There are several systems in Lost Ark to make your character stronger and customize its build to your liking – one of those is the engraving effect system.
With engraving effects, you can unlock special permanent buffs for your character, ranging from increased crit damage at the tradeoff of a chance to deal less regular damage to higher shielding and healing effectiveness.
Recommended Read: Lost Ark – Chaos Dungeon Guide
Engravings are unlike what you find in most other MMORPGs, so it might not be obvious what it’s all about and how it works when you start playing the game.
What engraving effects your character has is determined by the engraving nodes that you get from the engraving you’re wearing, your accessories, and your ability stone.
In this guide, we give you all the information you need on the engraving effects system in Lost Ark, from how it works to what the best engravings to go for are.
Table of contents
- What are engravings in Lost Ark?
- How do engravings work in Lost Ark?
- How to activate engraving effects
- How to get engraving recipes
- How to upgrade the level of an engraving effect
- Engraving effects overview
- What are the best engraving effects in Lost Ark?
- Are engraving effects account-wide?
- How many engravings can you equip at a time?
- What to do with engraving recipes that you cannot use
What are engravings in Lost Ark?
Engraving effects, also referred to as engravings, are special effects that your character gets from the nodes on the engraving effect that it’s wearing, its accessories, and its ability stone.
When you’re wearing an engraving effect, your character gains the effect of that engraving, which can be anything from increased damage for a couple of seconds after a successful counter-attack to permanently increased defenses.
Engravings are unlocked for your character upon completing the main questline in Luterra Castle.
There is a long list of engravings to unlock in Lost Ark, all of which give a different effect.
Each advanced class has its own two unique engraving effects that only that class can use as they relate to their skills.
The rest of the engravings in the game, every class can use freely.
The engraving effects menu can be accessed in the game by pressing Alt+I on your keyboard or through Roster and then Engraving Effect in the bottom-right menu.
You can see what engraving effects your character currently has in the Engraving tab of the Character Profile.
How do engravings work in Lost Ark?
Engraving effects might be a bit overwhelming when you first start playing the game, but you can quickly get the hang of them.
Here is a detailed overview of how engravings work in Lost Ark.
Engraving effects are special effects that your character gets based on the engraving effect nodes that your character is wearing.
You can see what an engraving effect does by hovering over it in the engravings window, which can be accessed by clicking ‘Alt+I’ or through Roster and then Engraving Effect in the bottom-right corner.
Your character gets engraving effect nodes from the engraving effect, accessories, and ability stone that it’s wearing.
It is a bit confusing in the beginning, but the engraving effect that your character is wearing from the Engraving Effect window is simply a source of engraving nodes.
There are two terms you need to know, so you understand the remaining part of this guide – wearable engraving effect and engraving effect.
Wearable engraving effect is the engraving effect that you find in the Engraving Effect window that your character can equip to get nodes for that specific engraving effect.
Engraving effect is the actual effect that your character gets based on the engraving nodes that your character gets from both its two wearable engraving effects, its ability stone, and its accessories.
You do not need to be wearing a specific wearable engraving effect nor need to have unlocked it in the Engraving Effect window for your character to get an engraving effect.
If your character gets 5 Divine Protection nodes from its accessories and ability stone, your character will have the Divine Protection engraving effect, even if you’ve never even used a single Divine Protection engraving recipe.
There are three levels of each engraving effect. The number of nodes you are wearing determines the level of the engraving:
| Engraving Effect Level | Number of required nodes |
|---|---|
| 1 | 5 |
| 2 | 10 |
| 3 | 15 |
The higher the level of the engraving effect, the better the effect it gives. The type of effect stays the same, but the amounts increase with the level.
You can see all the different engraving effects your character is currently getting nodes for in the Engraving tab of the Character Profile window, which you can access by pressing ‘P’ or by going to Character and then Char. Profile in the bottom-right corner.
Accessories and ability stones also give so-called bad engraving effects, like Atk. Power reduction.
These work the same way as regular engraving effects do – when you have 5, 10, or 15 nodes of a bad engraving effect, your character gets the reduction in power it gives.
Your job is to find a great combination of nodes that give you a lot of nodes in the engraving effects that you want and minimize the number of nodes you get in bad engraving effects.
Remember, engraving effects only give a boost or a reduction when they have at least 5 nodes, so if you can find a build where you only have 4 nodes in bad engraving effects, you suffer no reductions at all, as they aren’t activated.
While you don’t need to wear a wearable engraving effect from the Engraving Effect window to activate an engraving, it is an amazing source of nodes for exactly the engraving you wish to use that gives no bad nodes.
Before you can equip a wearable engraving effect from the Engraving Effect window, you need to use the uncommon version of the engraving recipe corresponding to an engraving 20 times.
Every time you use an engraving recipe, the 0/20 value that it starts at increases to 1/20, to 2/20, and so on.
Upon you using 20 of the same engraving recipe, also known as engraving book, that engraving effect becomes unlocked and wearable. To equip it, right-click it or drag it into one of your two wearable engraving effects slots.
Wearable engraving effects give nodes to the engraving effect that it corresponds to based on its level:
- Level 1 (Uncommon) = 3 nodes
- Level 2 (Rare) = 6 nodes
- Level 3 (Epic) = 9 nodes
- Level 4 (Legendary) = 12 nodes
To get a wearable engraving effect to the next level, you need to use 20 of that engraving effect’s recipe in the rarity of its next level.
You can see by the number of nodes wearable engraving effects give that if you, for example, have an uncommon wearable engraving effect, you instantly get the level 1 version of that engraving effect for your character without needing nodes from accessories or your ability stone.
If you had and wore a legendary wearable engraving effect, you would get 12 nodes and only need 3 more from accessories and ability stone to unlock the maximum level 3 version of that engraving effect.
How to activate engraving effects
You activate engraving effects in Lost Ark by wearing at least 5 engraving nodes from your wearable engraving effects, accessories, and ability stone.
There are three levels of engraving effects, which are activated upon wearing a total of 5, 10, and 15 nodes of the same engraving effect.
You do not need to have unlocked a wearable engraving effect in the Engraving Effect window to get a specific engraving effect.
If you get enough nodes for a specific engraving effect from just your accessories and ability stone, that engraving effect will activate, and your character gets its effect.
The only thing that the wearable engraving effects in the Engraving Effect menu do is give you engraving nodes for that engraving effect.
Even though you don’t need wearable engraving effects to activate an engraving, they are a major source of engraving nodes and give no negative engraving nodes.
To activate a wearable engraving effect, you need to use 20 of the uncommon version of that engraving effect’s recipe. After you’ve done this, they will be active, and you can equip them to get 3 nodes towards their engraving effect or twice to get 6.
You can see how many nodes you are getting for different engraving effects from your wearable engraving effect, accessories, and ability stone in the Engraving tab of the Character Profile window.
To activate more or higher level engraving effects, you need to get more engravings to 5, 10, or 15 nodes.
How to get engraving recipes
You need tons of engraving recipes to unlock higher rarities of wearable engraving effects, which are a major source of engraving nodes.
There are a couple of different ways to acquire engraving recipes in the game, some of which are easier and faster than others.
Here are the main ways to obtain engraving recipes, also known as engraving books, in Lost Ark:
- Chaos Dungeons
- Guardian Raids
- Abyssal Dungeon
- Abyss Raid
- Auction House
- Quests and Island Quests
- Events
- Cube, Boss Rush, and Tower
You will get the majority of your engraving recipes from completing Chaos Dungeons, Guardian Raids, and the Auction House.
If you had enough gold, you could theoretically purchase all the engraving recipes that you need instantly, but they become quite pricey as you start needing epic and legendary engraving recipe books.
From most content that you’ll be doing after reaching level 50, including main story and roster quests, island quests, and end-game content, you’ll get engraving recipes.
So, if you haven’t used any engraving recipes but have played through some of the content after reaching level 50, chances are that you have a lot of engraving recipe pouches and chests lying around waiting to be opened.
How to upgrade the level of an engraving effect
There are two different levels concerning engraving effects in Lost Ark – the level or rarity of wearable engraving effects and the level of engraving effects themselves.
You can level up wearable engraving effects further to increase the number of nodes they give towards their engraving effect.
Here is an overview of how much it costs to level up wearable engraving effects:
- Locked -> Unlocked (Level 1/Uncommon) = 20 Uncommon Engraving Recipes
- Level 1 (Uncommon) -> Level 2 (Rare) = 20 Rare Engraving Recipes
- Level 2 (Rare) -> Level 3 (Epic) = 20 Epic Engraving Recipes
- Level 3 (Epic) -> Level 4 (Legendary) = 20 Legendary Engraving Recipes
As you need to use many recipes to upgrade a wearable engraving effect to the next rarity, you can speed up the upgrading by using multiple recipes at the same time.
To use multiple recipes at once, hold Alt and right-click the stack of recipes, select the number of recipes to use, and click OK. You will then use the number of selected recipes in just one animation.
If you have many engraving recipes scattered in stacks of one in your inventory, you can stack them together manually and then use the same method to use them all at once.
To upgrade the level of an engraving effect and thus the stat boost amounts it gives, you need to be wearing more nodes of that engraving. Here is an overview:
| Engraving Effect Level | Number of required nodes |
|---|---|
| 1 | 5 |
| 2 | 10 |
| 3 | 15 |
An engraving effect is activated and is level 1 upon your character wearing at least 5 of the same engraving node.
When your character wears 10 of the same engraving node, your character gets the level 2 version of that engraving effect, and when it wears 15 of the same engraving node, your character gets the level 3 version of that engraving effect.
Any number of nodes that you add to your character that doesn’t take an engraving effect to either 5, 10, or 15 do not add any value. Any number of nodes over 15 doesn’t add any value either.
For example, if you have 7 Fortitude nodes, getting 2 extra so you have 9 in total makes no difference.
Only when the number of nodes adds up to a new level milestone – 5, 10, or 15 does it make a difference.
Engraving effects overview
In Lost Ark, there is a long list of engraving recipes to use, each of which gives a unique effect.
There are two overall types of engraving effects in the game – Combat Bonus engravings and Class Bonus engraving.
Combat Bonus engravings are engraving effects that all classes share and can all freely use.
Class Bonus engravings are specific to the advanced class that you’re playing, and only your advanced class can use them.
All engravings in the game can be activated to levels 1, 2, and 3 by wearing at least 5, 10, or 15 nodes of that engraving. Engravings give the same type of boost at each level, but the stat boost values increase as the level increases.
Wearable engravings can be unlocked and upgraded to the rarities Uncommon, Rare, Epic, and Legendary, at which points they give 3, 6, 9, and 12 nodes upon being worn.
You can find more information on the various levels of engravings and rarities of wearable engravings earlier in this guide.
As Class Bonus engravings are specific to an advanced class, they usually relate to that class’ skills and identity skills, while Combat Bonus engravings relate to combat and combat stats in general.
Each advanced class has two engraving effects that only they can use, which means that there currently are 30 Class Bonus engravings in Lost Ark.
There are currently 43 Combat Bonus engravings that every class can use, which means that there are a total of 73 different engraving effects in the game.
You can see what every engraving effect in Lost Ark does by hovering over it in the Engraving Effect window inside the game, which can be accessed by pressing ‘Alt+I’ or through Roster and then Engraving Effect in the bottom-right menu.
You don’t have to have activated a wearable engraving effect to see an engraving effect’s description and stat boosts at each level. To see the Class Bonus engravings of other classes, untick the View my job box in the Class Bonus tab.
What are the best engraving effects in Lost Ark?
With so many engraving effects in Lost Ark, which ones are the best ones to aim for and use?
In general, the best engraving effect to aim for is one of the engraving effects exclusive to your advanced class. Players usually build their character around what class-exclusive engraving effect they choose to use.
For some classes, it’s viable to go for both class-exclusive engravings, but for most, you should only use one.
Here are some of the best regular engraving effects to use in Lost Ark in no particular order:
| Engraving Effect | Description |
|---|---|
| Grudge | Increased Damage to bosses or above monsters. Increased incoming damage. |
| Precise Dagger | Increased Crit Rate. Decreased Crit Damage. |
| Keen Blunt Weapon | Increased Crit Damage. Chance to deal less Damage. |
| Cursed Doll | Increased Atk. Power. Decreased Healing effects. |
| Expert | Increased Shield and Healing effectiveness. |
| All-Out Attack | Increasing Holding and Casting skill Speed and Damage. |
| Awakening | Reduced awakening skill cooldown. Increased awakening skill use limit in PvE content. |
| Ambush Master | Increased Damage for successful back attacks. |
| Raid Captain | Increased Damage based on Move Speed bonus percentage. |
| Adrenaline | Damage and Crit Rate buff based on skill stacking. |
| Hit Master | Increased Damage for non back, frontal, and awakening attacks. |
| Spirit Absorption | Increased Atk. and Move Speed. |
Some engraving effects like Precise Dagger are much better at higher levels, as the tradeoff is smaller. At level 1, Precise Dagger increases Crit Rate by +4% but decreases Crit Damage by 12%. At level 3, it still only decreases Crit Damage by 12% but increases Crit Rate by +20%.
Though these are some of the best, it’s hard to say which specific ones are the best for you, as it depends on your build.
There might be engraving effects that aren’t listed above that suit your build better than any of those do.
Many engravings in Lost Ark are, however, not that useful and will not be suitable for any build. The ones above are great choices and will be suitable for many builds in the game.
Are engraving effects account-wide?
Yes, wearable engraving effects in the Engraving Effect menu are roster-wide, which means that they are shared with all characters on the same server.
All engraving recipes that you read on one character all other characters on the same server benefit from.
Characters on the same server do, of course, not share the engraving nodes that one character gets from its worn accessories and ability stone, only the wearable engraving effect progress.
Furthermore, it doesn’t make much sense to pick or purchase class-exclusive engraving recipes for a class that you aren’t playing, so if you start an alt character, you have to upgrade that class’ exclusive engravings effect.
How many engravings can you equip at a time?
You can wear two wearable engraving effects from the Engraving Effect window at the same time. You can even wear the same wearable engraving effect twice by dragging it into both of the slots.
There is no direct limit on how many different engraving effects you can activate for your character, though there is an indirect limit, as you cannot acquire more engraving nodes than those you get from wearable engraving effects, accessories, and ability stones.
Even though you can technically activate a bunch of different engraving effects with the right nodes setup, it’s usually better to focus on a few and get them to high levels.
What to do with engraving recipes that you cannot use
While building up your wearable engraving effects, you’ll sometimes end up with engraving recipe books that you cannot use and thus do not need.
If you, for example, have used 20 uncommon Keen Blunt Weapon engraving recipes and unlocked the Uncommon version of that wearable engraving effect, you cannot use any more of the uncommon version of that recipe, only Rare and later Epic and Legendary.
When you cannot use an engraving recipe, the only thing you can do with it and should do with it is sell it on the Auction House for gold.
Not all engraving recipes are tradeable, though. Engraving recipes that you cannot use and are untradeable can only be sold to a vendor for a small amount of silver.
That’s all you need to know about engravings in Lost Ark!
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