration

ㄴ Damage to Staggered foes → Additional damage per hit

- Fierce strike charging time decreased

Merciless Pummel

- Attack range increased, it is not increased for Clear Hit

Bolting Crash

- Attack type changed from Head Attack to Back Attack

Identity

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Developer’s Comments

- We decided that the Soulfist had a structural issue that came from excessive preliminary processes. During the test server period, we removed the individual synergy structure and adjusted the overall performance. However, this concept was too different from how the users thought of the Soulfist, and there were issues with the ceiling or combat difficulty in certain setups. Due to these issues, we rolled the synergy changes back to before the test server and adjusted the skill damage of the class. We will move forward to fulfill the users’ expectations by examining the Soulfists’ structural issues more properly in the future.

Glaivier

Skills

Vault

- Attack type changed from Head Attack to Back Attack

Wheel of Blades

- Attack type changed from Head Attack to Back Attack

Red Dragon’s Horn

- Determination tripod damage increased

- Spear of Destruction tripod adjusted

ㄴ Always inflicts Crit Damage → Crit Rate enhanced by 100%, Enhanced Crit damage

- Aiming Distance tripod changed to Critical Aim (Tripod name pending)

ㄴ Enhanced Crit damage on foes hit by the tip of the spear → Enhanced crit damage

Thrust of Destruction

- PVE damage increased

- Speartip Thrust tripod changed to Destruction Spear (Tripod name pending)

ㄴ Enhanced Crit rate on foes hit by the tip of the spear → Enhanced crit rate, enhanced crit damage

- Switched tripod positions between Weak Point Detection and Shield

- Weak Point Detection damage increased

Spiraling Spear

- Counter Attack effect added

- Speartip Thrust tripod changed to Vital Point Strike

ㄴ Enhanced Crit rate on foes hit by the tip of the spear → Enhanced crit rate, crit rate decreased

Four-headed Dragon

- Speartip Thrust tripod changed to Vital Point Strike

ㄴ Enhanced Crit rate on foes hit by the tip of the spear → Enhanced crit rate, crit rate decreased

- Violent Thrust tripod crit rate increased, crit damage increased

Starfall Pounce

- Ground Explosion tripod damage increased

Developer’s Comments

- As the players’ level got higher, the max damage for Pinnacle Glaiviers got rather lower, so we adjusted the crit rates and crit damage of the tripods and removed some disadvantageous combat conditions. Also, considering the diverse setups of the Pinnacle Glaiviers, we made additional adjustments to the positioning of the tripods and effects.

Striker

Skills

Sky Shattering Blow

- Attack type changed from Head Attack, Back Attack to Back Attack

Esoteric Skill: Spiral Impact

- Attack type changed from Head Attack to Back Attack

Developer’s Comments

- As the players’ levels got higher, the Strikers have been meeting the expectations in several endgame contents, so we maintained the Striker's performance and changed the penetration type of the Esoteric Skill: Lightning Tiger Strike. However, during the test server, “invisible wall” issues, in which the character’s moving distance gets shorter, occurred more frequently. The “invisible wall” issue is a problem that can occur in any character’s mobility skills — it’s an issue that occurs when the monster moved after the character’s skill was cast, but the character’s location coordinates aren’t refreshed on the server. We’ve been trying to improve this issue with the R&D team for a long time, but it hasn’t been fixed yet as we have to adjust the root of the combat system. Due to this issue, we rolled the skill back to before the test server started. We’ll deal with the “invisible wall” issue first and then reapply the change.