If you just wrapped up grinding your way through Tier 1 Lost Ark content and hit the 600 item level threshold, you’re probably asking how do you get tier 2 gear lost ark without wasting dozens of hours on low-value activities. I made that exact mistake on my first main character, blowing through 2 weeks of daily rewards on content that didn’t move my progression forward at all. This guide is built from hundreds of hours of playtime, plus tips I picked up from my 30-person endgame guild to make your tier 2 grind as smooth as possible. You won’t find any fluff here, just actionable steps you can implement on your next login.
How Do You Get Tier 2 Gear in Lost Ark: First Steps After Tier 1 Completion
First, you need to confirm you’ve hit the minimum item level of 600 to access tier 2 zones. A lot of new players waste time trying to push their tier 1 gear to +15 to hit this threshold, but you don’t need to go that far. You only need to hone your tier 1 gear to +12 on average to hit 600 item level, which saves you roughly 30% of your tier 1 honing materials. Once you hit 600, head to Rohendel, the first tier 2 continent, and complete the main story quest line there. That unlocks all the core tier 2 endgame content you’ll use to farm gear, including chaos dungeons, guardian raids, and abyssal dungeons. You’ll also get a few free rare tier 2 gear pieces as quest rewards to give you a small starting boost.
Top Repeatable Activities to Farm Tier 2 Gear Efficiently
You don’t have to rely on random quest drops to fill out your tier 2 gear set. There are 4 core repeatable activities you should run every week and daily to get consistent gear drops, plus the honing materials you need to upgrade them. I prioritize these in order of reward value every time I log in, and I usually hit the 802 item level threshold for tier 3 in 10 to 14 days on new alts.
- Chaos Dungeons (levels 600-802): Run these twice daily for guaranteed rare and epic tier 2 gear drops, plus honing shards and leapstones. You can also run extra runs with rest bonuses for double rewards if you take a day off from playing.
- Guardian Raids (Tier 2 rotation: Ur`nil, Lumerus, Helgaia, Icy Legoros): Each clear gives you class-specific gear chests, so you don’t have to sift through useless drops for other classes. Run these twice a day for the best results.
- Abyssal Dungeons (Tier 2: Oreha Preveza, Aira's Oculus): These weekly dungeons drop legendary tier 2 gear with set bonuses that boost your damage or support capabilities by up to 30%, depending on your class. You only get loot once per clear per week, so run these first every reset.
- Una's Tasks: Prioritize weekly Una's tasks that reward tier 2 gear chests or honor leapstones, instead of tasks that only give silver or useless cosmetics. You can also exchange Una's tokens for extra gear chests at the end of every week.
A quick tip I picked up from my guild leader: if you get duplicate epic or legendary tier 2 gear pieces, don’t dismantle them right away. Never dismantle legendary tier 2 gear that has set bonuses, even if it's not for your current main. You can store them in your account warehouse to use for alts later, which cuts their tier 2 grind time by almost 70%.
Honing Tier 2 Gear to Hit Item Level 802 Fast
Once you have a full set of rare or epic tier 2 gear, you’ll need to hone it to reach the 802 item level threshold for tier 3 content. Tier 2 honing has slightly higher base success rates than tier 1, but it’s still easy to waste hundreds of materials if you don’t follow a few simple rules. Use your success rate increase books only when honing your +10 to +15 gear, that's where failure costs add up the most. You don’t need to waste books on lower honing levels, since the success rate is already over 70% for +1 to +10 upgrades. You can also get free honing buffs from your stronghold research, guild shop, and active progression events, so always check those before you start honing. For example, my stronghold has a 15% honing success buff for tier 2 gear right now, which saved me almost 100 leapstones when I upgraded my recent paladin alt. You don’t need to get every piece to +15 to hit 802 item level either. If most of your gear is +14 and one or two pieces are +12, you’ll still hit the threshold, so don’t waste materials chasing perfect +15s if you don’t need them.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Grinding Tier 2 Gear
Even if you follow all the right activities, it’s easy to slow down your progression by making simple mistakes I see new players make every week. The biggest one is wasting time running old tier 1 content once you hit 600 item level. Tier 1 content drops no tier 2 gear or honing materials, so you can skip it entirely once you move to Rohendel. Only buy tier 2 gear from the auction house if you're missing one last piece to hit a required item level threshold for a new dungeon. Most gear you get from the auction house is overpriced, and you can get the same piece for free from a chaos dungeon or guardian raid in one or two runs. Another common mistake is honing low quality gear before rerolling its quality. Don't waste gold on honing low quality tier 2 gear, reroll quality first to get at least 70% quality before you invest materials. Higher quality gear gives you extra stats, which makes clearing content faster, and you can reroll quality for very little silver early on. I once honed a 10% quality sword to +12 on my first main, and it did 15% less damage than a 80% quality version I got a day later, so I had to re-hone the new one from scratch. It was a huge waste of materials I never want you to repeat.
At the end of the day, figuring out how do you get tier 2 gear in Lost Ark doesn’t have to be a confusing, weeks-long grind. If you prioritize the activities we listed, avoid the common mistakes, and only spend your materials on high-value upgrades, you’ll hit the 802 item level threshold for tier 3 in less than two weeks for most characters. Don’t feel pressured to rush the process either, take time to enjoy the Rohendel story and side content if that’s what you’re playing for. These tips are just here to help you cut out the unnecessary grind so you can spend more time on the parts of the game you actually enjoy.