Next to the Sorceress, the most potent damage-dealer in Lost Ark (in talented enough hands) is the Gunslinger, who wields a complete arsenal of guns into battle.. The class is unique in that the skills completely change based on which weapon is being wielded.
In that way, the Gunslinger is capable of staying mobile while delivering powerful ranged attacks, meaning that not only does it deal tons of damage, it’s also difficult to kill. As soon as you finish creating your Gunner, you automatically become a Gunslinger on your first visit to Trixion, which happens pretty much right after you exit the character creation screen. With this Lost Ark Gunslinger PVE Build guide, we explain which skills, attributes, cards, and engravings you will want to rotate between most often.
Hat tip to Youtube account KaidGames2 for providing this powerful Gunslinger build template which we’ve used as a framework for our optimal skill loadout. Note that, unlike Lost Ark’s other classes, you can equip up to 16 of the Gunslinger’s skills – eight for dual pistols, four for the shotgun, and four for the sniper rifle. What matters most is which ones you choose to upgrade with your limited skill point pool and support through engravings, cards, etc. But like Lost Ark’s other classes, the Gunslinger is still versatile enough to experiment with and etch out your own playstyle even without min-maxing, so you shouldn’t feel like you absolutely need to follow this build to the T.
Lost Ark Gunslinger PVE Build Guide
Despite the potentially massive DPS output, playing effectively as a Gunslinger has a bit more of a learning curve than other classes. The GUI at the bottom of your screen indicates which weapon skills have finished cooling down on any of your weapons, though you’ll need to remember which skills are where on your hotbar for weapons that aren’t currently equipped. Furthermore, positioning and timing your attacks is tantamount to getting the best results out of each of your three weapons, all of which operate well under different circumstances and at varying ranges.
Your sniper rifle, for example, is much better acclimated to landing heavy damage on singular foes that are reasonably far away from you (giving you time to charge up your attacks uninterrupted). But in the same sense, exhausting the wrong weapon’s skills at the wrong moment can lead to unforeseen consequences. For instance, you rarely want to find yourself stuck in a situation where swarms of foes are flanking you at melee range – when you’d most need your shotgun or dual pistols – but only have access to your sniper rifle because the other firearms’ skills are still cooling down.
Lost Ark Gunslinger PVE Skills
Assuming you’re already at least level 50, have already completed the North Vern area, and have earned enough skill points to have a total pool of 252 skill points to allocate, you should have access to everything mentioned in this skills section of our Lost Ark Gunslinger guide.
Note that each skill is wired directly to a specific weapon (i.e. shotgun, pistols, sniper rifle) and you still need to manually assign and upgrade the ones you’d like to use, though they will only appear in the respective hotbar. For instance, pistol skills only appear in your hotbar while your dual pistols are equipped. Thanks once again to YouTuber KaidGames2 for providing the template for an optimal Gunslinger skill loadout at 252 skill points.
- Quick Step (Skill Lv 4) – Life Absorption (T1) – Judgment Rune
- Dual Buckshot (Skill Lv 10) – In a Tight Spot (T1), Enhanced Fire (T2), Final Blow (T3) – Judgment Rune
- Target Down (Skill Lv 10) – Quick Aim (T1), Large Magazine (T2), Steady Aim (T3) – Judgment Rune
- Sharpshooter (Skill Lv 10) – Special Bullet (T1), In a Tight Spot (T2), Guardian’s Breath (T3) – Judgment Rune
- Shotgun Rapid Fire (Skill Lv 4) – In a Tight Spot (T1) – Judgment Rune
- Spiral Tracker (Skill Lv 4) – Weakness Exposure (T1) – Judgment Rune
- Dexterous Shot (Skill Lv 1) – No upgrades – Judgment Rune
- Focused Shot (Skill Lv 10) – Quick Aim (T1), Double Tap (T2), Final Blow (T3) – Judgment Rune
- Perfect Shot (Skill Lv 10) – Stable Stance (T1), Kill Confirmation (T2), Enhanced Shot (T3)
- Awakening: High-Calibre HE Bullet
Once you develop your own talent with the Gunslinger’s rotation of firearms, you can learn to quickly cycle between all three of them, potentially avoiding ever having to wait for your skills to cool down. This is a key part of playing as a Gunslinger, given that you can hypothetically position yourself to make the most out of each of your three firearms, momentarily exhausting all of your current firearm’s skills and moving onto the next one, as circumstances shift in the heat of battle.
You can respec your skills at any point to play with different combinations of skills and upgrades. Once you unlock the Book of Coordination and begin to play with different custom endgame builds based on Lost Ark’s robust skill system, you get 340 skill points and access to all of the engravings that you may not have yet earned. This is a great way to experiment with different builds while you work your way toward level 60.
Note: Cards in Lost Ark give you a noticeable benefit when equipped as a complete set. The card set that is most beneficial to any PVE Gunslinger, regardless of build, is the Farewell, Weapon set, which grants an HP bonus of +12% when all six cards are equipped in the Card Collection menu.
Lost Ark Gunslinger Engravings
From here, you want to continue specializing your engravings and combat stats to make your build more concise around your exact playstyle. As you progress further, you are strongly encouraged to focus your build around one of the two class-specific engravings that apply to the Gunslinger: Time to Hunt or Peacemaker.
Time to Hunt disables your shotgun but vastly increases your crit rate for the sniper rifle and dual pistols. Peacemaker, on the other hand, improves attack speed for the pistols, increases crit rate for the shotgun, and increases the amount of damage the sniper rifle inflicts to foes lower than 50% of their total HP. In both cases, you do not need to change your stats at all, since the same stats are useful for both builds. Make sure to be focusing on Crit and Specialization in that order, no matter how you choose to specialize your Lost Ark Gunslinger. It may be worth adding some Swiftness into the mix as well, which improves your movement speed and lowers your skill cooldown time.
All engravings are slowly earned by collecting and reading Engraving Recipe Books, which are obtained through quests, Chaos and Abyssal Dungeons, as well as Guardian Raids. It takes time and effort to unlock and power up each engraving to tier three, so you want to be deliberate in how you spec your engravings here. You can view a full list of engravings and their descriptions and effects in Lost Ark’s Book of Coordination menu.
Time to Hunt Gunslinger
The Time to Hunt engraving description is as follows:
- Lv. 1 (Nodes 5): Crit Rate +20% for Handgun and Rifle skills. Unable to use Shotgun Stance.
- Lv. 2 (Nodes 10): Crit Rate +25% for Handgun and Rifle skills. Unable to use Shotgun Stance.
- Lv. 3 (Nodes 15): Crit Rate +30% for Handgun and Rifle skills. Unable to use Shotgun Stance.
The Time to Hunt Gunslinger loses its shotgun but gains a +20-30% crit rate bonus to their dual pistols and sniper rifle. In theory, this makes the Gunslinger easier to manage since you get to worry about one fewer weapon, and this limitation also helps you focus your skill upgrades a bit more around the dual pistols and sniper rifle. That said, losing your shotgun makes the Gunslinger a bit less flexible as well. You should stack this engraving up with other damage-boosting engravings such as Grudge and/or Cursed Doll.
Peacemaker Gunslinger
The Peacemaker engraving description is as follows:
- Lv. 1 (Nodes 5): Atk. Speed in Handgun Stance +8%. Crit Rate in Shotgun Stance +15%. Damage to foes +10% and additional Damage +10% to targets with 50% or lower HP for 9s while in Rifle Stance.
- Lv. 2 (Nodes 10): Atk. Speed in Handgun Stance +12%. Crit Rate in Shotgun Stance +20%. Damage to foes +10% and additional Damage +20% to targets with 50% or lower HP for 9s while in Rifle Stance.
- Lv. 3 (Nodes 15): Atk. Speed in Handgun Stance +16%. Crit Rate in Shotgun Stance +25%. Damage to foes +10% and additional Damage +30% to targets with 50% or lower HP for 9s while in Rifle Stance.
Peacemaker gives benefits to each playstyle and is probably the most straightforward Gunslinger engraving since it lets you keep all of your weapons. There isn’t much more to be said here. As with the Time to Hunt build, you should stack this engraving up with other damage-boosting engravings such as Grudge and/or Cursed Doll.
That’s everything you need to know about the Gunslinger! This extremely versatile class is tough to learn but rewarding to play once you’ve gotten the hang of switching between her three weapons. Once you’re ready to set off, you’ll quickly find yourself delving into Lost Ark’s plethora of raids and dungeons in style. If you’re hungry for more Lost Ark knowledge, here’s our guide on 16 things you might have missed.
