Lost Ark is a tried-and-true MMORPG, and just like any MMO, players will be spending the bulk of their time in the endgame. In Lost Ark, the endgame begins once you've hit level 50 and progressed the main story enough to unlock endgame content like Chaos Dungeons, but that's just scratching the surface. In addition to Chaos Dungeons, there are Guardians Raids, Abyssal Dungeons, new story content, islands to explore, and much, much more.

However, in order to get full access to the entirety of Lost Ark's endgame and continue raising your item level, you'll need an endgame gear set that can be upgraded using the honing system. Endgame gear isn't something you'll obtain naturally on your road to level 50. All the gear you've earned over the course of your leveling adventure isn't up to snuff, and won't allow you to continue progressing your character. Thankfully, getting an endgame gear set isn't all that complicated. There are two main ways to deck out your character with an endgame-ready set. Here's the breakdown.

Option 1: Run Chaos Dungeons

Chaos Dungeons are a great way to kill two birds with one stone.
Chaos Dungeons are a great way to kill two birds with one stone.

Chaos Dungeons are the first piece of endgame content you'll unlock after level 50, and they're also a great way to equip your character with new gear that lets you unlock the rest of Lost Ark's endgame content. To unlock Chaos Dungeons, you'll need to be level 50 and journey to the continent of Vern. Continue doing the main story quests there (designated by the blue globe icon) until you reach Vern Castle and unlock Chaos Dungeons and the honing system.

Once you've unlocked Chaos Dungeons, congratulations! Completing these dungeons, which are essentially timed scenarios where you must defeat waves of enemies, will net you item level 302 gear that can be continually upgraded. Better yet, many of the materials you'll need to upgrade this gear (Harmony Shards, Harmony Leapstones, Destruction Stone Fragments, and Guardian Stone Fragments) are also obtained from doing Chaos Dungeons, meaning you'll be killing two birds with one stone.

The catch here is that you can only do two Chaos Dungeons per day, and because there is an element of RNG to receiving loot, there's no guarantee you'll come out of your first few Chaos Dungeons with a full set of gear. It may take several runs (over the course of several days) to get a full set of endgame gear, but the bright side is you'll also be accumulating tons of upgrade materials that you'll need anyways.

Option 2: Complete Shushire Main Story Questline

If you're still in a questing mood after hitting level 50, continue on to Shushire for a full set of endgame gear.
If you're still in a questing mood after hitting level 50, continue on to Shushire for a full set of endgame gear.

The second way to obtain an item level 302 gear set is to continue completing main story quests. After completing the Vern main quests, you'll be rewarded with a new ship that can break through ice, allowing access to the Shushire region. Completing all the main story quests there (which will take a handful of hours) will reward you with a complete set of endgame gear, free of charge.

So, which method is best? It depends on your preference, as they both have upsides and downsides. You'll need to complete the Shushire quests eventually if you want to access higher tiers of content down the line, so it's not like you are going out of your way by taking this route. The downside with the Shushire method is that it does take several additional hours of questing and you're also not obtaining the materials you'll need to upgrade your new gear, which is something that going the Chaos Dungeons route does offer. Ultimately, the decision is yours.

How To Upgrade 302 Item Level Gear

Continually upgrading your gear is the real endgame of Lost Ark.
Continually upgrading your gear is the real endgame of Lost Ark.

Once you've obtained your endgame gear set, the real grind of Lost Ark begins. From here on out, you'll be trying to up your item level by using the honing system. This system is unlocked around the same time as Chaos Dungeons as part of the Vern main story questline, and you can find NPCs to hone your gear (designated by a hammer icon on the map) in every major city.

How does honing gear work, exactly? It's fairly straightforward. Doing endgame activities like Chaos Dungeons, Guardian Raids, Abyssal Dungeons, and Una's Tasks all grant the materials you'll need to upgrade your gear. Most of these activities can only be down so many times on a daily or weekly basis. The items you'll need starting out are Harmony Shards and Harmony Leapstones, as well as Destruction Stone Fragments (for weapons) and Guardian Stone Fragments (for armor).

To upgrade your gear, head to the honing NPC. There you'll see a list of all the items you have that are capable of being upgraded. To get a piece ready for honing, you'll essentially feed Harmony Shards to that item until its EXP bar is full. Once that's done, it's ready to be honed. You can then spend Harmony Leapstones, as well as Destruction Stone Fragments (for weapons) or Guardian Stone Fragments (for armor), to upgrade your gear to a higher item level.

The first few upgrades for each piece of gear will have a 100% success rate. However, as you continue to upgrade your gear past +6, the chance of success will begin to go down. If you get unlucky and your honing fails, you lose all those materials used for the attempt. That's not a great feeling, but there is a bit of a silver lining in that your next upgrade attempt will have a higher chance of success. Later down the line, there are items and other methods for increasing your chances of success, which you'll eventually want to seek out.

That's the basics of upgrading your gear, but one more word of advice: do not dismantle or throw away old upgraded gear. If you find a piece of gear with more desirable stats than one of your currently equipped pieces of upgraded endgame gear, you don't need to start the whole upgrade process from scratch on your new item. Using the gear transfer system, you can essentially feed all your upgrade levels from an old item into a new item, destroying the original item in the process. To do this, you just need to visit the honing NPC, select gear transfer, and pay a fee of silver. It's as simple as that, and makes it so you never have to feel bad finding a new piece of gear that is better suited for your build. Simply take all the levels from your currently equipped item, transfer it to the new item, and voila, you're good to go, with no time or upgrade materials lost in the process.

If you're not quite to Lost Ark's endgame just yet or simply getting started on your adventure, be sure to check out these Lost Ark beginner tips, as well as how to get two free Powerpass character boosts and our guide on which of Lost Ark's 15 classes to play.

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