Are you having troubles to decide which engravings not only to run but also to invest in in Lost Ark? Well, I got you covered with this tier list that will give you a good overview to see which ones you might be running that are mediocre or maybe even bad (yes, I have some false friends on the list) and which ones you might not have thought of to be really strong.
Best Engravings Tier List in Lost Ark
Alright, let’s jump right into the tier list:
S Tier
Grudge is a DPS-focused engraving that offers up to 20% extra damage on all bosses and high-rank enemies, but also causes you to take an extra 20% damage from them. Widely known as the best DPS engraving and is used by just about every player in endgame content.
A Tier
Cursed Doll increases the attack power by up to 16% at the cost of -25% to healing. However, natural health recovery is not affected by this engraving that makes it quite viable on damage build characters in Lost Ark that don’t rely too much on healing or support. Similar to the Grudge engraving, just less effective.
Adrenaline only applies to skills other than basic and mobile attacks; it increases attack power by 1% for 6 seconds and Can be stacked up to 6 times plus and gives an additional 15% to critical hit rate when maxed out. This is best equipped for classes that have many skills with low cooldowns so you can cycle through fast and get the most out of it.
B Tier
Keen Blunt Weapon grants up to +50% crit damage, but all attacks have a chance to do -20% damage. It should only be used on high base damage builds to mitigate the 20% cost, the higher your characters’ burst damage, the higher the crit will buildup.
Awakening provides up to 50% cooldown reductionon your character’s Awakening Skills and up to +3 maximum uses. It should only be used if you have Awakening skill that is powerful enough to justify using an engraving slot, and it is most typically used in support builds. For this reason in the niche tier.
Raid Captain increases all outgoing damage by up to 45% of your basic move speed bonus percentage so there are no crazy tradeoffs you have to take. Although, overall, there are better options to use as engravings in Lost Ark.
Barricade increases damage to all enemies while shielded by up to 16%, so it’s pretty obvious what classes and characters benefit from. For all other ones, not really a good option and quite a specific engraving.
Expert – When using shield and HP recovery on yourself or other party members, the effect increases by up to +24%. If the enemy’s health is below 50%, the effect is increased by up to an additional 15%, making it a great support class engraving.
Mass Increase – Attack speed is decreased by 10% while attack power is increased by up to 18%. Along with Barricade and Expert, this engraving is best used in support builds.
C Tier
All-Out Attack increases the speed of holding and casting skills by up to 20% and also increases damage output to those skills by up to 20%. Great for tier 1 and tier 2 content in Lost Ark as it grants bonuses with no downsides but falls off later when the more powerful engravings (see higher tiers) are needed.
Hit Master increases the damage of all attacks besides frontal attack and back attack by up to 16%, but does not apply to any Awakening Skills. Great for new players as it gives a decent damage boost to the most often used attacks.
Master Brawler increases head attack damage output by up to 25%, that’s a solid amount without any negative downsides but also not the highest possible overall. A great engraving until you swap to a stronger one.
Ambush Master increases the damage output of successful back attacks by up to 25%. This engraving should only be equipped to classes that specialize in back attacks, like Deathblades, where it can actually shine.
Stabilized Status – When HP is above 80%, damage output increases by up to 16%. Not too great as it has the requirement that is quite high and then only 16%. Although it affects all damage, not just normal attacks. It’s not bad, but also not good.
Super Charge increases the charging speed of associated skills by up to 40%, and their damage output by up to 20%.
D Tier
Disrespect – When any enemy has lower than 30% health, damage is increased by up to 36%. Sounds like a great finisher, but at that point you’re in most cases already at the point where you got it, so using an engraving slot is pretty much a waste.
Drops of Ether does, when equipped, give all attacks a chance to create an ether. The cooldown for this engraving is 90 seconds at level 1, 40 seconds at level 2, and 20 seconds at level 3. Just not really powerful.
Ether Predator make attacks on enemies create ether that only you can pick up. Upon collection, your attack power increases by 0.5%, and all defense increases by 1% for 90 seconds. Can be stacked up to 30 times and has a 10-second cooldown. Can be squishy and there a refor sure better engravings in Lost Ark available (see above).
Heavy Armor increases all defense by up to 100%. Heavy Armor defense is not affected by any Defense reduction skills and is usually only used by tank and support classes but as armor is normally not the problem for them, this engraving is not that useful overall.
Master’s Tenacity – When your health is at or lower than 50%, damage output is increased by up to 16%. This is a risky engraving that is not suited for most builds due to the hefty HP activation cost and I personally really don’t like to have that as an enabler for a damage increase that’s only that low.
Precision Dagger – Reduces critical damage by 12%, but increases critical hit rate by up to 20%. It’s a numbers game and there might be rare cases where you can use it to increase the overall damage output, but they are really rare.
Spirit Absorption – Attack Power and Move Speed are increased by up to 15%. Nice flat buff but overall not the strongest option. A good one to use to swap it out later in the game.
Broken Bone increases damage to enemies that have been staggered by up to 40%. Best used by a Berserker or a build designed around stagger attacks, but super niche.
Crisis Evasion – When taking damage that could be fatal, you become invincible for 3 seconds and recover 50% of any damage you take in the invincibility window as HP. Level 1 cooldown is 15 minutes, level 2 cooldown is 12 minutes, and level 3 cooldown is 9 minutes. Can be a lifesaver, sure, but you normally want to run a build and setup that prevents that to happen in the first place, so it’s just a patch on a big wound and with the cooldown that is so long, you’ll run into the same issue before the cooldown is over and that’s it.
Explosive Expert increases bomb and grenade battle item carrying limit by up to +3. Super niche and only useful in a build that resolves around that.
Lightning Fury gives all attacks a 60% chance to generate a lightning orb every 1 second. All orbs explode and cause splash damage to surrounding enemies when 5 are created. Just not too effective in overall damage.
Propulsion increases the damage of all skills besides basic attacks and awakenings after using a mobile move by up to 16% for a duration of 5 seconds. Not too good as it only affects skills and the basic and awakening attacks are the big drivers for most classes.
Vital Point Strike increases the effectiveness of all stagger attacks by up to 36%. Like Broken Bone, this engraving is best used in builds designed around stagger and not much else.
F Tier
The following engravings are extremely class and build-specific, meaning they are not useful in a general way for other builds.
Contender – After killing an enemy, attack power increases by up to 2.5% for 40 seconds. Can be stacked up to a maximum of 7 times at level 3. Just the situation needs to be that specific to make it work well, it’s not a good option considering all the other good options you have
Crushing Fist – When attacking any staggered enemies, bypass up to 50% of Defense. Only useful (I’m not saying good) in stagger builds.
Divine Protection will, every time you are attacked, grant a 20% chance to reducing incoming damage by 60%. Level 1 cooldown is 60 seconds, level 2 cooldown is 20 seconds, and level 3 cooldown is 10 seconds. Can be good but also super RNG and squishy, you simply can’t rely on it.
Emergency Rescue – When HP is under 30% after a strike, a shield comprised of 50% of your maximum health is created for 6 seconds. When the effect ends, the shield is not destroyed. Instead, 50% of the shield’s HP is recovered. Has a nice mechanic actually, but it simply won’t contribute too much overall to make it worth blocking one engraving slot in Lost Ark.
Enhanced Shield – When shielded, you are immune to all status effects. However, you’ll have up to -50% of the shield’s HP and defensive stance absorption.
Fortitude – Reduces incoming damage proportional to the amount of HP lost by up to a maximum of 30%. Just too weak to really make a difference.
Magick Stream – When not being attacked, MP Regen up to 60% every 3 seconds is activated. The effect is removed for a period after you take damage. In theory, great, but in reality won’t trigger nearly as often as you think, especially as it’s attacked and not receive damage, so also debuffs and everything else will reset it.
Master of Escape – Decreases stand-up action cooldowns by up to 25%.
Increased Max MP – Increases Max MP by up to 30%. Sounds good, but the additional MP won’t give you that much benefit overall if your build or setup lacks overall viablity.
MP Efficiency – Increases damage to enemies by up to 12% when MP is at or below 50%. Also increases MP recovery by up to 30%. That’s mediocre at max.
Necromancy – All attacks summon temporary warriors to further damage enemies. Level 1 cooldown is 75 seconds, level 2 cooldown is 30 seconds, and level 3 cooldown is 15 seconds. They are simply not effective.
Preemptive Strike – Attacks are guaranteed to be critical with up to 160% damage on Challenge monsters and lower with full HP is super situational on challenge mode.
Strong Will – All Incoming damage is decreased by up to 30% while Pushed. Not really effective.
Shield Piercing – Increases damage to shields by up to 100% is super situational to run into that.
Conclusion
I hope this helps you to not only pick but also plan on your engraving priority in Lost Ark. So, if you have questions or you believe I did a horrible mistake just drop a comment below and we can start a conversation.
