Heroes of Arkesia,
On May 19, the Destroyer Advanced Class will arrive in Arkesia. Armed with a variety of skills centered around charging into the heart of the fray, their hammer attacks are so catastrophically crushing that Destroyers can bend gravity to their will— slowing, launching, pushing and pulling enemies— whatever it takes to utterly, beyond a shadow of a doubt, destroy them. The Destroyer will join the Berserker, Paladin, and Gunlancer as the fourth Warrior Advanced Class. In this Lost Ark Academy, you’ll find information to see if the Destroyer is the class for you— and if so, help you start planning the skills and engravings you’re interested in using to enhance your impact on the battlefield.
Before we dive in, it’s also worth noting for existing Lost Ark fans that the Destroyer includes the rework (tuning and balance changes) recently made in other regions. Let’s see if the Destroyer fits your playstyle, or is a new experience you’re interested in trying.
Key Mechanics and Class Identity
A true tank, the Destroyer has high health, the ability to generate shields, and heavy-hitting attacks that deal massive amounts of Stagger damage. The trade-off comes at the cost of the Destroyer’s attack and movement speed— this hulking warrior has a huge Gravity Hammer that needs to be toted around the battlefield. While the Destroyer’s overall speed is slow, some of his skills allow for bursts of speed to leap or charge into the fray. With his ability to manipulate gravity, the Destroyer won’t be the slowest moving combatant on the field— he can move effortlessly through his intense gravitational attacks, while enemies are slowed, weakened, and crushed. Besides, you don’t need to move at all when you can just pull enemies toward you. While the Destroyer’s attacks may be slower or require charging up, they hit extremely hard— especially when consuming Gravity Cores.
Gravity Cores & Gravity Release
The Destroyer’s skills are separated into two categories, Concentration Skills and Gravity Release Skills. When used successfully in combat, Concentration Skills allow the Destroyer to charge up to three Gravity Cores. The Gravity Release Skills consumes any Gravity Cores you’ve charged up to generate a shield and greatly enhance the damage output of that attack. Using one Core grants a 10% damage bonus for the Gravity Release skill being used, and 10% of maximum HP as a temporary shield. Two Gravity Cores grant a 25% damage bonus for the skill and 20% of maximum HP as a shield, and using all three Gravity Cores grants a 45% damage increase for the skill and 30% of maximum HP as a shield.
In game, the type of skill can easily be identified by its color; Concentration Skills that charge up Gravity Cores are blue-colored, and Gravity Release skills are purple. Making sure you have a balance of these skills, is key, as charging up and spending Gravity Cores will help maximize your damage output.
Identity Skill - Hypergravity Mode
The Destroyer's Identity Skill is Hypergravity Mode, which can be activated by pressing [Z] after charging your Gravity Meter (separate from Gravity Cores) through combat. When Hypergravity Mode is activated, in-range enemies' movement speed and attack speed becomes slower, you gain shields, and you become immune to debuffs, knockdowns, pushes, and other incoming negative effects.
While you'll lose access to most of your skills during Hypergravity, your basic, or “auto” attack becomes heavily enhanced to deal more damage, and you can use a new ability— Vortex Gravity. When using this ability, you'll strike your hammer downward, inflicting damage, and explode gravitational energy in front of you, inflicting more damage, then pull in foes within a 6 meter radius. While in Hypergravity Mode, you can use your enhanced basic attack, press [Z] to use Vortex Gravity, or press [X] to cancel out and return to your normal skillset.
Class Engravings & Skills
Class Specific Engravings
The Destroyer’s two Class Engravings each enhance a different unique aspect of the class. The Gravity Training Engraving can be used to decrease the amount of time needed to charge the Gravity Meter, and increases the effectiveness of attacks while Hypergravity Mode is active. Similarly, the Rage Hammer Engraving is used to maximize the damage inflicted by Gravity Release Skills, by increasing Crit Rate and Crit Damage based on the amount of Gravity Cores used. Find the exact enhancements listed below.
Gravity Training
Level 1: During combat, the Gravity Meter recovers 1% every 1s. Basic Attack and Vortex Gravity Crit Rate +10% and +4% Attack Damage to foes during Hypergravity Mode.
Level 2: During combat, the Gravity Meter recovers 1.5% every 1s. Basic Attack and Vortex Gravity Crit Rate +20% and Attack Damage +10% to foes during Hypergravity Mode.
Level 3: During combat, the Gravity Meter recovers 2% every 1s. Basic Attack and Vortex Gravity Crit Rate +30% and Attack Damage +20% to foes during Hypergravity Mode.
Rage Hammer
Level 1: When using a Gravity Release Skill, Crit Rate +3% and Crit Damage +5% based on the amount of Cores used.
Level 2: When using a Gravity Release Skill, Crit Rate +4% and Crit Damage +10% based on the amount of Cores used.
Level 3: When using a Gravity Release Skill, Crit Rate +5% and Crit Damage +15% based on the amount of Cores used.
Destroyer Skills
Find a full list of the Concentration and Gravity Release skill descriptions below, followed by the two Awakening skills. If you’re interested in seeing some of these showcased in video, checkout our Destroyer Class Page! And remember, these are just the base skills - each can be customized further through the Tripod system as you experiment to find what works best against the different threats found throughout Arkesia.
Concentration Skills (Core Charging Skills - Blue)
Dreadnaught - Take a ready stance with your hammer on your shoulder, concentrating your energy on your Cores, and then hit the ground to send forth a shockwave, inflicting damage, and use the momentum to jump high. While jumping, slam your hammer down onto foes.
Earth Smasher - Swing the hammer above your head in a circle and strike the ground, inflicting damage and creating a huge boulder. Take a swing at it to break it and propel the fragments in a cone-shaped blast. The foes hit by the boulder fragments are stunned.
Endure Pain - Let out a roar, inflicting damage to foes within a 6 meter range. Upon using the skill, gain a buff making you immune to Pushes and reducing incoming damage.
Gravity Force - Hold your hammer close to the hammerhead and swing it at foes in front of you. Afterward, your hammer releases gravitational energy, attacking foes in a straight line 7 times for damage, pulling them close. Foes affected by the energy receive damage and are forcefully pulled to a nearby position.
Gravity Impact - Strike your hammer downward, inflicting damage, and start injecting gravitational energy where you stand. Gradually pull and attack foes 8 times, and then instantly explode the energy, pulling all the foes to you at once inflicting damage.
Heavy Crush - Raise your hammer above your head, then smash the ground with enormous gravitational force, inflicting damage.
Jumping Smash - Leap to the target location within 10 meters and swing your hammer down to the ground, inflicting damage.
Power Shoulder - Crouch and charge 5 meters forward with your hammer held in front of you, attacking 4 times to inflict damage. Use as a combo to raise the hammer high and inflict damage, launching foes into the air.
Power Strike - Raise your hammer above your head and smash the ground 3 times, each smash inflicting damage.
Running Crash - Hold to sprint forward and charge at foes, inflicting damage over 7 hits. The gravitational energy explodes when you release the skill key or max out the Holding Meter, launching foes into the air for damage.
Gravity Release Skills (Core Consuming Skills - Purple)
Earth Eater - Smash the ground behind you, then deliver a horizontal swing with chunks of rocks following your hammer. Spin a total of 3 times, each spin inflicting damage. Your hammer goes higher with each spin until you swing it down to the ground to inflict damage.
One-Man Army - Swing your hammer sideways to inflict up to 6 blows. damage increases with each blow.
Full Swing - Strike behind you with your hammer and spin 360 degrees, attacking surrounding foes 3 times in total. Overcharge to inflict more damage.
Neutralizer - Imbue your hammer with gravitational energy, and swing it downward with might, inflicting damage. This ground smash causes a shockwave within an 8 meter radius, inflicting damage with no paralysis effects. Use the skill again to hit the ground 2 more times, inflicting more damage. Shockwaves inflict the same amount of damage.
Seismic Hammer - Hold your hammer upside down, then jump and smash the ground, inflicting damage. The crash forms a cone-shaped wall that stretches 11 meter, inflicting damage.
Gravity Compression - Thrust the handle of your hammer into the ground and release a gravitational wave while inflicting damage. Hold for 2s to release a black hole, inflicting damage over up to 9 hits. If you stop holding before the Holding Meter is maxed out, the black hole explodes and inflicts damage to foes within a 5 meter radius. Max out the Holding Meter to cause a bigger explosion, inflicting damage to foes within a 6 meter radius.
Perfect Swing - This skill can be charged for 2s. When used midway, advance 3 meters forward and charge at foes to inflict damage, followed by a powerful smash inflicting damage. Overcharge the skill to move 4 meters forward and deliver an even fiercer blow to inflict damage.
Awakening Skills
Terra Break Hammer - the ground in front of you, inflicting damage as gravitational energy drops from the sky. The ground cracks, casting a gravitational field. All foes within the field are knocked down. Swing your hammer upward to create anti-gravity and inflict damage. All foes within range are shot into the air. Concentrate your energy and jump, hammering foes flat to the ground for more damage. This skill restores your Gravity Meter by 100%.
Big Bang - Gather gravitational energy then explode it, inflicting damage to foes in a 3.2 meter radius and knocking them away. All incoming damage -50% and gain immunity against debuffs, Pushes, and Move Speed reductions. Ignore collisions with normal foes while gathering energy. You can move while gathering gravitational energy. damage and the explosion radius up to 8 meters, depending on how long you gathered energy.
Leveling Up & Looking Ahead
We’re excited to see the Destroyer’s impact on the battlefields of Arkesia, helping raid groups complete stagger checks and dishing out massive damage when the Destined for Destruction Update releases on May 19. Interested in catching your Destroyer up to the rest of your roster? There are a few progression paths you can take. If you haven’t leveraged them already, there are two current progression events available for a limited time:
The Express Mission Event that can be activated on any character to enable faster honing through Tier 1 & 2, and special event missions that grant progression materials, battle items, and more as completion rewards.
A Feiton Powerpass that immediately drops an alternate character at the end of the Feiton storyline (Item Level 960).
Both these progression events will be sticking around until June 30, so make sure to use them while you can! We’ll strive to be more clear if an Advanced Class will be releasing during future progression events, so players can better plan ahead. In addition to the limited-time events, every player received 2 Vern Powerpasses at launch, and players can use the Knowledge Transfer feature in their Stronghold to help move a new alternate character through previously completed continent storylines.
We’ll see you, soon bearing colossal hammers, in Arkesia!
