Lost Ark Wardancer Guide: How To Build A Wardancer

Lost Ark Wardancer Guide: How To Build A Wardancer – In this Lost Ark Wardancer Guide, I’m going to show you what it means to play as a Wardancer in terms of how well they perform in combat, the best Skills and Tripods to focus on, and the playstyles available to them based on the Class Engravings they choose. If you’re searching for a Melee DPS Class with the ability to buff themselves as well as the party to be effective in combat, then this Lost Ark Wardancer Guide is for you!

Be sure to check out our other Lost Ark Class Guides including: Shadowhunter, Sorceress, Gunslinger, Paladin, Gunlancer, Deathblade, Scrapper & Sharpshooter!

Lost Ark Wardancer Guide: How To Build A Wardancer

The Lost Ark Wardancer is one of the Advanced Classes that fall under the Martial Artist Class. They wield Lightweight Knuckles, which allow them to deal considerable damage up close and personal by performing a combination of punches and kicks. However, they’re not as straightforward to play since you need to learn to manage the relatively long cooldown period of their Skills.

Good DPS Punch and Kick Combos
Impressive Mobility
Self and Party Buffs
Skills with Back Attacks
Long Skill Cooldown Periods

As a Lost Ark Wardancer, you’ll be able to inflict high damage as long as you perfectly land your hits. In addition, you’re able to efficiently dart in and out of combat because of how quick your movement speed is. Similar to Deathblades, however, Wardancers need to change positions to punch and kick enemies from behind to maximize the amount of damage they deal with their Back Attack skills. On the bright side, they can buff the entire party to boost their mobility.

Lost Ark Wardancer vs Striker

Wardancers and Strikers are highly mobile DPS classes in Lost Ark with the ability to execute multiple combos at melee range, but there are a few differences that set them apart. For instance, Wardancers are more agile, allowing her to inflict consistent damage throughout. She also has a Class Engraving, which improves the damage dealt by her Normal Skills at the expense of rendering Esoteric Skills unusable. Conversely, Strikers focus on building energy to deal maximum damage. He’s also not as fast but he can deal excellent damage while auto-attacking much less. If you’ve been meaning to play a faster class while granting a variety of buffs to your allies, then you should pick the Wardancer.

Wardancer Class Role and Identity

The Lost Ark Wardancer is a Melee DPS Class that focuses on dealing decent burst damage based on optimal skill rotation. As a Martial Artist, their mobility allows them to cover a rather larger area since they can easily move from one point to the next in the blink of an eye, making it a challenge to pin them down. They also benefit from this since some of their skills have higher cooldowns, meaning that there is certainly downtime when it comes to followthroughs in their combos. What’s more is Wardancers are a squishy class, which makes it more essential to upgrade their mobility. Having a fast reaction time helps in precisely executing Back Attack skills to maximize the damage you inflict. In terms of buffs, Wardancers can improve their crit rate and mitigate damage as well as boost attack speed and movement speed.

All Advanced Classes in Lost Ark have unique features or Identities that differentiate them from the other classes. These can either unleash more damage or enhance the buffs they grant. For the Lost Ark Wardancer, it’s the Esoteric Identity, allowing them to use special skills known as Esoteric Skills, which are strong and overwhelming damage abilities that consume 1-2 orbs. The energy used to power these orbs increase every time you hit enemies with Basic and Normal Skills.

Note that when Esoteric Skills are active, you won’t be gaining Esoteric energy. However, the moment you go back into your Normal State, you can start instantly filling up your Esoteric Meter without needing to wait for several seconds unlike with the Shadowhunter’s Shadowburst Energy.

Lost Ark Wardancer Best Skills and Tripods

By the time your Lost Ark Wardancer reaches Level 60, you will have unlocked a total of 18 skills comprised of Normal, Esoteric, and Awakening Skills. To add to this, you’ve invested several points into Normal and Esoteric Skills to specialize further by unlocking their respective Tripods. The Tripod System allows players to customize skills in various ways like increasing the Esoteric energy gained or reducing the cooldown of the respective abilities. In total, you only need 8 skills per character with a select number of tripods. In this section, I’ll cover the essential Normal and Esoteric Skills and tripods you should allocate points into regardless of the playstyle you end up choosing.

Lost Ark Wardancer Normal Skills and Tripods

Lightning Kick – Unlocked at Combat Level 10. A good engagement skill that lets you perform a flurry of kicks to close the gap between you and your enemies while dealing decent damage in the process. What makes Lightning Kick more effective are Sharp Movement, Thunder Kick, and Heaven’s Lightning. This combination broadens the area you cover due to improved mobility on top of inflicting extra damage as you slam targets to the ground. You’ll also be able to perform another rapid attack towards the end of the skill.

Flash Heat Fang – Unlocked at Combat Level 10. Delivers a series of painful punches to deal great damage. Rather than moving around, you’ll stay in place the moment you activate Flash Heat Fang so remember to position yourself directly behind targets to maximize the damage you deal. If you have a gap between you and your enemies, not all of your attacks will connect. The best tripods to keep in mind are Fist of Darkness and Weak Point Detection. These upgrades boost the Lost Ark Wardancer’s crit rate and make the skill even more effective against Push-Immune or stronger targets. To improve your survivability since you don’t move while the Flash Heat Fang is in use, you should take the Enlightenment Tripod, which grants Push Immunity and ignores a portion of the enemy’s defense.

Moon Flash Kick – Unlocked at Combat Level 10. Another excellent skill to charge towards enemies by kicking your way to them and then performing a spinning back kick to deal incredible damage. To make Moon Flash Kick much more powerful, you should consider choosing Intense Shock, Light-Footed, and Full Moon Kick. This combination lets you inflict Damage over Time (DoT) by electrocution when you charge into them, increases the AoE and the number of kicks you make, and deals massive damage with your finisher move.

Wind’s Whisper – Unlocked at Combat Level 20. Buffs you and your allies for a period of time. To be able to use Wind’s Whisper more frequently, it’s good to invest in Quick Prep to decrease the skill’s cooldown. You can then choose Oath of the Wind and Ready Attack to boost your overall damage by raising crit rate and attack power, respectively. However, you can definitely swap Quick Prep for Warrior’s Courage or Wind’s Whisper. Warrior’s Courage reduces the incoming damage everyone receives whereas Wind’s Whisper doubles the effectiveness of the skill itself and therefore, your crit rate.

Swift Wind Kick – Unlocked at Combat Level 20. This allows you to traverse the area by creating a whirlwind with your kicks, which you’re able to easily control, to inflict considerable DoT. To use Swift Wind Kick more often, you should take the Quick Prep Tripod. The other upgrades to obtain are Fire Round Kick to deal added DoT by burning affected enemies and Extreme Training to boost your damage and to make it easier to manage your Wardancer while this skill is active.

Roar of Courage – Unlocked at Combat Level 32. This lets the Lost Ark Wardancer shout into the open to not only deal damage against nearby enemies but also impose a debuff to temporarily decrease their crit resistance. The best Roar of Courage Tripods to get are Wide Hit, Impaired Mobility, and Fatal Wave. This combination widens the AoE, lessens the targets’ movement speed so you can follow through with another combo of punches or kicks, and further reduces their crit resistance, making them extremely vulnerable.

Sweeping Kick – Unlocked at Combat Level 36. A very powerful kick to deal lethal damage and to push enemies (who aren’t immune) away from you. This creates a breathing room so you can move around and recover your bearings. Because of the space between you and your targets, you’re able to get away with equipping Pure Excellence to deal the most amount of damage possible even if the damage you receive increases. The remaining Sweeping Kick Tripods to consider are Weak Point Detection, thereby improving damage dealt against Push-Immune targets, and Shadowcleave to boost your crit rate while temporarily blinding them.

Energy Combustion – Unlocked at Combat Level 50. This skill is quite similar to Deathblade’s Maelstrom in that you’re able to conjure and maintain a gust of wind surrounding you to deal damage against nearby enemies. While Energy Combustion is active, you can use other skills. To improve your defenses, it’s best to take Combustible Armor. Alternatively, you can pick Quick Pace if you intend to improve your Movement Speed more and you’re not having trouble dealing with the damage you receive. It’s important to then obtain Skill Reduction and Last Whisper. This combination lowers the skill’s cooldown period at the cost of reducing its duration. In the end, Energy Combustion will deal explosive damage.

If you pick the Esoteric Skill Enhancement Engraving, you should get Sky Shattering Blow to gain a huge amount of Esoteric energy.

Sky Shattering Blow – Unlocked at Combat Level 10. Unleash roundhouse kicks to attack in multiple directions. Sky Shattering Blow is a good skill to momentarily paralyze Normal monsters and to send them flying into the air thanks to Ascension Kick. Or, you can go for Excellent Mobility to cover more ground. The other tripods to choose are Ready Attack to boost your attack power on your second hit and Abundant Resources to increase the Esoteric energy you gain by about 200%.

Lost Ark Wardancer Esoteric Skills and Tripods

Lightning Strike – Unlocked at Combat Level 18. Releases a ball of energy to deal great damage while stunning enemies and debilitating them in the process. Note that the Lost Ark Wardancer will consume 1 orb upon activating Lightning Strike. To make this skill more effective, you should choose Vital Point Hit, Steady Will, and Electrocution. This combination boosts your crit rate and overall damage. To be able to inflict greater damage, you can swap Electrocution for Dangerous Deal. This effectively converts Lightning Strike into a combo skill. But the caveat is, you consume an extra orb to nullify any stun effect you’re supposed to inflict. If you prefer better damage, then you ought to stick with the Dangerous Deal Tripod.

Call of the Wind God – Unlocked at Combat Level 28. Makes use of a devastating tornado to attack enemies over a period of time. You’ll consume 2 orbs upon activating this skill. The best Call of the Wind God Tripods to select are Growth Attack and Raging Storms. Both of these upgrades enhance the damage dealt during and right after the skill’s activation, which results in explosive damage. You can then pick Frost Storm to slow down enemy movement and freeze them after several stacks. If you have 3 full orbs ready, you can immediately use Lightning Strike on frozen targets to inflict better damage.

Lost Ark Wardancer Engravings and Stats

In Lost Ark, every Advanced Class unlocks Engravings that allow you to further specialize in your chosen Class as these grant special effects, which you can activate by reading Recipe Books and equipping Accessories and Ability Stones. You’re able to obtain them as random rewards by completing endgame activities such as Chaos and Abyss Dungeons, and Guardian Raids.

In this section, I’m going to talk about Lost Ark Wardancer Engravings, which determine the playstyle you wish to adopt for your character and are class-specific abilities and traits. You gain access to this when you reach higher levels. The 2 Class Engravings available to the Wardancer are Esoteric Skill Enhancement and First Intention. Let’s first discuss the Esoteric Skill Enhancement Class Engraving or playstyle together with the Stats that go with it.

Wardancer Esoteric Skill Enhancement Playstyle

Esoteric Skill Enhancement increases the number of orbs available at your disposal from 3 to 4. The damage you deal with Esoteric Skills is also improved. However, you need to aim for Esoteric Skill Enhancement Level 3 due to the incremental damage increase at lower levels. You should then slot 2 of the Esoteric Skills we’ve talked about to take advantage of this playstyle.

For Normal Skills such as Moon Flash Kick, Wind’s Whisper, Roar of Courage, Sweeping Kick, and Energy Combustion, you’re going to want to choose tripods that let you gain Esoteric energy in order to quickly charge your orbs. For instance, you can substitute Moon Flash Kick’s Intense Shock for White Flame Kick. Doing so will enable you to use Esoteric Skills more often.

In terms of Esoteric Skill Enhancement’s Combat Stats, you’ll want to prioritize Specialization followed by Crit when gearing up. This setup maximizes the damage inflicted with Esoteric Skills while increasing the amount of Esoteric energy you gain. It also enhances the crit rate of your Normal Skills, and therefore its corresponding damage.

Wardancer First Intention Playstyle

Comparatively, First Intention is the much more popular playstyle between the two because of the high damage buff you receive in exchange for losing access to your Esoteric Skills. This is a great tradeoff since you can simply focus on Normal Skills and auto attacks rather than managing your Esoteric Meter as well. For the First Intention Engraving, reaching Level 3 would be the goal to significantly boost your overall damage.

In terms of First Intention’s Combat Stats, you should focus on Swiftness to improve your mobility and attack speed while reducing the cooldown rate of your Normal Skills. You can then allocate points into Crit to enhance your crit rate even more.

Final Tips

As a Lost Ark Wardancer, you’ll have to adjust your playstyle especially if you’re more used to executing Frontal Attacks. Due to the volume of Back Attack skills available, it’s essential to change directions often so you can go behind targets before hitting them with your combos. Doing so will increase your damage. In PvP, the Wardancer is focused on engaging enemies and buffing the entire party for better mobility. They can then deal rapid and impactful attacks due to their punch and kick combos while blitzing from one point to the next.

To get the most out of your skills, especially the Wind’s Whisper buff, which only lasts for 6 seconds, you’ll have to engage targets first. You’ll then be activating Wind’s Whisper to boost everyone’s attack and movement speed, followed by Roar of Courage to lessen the enemy’s crit resistance. Energy Combustion is also important to reduce the damage you take. Finally, you can smash them by activating several high damage combos using the rest of your Normal Skills like Moon Flash Kick and Sweeping Kick.

Between the Esoteric Skill Enhancement and First Intention Class Engravings, the latter is heavily used in endgame because of the amount of damage you deal even if you sacrifice using Esoteric Skills altogether. This also simplifies the way you play the Wardancer, albeit a little, in that you’re now solely focused on executing Normal Skills. Doing so will allow you to learn this Advanced Class even more to maximize your buffs and damage.

Lastly, remember that you’ll be incorporating auto attacks or Basic Skills into your burst skill rotation. Although this won’t be huge, it’s important to continue dealing damage while waiting for your Normal Skills to cool down.

Stay tuned for more Lost Ark Class Guides and be sure to check out our Lost Ark Wiki or drop by our Twitch Channel if you have questions about the game. What did you think of this Lost Ark Wardancer Class Guide? What Advanced Class are you planning to try out first? Let us know in the comments below!