Lost Ark’s Arbiter of Death update adds Belgardin and the new Vambraces slot on October 21

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Lost Ark’s western version gets its Arbiter of Death update on October 21, with downtime starting at 12:00 AM PT. The big addition is Belgardin, Arbiter of Death, a new 8-player Shadow Raid aimed at high-level characters.

Players won’t have to wait for a weekly reset to try it. After finishing the new prologue quest, Belgardin becomes available through the Shadow Raid entry object in major cities, Party Finder, or the Content Guide.

  • Belgardin has Normal, Hard, and Nightmare difficulties.
  • Item level requirements are 1,750 for Normal, 1,770 for Hard, and 1,780 for Nightmare.
  • The prologue quest, “A Sprouting Seed,” starts at “Journey’s Footsteps” in the Cadarum Islands after completing “After the Resonance Stops.”
  • The raid uses a gate save system and a shared revival pool per gate.
  • A new Holding Just Guard mechanic lets players hold the G key during certain boss attacks.

The update also adds Matching Mode for Belgardin. It uses the same 1,750 item level requirement as Normal and can be entered solo, through matchmaking, or with a pre-made group. Rewards match Normal difficulty, though gold is split evenly between general gold and bound gold. Matching Mode does not include loot auctions, and Sidereal Energy won’t appear there.

Arbiter of Death also introduces Vambraces, a new equipment slot that opens once a character reaches item level 1,750. Vambraces give both attack power and defense, but they don’t have item level or quality and don’t grant Ark Passive points. Players can get Epic Vambraces from their first Gate 2 clear of Belgardin, regardless of difficulty.

Belgardin rewards include Vambraces Limit Break materials, Ark Grid Cores, gold, and first-clear rewards. Hard and Nightmare also include a pity-style guarantee for Ancient grade cores after repeated lower-grade core drops.

Further reading: Official Lost Ark Arbiter of Death release notes