Players who do not like close combats without being tanky are not liking this class. But some players are playing Martial Artist class for the new fighting and combat experience. Like every other class in Lost Ark the Martial Artist class also has advanced classes. It has four advanced types: In this guide, we will discuss Striker Subclass, a male gender subclass.
Striker Subclass in Lost Ark
The striker subclass is popular for its flashy aerial fights and combos. They are one of the fastest subclasses in Lost Ark. They are not equipped with special weapons. Their main weapon is their fist. So, they are specialized in close combats, which can be a turn-off for many players.
Stat of Striker Subclass
Although this subclass does not possess any special weapon, the damage output of this subclass is massive. But they lack AoE damage. For Single target and boss fights, they have huge potential. In addition to damage, they also have high mobility and movement speed. So, evading attacks in both PvP and PvE is easy using this subclass. Although this subclass lacks AoE damage, it has the ability of CC (Crowd Control). Using this subclass, you can pin down enemies and focus on other enemies. This is not as good as AoE, but it makes up for it. This is the reason it is very good in PvP. The main strength of this class is its identity skill. Its identity skill buffs certain skills which deal massive damage to enemies. But, as they are quite agile, their defense stats and HP are low. So, you must use your agility to evade attacks as you may not succeed to stand high damage attacks. Although this class does not have plenty of mana like other classes like Mages and Gunners, you do not have to worry about managing mana in this subclass. Most of your skills that give high damage do not rely on mana. They rely on your identity skill which we will discuss further.
Pros and Cons of Striker Subclass
This subclass also has its pros and cons. Here are some pros and cons. So, if you want to play an agile character in Lost Ark with lots of burst damage, this subclass will be ideal for you. And the normal skill damage with identity skills and CC will help you in both PvP and PvE. But this subclass is more suited for PvP. So, if you are looking for a PvP character rather than PvE, this might be the best subclass.
Skills of Striker
There are two kinds of skills for a character that you have to unlock and equip in Lost Ark. One is Normal Skill which unlocks as you progress, and the other is Awakening or Ultimate Skill, which you can only unlock after Level 50. There are also identity skills or identity gauges that are innate to specific subclasses which will be covered below. The number of Ultimate Skill for every character in Lost Ark is two. But the number of normal skills varies. For Striker, there are 18 normal skills. The skill slot a character can have is the same for every character. You can equip a total of 9 skills and one being Awakening Skill. So, you have to choose a single Awakening Skill that will help you according to your playstyle and build. You can also Level up your normal skills to Level 12. And at three certain Levels, 4, 7, and 10, you can unlock an extra stat boost of these skills. These skills are in a triangle shape beside your character skills which is why they are known as Tripods. You have limited skills to choose from, so you must select the best skills you need for the character. There are two kinds of content in Lost Ark, PvP and PvE. You can make two skill presets for both contents to make it easier to choose before starting any content. Now, let’s know about the normal and ultimate skills of the Striker subclass.
Normal Skills
Here is the list of normal skills for Striker.
Awakening Skills
These are the awakening skills for this subclass.
Identity Skills
As you have noticed, there are some skills in Normal Skills above in the table named Esoteric Skill. This is all related to the identity skill of the Striker subclass. In addition to, Normal and Ultimate Skills, other skills are available to players. Each characters’ identity skills are different and tuned for their normal skills. Most of the characters’ identity skills either provide more damage to their abilities or enhance their power in some other way. But Strikers’ identity skill is a little different. You will see a small meter or gauge for every character below the skills. This is the identity gauge, and most characters have this. But the Striker subclass uses Esoteric Orbs, and they are filled with every successful attack on enemies over time. You will have three Esoteric Orbs to use. When using these Esoteric Orbs, you can use the Esoteric Skills above, which are very powerful than other skills.
Engravings for Striker
Many mechanics in Lost Ark boost up your character’s stat. One of them is Engraving. These Engravings are also of two types: Battle Engravings are the same for every character and give every character the same stat boost. But Class Engraving is only for your chosen class. So, these class engravings are more important for you as they provide huge stat for your chosen character. To know more, check out our Engraving guide. Let’s first see 2 class engravings of the Striker subclass. You can only choose one of them, which will also decide how you will play the game. The simple playstyle of the Striker subclass is to generate more of the Esoteric Orbs and use skill combos. But major playstyle is determined by the class engraving.
Esoteric Flurry Playstyle
Choosing Esoteric Flurry as your class engraving will get you more damage of Esoteric Skills. The major stat boost of this playstyle is that one Esoteric Skill will only consume a single Esoteric Orb. Due to this, your Damage Per Second (DPS) will increase, and you will do consistent damage. You don’t have to worry about getting carefully using your Esoteric Skills. You can spam them. This playstyle prioritizes Swiftness, Specialty, and Critical Damage at a 30/10/60 ratio.
Recommended Skills for PvE
Let’s look at the skills you need to choose for this playstyle. For the ultimate skill, you can choose any. Explosive Heat Awakening will grant you four hits dealing massive damage. But if you miss the first hit, all will go to waste. True Heavenly Awakening will grant you two hits only. But the enemy will be incapacitated in the air, and the damage will be less.
Recommended Skills for PvP
These are the skills you need for PvP content. Like in PvE, you can choose any Ultimate skill.
Recommended Engravings
These are the Engravings you need to invest in.
Deathblow Playstyle
The major difference between Esoteric Flurry and Deathblow is the consumption of Esoteric Orbs. While only one orb gets consumed in Esoteric Flurry, in Deathblow, all orbs you will finish. Also, using this Engraving, you will get one extra Esoteric Orb. So, you will have four Esoteric Orbs in total to use. You may ask if all the orbs get consumed, what is the purpose of getting one more orb? The more orb you will have, the more damage your Esoteric Skill will do. So, the damage output is greater in Deathblow playstyle than in Esoteric Flurry. This playstyle prioritizes Specialization and Critical Damage at a 70/30 ratio.
Recommended Skills for PvE
These are the eight skills you need to equip. It is the same for ultimate skill as in Esoteric Flurry playstyle. You can choose any.
Recommended Skills for PvP
Skills needed for PvP are the same as in Esoteric Flurry Playstyle.
Recommended Engravings
These are the Engraving you should get for Reflux Playstyle: So, if you are a fan of Crowd Control abilities and like flashy moves, then the Striker subclass is for you. You will get high burst damage, but you have to compromise in defense and AoE damage. You will be great in PvP but may not be in PvE.
Striker Vs Wardancer
If you have played Wardancer or have seen the playstyle and skills of Wardancer, it is very similar to Striker. Wardancer is a female character whereas Striker is a male character. Both of them have huge damage output with high mobility and are have many combo attacks. They also have Esoteric Skills and orbs. They both are more PvP oriented characters. As they both are very similar, players get confused about which subclass should they play. But except for some esoteric and normal skills, all are different. The different engravings of these two subclasses change their playstyle of them. We can easily say Striker is best suited for PvP but there is some debate in Wardancer. Skills like Call of the Wind of Wardancer and awakening skill Fist of Dominance have an AoE attack which is very useful in PvE. It has a pull AoE which does damage per second. And with the staggering ability and awakening skill Flash Rage Blow, Wardancer can push the enemies too. This gives Wardancer a major lead over Striker in PvE. But, Esoteric Skills are huge damage output skills and very important for both Wardancer and Striker. While both of the engravings of Striker benefit these skills in some way, it is not the case in Wardancer. While Esoteric Skill Enhancement increases the number of orbs to four and grants bonus damage per orb, using First Intention engraving will not let you use Esoteric Skills which is a big letdown. So, in conclusion, if you want a balanced hero for PvP and PvE, choose Wardancer. If you are looking for more damage and a PvP hero, go for Striker.
