Trade Skills Guide - Lost Ark Guide - IGN (2024)

If you need a break from slaying demons, Lost Ark’s Trade Skills let you chop trees, search for relics, or go hunting to earn valuable resources. Complete with their own skill trees, Trade Skills require a large time investment, but are well worth the effort. You’ll find all of Lost Ark’s Trade Skills, how to unlock them, and their potential rewards in this guide.

• What are the six Trade Skills in Lost Ark?
• How to use Trade Skills
• Mining Basics and Tips
• Logging Basics and Tips
• Fishing Basics and Tips
• Foraging Basics and Tips
• Hunting Basics and Tips
• Excavation Basics and Tips

What are the six Trade Skills in Lost Ark?

Trade Skills are Lost Ark’s take on World of Warcraft’s Professions and Final Fantasy XIV’s Disciples of the Land; though optional, you’ll be well rewarded with everything from materials for your stronghold to potions you can use during combat. There are six different Trade Skills you can tackle in your game; Mining, Logging, Fishing, Hunting, Foraging, and Excavation.

How to use Trade Skills

Once you’ve equipped your tool for each Trade skill, press ‘B’ to switch to the Trade Skills hotbar. Some Trade Skills will only require you to interact with their associated resource, like ore for Mining or trees for Logging. Others will require you to use specific skills to harvest them, such as using the Float Fishing skill whenever you find a Fishing Spot. Though you can technically use your Trade Skills as soon you equip a tool, you should still complete each skill’s respective Guide Quest, as you’ll earn a higher quality tool than the one you're given to start with.

Using your Trade skills will affect two resources: Your tool’s durability and your character’s Work Energy. Work Energy is capped at 10,000 across all of your characters and is fully restored over two real-life days. The Crystalline Aura membership will increase how much Work Energy you restore each day, and you can also use Trade Potions to restore a large, flat amount. Tool durability decreases with each use but can be repaired to be kept functional. Your Trade tool will lose max durability the more it is repaired, so be prepared to either replace it or use a Restoration Kit to restore it to full.

Mining Basics and Tips

Shortly after reaching Lakebar Village, Mining is the first Trade Skill you’ll be able to learn; you’ll know when you can grab your pickaxe when you receive a new Guide Quest, displayed as an orange marker above your hotbar. From there, you’ll be directed to purchase a pickaxe and are free to mine Copper Ore from the surrounding area with a press of the ‘G’ key. Mining yields various ores that will come in handy if you intend to upgrade your Stronghold.

When you're just getting started, Lakebar Village is a great place to begin leveling your Miner. As you progress the main quest, there are several ore veins you can mine along the way, and pausing in between quests to take a few swings at them will net you a good supply of both Iron and Heavy Iron ore.

Logging Basics and Tips

Right outside of the Spring Refugee Outpost in Bilbrin Forest, you’ll find a Trade Skills Guildmate who’ll ask for your help logging some nearby trees. You can equip several Trade tools at once, so even if you’ve started with Mining, you can also equip the Logging tool without needing to unequip your Mining tool. On your minimap, you’ll see logs marking where you can find trees. You can then click on them with ‘G’ to cut the tree down and earn some lumber in return. Similar to Mining, Logging is primarily used to upgrade the buildings in your Stronghold.

Once you've gotten your axe, You can loop around the outside of Spring Refugee Outpost for its wide abundance of trees. The enemies in particular are not very threatening, and you won't want to be interrupted while you're cutting down trees. One or two loops will get you a fair amount of Timber to take back to your stronghold.

Fishing Basics and Tips

Just like with unlocking Mining, you’ll find the quest for Fishing in Lakebar Village as well, with another Guide quest that explains the basics of fishing. Once you find a fishing hole(marked with an image of a fishing hook on a map), you can approach it and use the ‘Float Fishing’ skill to cast your line. Once your bobber is pulled underwater, use the skill again to reel in your fish! Though fishing is not as lucrative as other Trades, it is worth it for a chance of getting a Natural Pearl, as that's the only way to acquire the rare material.

Fishing is unique in that once you find a fishing spot, you can stay and fish there until you run out of Work Energy. There's no need to go searching for different locations; any you find will do as long as you have the energy and tool durability.

Foraging Basics and Tips

From Medrick Monastery, you’ll be directed to the Foraging guide quest near Freyad Lake. Sister Awella is kind enough to give you a Foraging tool for free, and with it you can harvest some of the nearby plants the same way you mine and log trees. Foraging is how to find materials to craft bombs and potions, both of which are very helpful the further you get into the main game.

Hunting Basics and Tips

Just before you leave Mederick Monastery for Bilbrin Forest, you’ll find the NPC that introduces you to the Hunting Trade skill. Like Awella before her, the Trade Skills Guildmate will give you a Hunting Tool for free before sending you off to hunt in Bilbrin Forest. To hunt effectively, first you’ll want to use your Search skill to make your prey more distinguishable, helpfully marking them with a crosshair. Once you’ve found your quarry, follow up with the Throw skill to successfully kill the animal. Finally, use the ‘G’ to carve up the animal and successfully earn your Hunting XP, along with meat and leather for crafting.

Excavation Basics and Tips

For the final Trade Skill in Lost Ark, you’ll find the Guide Quest for Excavation right outside Battlebound Plains, just past the Helmon Castle Ruins. Once you receive your new Excavating Tool, head into the Battlebound Plains and use the Sonar skill in your Tradeskill hotbar. The more your Sonar beeps, the closer you are to your treasure. Once the beeping is at its fastest, Relic Search will briefly reveal for you where to search. You’ll have a limited out of time to dig up your relic with the ‘G’ key, so don’t wait! Thankfully, there are practical rewards for Excavation, such as materials for gear.

A lot of story quests happen in Battlebound Plains, but don't forget to Excavate! As tempting as it is to focus solely on searching for treasure, many of the enemies are aggressive and will attack on sight. It may be best to wait until after you've finished the area's story quests before you begin your treasure hunt.