If you’ve spent hours grinding tier 1 chaos dungeons and guardian raids in Lost Ark, you’ve probably hit that wall where your gear score stops climbing fast enough to unlock new content. A lot of new players get stuck here, unsure what steps they need to take to unlock and craft their first set of mid-game gear. Learning how to get tier 2 armor lost ark is the single most important milestone to move past the early game grind and access Yorn, Feiton, and all the high-stakes raids that come with them. I’ve gone through this process on three separate alts over the last year, and I’ve figured out all the shortcuts and common mistakes that can waste hours of your playtime if you don’t know what to look for.
How to Get Tier 2 Armor in Lost Ark: Prerequisite Steps You Can’t Skip
Before you can even start earning tier 2 armor drops, you have to hit a few non-negotiable progression gates first. The first is reaching 600 gear score, which requires upgrading all your tier 1 armor and weapons to +15. A lot of players try to skip upgrading a piece or two to save materials, but you won’t be able to access the Rohendel main quest line without hitting that exact 600 threshold, so there’s no way around it. Once you hit that 600 gear score mark, you’re officially ready to start working on how to get tier 2 armor in Lost Ark, and the grind gets a lot more rewarding from there.
As you work through the Rohendel main story, don’t rush past all the side content. Make sure you complete all purple side quests in Rohendel as you go through the main story—they give you huge chunks of bound tier 2 upgrade materials, plus rare mod pieces that you can’t get from early grind content. You’ll also unlock the first tier 2 stronghold missions as you progress, which passively generate extra materials while you’re doing other content, so take 30 seconds to start those every time you log in. Once you finish the final Rohendel main quest, you’ll unlock tier 2 chaos dungeons, guardian raids, and the base recipes for your first tier 2 armor set.
Best Ways to Farm Tier 2 Armor Materials Efficiently
Once you unlock tier 2 content, your main goal will be collecting enough materials to craft or upgrade your armor pieces to hit the next gear score gates. You don’t have to play 8 hours a day to get a full set in a week if you focus on the highest-yield content first. Run your 2 daily chaos dungeons first every time you log on—they give you the most bound tier 2 upgrade materials, plus random armor drops that you can dismantle for extra life shards if you don’t need them. The first entry-level tier 2 chaos dungeon (802 gear score) drops blue and epic tier 2 armor pieces, so you might get lucky and get 2 or 3 set pieces in your first few runs without crafting them.
There are a few small hacks you can use to cut your grind time almost in half if you plan ahead:
- Save all your event currency for tier 2 material chests, instead of spending it on cosmetic items that don’t help your progression
- Join a tier 2 focused guild to get access to guild shop material discounts and weekly guild raid rewards
- Run the tier 2 abyss dungeons as soon as you hit 840 gear score, they drop set pieces that give huge damage and survivability bonuses
Guardian raids are another great source of leapstones, which are the rarest and most valuable tier 2 upgrade material. Deskaluda, the first tier 2 guardian, has very simple mechanics and drops way more leapstones than any other early tier 2 content, so run your 2 weekly guardian runs on him until you hit 900 gear score. Don't waste your gold buying unbound tier 2 materials on the auction house unless you’re 1 or 2 leapstones short of a gear upgrade that unlocks new content. The bound materials you get from daily and weekly content are more than enough to progress at a steady pace without spending extra gold or real money. All of these farming methods are designed to cut down the time you spend working on how to get tier 2 armor in Lost Ark without forcing you to play more than you want to.
Which Tier 2 Armor Set Should You Choose First?
When you first unlock tier 2 crafting, you’ll see 3 or 4 different armor sets available, and it can be confusing to figure out which one is right for your class. The first thing you need to check is the set bonus, not the base stats, because the bonus effects will give you way more power than a few extra points of defense or attack. For DPS classes, the Oath set from the first tier 2 abyss dungeons is the best all-around pick, because it gives a 15% damage boost for 10 seconds every time you use your awakening skill, which lines up perfectly with most class rotation cycles.
For support classes (Bard, Paladin, Artist), the Devotion set is way better, because it boosts your entire party’s attack power by 10% when you use your identity skill, which makes you way more desirable for group content. I made the mistake of picking the Oath set on my Bard alt the first time around, and I had to re-farm all the materials to get the right set, which wasted almost a full week of progression. Always check the set bonuses for your specific class before you craft any tier 2 armor—some sets are tailored for burst classes, while others work better for sustained DPS, so there’s no one-size-fits-all pick. If you mostly play solo, you can pick the set with the highest personal damage bonus, but if you run a lot of group content, pick the set that benefits your party too, it’ll make it much easier to get into static raid groups later.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Grinding for Tier 2 Armor
I’ve seen so many new players waste hours of time and hundreds of valuable materials making avoidable mistakes when they first get to tier 2, so I’ve rounded up the most common ones to watch out for. The first mistake is upgrading low-level blue tier 2 armor drops before you get your epic set pieces. A lot of players pour all their materials into the first blue tier 2 armor they get from chaos dungeons, but then when they get an epic set piece a few days later, they have to pay extra materials to transfer the upgrade, which can set you back multiple days of grind. Wait to upgrade your armor until you have at least 3 pieces of your chosen epic tier 2 set—that way you don’t waste materials on transfer fees for pieces you’re just going to replace.
Another common mistake is skipping daily Una’s tasks. A lot of new players think Una’s tasks are only for gold, but the tier 2 Una’s tasks give you thousands of life shards and dozens of leapstones every week, which cuts your grind time in half. Pick the 3 daily tasks that give tier 2 upgrade materials as rewards, and you’ll get enough materials for at least one armor upgrade every 2 days just from those. The last big mistake is running content below your gear score. Once you hit 900 GS, you unlock higher level tier 2 chaos dungeons that drop almost double the materials of the entry-level ones, even if they take a few extra minutes to complete. Don’t keep running the 802 GS chaos dungeons just because they’re easier, the extra materials are well worth the small time investment.
Grinding for your first full set of tier 2 armor doesn’t have to be the frustrating, weeks-long grind that a lot of new players make it out to be. If you follow the steps we’ve laid out, stick to your daily and weekly content rotations, and avoid the common mistakes that waste materials and time, you’ll have your full set in 7 to 10 days of casual play. Knowing how to get tier 2 armor lost ark is just the first step to unlocking all the amazing endgame content that the game has to offer, from tier 2 abyss raids to the first set of legion raids once you hit tier 3. Take your time, don’t rush to spend gold on unnecessary materials, and you’ll be past tier 2 before you know it.