South Korean MMO Lost Ark embodies everything players love about MMOs with the fast-paced, hard-hitting combat of Action-RPGs. Set in the sensational world of Arkesia, the game revolves around a fantastic combat system that has players feeling powerful from the get-go. Following its popularity, the game made its highly-anticipated debut in the West.
With the release of the long-awaited MMO came 13 advanced classes for players to choose from. Among these are the Sorceress and Bard, advanced classes for a Mage, only available to female characters. While the class unsurprisingly revolves around magic, the advanced classes have notable differences. Despite both focusing on ranged combat and the intelligence stat, the Sorceress class prefers to overwhelm foes with a devastating elemental flurry. In contrast, the Bard class provides a symphony of support for their team. Still, each advanced class can shine in their respective role, and lovers of enchanter classes are sure to have endless fun regardless of the option they choose.
Bend the Elements to your Will as a Powerful Sorceress
Replacing the Summoner class for the release of Lost Ark in the Western regions, the Sorceress is a powerful elemental enchanter. With brilliant DPS output and formidable crowd control, the Sorceress provides versatility with her spells. Furthermore, able to damage several enemies at once, this advanced Mage class is fantastic at disrupting foes and controlling the battlefield. Players interested in selecting this advanced class will need to practice using distance to their advantage as it has a relatively low health pool. Still, those that manage to perfect the Sorceress’ long-range will prove to be a formidable ally and terrifying foe. While the Sorceress has all of the elements under her control, a few abilities stand out above the rest:
Blaze: The Sorceress conjures a rectangular flame before her, dealing significant damage and paralyzing foes, a great way to keep opponents in place for other abilities, such as Explosion.
Explosion: Feel powerful by summoning a destructive ball of fire at foes, which explodes on impact to inflict massive damage.
Punishing Strike: This AoE ability staggers and damages enemies with an impressive bolt of lightning.
Esoteric Reaction: Spawn a crystal that damages enemies around it. The crystal evolves, up to level 3, at which point it explodes, knocking enemies back and dealing a large amount of damage.
In Lost Ark, each class has a Speciality Skill. These skills are usually the character’s most potent spell, acting like an ultimate ability. For the Sorceress, the Speciality Skill is Arcane Rupture, which relies on players to fill the Sorceress’ Arcane Meter by dealing damage. At 30%, players can activate the ability to enter the Magick Enhanced state. This state reduces the Sorceress’ cast times while increasing her damage. If players wait and activate Arcane Rupture at 100%, the Sorceress instead enters the Arcane Torrent state. Arcane Torrent reduces all cooldowns and dramatically boosts the Sorceress’s damage. Both conditions persist until the Arcane bar is fully drained, which happens over time. Furthermore, the Sorceress has a second Speciality Skill which allows her to blink a short distance at the sacrifice of the cooldown reduction and damage boosts.
Steel the Hearts of Allies with the Musical Bard
If players are looking for a more supportive playstyle, the Bard is a phenomenal option. Wielding harps and inspiring melodies, Bards provide powerful buffs to their allies while offering little DPS. Still, what a Bard may lack in the damage department, they make up for in their healing and shielding capabilities, making them a fantastic addition to any team. In the Western region, there are only two support classes to date. On top of this, many of the other classes, such as the Assassin subclasses, benefit highly from the Bard’s ability to increase ally damage output. With this in mind, it’s safe to say that the Bard advanced class will be in high demand. These are just a few of the Bard’s most essential spells:
Dissonance: An Area of Effect ability, Dissonance inflicts a small amount of damage in the casted area while reducing the movement speed of enemies within its radius by 60% for 1 second. Bard’s will rely on this spell to help apply Crowd Control to foes.
Conviction Core: The Bard summons 3 Cores to protect herself for 10 seconds, exploding and damaging enemies that enter within 4 meters of her. Conviction Core is an excellent way for a Bard to defend herself in dungeons.
Soundholic: Fire a blinding ray of light for 3 seconds, inflicting enemies with damage up to 10 times every 0.3 seconds. Soundholic is a fantastic spell to help with clearing in dungeons and questing.
Heavenly Tune: Key to a Bard’s rotation, Heavenly Tune buffs the attack speed of nearby allies, which helps parties quickly clear foes.
Outside of rotations and abilities, the Bard relies on her Speciality Skill, Serenade. After storing up to three serenade bubbles, Bards may consume them to increase the attack damage of party members or provide healing support. To obtain a bubble, bards need to attack opponents with one of their attack skills. Players need to focus on storing bubbles to cast Serenade and supply massive team-wide buffs. Masters of song, the Bard advanced class is a significant support role that’ll have teammates begging for an encoré.
In general, the advanced Mage classes have some of the most impressive-looking abilities. Furthermore, unlike some of the other options, the Mage class remains influential throughout Lost Ark. With their formidable presence on the battlefield and invaluable role in any party, the Mage class is an incredible option for players looking to play as an enchanting magic-wielder.
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