Lost Ark is the latest MMOARPG on the scene. Although, the game initially launched in South Korea back in 2019, and players elsewhere across the globe have had to wait until now to gain full access to the game.
Westernised by Amazon Game Studios, the title developed by Smilegate is set to be one of the top MMO games of 2022. With an abundance of features such as mounts, skins, and pets to be collected, as well as ranked PvP, and plenty of Twitch Drops, it's an exciting time to jump onto Lost Ark.
Unlike how housing typically works in MMO games, Lost Ark provides an account-wide Stronghold full of features and facilities that your characters may need. The place will require a lot of time and effort before it becomes a maxed out base, though. In this guide, we explain everything you need to know about your Stronghold in Lost Ark.
How to Unlock A Stronghold in Lost Ark
Your island Stronghold is a large estate that will be used by each of your characters. The area offers various facilities that you'll need during your Lost Ark adventure, and is also customisable with cosmetic items.
To unlock your island Stronghold in Lost Ark, you need to follow the main quest line until you reach 'Eadalin's Gift'. Once you've completed this quest, then accept the guide quest titled 'Secretary Theo's Invitation'. This quest will require you to meet with King Syilian in Luterra, who will then give you access to your Stronghold.
After completing that quest, you'll then learn the 'Song of Hearth and Home', which can be used to transport you to your island Stronghold immediately. When you finally reach your island Stronghold for the first time, go and speak with Adeline to commence with a short quest line that'll teach you the ropes of using your Stronghold.
click to enlargeHow to Use A Stronghold in Lost Ark - All Stronghold Facilities
Your Stronghold has its own level that is different from any other levels used during Lost Ark. The level of it can be increased through various research, missions, and weekly Stronghold quests.
As you perform tasks around your Stronghold, you'll notice that these require something called Action Energy, which refills at a rate of 100 each ten minutes. The max limit to which Action Energy will be replenished depends on the level of your Stronghold and what upgrades it has.
Aside from this, your Stronghold has various different facilities to be used. These are as follows:
Training Zone
The Training Zone at your Stronghold allows you to passively level up any of your alt characters, but this function can only be used by characters that are Level 50 or above.
Additionally, you can only use the Training Zone to train alt characters that are up to one level below your highest levelled character. So, if your highest levelled character sits at the level cap (Level 60), then you'll only be able to train an alt character that is Level 59. Training an alt character also consumes Action Energy and gold, depending on how long they are being set to passively train for.
Crafting Workshop
The Crafting Workshop is exactly as it sounds, and can be used to craft various items. For example, Life Skill Tools, Battle Items, and Food are just a few of the things that can be crafted at your Stronghold's Workshop.
In order to craft anything at your Stronghold, you'll first need to be in possession of your desired Crafting Recipe and its required materials. Most materials required for crafting can be gathered using Life Skills, such as mining and logging, or can be purchased.
Your Crafting Workshop is initially limited to one Crafting Project, that allows for ten slots of simultaneous crafting of the same type of item. More Crafting Projects can be unlocked for your Stronghold over time by completing research, and crafting time can also be reduced by spending Pirate Coins.
Lab
The Lab is arguably one of the most important features of any Stronghold, given that this is where all research is carried out. As you access your lab, you can choose exactly what you want to complete research on. The more research you carry out over time, the more items you will unlock to carry out further research on, and so forth.
Most research requires time and materials in order to complete, as well as Silver, but is incredibly important to upgrading your Stronghold and its facilities. For example, by completing research at the Lab, further Crafting Projects can be unlocked at the Crafting Workshop.
Station
At your Stronghold, you'll have a crew and pets that can be dispatched on boats to take on various missions and bring back resources and Stronghold XP. Before taking on any of these missions, however, you'll first need access to a ship, and you guessed it, these ships are unlocked by completing research at the lab.
Once you've got yourself a ship or two, you can embark on two types of missions: Normal missions and Special mission. Normal missions will see your crew take on the tackling of pirates and other issues, likely bringing back Pirate Coins, Stronghold XP, and Seals in exchange for Action Energy, gold, and time. On the other hand, Special missions will send your crew out to complete endgame content. These uses up Action Energy, gold, and time, but will reap bigger rewards.
Manor
The Manor provides buffs to any ongoing activities in your Stronghold in Lost Ark. As per usual, you'll have to research various structures at the Lab, craft them at the Workshop, and then equip them to your Manor for buffs to become active. Different structures, ranging from Fountains to Mailboxes, provide various buffs to Stronghold activities; such as reducing the amount of Action Energy used for activities, reducing the time it takes to complete activities, and so forth.
Additionally, the Manor also has an Outfit tab, where outfits can be displayed so that you can gain their passive bonuses while in the Stronghold. These function similarly to structures, but outfits can be accessed by having a strong rapport with various NPC's, rather than by researching and crafting.
Trade Merchants
As well as having all these various areas for researching, crafting, and other activities in your Lost Ark Stronghold, there are also Trade Merchants around the area. These are NPCs that'll visit your Stronghold, selling wares in exchange for Seals that may be acquired from your sailing crews missions.
To actually allow for these Trade Merchants to visit your Stronghold though, you'll need to go to your Lab and sign a contract with them through conducting research.
That's everything you need to know about your Stronghold in Lost Ark. For more on Lost Ark, check out our tier list of classes, which ones are gender-locked, and how you can level up fast! If you master levelling up and want to try another class without the grind, you should get your hands on a Powerpass, too.