Heroes of Arkesia,
With many players beginning on their own “path of the Souleater”, we wanted to share some tips and tricks for those looking to maximize their potential— so we partnered with Lost Ark veteran ZealsAmbitions. Zeals has a ton of Souleater experience, so if you’re looking to learn, make sure you checkout his content on Twitch and YouTube, along with Zeals’ tips found below.
Full Moon Harvester
The most asked questions I get are about engravings and gear sets.
Engravings
While I recommend players that are serious about having Full Moon Harvester as a main to have a separate +3 Cursed Doll and a separate +3 Hit Master earring or ring accessory with +12 Cursed Doll and +12 Hit Master engraving books learned to swap engravings at any time, here are some pros and cons of the 4 engraving choices if a player decides not to go Adrenaline 3 and Ether Predator 1:
Hit Master - Does not apply to Awakening Skills, Bleed Rune, and Head/Back Attack Skills.
Cursed Doll - Applies to everything and can use Reaper's Scythe with Tenacity Tripod, which can save player's life in numerous situations. Has the healing potion penalty and diminishing returns with Atropine Potion.
Super Charge - Cheaper accessories and faster charging speed, but cannot change Vestige's Concentrated Attack Tripod and Reaper's Scythe Condensed Soul Tripod. Doesn't apply to all of the Full Moon Harvester Souleater's skills so it has less damage value than Hit Master and Cursed Doll.
Mass Increase - Same as Cursed Doll but more attack. Doesn't have the potion penalty but has the attack speed penalty and since Full Moon Harvester Souleaters do not have attack speed cap, this is only recommended for those who want an extremely high risk, for a slightly smaller reward.
Gear Sets
As for sets I recommend new Full Moon Harvester Souleater players to use Hallucination until Elixirs come into play. Nightmare has a higher ceiling in the endgame, but the switch from Hallucination to Nightmare is decided later after factoring in Ancient accessories, 9/7 or 10/6 Ability Stones, Bracelet (Precise, Cycle, Weakness Exposure from Supporters, etc.), party synergy, and Elixirs.
The golden recommended rule by the Souleaters is 70% Crit Rate so that she's at 90% Crit Rate in Deathlord Mode. Crit Rate is just too highly valued in Lost Ark in general. Also, at 70% Crit Rate Keen Blunt Weapon Engraving has 18.2 value and during Deathlord Mode 21.2. That is 20.04 per cycle! Do note (depending on your gem situation), Full Moon Harvester Souleater damage distribution is currently around 4:6 ratio. Four during Possession Meter building phase and six during Deathlord Mode phase. Having a high Crit Rate matters because of this ratio.
Skill and Combat Tips & Tricks
Do not use Vestige when coming out of Deathlord Mode. Upon closer inspection on the Full Moon Harvester engraving, it does say "upon using Soul Stone, recover Possession Meter by 5%." However, when exiting Deathlord Mode by using Reaper's Scythe and immediately using Vestige (or any Deathlord Skills) to do the 3 Vestige cycle into full Possession Meter, you won't gain the 5% Possession Meter. Give the game a second to exit out of the Deathlord Mode by using a non Deathlord Skill. For example, I highly recommend opening the next Possession Meter cycle by opening with either Astaros or Lunatic Edge. Also, do note two things:
Stygian Skills gain Possession Meter when the Stygian Skills deal damage to the target.
Deathlord Skills gain Possession Meter when first launching the Deathlord Skills (due to Full Moon Harvester engraving) and again when they deal damage to the target.
When in Deathlord Mode, it's recommended to open with Vestige. There are two main reasons for this. First, the skill has 2 stacks so using the skill will start the cooldown and it's highly recommended to have the cooldown rolling to get as many uses throughout the fight. Second, the skill goes through the boss so it can be used to reposition yourself to the back of the boss to land Reaper's Scythe, which is a Back Attack skill if you choose Tenacity or Energy Thief.
Reaper's Scythe with Tenacity or Energy Thief Tripod is the only Deathlord Back Attack Skill Full Moon Harvester Souleaters are recommended to use. It's recommended to land Reaper's Scythe at the back of the target for the 10% Crit Rate and 5% damage bonus, but it's not required. Souleater has many skills for repositioning so it won't be too difficult.
As for your second Deathlord Skill during the Deathlord Mode phase, it's recommended to use Guillotine Swing and take all the time you need within the 13 seconds of Deathlord Mode to land your Reaper's Scythe at the back of the target.
DO NOTE: if a player launches Guillotine Swing with Scaffold Tripod as their second Deathlord Skill and then uses Reaper's Scythe immediately, Guillotine Swing will not receive the Deathlord Mode's buff, because the player will exit the Deathlord Mode before the Guillotine Swing lands.
The faster you end your Deathlord Mode, the faster you can start building your Possession Meter to enter Deathlord Mode again. This is the mission of a Full Moon Harvester Souleater. Even if you're using Nightmare Set and you happen to be in Endless Mana state, it's recommended to not wait around too long to enter Deathlord Mode. Simply put, keep the flow going, build Possession Meter within 3 Vestiges, enter Deathlord Mode and burst, rinse and repeat.
When players use Guillotine Swing right before entering Deathlord Mode, the skill is enhanced by Deathlord Mode's buff (Attack and Movement Speed +10% / Crit Rate +20%) by the time the skill lands. However, any Guillotine Swings used right before entering Deathlord Mode will not be affected by the +15% damage portion of the Full Moon Harvester Engraving and Combat Stat: Specialization.
While it is recommended for players to use Vestige with Concentrated Attack Tripod and Reaper's Scythe with Condensed Soul Tripod, which turns both skills into charging skills, players can play an instant cast version of Full Moon Harvester by sacrificing damage by opting out of the charging Tripods.
However, I highly recommend learning the perks of the charging Tripods. For example, Reaper's Scythe with Tenacity Tripod can allow a player to hold the charging skill for an extra second after fully charged to ignore attack patterns with Tenacity or turn the character up to around 200 degrees to land the skill. Vestige while charging can be rotated about 90 degrees as well.
Awakening Skills
As for Awakening Skills, Deathbringer and The End, they have similar damage (Deathbringer 221.958 / The End 271.895), while The End leads when looking at only the damage and a little shorter casting animation. While playing Full Moon Harvester Souleater, I prefer to use The End for extra damage during the opener as I use Awakening Potion before starting encounters. However, players can opt for Deathbringer for the three Soul Stones and the Weak Point level 2. If player chooses to use The End with Awakening Potion, make sure to use it in Deathlord Mode.
Night’s Edge
Night's Edge is more straight forward, but here are some tips and tricks for maximizing damage and efficiency.
Players should enter full Edge Meter when Lethal Spinning has about 1 second left on cooldown. Within the 12 seconds window players want to ideally fit in 2 Lethal Spinnings, 3 Lunatic Edges, and 3 Harvests. Also, Lethal Spinning has high Crit Damage so it's recommended to land it as a back attack.
If a player is using the Nightmare set and has a shard before pulling the boss, they can start with Guillotine Swing and cast Deathbringer. By the time Guillotine Swing lands (unless they’re using the Cross Swing Tripod) the Nightmare set buffs will be activated. After gaining 3 Soul Shards they can follow up Deathbringer with Reaper's Scythe.
I also get asked about why Reaper's Scythe is used right after enhanced Guillotine Swing and that's because fitting in 2 regular Reaper's Scythe is more damage than waiting around for 1 enhanced Reaper's Scythe.
Thanks for joining us for this tips & tricks article with ZealsAmbitions! We wish you luck as you work to master the new Souleater Advanced Class.
