The goal of this guide is to explain every feature and aspect of the class and help any future ark players understand the mechanics of it.
The guide will not include many skill numbers as there is nothing to explain about them and they are available in game, it will explain every skill Ark has and provide tips about using them.
Table Of Content:
- Guide- Introduction of the class
- Build- Guidelines for Inner Ability, Passive Hyper Skills and 5th job passive nodes
- Skill Info-Info and tips about every skill Ark has access to(except common skills like beginner skills and 5th job pirate commons).
- Gameplay- Tips on bossing and mobbing with Ark
- FAQ-Frequently asked questions
Class Summary:
Ark's main unique feature is the ability to switch between his Flora form and Specter form, giving him access to different skills and benefits.
Additionally, most skills can be chained to his basic skill to animation cancel and prevent forceful movement.
Pros And Cons:
Pros Cons Big burst High effort farming Health regeneration in Specter form Skills use hp in Flora form Useful party buffs. Lots of cooldown management. Good Mobility Needs to manage spells constantly. Mode switching is affected by latency
Lore:
Ark is a member of the High Flora race and was one of their warriors before he realized their war against the other races is wrong and as a result was captured by the High Flora and was subject to a Specter ritual that failed due to his friend interrupting it and resulting in Ark becoming half Flora and half Specter.
After the failed ritual Ark found himself on a desert planet and had to find a way to escape it.
Combos And Animation Cancel:
After using Basic Charge Drive or Endless Nightmare you can instantly use any skill to animation cancel it and prevent forceful movement(very useful in bossing, perhaps annoying in mobbing). If you attempt to combo Gust Charge Drive it will allow you to use in on the ground without moving(slightly different animation and hitbox).
Ark Guide
Guide in 'Pirate' published by CatFace, Jan 28, 2022.
The guide will explain the mechanics of the class and guide players that are new to the Ark class.
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Guide Author CatFace, Find all guides by CatFace
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Build
Inner Ability:
First line: +1 passives
Second/Third lines: boss% and %damage to abnormal conditions
Here's what you gain from +1 to all 4th job passives:
- Assuming use of Decent Combat Orders having +1 all passives will grant you:
- Knuckle Expert: +1% Mastery, +1 Attack, +1% Critical Damage
- Advanced Mystic Arts: +3%p to Basic, Scarlet and Gust Charge Drives,+3%p to Plain Spell Damage and +1%p to Scarlet and Gust Spells.
- Advanced Innate Arts: +3%p to Grievous Wound,Unstoppable Impulse,Tenacious Instinct, Impending Death,Insatiable Hunger,Creeping Terror and Vengeful Hate.
- Complete Fusion: +1 Attack,+1% Ignore Defense(not really 1 since that's not how IED works, its 31 to 32),
- Battle Frenzy:+1% Final Damage(not actually 1% because that's not how Final Damage works, actually 16% to 17%).
- Assuming not using Decent Combat Orders you will additionally gain(but lose stats equal to the previous section compared to using Decent Combat Orders):
- Complete Fusion: +1% Boss Damage
- Assuming use of Combat Orders you will additionally gain(on top of the extra level of having real Combat Orders and including both previous sections):
- +1% Critical Rate
Passive Nodes:
Due to the nature of the class you will end up using nearly all the skills so just a couple of nodes will not suffice.[/SIZE]
Arks nodes consist of:
- A node for each Charge Drive skill- Scarlet, Gust and Abyssal boost their Specter counterparts too(the nodes icon will be that of the Charge Drive skill).
- Basic Charge Drive has no Specter counterparts, hence it only boosts itself.
- Endless Nightmare and Endless Dream Share node(Endless Nightmare icon).
- Impending Doom and Vengeful Hate share a node too(Incoming Doom icon).
- Unstoppable Impulse and Tenacious Instinct share a node too.
- Creeping Terror, Blissful Restraint and Painful Agony share a node too(Creeping Terror icon).
I recommend focusing on Basic Charge Drive and Endless Nightmare mainly, and then on Gust and Abyssal charge, Impending Doom and Unstoppable Impulse.
I use Scarlet mainly for dodging bosses and to charge the scarlet spell so the damage on it isn't as important as other skill.
The last node is just not as useful as the of the skills as blissful restraint is meant to bind the boss and Creeping Terror serves as an iframe.
Ideally you want all 8 nodes boosted of course.
Here is an example of my current nodes setup:
I would like to stress out that getting "trios" is not a must and you just need to get an optimal node setup(A,B,C/B,D,E/D,A,F/C,E,F is just as good as A,B,C/B,A,C/D,E,F/E,D,F).
The fact that Ark uses 8 skills will give you some more room to work with if you're going for an 6 node slots setup like me. - Assuming use of Decent Combat Orders having +1 all passives will grant you:
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Skill Info
Skills:
While assigning skill points, put 1 into all attack skills and buffs, max the passives and then go back to max the rest of the skill, all skills will end up maxed.
Pre-First Job:
- Contact Caravan: This skill is obtained by following the quest line for a bit after leaving Verdel.
- Magic Conversion: Pretty self-explanatory, 25% of your magic attack is converted to weapon attack, but only up to 10% of your weapons base weapon attack.
- Exclusive Spell: Just Ark's version of echo.
First Job:
- Specter State: The buff the turns you into Specter form and gives you some attack and stance, uncontrollable until you obtain the 2nd job skill Master Corruption.
Your available Spectra is visible on your Spectra UI You charge your Spectra while being in Flora form and deplete it while being in Specter form, if you deplete it completely you will not be able to change into Specter form or charge Spectra for a short while, avoid depleting it completely and change back to flora mode when you're low(there is a big notification and the screen turns red when you're low on Spectra, only possible once you obtain Master Corruption). - Ominous Nightmare/Ominous Dream: The Flora form skill has a 2s cooldown, The Specter form has no cooldown and it is your basic attack skill in Specter form.
- Basic Charge Drive: Unavailable in Specter form, hitting an enemy charges a basic spell to your Spell Bullets.
- Spell Bullets: Hitting an enemy with one of 4 Flora form skills will charge 1 spell into this skill(up to 5) and can be released by using the skill or they can be released automatically by right-clicking the skill. Releasing the spells will hit enemies and give you a buff according to what spells were charged.
Each Spell is marked by a different colored dot on your Spell Bullets UI. - Mystic Leap/Instinctual Leap: In Flora form, a standard double jump that can be used as an upjump instead. In Specter form, can be used twice but only the first jump may be an upjump, additionally, allows you to hover temporarily in Specter form by holding the down key while being in air(pretty useless in my opinion and sometimes even annoying)
- Mystic Arts Mastery: Standard passive with a few improvements to your stats(50% stance allows you to hit 100% using only the Gust spell).
Second Job:
- Master Corruption: Allows you to change between Flora and Specter form.
- Scarlet Charge Drive/Grievous Wound: Your basic dash skill, Charges a Scarlet spell in Flora form, much longer and stronger in Specter form, if used in the air can be used to go through dangers like a teleport(very useful in bossing).
- Unstoppable Impulse/Tenacious Instinct: A diagonal dash that can be used up or down and up to twice in a row(3 times in Specter form if you have the hyper for it).
- Impending Death: Toggle skill, while in Specter mode hitting enemies will generate Abyssal Aura that will target and hit nearby enemies.
- Knuckle Booster: Standard attack speed buff.
- Knuckle Mastery, Initiate Fusion, Physical Training: More normal passives that don't need much explanation.
Third Job:
- Vivid Nightmare/Vivid Dream: Just passives that make their 1st job counterparts stronger.
- Gust Charge Drive/Insatiable Hunger: In Flora form has to be used in air unless used while comboing it with Basic Charge Drive and charges a Gust spell, has a pretty small range. In Specter form throws you forward and a bit up, has good range but dangerous to use in some bosses without using combos and animation cancel.
- Creeping Terror: Holding the skill key down will make you invulnerable for up to a few seconds while reducing you hp constantly, very useful for dodging attacks in bosses, when released changes you into Specter form and activates a pretty big attack.
- Vengeful Hate: Abyssal Auras has a chance to remain after hitting an enemy as an Abyssal Mark, use this skill to activate the Abyssal Marks and make them target and hit nearby enemies. Can be right-clicked to be changed to auto mode which will activate Abyssal Marks periodically.
- Mystic Arts Training, Innate Arts Training, Advanced Fusion: More passives that Make you or your skills stronger.
Fourth Job:
- Endless Nightmare/Endless Dream: Just more passives that make their 1st job counterparts stronger.
- Abyssal Charge Drive/Unbridled Chaos: In Flora form charges an Abyssal Charge. In Specter form throws you forward and upwards while hitting a large area, can be dangerous to use in some bosses without using combos and animation cancel.
- Blissful Restraint: Your very own bind, forces you into Specter form, deals damage to enemies in the area and hits a very large area when the bind is over. The bound monster will appear to not take damage but all damage will be dealt once the bind is over.
- Hero of the Flora: Standard "Maple Warrior" buff for Flora classes.
- Floran Hero's Will: Standard "Hero's Will" for Flora classes.
- Knuckle Expert, Advances Mystic Arts , Advanced Innate Arts, Complete Fusion: More passives that make you or your skills stronger.
- Battle Frenzy: Additionally to the very useful Final Damage passive, when you combo a skill you get a stack of Battle Frenzy(Up to 3). Each Battle Frenzy stack makes using combos and animation cancel much easier.
Active Hyper Skills:
- Endless Agony: Forced you into Specter form, a short hurricane attack the ends with a strong attack that depends on how long the key was held, can be dangerous to use in bossing as you are locked into animation for fairly long. Can be used for a quick attack with a good range but will only change you into Specter form if not held for more than a moment(you just need to hold it for about half a second and not just tap to make it activate successfully, releasing too soon will still make the skill go on cooldown).
- Divine Wrate: Generic 60/120 10% damage buff.
- Charge Spell Amplification: A powerful hyper skill that makes all Spells activated while this skill is active to apply to party members as well and apply with double the effect on you. It is important to note that once the hyper deactivates the spells will disappear from party memebers and turn into the normal variation for you.
Passive Hyper Skills:
I use the 3 hypers that boost all my skills, Eased Terror and Enhanced Spectral State.
Here are all the Available Passive Hyper Skills and my opinion about them:
- You want to have the first 3 hypers that give your skills more damage% boss% and ied.(only the damage one if you're only mobbing of course).
- Incredibly Tenacious Instinct gives the skill a third available use in a row(only to the Specter form variation), not recommended unless you're only going for mobbing which will leave you with the points for this.
- Eased terror reduces Creeping Terror's cooldown which is useful to allow you to use it more often in mobbing to kill mobs fast and dodge boss attacks.
- Enhanced Spectral Healing increases your Spectra gaining rate so you want to put the point in that, more Specter is always good.
- Enhanced Specter State gives you resistance to all knockbacks, including those by bosses like Magnus and Lotus, limited use outside of those, not recommended in most scenarios.
- Advanced Specter State lets you animation cancel using Master Corruption, limited use additionally to using more Spectra, not recommended.
Fifth Job:
Active Skills:
Additionally to all the decent skills and general pirate skills Ark has 2 5th job skills specifically for him and 1 Flora general skill:
- Abyssal Recall: 10 seconds long iframe that damages nearly all enemies on the screen constantly and another strong attack once its over, you can't do anything else while the skill is active. Additionally, the skill will force you into Specter form and grant you 30 seconds of no Spectra consumption, in addition to the shrinking ball of abyss there's a flashback of Ark's past that's only played for male characters.
- Infinity Spell: While this skill is active, every spell will charge 5 spells instead of one in Flora form and you will generate 2 additional Abyssal Auras in Specter form, a very useful skill in bossing although it doesn't offer as much burst as other classes.
- Conversion Overdrive: The general Flora skill, while it is active you gain damage% and active periodical final attacks when hitting enemies.
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Gameplay
Bossing:
While using combos generally improves your DPS, you're adding more danger because if you miss the animation cancel window you will end up somewhere undesired.
Additionally, at 0 attack speed you need to gain a Battle Frenzy stack in specter mode before consistent comboing is doable, you cannot start it in flora mode.
While bossing you need to remember to keep your spells up, even if you're in Specter form, that means that at least once a minute you have to change to Flora form and recast your spells. Changing your Spell Bullet to manual mode before a boss, charging one of each spell and switching back to auto will make the start of the boss smoother because you don't have to start stacking buffs immediately.
Some of the various uses of Ark's kit in bosses include:
- I recommend not using Scarlet Drive or Grievous Wound while bossing to attack and instead save it for dodging.
- Teleport through dangers(like Lotus's p1 lasers) using Scarlet Drive or Grievous Wound while being in air.
- Saving Creeping Terror can be useful as an iframe to dodge dangerous attacks instead of using it instantly to deal damage.
- You can stay in air during Lotus's electric floor although dangers may fall on you from the ceiling and kill you trying, alternatively just upjumping may allow you to take damage slow enough from the floor to heal and not die from it.
- It is possible, although may be difficult, to save yourself from Lucids's p1 dragon using Specter form's various movement skills, even if hes on the other side.
While mobbing on Ark you will use mostly your Charge skills and their Specter counterpart and not your basic attacks, usually by the time you use all your skills one of them will come off cooldown so you can use it again.
It's useful to know that apart from Unstoppable Impulse and Tenacious Instinct that share cooldowns, all Charge skills and their Specter counterpart do not share cooldown and you can use one, change your form, and use the skill it changed into, which can improve your mobbing capabilities further by allowing you to use multiple skills that have good reach(for example you can use Unbridled Chaos, change to Flora form and immediately use Abyssal Charge Drive). While useful, it does require more effort than just staying in each form until you are ready/need to switch. - I recommend not using Scarlet Drive or Grievous Wound while bossing to attack and instead save it for dodging.
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FAQ
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Guide Version
1.11Game Version
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