Engravings are special traits you can level up and equip in Lost Ark that power up your abilities and make your characters stronger. Engravings are one of the many ways you can increase the strength of your character, but there are some Engravings that are stronger than others.
To level up an Engraving to a Legendary-tier Engraving is an expensive affair. Therefore, it’s important to know which Engravings are worth using and which are best left in the dust. This guide will go over the best Engravings to use in the game, so you can allocate your resources appropriately.
Note: This guide does not go over Class Engravings, but rather general Engravings such as “Grudge” and “Keen Blunt Weapon.”
Grudge
The Grudge engraving deals 4%/10%/20% increased damage to Boss monsters while increasing the damage you take by 20%. This means you will deal more damage in Guardian Raids and Abyss Dungeons, but you’re at risk of dying and taking more damage.
Grudge is one of the most reliable ways to increase your DPS in the game, and it’s one of the most sought-after Engraving recipes in the game (a Legendary Grudge Engraving currently costs over 12,000 gold in the market!) However, do note that Grudge makes you more susceptible to damage. If you aren’t the best at dodging attacks and avoiding damage, you might want to consider an alternative option.
Keen Blunt Weapon
The Keen Blunt Weapon engraving deals 10%/25%/50% increased Crit DMG, but you have a chance to deal 20% less damage overall. You’ll need a decent amount of Crit Rate to make this Engraving work, but once you do, your damage will be off the charts.
Keen Blunt Weapon is limited to classes that can get a lot of Crit Rate, but once you manage to hit Level 3 Keen Blunt Weapon, you will deal enough Crit DMG to offset the damage penalty you take.
Cursed Doll
The Cursed Doll engraving increases your Atk Power by 3%/8%/16%, but decreases the healing you can receive by 25%. Additionally, you will no longer naturally recover your HP. This increases your Atk Power by a substantial amount, but you won’t be able to heal off as much damage.
This makes Cursed Doll similar to Grudge. The increased damage you receive is substantial, but this may hurt your survivability too much. Consider how well you can avoid taking damage before taking Cursed Doll and consider an alternative if you need to.
Awakening
The Awakening engraving reduces the cooldown of your awakening by 10%/25%/50%, while also increasing the number of times you can use your awakening +1/+2/+3 times. This is important on classes that rely heavily on their Awakening skills.
Many support characters rely on this Engraving to increase the number of shields and buffs they can provide their allies, as classes like Bard and Paladin benefit their team greatly with their Awakening. Some DPS characters like Soulfist also use Awakening, as a significant portion of their DPS is backloaded into their awakening skills.
Expert
The Expert engraving increases Shield and Healing effectiveness on all party members by 6%/14%/24%. If the target ally has less than 50% remaining HP, then this effect is increased by 3%/7%/12%. This is the bread-and-butter engraving for most supports in the game.
Shields and heals are important, as you can cut the number of potions needed to be used by allies and save your allies from raid-ending attacks. As a result, this is one of the most sought-after choices for support classes in the game, like Bard and Paladin.
