Players who find themselves in the world of Lost Ark will soon get embroiled in intense politicking and navigating between a very fragile peace, with the only hope of true order lying in the all-powerful Ark they have to somehow reassemble before things go haywire. In order to protect the world of Arkesia from the world’s deadliest threats, players may have to don the mantle of the Reaper Class and become the truest masters of stealth.
At its core, Reapers specialize in stealth and assassination, banking on clones and vanishing attacks to strike foes at their weakest. As they join the Shadowhunter and Deathblade as an Advanced Class for the Assassin in Lost Ark, just how would the Reaper fare compared to the rest of the Classes, especially with more advanced builds?
Maintain The Shadows
Sneaking remains the name of the game with the Reaper, with the emphasis from other Assassin specializations being a more stylish take on combat - be it in raids, main quests, or Lost Ark side quests. The Maintain the Shadows build tries to encapsulate the Reaper into certain core principles: where Persona Mode’s Dagger (green) and Shadow (purple) strive to maximize invisibility and always use Shadow Vortex right before any Ambush (red) skill to lessen their CDs.
With these in mind, Maintain the Shadows strives to maintain DPS as often as possible, which is why stat distribution is best divided between Specialization and Crit. In terms of tripods, emphasis should always be placed on maintaining invisibility as often as possible to secure bigger Ambush hits, meaning buffs like higher crits (Fatal Dagger, Vital Point Hit) and fewer CDs (Activate Shadow, Quick Prep) are always appreciated.
Consistent DPS
One of the main reasons why players opt for the Reaper is for raiding, especially since the Class’s propensity for high mobility and high burst damage makes them excellent at killing both mobs and bosses quickly. For this Consistent DPS build, Lunar Voice Engraving takes priority, as this bolsters the potential of sneak attacks to begin rotations.
What’s interesting about this Consistent DPS build, in particular, is how there’s no particular rotation priority, and pressure on this part can lead to Lost Ark beginner mistakes. This build is flexible enough for players to mix and match the skills they need in any given situation, provided Nightmare and Distortion are always used to reposition behind the target. It’s also recommended to use Rage Spear + Silent Rage and Glowing Brand + Dance of Fury should their CDs align to maximize DPS.
Raid Burst Lunar Voice
What makes the Reaper such a good candidate for a raiding Class is their potential to release quick bursts of attacks that aim to kill opponents while evading as many counters as possible. With Raid Burst Lunar Voice, the Reaper capitalizes on the Ambush-focused Lunar Voice Engraving while at the same time emphasizes mobility and back attacks in particular. This position-heavy build would need Reapers to focus on Specialization to boost the efficiency of their swoop skills, with a bit of Crit to secure decent damage numbers even on basic attacks, ideal for Lost Ark crafting weapons.
Relying on Raid Burst Lunar Voice as a build means focusing on fulfilling DPS attacks from a proper positioning standpoint. The speed boost from Persona Mode, as well as the movement convenience from Shadow Trap and Lunar Eclipse: Cadenza, gives players a lot of room to reposition should the need arise. Nightmare and Distortion are emergency maneuvers that can get players around bosses quickly, which is a necessity if they want to secure kills more often.
Filling The Red Ledger
While the general gameplay loop of the Reaper involves around going invisible (Persona Mode) and then swooping in for the kill (Chaos Mode), there’s not much the player could do if their red or Ambush skills aren’t as optimized to dish out as much damage as possible. This Filling the Red Ledger build capitalizes on the Hunger Engraving, providing a boat in Chaos gauge generation as well as a generous 25-percent boost in Attack Power when full.
This Filling the Red Ledger build works well with its focus on a 50-50 stats split between Specialization and Swiftness, granting the Reaper tremendous boosts in Attack Speed, Move Speed, and Skill CD - necessary for the fluidity in combos. Skill rotations for this build is ideally launching Persona Mode skills to grant Poison: Corrosion debuffs, after which capitalizing on the boosted sneak attack damage with swoops. Once this is done, Shadow Vortex is an ideal way of resetting the rotation, without the need for Lost Ark consumables. It’s important to emphasize tripods that improve overall Chaos Mode damage (Chaos Enhancement), backstabs (Concentrated Attack, Shadow Zone), and CDs (Quick Prep).
Green As In Camo
At first glance, the gameplay emphasis of the Reaper revolves around invisibility via Persona Modes and dishing sneak attacks through Chaos Mode. However, with Green as in Camo, the emphasis here is with the Lunar Voice Engraving, which not just boosts Move Speed by 30-percent but also buffs the next Ambush skill damage by 25-percent - and it stacks up to five (5) times! In turn, it makes sense for Lost Ark players to max out Specialization in terms of stats for the Persona Meter recovery and swoop skill damage, with Crit or Swiftness as a secondary for the boosted criticals or CDs, respectively.
This time around, Green, as in Camo, emphasizes Reapers dishing out the most damage in the tiny window after they release themselves from Persona Mode. In turn, an ideal rotation would be Shadow Storm going into Shadow Vortex and then Rage Spear. After these, players should maintain a position close to the target, which they can do so with Nightmare, Distortion, Shadow Trap, Shadow Vortex, and a finisher with Glowing Brand. This need for precision means ideal tripod boosts should emphasize higher crits (Vital Point Hit, Fatal Dagger), and fewer CDs (Quick Prep, Activate Shadow).
Shadow Trap Emphasis
Of all skills in the Reaper’s repertoire, it’s Shadow Trap that is one of the most damaging - particularly due to its AOE stun that can debilitate an enemy’s rotation. The Shadow Trap Emphasis focuses on this build, which is why stat division should prioritize Specialization to ensure Ambush skills and Identity Meter gain are boosted as much as possible. Crit is an ideal secondary stat to secure higher-than-normal damage numbers when dishing out DPS rotations.
With this in mind, tripod upgrades for Shadow Trap Emphasis should focus on boosting overall DPS (in Rage Spear, Last Graffiti, Dancing of Fury) and reducing CDs (Shadow Activation).
The emphasis on Shadow Trap has a lot to do with repositioning, with a complete rotation focusing on achieving a three-stage combo that always transitions from one Ambush Skill to the next. Rotation 1 involves Nightmare and getting out of Persona Mode with Distortion, another Nightmare that transitions into Shadow Trap, Shadow Vortex, and then Rage Spear. This leads to Shadow Storm, another Shadow Vortex, and then Glowing Brand. Finally, players do another Rotation 1, this time ending in Dance of Fury.
Maximum Chaos
While the Reaper does excel in backstabs and securing the kill after a nifty round of sneaking about in Persona Mode, one can’t deny their sheer potential in Chaos Mode. When utilized properly, this Maximum Chaos build will allow players to enjoy a much higher damage floor while at the same time maintaining decent mobility. This immediately means focusing on the Hunger Engraving, which immediately boosts Chaos Meter fill-ups and buff maintenance.
In terms of rotations for Maximum Chaos, Lunar Eclipse: Cadenza (Awakening) immediately fills up the Chaos Meter, making it the perfect time to cycle through Shadow and Dagger skills to maintain Chaos Mode as long as possible. Securing buffs and Lost Ark Gems that improve elements such as Swoop Activation, Quick Recharge, and Swiftness can make Ambush skills such as Glowing Brand and Silent Rage faster to access. The key here is to get inside Chaos Mode as quickly as possible and build up damage quickly before blasting through the opponent’s defenses.
Looping Lunar Voice
Due to the boosts the Lunar Voice Engraving provides towards Ambush skills in Lost Ark gameplay, it makes sense for the Looping Lunar Voice to rely on a build-spend loop. At its core, this emphasizes sheer speed and mobility, opting to lower CDs as quickly as possible and navigating the battlefield while picking off opponents one by one. In turn, the go-to skills here would be Shadow Vortex (with Swoop Activation), Distortion (with Tailwind), and Shadow Trap (with Activate Shadow).
At its core, the rotation loop for Looping Lunar Voice needs players to enter Persona Mode and carefully build up momentum with Dagger and Shadow skills, only entering Chaos Mode to cash in on sweet damage points. This rotation would look like this: Shadow Storm and Shadow Vortex go hand-in-hand in filling up Persona Meter, and players can dish out Rage Spear after entering Persona State. Another cycle begins with Shadow Trap with a short Nightmare-Distortion combo, followed up by a Shadow Vortex and Glowing Brand. Lastly, the next cycle involves dishing out two Shadow Vorteces before finishing with Dance of Fury.
Lost Ark was released last 2019 and is playable on PC.