Lost Ark adds Guardianknight and overhauls Tier 3 progression in today’s update

Lost Ark’s latest update is out now, bringing the new Guardianknight class alongside a sweeping rework of gear progression aimed at getting players to endgame faster. The patch also kicks off the game’s fourth anniversary celebration with a limited-time event and a new Powerpass.

The biggest gameplay change is how progression works for Tier 3 and below. The update removes gear honing for those tiers up through lower-tier Ancient gear, then shifts the starting point for honing to upper-tier Ancient (Akkan) gear. Going forward, players begin honing at stage 0 on Akkan gear at Item Level 1525. Honing costs have also been reduced for Tier 3 Akkan gear and Tier 4 gear.

Because of that revamp, several older systems and reward sources have been removed or reshuffled. Some honing materials and rewards that used to come from specific challenges or features no longer drop there, with the patch moving those rewards to other parts of the game instead. Amazon and Smilegate have the full breakdown in the patch notes.

On the quality-of-life side, character creation has been tweaked with a new “path” choice to start a character’s adventure, plus the ability to test out classes before locking in. There’s also a Skill Recommendation system and “Skill Codes” for sharing builds.

The update also replaces Una’s Tasks, roster missions, and Mokoko Challenges with Milestone Missions, split into Growth Missions and weekly missions.

Finally, the fourth anniversary event is live with event coins to earn and trade for rewards, extra gifts, and an anniversary event island. The patch also adds a South Rimeria Event Powerpass.