Lost Ark has many different systems to represent a character’s progress. One way to improve is through Engravings, which initially seem very complicated. We at MeinMMO explain the system.
What are Engravings? With Engravings, you can improve certain aspects of your character, but there is always the risk of negatively impacting others. Basically, they serve as an upgrade for your set, but they can completely upend your character:
- For the Death Shooter, for example, there is an Engraving that completely disables weapon switching while greatly increasing the damage of both pistols.
- The Sorceress, on the other hand, can either enhance or turn off her Identity ability completely.
You first encounter the system when you are in Luterra Castle and the first major city finally opens up to you. A purple quest will then slowly guide you into the system, but it leaves many questions unanswered.
Obtaining and Improving Engravings
How do Engravings work? Basically, there is a distinction between Combat Engravings and Class Engravings. While Combat Engravings are identical and can be used across all classes, the two Class Engravings are only available to their respective subclasses.
How do you obtain Engravings? During a tutorial quest in Luterra – around level 26 to 28 – you will first receive 5 Stones of Birth as a gift. You can then use these to improve and activate your first Engravings.
These stones always have two positive and one negative effect. Each of them has 5 possible points, and you must roll a total of 15 times to fill or destroy each slot.
The chances of success and failure are recalculated after each attempt. Ideally, you want to achieve as many successes as possible with the positive, blue aspects while hoping that the negative, red points do not activate.
Once you have altered the stone 15 times in total, you can equip it and unlock the actual Engravings.
How do Engravings work? Once you have equipped the stone you want, you can see in a new window which Engravings you have unlocked. From 5 points, an Engraving or an Engraving level is active; anything below that is irrelevant.
So you want to ensure that you have as many blue activations as possible and that you keep the red ones below 4 as much as possible, so that the negative aspect of the Engraving does not activate.
In addition to countless positive effects, the possibilities for negative effects are limited. They either reduce your damage, movement speed, attack speed, or resistances.
If all 15 stones are active, you then have a Mali between 6 and 15% on the respective value. So be careful that your negative effects are never too high. It’s better to forgo a positive than to take on a nasty negative.
How to improve Engravings? In addition to luck, the collection aspect also contributes to how good you actually are. For certain Engravings, you can also find books to upgrade them specifically.
If you can find 20 books of the same Engraving, you unlock a new level of that Engraving. This will give you between +3 to +12 points on that Engraving.
If you now have a stone equipped that gives you +3 on the Engraving Drops of Ether, you can collect 20 books of this Engraving, giving you a total of +6 Drops of Ether. This activates the Engraving without having actually unlocked it on the stone.
You can obtain these books from the following sources:
- By purchasing them with a currency obtained from Chaos Dungeons
- Buying them from other players
- Side quests
- Chaos dungeons
What’s next? You should ideally inform yourself about which Engravings are strong for your class. The Engravings in Lost Ark are rare and require a good deal of investment. You will regret it if you waste silver and Engraving books that you do not need.
After unlocking the Engravings, you will also get more Engraving books as quest rewards. It’s now even more worthwhile to check which rewards a side quest offers.
Have you already gained experience with Engravings or have you ignored the mechanics so far? Perhaps you have tips and tricks that could complement this guide? Feel free to share them in the comments here at MeinMMO so that all readers can benefit from your knowledge.
