If you want to carry a large firearm in Lost Ark and enjoy powerful AoE attacks, the Artillerist is the right class for you. MeinMMO author Anny Bader has looked into it and explains what matters.
The Artillerist is one of four subclasses of the Gunner. While he moves slowly, he deals a lot of burst damage by firing huge projectiles or launching enemies into the air with grenades.
As an Artillerist, you protect yourself with two different shields, allowing you to take a lot of damage. Additionally, you can take a seat in a turret to avoid getting knocked over and become even more resilient.
One problem with the Artillerist is that the damage from two powerful attacks is delayed. You fire them, and the enemy is only hit a few seconds later, meaning they could have moved in that time. Therefore, it is beneficial for an Artillerist to understand the mechanics of bosses well.
In the Tier List by MeinMMO, the Artillerist ranks in the A-area for both PvE and Low Rank PvP. He is well-suited for PvE and Low Rank PvP; however, in High Rank PvP, he is less useful and falls into the C-Tier.
[toc]
How the Artillerist plays
This is the special ability of the Artillerist: In your identity display at the bottom center of the screen, you gather energy during combat. It is divided into three stages. When the firepower gauge is full, you can place your Artillerist in a turret and enter the barrage mode.
This gives you access to four additional attacks: a laser, a bomb, a shield, and a machine gun. Additionally, you cannot move while in the turret, but you also cannot be knocked over or pushed back.
All abilities of the Artillerist
Energy Field: Generate a shield that absorbs up to 15% of your HP for 4 seconds.
Flamethrower: Hold to deal fire damage for 4 seconds.
Frost Cartridge: Bullet that slows enemies by 60% for 4 seconds.
Gatling Gun: Spin towards the cursor while firing a machine gun.
Summon Turret: Call in a turret that attacks enemies for 10 seconds.
Gravitational Explosion: Create a field that pulls enemies in and then explodes, knocking them back and dealing damage.
Howitzer: Explosive cannon that launches enemies into the air.
Air Strike: Fire into the air. The projectiles hit random enemies.
Multi-Rocket Launcher: Fire 5 rockets in random directions.
Napalm Shot: Grenade that explodes and launches enemies into the air. The ground where it landed will burn afterwards.
Plasma Storm: Create a field that moves towards enemies and deals damage for 5 seconds.
Rocket Bombardment: Mark a spot on the ground. After 4 seconds, a rocket arrives and destroys everything in an 8-meter radius.
Shotgun: Shoot with a shotgun.
Swing: Swing your launcher and stun enemies.
Jump Bombardment: Jump high and bombard enemies below you.
Enhanced Cartridge: Fire a large bullet.
Forward Barrage: Fire a quick cannon.
The Artillerist in the Leveling Process
When distributing points, it is important that you never need to raise the skill levels above 10. Skill Level 4 is required for the first tripod, Skill Level 7 for the second, and Skill Level 10 for the third.
Level 11: First, put 4 points into Enhanced Cartridge to apply a debuff on the enemy through the tripod Armor Destruction.
Up to Level 15: 20 points into Gatling Gun.
Up to Level 19: 20 points into Flamethrower.
Up to Level 25: For maximum AoE damage, now put 4 points into Napalm Shot, 20 into Air Strike, and another 4 into Multi-Rocket Launcher.
Up to Level 30: Now max out Air Strike.
Level 34: Now maximize Multi-Rocket Launcher. Take the points from Enhanced Cartridge and Napalm Shot for this. Additionally, put 4 points into Summon Turret.
Up to Level 41: 20 points into Gravitational Explosion and 48 points into Rocket Bombardment.
Up to Level 50: Finally, maximize Gravitational Explosion and Flamethrower.
If you ever misallocate points, it’s good to know that you can reset your skill points anytime and for free. Thus, the MMORPG does not put pressure on you, and you can experiment and play as you personally prefer.
The Best Builds in Endgame
In endgame, you choose, like with most other classes, between two class engravings. Experienced players usually opt for the engraving Firepower Enhancement and advise against Enhanced Barrage. However, there are options for both variants of the Artillerist on how you can play the class. We present them to you.
Class Engraving A: Firepower Enhancement
What does the engraving do? With the class engraving, you focus on the firepower gauge. With each level of the gauge, your crit rate increases. At level 1 of the class engraving, you start with a 15% higher crit probability and can increase this by 5% with each level of the identity gauge. Then you have 25% more crit.
Additionally, you take 20% less damage. However, this number remains constant, regardless of how high you raise the class engraving and the identity gauge.
Which engravings should I use? Since your attacks do not have a bonus as frontal or back attacks, you can use the combat engraving Master of Strikes. This increases your attack damage when you do not attack from the front or back.
To further increase your crit, you can use Adrenaline and later Reckless Blunt Weapon. The latter only, when your crit rate is already over 70%.
Barrier is also worthwhile as an Artillerist. The engraving increases your damage when shielded.
You can read how the engravings work exactly in our guide.
Which collectible cards are important? To further increase your crit rate, you should initially focus on the card set Howling Rocks. It consists of Armel, Seria, Solas, King Thirain, Kharmine, and Delain Armel.
The optimal set is Light of Redemption, but it consists of rare cards. Thus, it becomes expensive later on; however, it’s worth it. The set consists of Shandi, Azena, and Innana, Nineveh, Wei, Balthorr, and Thirain. With a 6-piece set that has 30-part awakening, the cards grant you 8% more Holy Damage and convert all your damage to holy damage.
What skills should I use?
| Icon | Skill | Level | Tripods |
 | Napalm Shot | 4 | Target Focus |
 | Multi-Rocket Launcher | 10 | Flame Rocket Quick Bombardment Access Denied |
 | Flamethrower | 10 | Firepower Control Shield Blue Flame |
 | Air Strike | 10 | Short Fire Lightning Bombardment Atomic Bomb |
 | Summon Turret | 4 | Armor Destruction |
 | Forward Barrage | 4 | Firepower Control |
 | Rocket Bombardment | 10 | Guided Reinforcement Weak Point Detection Power Bomb |
 | Energy Field | 10 | Mental Concentration Energy Increase Solid Shield |
As an awakening, you use Rocket Salvo. This is essentially your ultimate.
What does the rotation look like?
- First, use Energy Field to be protected during your rotation.
- The most damage you deal now comes from Rocket Bombardment and Air Strike.
- Next, use Napalm Shot, Multi-Rocket Launcher, Flamethrower, and Forward Barrage as fillers.
- Once your firepower gauge is filled, you enter barrage mode and use Invincibility and Energy Cannon.
- Now, your cooldowns should have expired, and the rotation can begin again.
Class Engraving B: Enhanced Barrage
What does the engraving do? Enhanced Barrage buffs your identity. Once you enter the turret, you deal more damage.
The engraving is slightly weaker than Firepower Enhancement and is much more stat and gear-dependent. Currently, there are hardly any players who use this class engraving.
If someone does, they typically use the following skills:
- Summon Turret
- Enhanced Shell
- Forward Barrage
- Flamethrower
- Gravity Explosion
- Enhanced Shell
- Homing Barrage
- Air Raid
- Forward Barrage
Which engravings should I use? In addition to your class engraving, the combat engraving All-Out Attack is worthwhile. Furthermore, Reckless Blunt Weapon, Adrenaline, and Hit Master are advantageous. Generally, you should play the class engraving with as much crit as possible.
Which collectible cards are important? The collectible cards do not differ from Class Engraving A. Here as well, you use the set Light of Redemption, as the collection increases your crit, which is very important with Enhanced Barrage. The collectible card set consists of Armel, Seria, Solas, King Thirain, Kharmine, and Delain Armel.
Optimal is also the set Light of Redemption, which unfortunately consists of rare cards. Thus, it becomes quite expensive later, but it’s worth it. The set consists of Shandi, Azena, and Innana, Nineveh, Wei, Balthorr, and Thirain. With a 6-piece set that has 30-part awakening, the cards grant you 8% more Holy Damage and convert all your damage to holy damage.
What does the rotation look like? In combat, you initially use your normal attacks to fill the identity gauge. Once the firepower gauge is full, you finally use the corresponding attacks in the following order:
- Bombardment: Howitzer
- Bombardment: Energy Cannon
- Barrage: Focus Fire
- Bombardment: Howitzer
Afterwards, you can exit the mode and use normal skills again to fill the gauge once more. Your rotation then starts from the beginning.
What do you think about the Artillerist? What item level have you brought him to? Which class engraving did you choose? Would you also advise against Enhanced Barrage, or do you see it differently? Feel free to write it in the comments here on MeinMMO!
More guides can be found here: Lost Ark Guides: All tips, tricks and builds at a glance
