Lost Ark Shadowhunter guide: Best skills, build, engravings, and leveling

Feb 11, 2022

Shadowhunter class overview

In Lost Ark, the Shadowhunter is an assassin class that fights with dual-bladed tonfas. However, in the heat of battle, this class can also transform into a Demon with terrifying abilities. The Shadowhunter skill set consists of tonfa attacks and demonic conjurations. If you’re looking to get a little wicked, Shadowhunter has you covered. If the thought of letting your inner demons out sounds cool to you — or if you’re a fan of the blood and gore aesthetic — the Shadowhunter is right up your alley.

Shadowhunter from a gameplay standpoint is another straightforward class in Lost Ark (Like most, to be fair). As a result, this class is also perfect for beginners. As a Shadowhunter, our identity is a gauge that indicates when we can Demonize. Shadowhunter skills will fill the gauge. When the gauge is full, the Shadowhunter can then Demonize, which grants entirely new powerful abilities for a short time period.

Shadowhunter build overview

Much like every other class, the two primary builds that Shadowhunter has are determined by their Class Engravings.

Demonic Impulse

The Demonic Impulse build primarily uses normal skills as a means of generating gauge for your Demonize. The Demonic Impulse engraving allows you to ignore the cooldown period after transforming, letting you quickly regain gauge and transform again. Additionally, your critical strike chance is increased in Demonize.

The Demonic Impulse build resembles what you played while leveling. The build has a playstyle where you'll fill up your gauge with normal skills and then transform into a Demon for a short period. The Demonic Impulse build is heavily reliant on getting enough specialization to transform as fast as possible, so it may feel a bit clunky in the earlier stages of the game.

This build typically looks for Specialization and Crit as their desired stats, with Specialization usually being the primary focus. Aim for around a 70/30 Specialization/Crit split.

Desired engravings for this build are (In order):

Demonic Impulse
Grudge
Cursed Doll
Keen Blunt
Adrenaline

An example Demonic Impulse build for a brand new level 50 character with 252 Skill Points will look like this:

Perfect Suppression

The Perfect Suppression build only uses normal skills. This is because the Perfect Suppression Engraving disables your Demonize — in return you get a global increase in damage and gauge generation. This means that you won’t be able to transform into a Demon and use Demon skills, but you will be able to build gauge which can be spent by your skills.

Perfect Suppression is a build-and-spend style build with high attack speed and consistent damage. There is no Demonize, so use your skills to build and spend your gauge without having to worry about transforming.

This build typically looks for Crit and Swiftness as their desired stats, with Crit usually being the primary focus. Aim for around a 60/40 Swiftness/Crit split.

Desired engravings for this build are (In order):

Perfect Suppression
Grudge
Keen Blunt
Adrenaline
Master of Ambush

An example Perfect Suppression build for a brand new level 50 character with 252 Skill Points will look like this:

Shadowhunter leveling guide

Leveling in Lost Ark is pretty streamlined and straightforward, but here are a few key skills and tripods that will aid you in the leveling process.

Demonic Slash

This is a normal skill that is unlocked immediately. This is a great skill for moving through zones and you should be using it often. With four skill points, you can level this skill to four and increase the leap distance by two meters with the Excellent Mobility tripod.

I would leave this skill at level 4 in order to conserve skill points, but you can level this skill to seven for additional mobility with the Nimble Movement tripod. This is a great skill for moving through zones and you should be using it often.

Demonic Clone

This is a normal skill that is unlocked immediately. The skill has good damage but we’ll level it after the other priority skills. I would get this skill to level 7 by investing 20 skill points into it when you can, and then leave it at level 7 until your main damage skills are level 10.

Cruel Cutter

This is a normal skill that is unlocked at level 12. This is our main AoE and single target damage skill as a Shadowhunter. You’ll use this skill to clear large packs of trash mobs and as one of your main damage skills to bosses. You want to get this skill to level 10 by investing 48 skill points into it as soon as possible. I’d level this skill to level 10 first.

Thrust Impact

This is a normal skill that is unlocked at level 16. This is our second AoE and single target damage skill, doing a fantastic amount of damage. You want to get this skill to level 10 by investing 48 skill points into it as soon as possible. I would level this skill after Cruel Cutter, as we’re going to use this skill as a single target skill primarily. You can level this to 10 first, but mobbing with it is mediocre.

Sharpened Cut

This is a normal skill that is unlocked at level 36. This is a hybrid damage and mobility skill. I would get this skill to level 7 by investing 20 skill points into it when you can. Although it is also a mobility skill, I’d prioritize damage tripods for the skill over the mobility tripods.

Howl

This is a normal skill that is unlocked at level 40. This is another high damage AoE skill available to you as a Shadowhunter. You’ll use this skill to clear large packs of trash mobs. You want to get this skill to level 10 by investing 48 skill points into it as soon as possible. I’d level this skill to level 10 after Thrust Impact for additional help with mobbing.

Thanks to Shandamon for providing key information in this guide, he has a large collection of in-depth Shadowhunter content available on his Youtube and Twitch channels.

Thanks for reading our Shadowhunter guide! We hope you terrorizing your way through the world of Arkesia! Meanwhile, check out some of our other guides here: