In Lost Ark, you need to set sail by the time you want to leave the first continent. However, sailing in the MMORPG is much more than just a means of transportation. We at MeinMMO have all the information for you.
What is sailing? In Lost Ark, you receive your own boat as a reward at the end of the quest on the first continent. This boat can take you anywhere you want to go.
At first glance, that sounds like just transportation, but there is more to it. You can fully control your own boat and must brave the dangers of the high seas.
If you succeed, glory, riches, special quests, and hidden islands await you. However, not all corners of the ocean are immediately accessible to you, as you must first upgrade your boat.
But even if you are not interested in any of this, you will have to sail more often. The teleportation stones only work as long as you want to travel within the same continent. If you want to go to another continent, you cannot avoid your ship.
How all this works and what the basics of sailing are, we will reveal to you in this article.
When can you sail? You cannot avoid sailing; you cannot just walk past it. The main quest sends you to East Luterra at level 35, specifically to Wavestrand Port, where you will receive your first ship.
You will also receive the quest “Starting with Sailing Basics”, which roughly explains how to navigate with your ship through the world of Arkesia.
Especially at the start, your ship is not the best, and the rewards are rather modest, but if you sail regularly, better and more exciting rewards are waiting for you in the endgame.
Many of the islands, some of which even contain special quests, can only be reached with your ship. So it’s always worth keeping an eye out for pirate eyes.
Plenty of loot awaits on the ocean
What ships are available? In Lost Ark, you have a choice of 8 different ship classes. These differ in hit points, damage, maneuverability, speed, and more.
Which ship you choose is up to you. Each type offers its advantages, whether you choose the large Brahms sailing ships or the motor-driven stormbreakers.
No matter which ship class you choose, you can still upgrade and improve your boat afterwards, either to compensate for deficiencies or to further enhance its strengths.
In the long run, it is also essential to improve your ship. On the ocean of Arkesia, you will not only encounter beaches and sunshine. Underwater monsters, storms, fog, and high waves regularly threaten your ship.
If it doesn’t survive, you cannot reach certain parts of the world and need to save up for an upgrade to progress.
Not only the ship matters, but also the crew: Not only does your ship have certain stats, strengths, and weaknesses in Lost Ark. The crew you choose also plays a significant role.
Which sailors you take on board can determine the outcome of tricky situations for or against you. Therefore, it’s important to consider which people you take on board.
Each potential crew member has different stats, strengths, and weaknesses that you can focus on to maximize your own potential. Some special members even bring new skills to your ship and are therefore particularly valuable.
You can partially unlock your crew through quests, but many sailors can also be hired for a special currency that you can conveniently earn at sea with your ship.
Your ship can look really nice
What can you customize? Once you have your ship and crew ready for the adventure at sea, you obviously want to look good while doing it. Lost Ark also offers this possibility.
In every harbor, you can customize your sails and ship according to your wishes for a certain price. Not only are there various sail shapes, patterns, and colors, but you can also completely reskin the ships. With all the possibilities in appearance, crew, and stats, every player can specialize as they wish.
Well-decorated is half the battle: Once you have customized everything the way you want, nothing stands in the way of your pirate adventure. From now on, it’s time to collect various currencies, tokens, and stuff that you can exchange for valuable pirate coins in the various harbors.
Pirate coins are the most important currency for modern sailors in Lost Ark since you need them to upgrade both ship and crew, as well as to recruit new sailors.
How do you get pirate coins? For some activities you can perform at sea, you receive pirate coins as a reward. However, you can also exchange almost all other currencies that you can earn on your ship for the coveted coins.
Alternatively, you can also get the coins for lost cargo that you can earn along the way. This is mainly through four different activities:
- Fishing
- Exploring sunken ships
- Treasure hunting
- Salvaging cargo
These tasks are all marked on your mini-map so that you can specifically target them to earn and collect the rare coins.
Ships require good maintenance
Does your ship last forever? In short: No. Your ship has a health meter displayed at the bottom center of the screen as a large blue orb. If your ship’s HP falls to 0, you sink and must go to the next harbor.
There, you must repair your ship. This costs not only a lot of silver, but also quite a bit of time. You must always carry out these repairs, as your ship slowly loses hit points the longer it is at sea. However, if it is completely destroyed, the repair costs increase significantly.
Depending on how rough the waves are or whether you are even attacked along the way, your ship’s health declines faster. Accordingly, it drops slower in calm and shallow waters.
What should you pay attention to? You should not visit areas with your ship that you are not yet equipped to handle or such that overwhelm your ship. If you do, a red bar fills up on the right side of the ship status.
If this bar is completely filled, a large part of your HP will be deducted. So you should always keep an eye on this and be prepared before you perform daring maneuvers.
Regular events for ambitious pirates
How can you participate? If you click on the small clock in the upper left corner of the game, you can see all upcoming events and also set timers and alarms so you don’t miss them. This works not only for sailing events but for all events in the game.
When you have opened the clock, you can click on the gear icon to filter specifically for sailing events. This way you can immediately find out when and where the next opportunities to get something are.
You can then simply participate by showing up at the right time and place. You can find the appropriate location in the event description.
How do the events work? In sea events, you must complete 4 mini-games and be the best of the players present. If you finish these mini-games, which are very similar to the 4 activities mentioned above, you will receive navigation coins.
You can then either exchange these for the known pirate coins or directly with the event vendor for potentially exciting rewards. If you do not want these, then take the pirate coins, they always help.
Do you have any other tips and tricks that could simplify sailing in Lost Ark? Did you know that ships are such a big part of the new MMORPG? And do you find this part exciting, or are you deterred by the fact that you have to venture into the cold water? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments here at MeinMMO.
Another tip from us: Watch how you name your characters in Lost Ark – you might regret it.
