Engravings are a fundamental part of refining your character’s build in Lost Ark. Players can get a ton of buffs from them, but they’re kind of complex. You have to pick and choose how you spend the slots you have for engravings. You also need to make sure to offset the downsides. Engravings are additional buffs that endgame players can apply. You first need to get to level 50 to access this system. That’s why this is meant to be used by players running a lot of dungeons.
What Are Engravings, And How Do You Use Them?
First, let’s take a look at what the actual system looks like. There’s a very specific process you need to do to get here. First, click Roster on the bottom-right of your screen, or hit Alt+I on your keyboard. This will bring you to the Engravings menu. Open the Engraving menu to see what you have equipped. Listed here, you will find the various nodes you can make use of for engravings, called veins. From this menu, you can actually try to make engravings via the Stone recipes found in the list. Each recipe has a set effect and cost, increasing with more powerful effects.
The items you equip will have an impact on how many Veins you can have. Engraving Instructions are a pair of equipable items that offer the most slots. Some accessories give veins on two positive and one negative engraving. As with the stats granted by accessories, engravings are also randomized when dropped. There’s also nodes that can be gained from the Skill Stone.
Engravings Veins Explained
The way you make use of Engravings is to apply them to the nodes found on this menu. These instructions are key to using the upgrade system properly. You need to know how to work with this system, and it relies on something called veins. The number of veins in an engraving is determined by the number of nodes attached to it in the engraving menu. The more veins you slot in, the more powerful the effects, both good and bad.
Each engrave effect allows you to reach a maximum of 15 veins (anything above that is ignored). Every 5 cores increase the effect that the engraving gives you:
- 00 – 04 veins: No bonus effect
- 05 – 09 veins: Weak bonus effect
- 10-14 veins: Normal bonus effect
- 15 veins: Strong bonus effect
The Engraving instructions will have a set number of nodes you can make use of, according to rarity. In short, the rarer the Instructions, the mode nodes you have to make use of. Each Stone offers a different number of nodes depending on its rarity level for two engravings:
- 20 green engraving instructions = +3 veins for engraving.
- 20 blue (rare) engraving instructions = +6 veins for engraving.
- 20 purple (epic) engraving instructions = +9 veins for engraving.
- 20 legendary (legendary) engraving instructions = +12 veins for engraving.
The points you earn are cumulative, and you only have so many engraving points to use. So if you have a level 3 Cursed Doll, that takes 15 points. If you also have a Level 3 Grudge, you use up another 15 points. The effects of these engravings in Lost Ark also have downsides. Like the Grudge enchant, Damage increased by 20% to monsters of Boss and above level, and there’s a 20% increase to incoming damage. The Cursed Doll offers a 16% increase to Attack Power, but reduces healing by -25%.
Lastly, you can also unlock character-specific Learned Engravings which are called a variety of different things depending on where you play, but these “Learned Engravings” or “Imprints” are unlocked via books. Each class has specific buffs that can be applied through these special addons.
As for other core mechanics in Lost Ark, there’s plenty to learn. If you want to get into crafting, try learning Life Skills to get materials. There’s even sailing to contend with. So if you want to explore the high seas, this game offers plenty of that too. The premium Crystalline Aura in Lost Ark to get a discount on teleport fees, as well as other bonuses. Those players looking to get a leg up on crafting their own gear could do well with that.
