Shadowhunter Leveling Guide In Lost Ark: The Right Way To Level
Lost Ark flaunts quite a few classic classes but also includes the well-loved Assassin class. The Shadowhunter class has become quite popular for players who love landing lethal blows with some epic powers and abilities. But, it can be tricky to level the Shadowhunter up at lower levels.
Shadowhunter Class Overview
The Shadowhunter is an advanced class within the Assassin main melee class. She is somewhat comparable to the Berserker class in the sense that she is the only other Lost Ark class with the ability to enter an enhanced state.
Shadowhunters use a combination of melee attacks and mystical, demonic conjurations. This is the perfect class for any gamers who love the idea of using demonic energy for good, but still want to use some wicked and brutal moves to annihilate their opponents.
The Shadowhunter class is relatively straightforward to play, similar to the Berserker class, making her a great choice for any newer Lost Ark players. She has relatively small AoE abilities but is equipped with great mobility and a spread of vicious close-combat skills.
Players will likely need to create two setups and switch between them while leveling since the Shadowhunter class can primarily be played in two different styles. Once you hit level 50, create a decent setup for the Chaos Dungeon and Cube, and create an alternative setup for Raids.
Shadowhunter Abilities
This high-mobility class uses dual-bladed tonfas to inflict lethal damage onto her enemies, topped with great movement speed and low cooldowns for her abilities. Her skills only have a tiny AoE, but she can deal immense damage to enemies overall.
Shadowhunter skills are primarily short-ranged AoE type attacks or longer-ranged attacks in narrow lines. She relies on Back Attacks quite a bit, as these generally maximize her damage while quickly building up her Identity gauge meter.
Shadowhunter Identity Skill
Every Lost Ark class has a unique Identity Skill, and the Shadowhunter class’s Identity revolves around her ability to Demonize via her Shadowburst Meter. Like every other Lost Ark class, her Identity gauge will fill up as you inflict damage onto enemies using basic skills.
Once the gauge is full, players can enter the Shadowhunter’s demonic state, where she gains increased mobility and attack damage for the duration of the state. She can shapeshift into numerous demonic forms, unleashing catastrophic attacks with heightened movement speed and health. However, players will generally have a slight lockout in their Shadowburst Meter gain after the Demon Mode state ends.
All of the Shadowhunter’s skills will be replaced by Demon Skills once you enter this state, all of which have relatively short cooldowns. Since Demon Skills deal massive damage, players should generally be looking to enter Demon Mode to burst through targets as often as possible.
Shadowhunter Awakening Skill
It will take some time and solid Lost Ark grinding before you can unlock the Shadowhunter’s Awakening skills. You will first need to complete the Main Questline until you reach Vern city, after which you will meet Beatrice who will ask you to visit her in Trixion.
Below are the Shadowhunter’s Awakening skills and how you can choose which Awakening skill would be best for your preferred Shadowhunter build:
Gate of Eruption
This awakening skill creates a demonic portal that will deal damage to enemies over time, after which it will explode and deal massive damage. This awakening skill will also regenerate a hefty portion of the Shadowburst meter.
Fallen Ruin
This awakening skill is only compatible with a Demon Mode build, as it’s only useable in this state. It fires a giant eye-laser into the ground, dealing a massive wave of burst damage to enemies.
Gate of Eruption is the most common build for Lost Ark Shadowhunter players since it can be useful for either playstyle and Shadowhunter build. Still, the Fallen Ruin awakening skill can be helpful in some scenarios.
Shadowhunter Leveling Guide
Since the Shadowhunter primarily inflicts damage with tiny AoE skills, clearing speed can be somewhat slower while you level up. But, her low cooldowns and high mobility can speed things up quite a lot, especially considering that her high damage abilities can burst down enemies quite easily.
Gear & Combat Stats
Focus on equipping the highest item level gear possible throughout the leveling process. Also, focus on Swiftness for even more movement speed, as well as reduced casting time and faster skill cooldowns. All of these aspects will help out the leveling experience overall.
Prioritize the Crit Combat Stats, as this will increase the Shadowhunter’s overall damage and clear speed. Since the Shadowhunter can take longer to clear out mobs at lower levels, these stats will be crucial for increasing the speed of the entire leveling process.
Best Class Engravings
Unlocking the Shadowhunter Class Engravings will take some time and gameplay, but they’ll be incredibly valuable in the endgame. Below are the Shadowhunter’s Class Engravings as well as their uses:
Demonic Impulse
This class engraving will remove the Shadowburst Meter gain lockout mode, which would typically occur at the end of Demon Mode. This type of setup will allow players to hop back into Demon Mode much more frequently for high damage overall.
Perfect Suppression
This class engraving will empower the Shadowhunter’s standard skills and spend the Shadowburst meter for some additional damage and meter regeneration. However, it will completely disable Demon Mode.
The Shadowhunter’s class engravings will allow players to opt for one of two preferred playstyles. Demonic Impulse is perfect for players who want to get the most out of Demon Mode, while Perfect Suppression is ideal for players who want to get more out of their skills in rotation.
Both class engravings can be extremely powerful at the endgame, especially if your build is well-balanced and in sync with your chosen class engraving. However, the Perfect Suppression class engraving will need a ton of Swiftness on gear before it can really be effective.
Generic Engravings
Generic Engravings can be acquired from Engraving Books, or from items such as necklaces, rings, or earrings. The Shadowhunter’s most suitable generic Engravings will depend on your playstyle as all of them may have certain pros and cons.
Below are the most beneficial generic engravings for the Shadowhunter class:
- Master of Ambush: This engraving will increase Back Attack damage. This provides a decent boost in when the Shadowhunter is human form but it does nothing in Demon Mode. As a result, this engraving is ideal for Perfect Suppression builds, but it will have less value for Demonic Impulse builds.
- Adrenaline: This engraving provides a stacking crit buff as you use the Shadowhunter’s abilities, making it a good choice for general purposes.
- Keen Blunt Weapon: This engraving will increas the Shadowhunter’s crit damage, but it also stands a chance of decreasing the damage output of non-crit hits. If you have a lot of crit on your gear and can land some solid crit hits throughout each battle, this will still net you more damage overall.
- Cursed Doll: This engraving grants a damage buff, but it also reduces incoming healing. This engraving is more worthwhile when it’s maxed out to level 3.
- Grudge: This engraving increases both incoming and outgoing damage. However, incoming damage is flat accross all levels and outgoing damage scales according to the engraving’s level. As a result, this engravig is only really worthwhile when it’s maxed to level 3, unless you don’t mind such a harsh penalty.
Continue The Main Story
Continuing the Main Questline will be the best way to get levels as quickly as possible in Lost Ark. You will have to face a ton of enemies and mobs along the way, which will reward you with some great XP.
In addition to the XP gained from enemy encounters, players can expect to receive some bonus XP for each quest after it’s completed. Completing the Main Questline is also vital for unlocking the Shadowhunter’s most powerful skills, as well as gaining access to some awesome in-game activities.
Skill Point Allocation
Allocate Skill Points to gain Tripods for the Shadowhunter’s most effective skills, depending on where you’re at in the game. You’ll be able to switch out skills as needed based on the needs of the encounter or the needs of your team.
Below are the most notable Skill Tripods for the Shadowhunter class, as well as how to manage Skill points as you progress towards level 50:
- Level 12: Demonic Slash (4 points) for mobility; Demonic Clone (4 points) for damage.
- Level 20-21: Thrust Impact (48 points) for damage and AoE clearing.
- Level 25-29: Cruel Cutter and Demonic Clone (20 points each) for damage and AoE clearing.
- Level 31: Cruel Cutter (48 points) for ranged AoE clearing.
- Level 38: Sharpened Cut (20 points) for mobility and single target damage.
- Level 41: Howl (20 points) for AoE clearing.
- Level 45: Howl (48 points) for increased AoE.
- Level 48: Demonic Clone (48 points) for damage.
Any extra Skill Points can be invested into Sharpened Cut and Demonic Clone while you’re still leveling up the Shadowhunter, as this will help out with more AoE clearing. Remember to reallocate these points to the Shadowhunter’s main skills where necessary.
Shadowhunter Gameplay Tips
Every player will have a somewhat unique experience with the Shadowhunter class in Lost Ark, as gameplay will predominantly be influenced by build, skill setup, and of course every gamer’s preferred playstyle. But, there are a few aspects to consider for a faster Shadowhunter leveling experience overall.
Taking On Elites and Bosses With Shadowhunter
The Shadowhunter class can certainly hold her own against many enemies, including Elites and Bosses. Using Howl to Crowd Control Elites will help speed up the process. Thrust Impact is the go-to skill for Elites and Bosses, topped with some useful AoE damage.
Defeating Mobs With Shadowhunter
Tackling mobs and large enemy groups can be made simpler with a few simple tricks. Group the mobs up into a line, and burst them down using Cruel Cutter for a faster leveling process and clear speed.
Demonize As Often As Possible
Like the Berserker class, the ultimate goal when playing Shadowhunter is typically to enter an enhanced state as often as possible. It can be tempting to save her Demonize ability for a specific moment, and this can be useful in some cases if you’re anticipating a specific need for it.
But, in most scenarios, you’ll want to use her Demonize ability whenever it’s ready. Using Demonize will provide a ton of benefits throughout gameplay, including damage, increased movement speed, increased, health, and many other advantages that will help with clear speed.
The Shadowhunter class flaunts a whirlwind of awesome abilities and epic supernatural powers. Thankfully, getting the hang of her mechanics is quite straightforward, so players can easily level her up and create a lethal build for Lost Ark’s endgame.
