Lost Ark – Martial Artist Class: Soulfist FAQ

Gameplay FAQ

General

Why should I play this class?

Soulfist is among the highest DPS ceiling classes that has 2 distinctive play styles depending on Stat Allocation and plays around using its skills under the timed buff window.

High Specialization focuses on slower, more consistent gameplay, with a static rotation while having hard hitting abilities, and has the strongest Awakening skill in the game that lets you embrace your Dragonball fantasy with World Decimation (Spirit Bomb).

High Swiftness focuses on a fast-paced burst style gameplay, with relatively static rotations based on what level of specialty gauge you’re in. While it might appear to have smaller numbers as opposed to High Specialization, the low cooldown allows more rapid skill usage and has highest mobility in the game.

Soulfist provides both Offensive & Defensive synergy with Attack Power 6%, Damage Reduction 25% – 56% & a party-wide Cleanse (if necessary).

How does my identity work?

Soulfist identity is called Hype. The information is shown in the table below.

• Hype is activated with the Specialty 1 Key (Default: Z). 
• Hype can be canceled using the Specialty 2 Key (Default: X)

How do I decide on a build?

Both have their strengths and weaknesses. It’s a matter of personal preference.

Here’s a short summary of the builds.

Energy Overflow

Burst playstyle with generally fixed rotations and relies heavily around Hype windows.

Pros

• Despite being fast, it still focuses around Hype burst windows.
• Fast gameplay and high mobility.
• If you can master Hype timing this class is 100% the top DPS in all of Lost Ark.

Cons

• Hype management can be punishing depending on the timing of boss patterns.
• Uses Dominion Fang set which is another layer of management on top of Hype.
• Failing Hype timing = abysmal DPS.

Robust Spirit

Consistent damage playstyle with a fixed rotation and the option to nuke occasionally.

Pros

• Highest Damage Awakening in the entire game.
• Very consistent damage once you get used to the 32s cycle of gameplay.

Cons

• You can’t do anything outside of Hype (literally you just auto attack for 11-16s based on your spec).
• Since you have periods where you can’t use skills, you may end up being useless on stagger checks if Hype isn’t up.

What builds do the guide writers use?

Espresso

• Robust Spirit Swift 3.01
• Master Elixir 35 

Lysria 

• Robust Spirit Crit 2.2 MI
• Critical Elixir 40

OGPizzaCat

• Energy Overflow BP 4 FO
• Master Elixir 40

Why is Yearning important?

It’s considered a part of a build despite not being on your character.Swamp of Yearning is used by supports and gives +8/10/12% Damage and Attack/Move speed to the party. This is a Relic Set they use that has a golden ring.

Energy Overflow

Playstyle

Soulfist general playstyle revolves around fitting abilities within buff window of Energy Release & Hype.

Should I go Mass Increase or Cursed Doll?

Mass Increase is the preferred choice over Cursed Doll because EO is not affected by the Attack Speed debuff while in Hype.

Cursed Doll still can be used in place of Mass Increase if you have already read Cursed Doll legendary books to save some on initial gold cost while building your character.

Can I replace Adrenaline?

No.

Quick Recharge vs Conviction and Judgment?

The merit of taking Conviction and Judgment for Energy Overflow is mostly for lowering Awakening Skill cooldown to get 100% uptime on Dominion Fang set effect when you have low swiftness. Once you have higher swiftness (1600+), Conviction and Judgment falls out of favor over taking 2 or 3 Quick Recharge runes because they offer a potential higher ceiling for your Hype 3 burst. Not to mention Soulfist has a very poor proc rate for Conviction and Judgment along with its internal cooldown of 30s. Quick Recharge does not have internal cooldown.

Hallucination vs. Dominion Fang?

If you don’t want to deal with Dominion Fang uptime and fast pace gameplay and considering playing Hallucination, you have to wait until Bracelet, and invest into a high stats accessories combine with high level gems, otherwise you should consider playing Robust Spirit since Hallucination generally doesn’t work well on Energy Overflow build.

How do I manage Dominion?

Refresh the buff during Hype 2 or end of Hype 3 for the uptime on Dominion Fang buff.

If you use Conviction and Judgment, you can refresh during Judgment window.

How do I do the Awakening Swap Cheese?

Equip x2 Awakening books(Epic) in the supply zone and activate Dominion Fang before starting the raid. This will give more flexibility for your Dominion Fang management.

How do I manage Hype?

Stay in hype 2 and use hype for burst windows.

If your party is juiced you can use 1-2 rotations in hype 2 or skip it entirely and go into hype 3 depending on your party’s overall DPS.

Ideally you want to hit the next boss phase using hype 3 and use the mechanics phase to recover hype.

For longer DPS windows:

• H3 – H0 – H3 is best for 1:30 minute DPS window
• H2 – H3 – H0 – H3 is best for 2 minute DPS window

Force Orb vs Tempest Blast vs Illusion Strike?

Force Orb:

• Highest damage ceiling and stagger
• Able to use 3 Quick Recharge or Conviction & Judgment rune setup
• Limited range for optimal play while having no immunity
• Requires more investment

Tempest Blast:

• Comfort choice
• Long Range
• Extra weak point
• Does not perform very well if you do not optimize Hype 3 properly

Illusion Strike:

• Flashy but long animations
• Unable to cancel animation with spacebar
• Low ceiling

Robust Spirit

Playstyle

Pressing your Identity button empowers you into “Hype” for 20 seconds. You follow a rotation to effectively release all your skills twice within that 20 second window. After that, you have a variable downtime ranging anywhere from 11-16s where you can simply relax until your Identity is ready again.

Do I absolutely need 140 swift for 2.X?

Not necessarily. We designed rotations around 140 swift in order to account for leeway of boss movement.

The true minimum swift you can run with is 92 before EBlast starts to clip.

If you have level 10 CDR gems across the board you can also ditch the 140 swift entirely and take a spec/crit bracelet.

Do I have to follow Spirit Bomb Rotation for throwing the Spirit Bomb?

No. The Spirit Bomb rotation is mainly designed for min-maxing and may not always be viable to use in raids except in certain situations (ex. You know that the boss will stagger during the Spirit Bomb rotation to allow for perfect bomb throw).

Use your brain to figure out the best time to throw. Use FS x 2 > BC > Hype > ER > Spirit Bomb to build Adrenaline if needed.

If a boss staggers right before the 2nd half of your rotation, you can sub in Spirit Bomb in lieu of the skills to maximize damage.

Cursed Doll or Mass Increase?

Cursed Doll. Taking Mass Increase is accepting that while your accessories will be cheaper, you’ll be forced into having to consume Feasts or Ealyn’s Blessing to keep your damage going or risk clipping your Hype cycle which leads to a bigger loss than if you just took Cursed Doll to begin with.

If you’re willing to work with the negatives of Mass Increase coupled with the quite frankly insane gem requirements, go ahead and run Mass increase.

Can I replace Adrenaline with Precise Dagger?

Generally speaking we advise that you don’t. Precise Dagger is a DPS loss in general and ends up being weaker overall versus just taking Adrenaline.

That being said, PD does gain some value when Elixirs arrive as you can get elixir engravings that add crit damage to reduce the negative of PD.