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What are Life Skills in Lost Ark?
Life Skills (otherwise known as Trade Skills) are various non-combat skills that allow you to harvest and collect valuable materials in Lost Ark.
There are six life skills in the game right now – Mining, Fishing, Foraging, Hunting, Logging, and Excavating. Each one of these Life Skills requires different types of tools which you can acquire from the Trade Skill Tools Vendor, Quests, NPCs, or Gift Boxes. You can also craft Life Skill tools by using a recipe and craft kit.
All Life Skills will require the appropriate tool and another resource called Work Energy, which is depleted whenever you use Life Skills. Work Energy regenerates on its own over time.
How do Life Skills work in Lost Ark?
All six Life Skills present in Lost Ark require different methods and tools to complete. Here’s a rundown of how each Life Skill works in Lost Ark.
Mining
Mining is the introductory Life Skill in Lost Ark which you can unlock fairly early in the game in the Thirain story arc. At some point in your stay in Lakebar Village, Thirain will ask you to gather some materials to make a crown.
The Mining Guide Quest will be unlocked at this time and you will be led to a vendor selling a pickaxe. With the pickaxe secured, you can start Mining Ore by interacting with mounds of rock found just outside Lakebar Village.
As you level up your Mining Skill, you can unlock other abilities such as Perfect Timing, Moonlight Miner, and Mining Bomb, all of which will help you collect Ore faster and increase your chances of getting rarer materials.
Mining will net you materials that you can use to upgrade your Stronghold or equipment. Alternatively, you can sell these materials in the market for profit. Keep in mind, however, that upgrading your Stronghold will allow you to craft more powerful Life Tools later in the game.
Fishing
Fishing is the second Life Skill that you’ll unlock in Lost Ark. The Guide Quest “Dropping a Line” will pop up almost right after you complete the Mining Guide Quest in Lakebar Village.
Fishing will allow you to cast a line in designated fishing spots to catch fish of various qualities. As you level up your Fishing Skill, you will gain access to more fishing methods such as Throw Bait, Barrel Fishing, and Net Casting. Each Fishing Skill will allow you to catch even more fish faster, and improve your chances of catching rare Fish.
The materials you collect from Fishing can be used as Upgrade Materials for your gear or for crafting Food.
Foraging
Like other Life Skills available in Lost Ark, you can unlock Foraging by completing the Guide Quest “Master Forager” after completing the Crown of Lakebar quest.
Foraging is a Life Skill that involves gathering flowers, plants, and mushrooms – materials required to craft Potions and Bombs in Lost Ark. As you level up your Foraging Life Skill, you will unlock more Foraging Abilities: Botanist, Natural Tone, and Golden Finger.
Hunting
Similar to the rest of the Life Skills in Lost Ark, you can unlock Hunting by completing its associated Guide Quest “Hunting: On the Trail” after completing the Crown of Lakebar Quest.
Hunting allows you to hunt down certain animals such as Rabbits in various locations around the map. Like Fishing, materials gathered from Hunting are mainly used for Food and Upgrade Materials.
Search is your first Hunting Ability that automatically marks all “huntable” animals within range. As you level up your Hunting Skill in Lost Ark, you can learn more advanced Hunting Abilities such as Throw, Hunter’s Eye, Set Traps, and Track.
Logging
You can start Logging in Lost Ark as soon as you complete the “Logging: Saw Good” Guide Quest after completing the Crown of Lakebar Quest in Lost Ark.
Logging is pretty self-explanatory; you use a Logging Tool that will give you the ability to take down trees to gather wood. The wood you gather will mainly be used to upgrade your Stronghold and Ship.
The first Logging Skill you can use is Cut Tree, which allows you to cut most trees down. As you level up your Logging Ability, you will learn the ability to cut down more types of trees and even speed up their growth so you can take down a tree of better quality later on. Other Logging Abilities include Lumberjack, Wild Growth, and Kick Tree.
Excavating
Excavating is the last Life Skill you’ll unlock in Lost Ark. After you complete the Crown of Lakebar Main Quest, a series of Guide Quests will be made available which will unlock Foraging, Hunting, Logging, and finally, Excavating.
Excavating will allow you to dig up Relics which you can then use to craft better Life Skill Tools or upgrade equipment.
At level 1 Excavating, two abilities will be made available – Sonar and Relic Search. Both abilities allow you to search and spot buried Relics in your current area. As you level up your Excavating Life Skill, the abilities Loot Hunter, Excavation, and Sniffer Dog can be learned, which should help you find Relics and other loot faster.
Which Life Skill is the best in Lost Ark?
All six Life Skills in Lost Ark are valuable in their own way but Logging is arguably the most important Life Skill in Lost Ark since the materials you gather from Logging will allow you to upgrade your Stronghold and Ship – two valuable resources in the endgame.
Foraging is also very important since it is a reliable source of resources for valuable end-game items such as Potions. All the other Life Skills provide materials for upgrading your equipment, while others allow you to craft even better tools.
How important are Life Skills in Lost Ark?
Life Skills are very important in Lost Ark since it is one of the main sources of important endgame materials that you can use to upgrade your equipment, Stronghold, Ship, or craft valuable items such as Potions.
Life Skills were especially important when Lost Ark was first released in the West since players could not rely on the market for their upgrade material needs just yet. These days, however, the market is flooded with upgrade materials that players have collected through Life Skills. You can just purchase the materials you need instead of going through the trouble of Fishing or Mining.
With that said, Life Skills are a free way of acquiring valuable materials in-game. So if you’re looking to save money on important materials such as wood for repairing your Ship, then you must invest time in maximizing your Life Skills.
Conclusion
Lost Ark’s endgame requires you to collect as many upgrade materials as you can to make your character stronger. The good news is that the game gives players a ton of options to meet this goal; Life Skills are one of them.
Life Skills can provide a decent amount of upgrade materials that you can use to craft valuable items, upgrade your Stronghold, or repair your Ship, making these non-combat skills crucial if you want to progress quickly through the endgame.