Lost Ark: Gunlancer Best Builds

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Gunlancer Chaos Dungeon Build - Red Build

Gunlancer Combat Readiness Raid Build - Blue Build

Gunlancer PvP Build Guide

This is the Gunlancer - Lost Ark's stand-in tank role and all-around versatile class with a lot of shields, punchy damage, and a useful taunt mechanic for Raids.

We've already given an overview of this class in our Gunlancer class guide - this is designed to inform you about the different playstyles, mechanics, and general pros and cons of the Gunlancer. This build guide goes into more detail with three key builds: a PvE build for Dungeons and Towers, a PvE build for Raids, and a PvP Gunlancer build.

Head to our Lost Ark Gunlancer class overview for more information regarding class mechanics, playstyles, and the general pros and cons of the class.

We updated this guide on April 13 with more information - mostly a focus on the Combat Readiness Gunlancer Build, also known as the Blue Build.

Gunlancer Chaos Dungeon Build - Red Build

This build deals some big, big damage while maintaining the Gunlancer's generally tanky, slow-moving playstyle. You'll focus on AoE hits and reducing cooldowns where possible to clear Dungeon and Cube content as quickly as possible. That's the real aim with this content, anyway.

Here's a rundown of the skills for this build. This build uses a total of 240 skill points - this is a beginner build for T1 content. You earn more skill points as you progress through various quests and can eventually hit over 300+ skill points for an endgame build.

Ability	Tripod One	Tripod Two	Tripod Three
Fire Bullet Part one of your AoE kit, Fire Bullet deals damage to enemies close to you. Mid stagger, front attack	Lucky Chance When you hit this ability, it has a 50% chance of reducing the cooldown by 3s	Enhanced Strike Increases outgoing damage by 25%	Attack Creation Bombards x2, inflicts 60% extra damage. Pushes enemies further away
Shield Charge Charge forward and hit multiple enemies Mid stagger	Sturdy Armor Small damage reduction boost of 30% while dashing	N/A	N/A
Surge Cannon AoE skill for clearing waves deals damage multiple times with some knockback High stagger	Scatter Shot Fires in four directions in a cone shape over a 20% larger area, 30% extra damage to Named or lower enemies	Overcharge Changes to a charged-up attack with a Perfect Zone, overcharge = 60% more damage	Rotating Bombardment 360 attack, on hit cooldown is reduced by 1s and stacks up to 15s
Charged Stinger While shielded (defensive stance), charge up an attack that can be directionally changed Mid stagger	Weak Point Detection Damage increased to Push Immune foes by 20%	Charge Enhancement Increased charge level increases attack power by 15%	Last Charge Adds an extra charge level for more damage, increases outgoing damage by 20%, and improves knockback for a 30% extra damage boost
Leap Attack Movement leap Mid stagger	Quick Prep Reduces cooldown by 3s	Shockwave Creates a large AoE attack when you land the leap, 20% damage	Low Shock Combo mode. Activate again to jump once more then land for 50% damage
Guardian's Thunderbolt Large AoE Lightning element attack Mid to high stagger	Undying Heat 50% chance of reducing cooldown by 4s on ability hit	Wide Strike Increases AoE radius by 20%	Lightning Stalk When the ability hits, deal damage in a cross shape, dealing 50% damage
Shout Of Hatred AoE attack in 8m radius, also taunts non-player enemies (useful in Dungeon clears AND Raids for boss taunts)	Wide Strike Increases AoE radius by 25%	Law Of The Jungle When the ability hits, deal 200% damage to Minor and Normal foes (good for Dungeon clears)	Open Weakness When you land the ability, your Shield meter is restored by 20%, also buffs party members damage (front and back) by 12% for 12s
Shield Shock Ground strike that inflicts a movement debuff for 4s	Quick Prep Reduces cooldown	Wide Strike Increases AoE area by 20%	N/A

Awakening Skill - Guardian's Protection. For this clearing build, we go for Guardian's Protection. This awakening skill refills your shield meter to 100% and releases an aura of protection. Enemies nearby take extra damage and are stunned. There are some party buffs here as well, but these are more relevant for clearing Cubes with your buddies. Not so important for solo Dungeons. That being said, Guardian's Protection gives you an instant shield, which is pretty important for almost all the Gunlancer's kit. Definitely our Awakening of choice. You can use Guardian's Protection to quickly clear Elites/bosses in the Chaos Dungeons.

There are viable builds for both Lance of Judgment (the other Awakening) and Guardian's Protection. Lost Ark is pretty balanced when it comes to its abilities, playstyles, and class balance.

RELATED: Lost Ark: Beginner Guide

Engravings

Here's a look at the Engravings that work best with this Gunlancer build.

Solo Knight	Increases the crit rate chance for all Gunlance skills by 15%, increases overall Crit damage by 50%, though you cannot use the Battlefield shield. The shield meter is consumed during defensive stance by 100%. This is known as the RED BUILD.
Grudge	At level 3, increases damage by 20% to monsters that are Boss level and above, and reduces incoming damage from Boss level or above monsters by 20%
Cursed Doll	At level 3, increases attack power by 16% but reduces all incoming healing by 25%
Spirit Absorption	At level 3, increases attack and movement speed by 15%
Super Charge	Charge skills charging speed increased by 40% and overall damage boosted by 20%

So, there are viable options for both Class Engravings - Solo Knight and Combat Readiness. Combat Readiness focuses more on Defensive abilities and this is more useful during high-level Raids. You will act strictly as a tanky role with some serious potential damage as well in those areas.

For this Dungeon build guide, however, we have opted for the high-power, high-damage Solo Knight build that focuses on high crit damage and overall burst to clear waves quickly.

Grudge and Cursed Doll are almost staples of T3 content. They are swapped and changed out in lower-level content, but also don't be afraid to experiment with your class.
Focus on your CLASS ENGRAVING first, i.e, Lone Knight for Red Build, and Combat Readiness for Blue Build.

Stats For The Dungeon Gunlancer Build

Your primary focus with this Dungeon build for the Gunlancer is to head into Swiftness then transition into Crit. This is to speed up your clearance time and maximize your damage. At the very top end of content with the Gunlancer, you're aiming for anywhere between 450-580 Swiftness as a priority. Rest in Crit. This obviously is a bit high if you're just getting started with beginner dungeons, so pace yourself and upgrade as you go.

Combos With The Solo Knight Gunlancer

Most of your combos with the Gunlancer start with Shout Of Hatred - this is your Taunt. In this build, you can then follow up with: Shield Charge - Surge Cannon - Charged Stinger - Fire Bullet and a Leap to finish.

Other tips for clearing Dungeons quick:

Group mobs up and hit them with a Guardian's Thunderbolt or Surge Cannon
Try to hit multiple angles with Surge Cannon - you can get cooldown resets thanks to the Rotating Bombardment Tripod

Gunlancer Combat Readiness Raid Build - Blue Build

The Gunlancer's secondary playstyle - after the heavy-hitting, crit-focused Red Build with Lone Knight - is the more tanky, slow-paced Blue Build, which uses the Combat Readiness engraving. This is a fantastic playstyle for Raids and endgame content, like Argos.

The Blue Build utilizes the Combat Readiness Engraving, and is EXTREMELY cheap to build. This is why it's recommended as a great starter for Gunlancer players before transitioning into a Red build for extra damage - that is if you move on from loving the very effective blue build.

Brief Build Overview

The Blue build requires only the first level of Combat Readiness, which means you can save your Epic class engraving books for your alts, or to put them straight into Lone Knight for some class versatility.
You are extremely tanky and have some of the best survivability in the game with the Blue build. You can literally face-tank loads of boss mechanics.
This build focuses on Blue abilities - the main rotation following Shield Bash, which provides an armor debuff, followed up by your main damage abilities like Leap Attack and Guardian's Thunderbolt.
Grudge is recommended - because you are already a very tanky class, Grudge is extremely effective for DPS output with the Gunlancer.

Blue Build Skill Overview

To keep it simple, the Combat Readiness blue build focus on your normal abilities - these are blue in color on your skillbar.

Bash - Applied at the start of your damage rotation. This is an extremely short-range ability that can be difficult to hit, but is crucial to getting the most damage out of your rotation.
Shield Charge - A heavy damage ability that procs multiple times, can also be used as a mobility ability.
Leap Attack - A high damage ability that can also be used as a mobility ability, with the right Tripods this ability allows you to leap twice.
Nellasia's Energy - One of the very best abilities in the game, really. It provides a massive buff to your party (reduces incoming damage and provides a fat shield) and cleanses debuffs during fights. A must-have if you want to help your team out.
Guardian's Thunderbolt - A high damage ability - crucial in your damage rotation.
Shield Bash - This can be used to close the distance to make it easier to hit your Bash, also deals decent damage.
Shout of Hatred - An essential ability in your rotation - use this to regenerate your shield (remember, you cannot regen while in shield stance, so make sure to turn it off before you use this ability), and to taunt boss enemies out of certain attacks.
Dash Upper Fire - This is the ONLY Red skill in this build. You pick it up because of its fantastic counter ability - it's fast, and because you'll likely be in the boss' face most of the fight, it's pretty easy to hit - especially if you pick up the AoE range extender Tripod.

Stats, Engravings, And Other Info

A Gunlancer will focus on Specialization and Crit. Specialization is your main focus - the more spec you have, the more shield you regen, the more often you're in shield stance, and the more damage you can do as a result.

For Engravings, grab only the first level of Combat Readiness, then make a beeline toward Grudge, Awakening, Barricade, and later you can grab Cursed Doll, Stabilized Status, Adrenaline, or Spirit Absorption.

Overall, Barricade should be the first Combat Engraving you focus on. It increases your damage by a flat 16% while you're in the Shield, which is a massive boost, akin to Grudge but much, much cheaper. You absolutely have to pick up this Engraving!

Gunlancer PvP Build Guide

Coming soon.

NEXT: Lost Ark: What Class Should You Play?