Gunlancer Guide for Lost Ark

Coming to Lost Ark as a new player, the roles certain classes play may seem confusing. Gunlancer is the only certified tank in the game. While other classes, such as Destroyer, may fill certain tank criteria, Gunlancer is the only one that ticks off all the items on the list. Gunlancer comes equipped with:

• A taunt ( Shout of Hatred) which also boosts the damage of all party members, on top of an added bonus for positional classes.
• A pseudo-invulnerability with their identity gauge.
• A full on counter action through Counter Gunlance that also provides a damage boost for the user.
• A party-wide cleanse with Nelasia's Energy.
• Party-wide Super Armor through the use of their Awakening skill, Guardian's Protection.

As a cherry on top, Gunlancer sports some of the highest defensive stats in the entire game, before taking into account all the shielding.

While some players may find this as a negative, Gunlancer's have some of the most unique gameplay out of any class in the game. They're the only class that doesn't have a forward-moving spacebar dash, which, admittedly, does take some getting used to. Aside from Back Step, their mobility in general can feel as if it's lacking. Rather than being mobile, the class demands you learn which boss attacks you can shield through and which of them you shouldn't.

Gunlancer's utility is a double edged sword, as it provides some amazing raid buffs, but deals less damage than the average DPS class. The issue is it's not considered a support class. This means it won't fill the same role as an Artist, Bard, or Paladin, however it can fill that role in a party if a group knows they won't need dedicated healing. While top tier Gunlancer's will be able to keep up with the rest of the party, early on you may struggle a bit. Don't be discouraged by this. Your effort will be rewarded once you've leveled your tripods and grabbed your relic gear.

Combat Readiness is the tankiest build in the entire game. The entire rotation for the playstyle revolves around sitting in front of the boss's face with Defensive Stance up, getting out your damage, then turning the shield off to regen your gauge and repeating the process.

This version of Gunlancer is considered one of the easiest classes to learn to play in the game, due to a mix of it's easy rotation and the fact it's hard to actually take damage. So hard that most Combat Readiness users also run Stabilized Status, which requires the user to stay above 80% health to gain it's benefit. It also boasts incredibly high amounts of stagger damage.

Lone Knight is essentially the burst damage spec for Gunlancer. While less tanky than Combat Readiness, this playstyle can still make use of Defensive Stance. Lone Knight doubles the identity gauge consumption, so it's something to keep in mind while trying to tank your way through a fight.

Almost all of the damage done in this playstyle comes from two skills; Charged Stinger and Surge Cannon. Both of these skills have a required charge time, and they're both extremely reliant upon tripod leveling, as most of their damage comes through them. The Lone Knight rotation is also rather simple; Buff, burst, filler. You'll repeat this cycle until the boss dies with very little deviation.