[GUIDE] What is Lost Ark crafting, and how to use it correctly?

Lost Ark offers players the opportunity to try out a few professions, undoubtedly classic, but with a different use from what we know in other MMORPGs. So, ready to chop wood and pick plants? This guide will help you!

When to learn trades?

The answer is simple: Lacus! Depending on how you play, you'll encounter this area around level 25 in the West Luterra area. Little by little, you will unlock the different professions by doing the quests in this area.

Please don't rush the associated quests, as they will come naturally and require you to perform various tasks.

What are the trades?

Lost Ark offers us six different professions, which we can progress on little by little. They all have their uses and usually have exciting synergies.

Picking

You guessed it. This is about picking specific plants. They are slightly highlighted, and a simple click or press of the G key will collect them. You will need a picking tool, and once in the right areas, you can start to have a green thumb.

The gathering allows you to harvest flowers, herbs, and mushrooms.

Extraction

Once equipped with your miner's pickaxe, approach the highlighted deposits to extract the precious ore. If you're a prominent farmer, it's worth noting that instead of using your crafting energy to mine. Note that at an advanced level, you can use Extraction Photons or Extraction Bombs to harvest the ore.

After all, delicacy is not always appropriate.

Slaughter

Slicing demons is fun, but so is cutting trees! Once your felling tool is equipped, you can go to the nearest tree and start cutting it down to harvest its essence.

Note that two players can attack the same tree; the harvest is all the faster, so it is better to work together than separately! Your ax will be replaced by an enormous saw wielded by both players, which is a nice little graphic touch.

The hunt

A more complex job, if ever there was one, hunting is practiced in several phases. You will first need to track the animals to see which ones are potential targets; once that's done, using a throwing weapon can eliminate them relatively cleanly – we don't want to waste good meat!

Then get closer to your victim that the game will offer you to "sculpt" – we imagine this is an approximate translation of what should be "skinning". You can then harvest meat and skins.

The Peach

This job is quite direct, and you can practice it a few meters from the place of learning! Go near the water points marked with a hook, and switch to crafting mode by pressing the "B" key by default. You can cast your line and bring it up once your prey has bitten; this can be seen with an exclamation mark.

Fishing allows, unsurprisingly, to harvest fish.

Excavations

This profession, comparable to archeology, also takes place in several phases.

Once your digging tool is equipped, you must use the Sonar detection skill. A continuous sound effect and an icon above your character will direct you to the nearest artifact.

Once you have reached the most favorable area, using the Artifact Search skill will allow you to reveal a nearby relic. Harvest the item with a single right-click, which will enable you to get ability gems and tripod materials.

The delve techniques are a bit redundant, and the Lost Ark rewards only serve to optimize stuff, so you might not want to focus on them at first. The other professions allow better progress during the leveling phase, where excavations become more critical in the end game.

Increase your trades

Nothing rocket science. If you want to improve your profession, you will have to farm! Each harvest will gradually increase your crafting levels. There are 60 levels in total, which will give you bonuses in the form of crafting skills.

It would help if you did not prioritize this while leveling, as the set can be extended. However, it may be interesting to indulge in some craftsmanship here and there; the materials are functional as soon as you acquire your fortress, and earning a few points on the levels is never a bad thing!

Tools are important

Who says trades, says tools! You have to pay to validate! The dedicated quests that will allow you to access crafting will directly offer you to buy tools from the nearest merchant; remember that this task is necessary to complete said quests, and in case of purchasing a Founder's Pack, even equipping the tools offered will not be sufficient.

Logically, the higher the level of the tools, the more attractive they are. Many effects exist, allowing, in particular, a better yield when using them in quality or quantity.

A critical point to keep in mind is the durability of the tools. If it reaches zero, your item will become… unrecoverable! So remember, from time to time, to drop by a maintenance specialist (all colonies on each map have one) to exchange some parts for a refresh of your tools. After all, crafting makes one become an artisan – or something like that. Note, however, that the durability of your devices will decrease permanently. You will need to recreate them from your fortress.

Crafting energy

Like Terra or other Korean MMORPGs, Lost Ark follows the formula of "farming a lot, but not too much anyway." A green bar corresponding to your crafting energy will deplete as you practice your trades.

Don't worry, though, since the energy will gradually rise over time; if you're a prominent farmer, take a break and listen to the IRL birds sing to give the bar time to recharge, and you can return to your favorite harvesting areas! If you are focused on intensive farming, know that potions can also allow you to regenerate your energy.

Crafting Skills

Leveling up your crafts will give you access to a new crafting skill every ten levels.

Three passive skills, called "mastery" skills, will allow you to improve your general skills. They offer the following bonuses:

• Increased production
• Increased durability of crafting tools
• Increased gathering speed

The active skills can be dragged and dropped in the use bar and are specific to each profession.

And are you crafting?

In Lost Ark, crafting is not, strictly speaking, a job. You can use your materials at the fortress (obtained at the end of the story of the first continent). Indeed, the various components collected during your adventures will all be used when you improve the multiple management places of the fortress; once this is done, you will have access to the crafting workshop, which will allow you to craft many items, including consumables or harvesting tools. We should also add that advancing the elements of the fortress and building ships will cost, so it is practical to always have some resources on hand!

Related: Anything you'll need to understand to produce your character on Lost Ark correctly