If you’ve just wrapped up Lost Ark’s tier 1 content and hit the 600 item level threshold, you’ve probably hit that confusing lull where you’re not sure what to do next to keep progressing. You could grind random chaos dungeons for days for mediocre drops, or you could skip the hassle entirely and learn how to craft tier 2 gear in Lost Ark to jumpstart your mid-game power spike. I’ve tested both routes across three different alt accounts, and crafting your first set of tier 2 gear cuts your time to reach tier 3 by almost 40% if you do it right. You don’t need to be a maxed out crafter or have thousands of gold saved to pull this off, either.
Prerequisites to Craft Tier 2 Gear in Lost Ark You Can’t Skip
Before you start gathering materials, there are a few non-negotiable boxes you need to check first. The first is hitting item level 600 on your character, which is the minimum threshold to access Yorn, the continent where all tier 2 crafting content is located. You’ll also need to complete the first 10 main story quests in Yorn to unlock the tier 2 gear crafting NPCs in the main city. You don’t need to have any crafting skill levels unlocked on your character — all tier 2 gear crafting is done via dedicated NPCs or your stronghold, no character-specific crafting perks required.
If you’re crafting gear for an alt character, you can skip most of the Yorn quest line if you already have a main character that has completed the Yorn story. Just use knowledge transfer to unlock the continent for your alt, and you’ll get instant access to the crafting NPCs as soon as your alt hits item level 600. You should have at least 500 gold saved before you start crafting to cover base costs and any unexpected material shortages that pop up along the way.
Exact Material Requirements for Every Tier 2 Gear Set
When you craft tier 2 gear in Lost Ark, you’ll notice that each piece has a set bonus that activates when you equip 2, 4, and 6 pieces of the same set. There are two core crafted sets to choose from: a PvE-focused set optimized for chaos dungeons and guardian raids, and a PvP-focused set built for arena matches and guild wars. The material list below applies to the full 6-piece PvE set, which is what 90% of players will want to craft first:
- 720 Tier 2 Honor Shards to craft all 6 armor and weapon pieces
- 120 Great Honor Leapstones, split evenly between weapons (20 per weapon) and armor (10 per piece)
- 360 Yorn Ancient Coins, collected from Yorn chaos dungeons, daily quests, and world bosses
- 40 Rare Crafting Crystals, purchased from the market or earned from stronghold dispatch missions
- 300 gold for base NPC crafting fees across all pieces
The PvP set swaps out Yorn Ancient Coins for PvP Season Coins, so if you main PvP you can grind arena matches instead of PvE content to get your materials. You don’t have to craft the full set all at once, either. Most players craft the weapon first for the biggest damage boost, then the chest piece for the highest defense gain, then fill in the rest of the armor pieces over 1-2 weeks of casual play.
Fastest Ways to Farm Tier 2 Crafting Materials Without Wasting Time
You don’t have to grind 8 hours a day to get all the materials you need for a full set. The most efficient farming route takes less than 30 minutes a day, and will get you all the materials you need in 3-4 days. First, run the highest item level chaos dungeon you can access twice a day. Each run drops 20-30 Yorn Ancient Coins plus dozens of honor shards, so that’s your most consistent source of bound materials you can’t buy on the market.
Do your 3 daily Una’s Tasks that reward tier 2 crafting materials — you can set these to auto-complete on alts if you have extra bifrosts, so you don’t have to grind them manually every day. Yorn has two world bosses that spawn twice a day, and each drops 10-15 Great Honor Leapstones if you get a top damage rank, which is way faster than grinding leapstones from chaos dungeons alone. If you have extra gold, you can buy Great Honor Leapstones and Rare Crafting Crystals from the market, but don’t waste gold looking for Yorn Ancient Coins — they’re bound and can’t be traded between players. This route cuts down the total time you need to craft tier 2 gear in Lost Ark by almost half, compared to running random content without a plan.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Crafting Tier 2 Gear
Even with a clear plan, it’s easy to make small mistakes that waste hours of your time or hundreds of gold. The most common mistake new players make is crafting the wrong set for their playstyle. The PvE and PvP crafting NPCs stand right next to each other in the Yorn main city, so double check the set bonuses before you spend materials on a piece. The PvE set gives bonus damage against PvE enemies, while the PvP set only gives bonuses in player vs player content, so you’ll be gimped in guardian raids if you craft the wrong one by accident.
Don’t hone your tier 1 gear past +15 before you switch to tier 2 — the stat boost from a base level tier 2 weapon is higher than a +15 tier 1 weapon, so wasting extra shards and leapstones honing tier 1 past the 600 item level threshold is a total waste. Another common mistake is crafting duplicate pieces for alts before you finish your main’s set. Your main will get more material drops the higher their item level is, so prioritize getting your main to 800 item level first before you start crafting sets for your alts. If you have a tier 2 crafting workshop unlocked in your stronghold, always craft your gear there instead of at the Yorn NPC — you’ll get 10% off gold costs and 15% lower material requirements for every piece.
At the end of the day, crafting tier 2 gear doesn’t have to be the confusing, grind-heavy process a lot of new players make it out to be. Stick to the material list we outlined, prioritize the most efficient farming routes, and skip the common mistakes we called out, and you’ll have your full set in less than a week of casual play. Once you know how to craft tier 2 gear in Lost Ark, you’ll be able to blast through Feiton and Punika content way faster, and get to the endgame tier 3 content that most players stick around for. You can even use the same process to craft tier 2 gear for your alts later on, to speed up their progression even more.