If you’ve just wrapped up your tier 1 grind in Lost Ark and are ready to move into the next phase of endgame, you’re probably wondering how to get tier 2 items in Lost Ark without hitting the same burnout you might have felt earlier. I’ve been there too—spent three days running the same content over and over before I realized there were far more efficient routes to hit that 802 item level threshold fast. This guide skips all the unnecessary fluff and breaks down exactly what you need to do to fill out your tier 2 gear set, no paid shortcuts required.
Fastest, Low-Effort Ways How to Get Tier 2 Items in Lost Ark
You don’t have to grind 10+ hours a week to get a full tier 2 set, even if you’re a casual player who only logs on a few times a week. The first thing you should do when you hit the 600 item level mark to unlock tier 2 content is claim all your unclaimed rewards first, because a lot of players skip this step and waste time grinding content they don’t need to run.
Here are the easiest first stops for tier 2 gear drops:
- Tier 2 Chaos Dungeons (Yorn): These are the most accessible source of regular tier 2 gear, and they only take 3-5 minutes per run. You get two daily runs with double rewards, and even extra runs give you shards you can trade for gear later. You’ll start getting these as soon as you hit 600 item level, so run these first every day.
- Abyss Dungeons (Tier 2): These weekly runs drop high-quality tier 2 gear with better stats than regular chaos dungeon drops, plus upgrade materials you can use to boost your item level faster. Run these with a guild group if you can to avoid wipe queues, and make sure you’re rolling for gear that matches your class’s build.
- Event and Login Rewards: Smilegate regularly adds login trackers and limited-time events that give out free full tier 2 gear sets for new players, plus upgrade materials that let you jump straight to 960 item level in a single week if you claim all rewards. Check the event tab first thing every time you log in so you don’t miss out on free drops.
A lot of new players make the mistake of jumping straight into guardian raids before they run their daily chaos dungeons, but chaos dungeons give you far more consistent drops with way less effort. You can even run them solo if you don’t feel like grouping up, which cuts down on wait time significantly. I usually knock out my two daily runs in 10 minutes flat before I move on to other content, and that’s enough to make steady progress without burning out.
How to Optimize Your Tier 2 Gear Drops for Your Class Build
Getting tier 2 gear is only half the battle—you want gear that actually works for your class build, not just random drops that pad your item level but make your combat performance worse. I’ve made this mistake before, equipping a high-item level piece with the wrong engravings, and I ended up doing 30% less damage in raids than I did with my lower tier 1 set. That’s a mistake you don’t want to make, especially if you’re running content with random groups that check for both item level and damage output.
First, always check the engraving stats on every tier 2 drop before you equip it. If you’re running a damage build, you want drops that have +1 or +2 to your core class engraving, plus stats like crit or specialization that match your playstyle. Don’t just equip a piece because it has a higher item level; if it has engravings that don’t benefit you, it’s worth holding out for a better drop or using gear transfer to move your old engravings over.
You also want to prioritize gear with quality ratings above 50% whenever possible. Higher quality gives you extra bonus stats that add up across your entire set, and you can reroll quality using gear honing materials later if you find a piece with perfect engravings but low quality. Don’t waste materials rerolling quality on temporary gear you plan to replace in a week or two, though—save those resources for your endgame tier 2 set that you’ll use to move into tier 3.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Farming Tier 2 Items
There are a lot of common pitfalls that slow players down when they’re farming tier 2 gear, and most of them are super easy to avoid once you know what to look for. For example, I used to spend all my chaos dungeon shards on random gear chests before I realized I could save them for class-specific chests that guarantee drops for my character type, which cut my farming time in half. That small adjustment saved me hours of unnecessary runs that I could have spent playing other parts of the game.
First, don’t waste your weekly Abyss Raid rewards on gear you don’t need. If you already have a full set of tier 2 armor, you can choose to take upgrade materials instead of gear rolls, which will help you hit the 960 item level threshold for tier 3 content much faster. A lot of players automatically roll for gear every time, even if they don’t need it, and that’s a huge waste of limited weekly rewards that you can’t get back.
You also don’t need to grind extra chaos dungeon runs unless you’re really close to the next item level threshold. The bonus drops from extra runs are far less valuable than the double reward runs you get daily, so you’re better off spending that extra time doing una’s tasks that give you gold and upgrade materials instead. If you’re short on time, just run your two daily chaos dungeons and one guardian raid per day, and you’ll still hit 802 item level in less than a week.
Another mistake I see all the time is skipping gear transfer for your tier 1 engravings. You can transfer all the honing levels and engravings from your old tier 1 set to your new tier 2 set for a small fee, which means you don’t have to re-grind engravings from scratch. This is a game-changer for casual players who don’t have time to farm new engravings every time they upgrade their gear set.
How to Speed Up Your Tier 2 Progression Without Spending Real Money
You don’t have to spend any real money on crystals or level skips to get a full tier 2 set fast, even if you’re a completely free-to-play player. I’ve played Lost Ark on and off for years without spending a dime, and I’ve never had trouble hitting the tier 3 threshold within two weeks of starting a new character. You just have to be smart about how you spend your in-game resources and time.
The first trick is to join an active guild that runs weekly tier 2 Abyss Dungeon runs. Guild groups are usually more coordinated than random matchmade groups, so you’ll have far fewer wipes and you’ll get bonus guild rewards that you can trade for upgrade materials and gear chests. Most guilds don’t have strict requirements for tier 2 content, so you can join even if you’re new to endgame play and still learning the mechanics.
You also want to prioritize Una’s Tasks that give you tier 2 upgrade materials as rewards. The daily and weekly Una’s Tasks give you tokens you can trade for gold, and you can use that gold to buy missing gear pieces or upgrade materials from the auction house if you’re having bad luck with drops. I usually pick the three daily Una’s Tasks that give me the most honing shards, and that cuts down my grind time by a huge amount. If you have extra gold, you can also pick up cheap tier 2 gear pieces from the auction house for 100-200 gold each, which is way faster than waiting for them to drop randomly.
If you’re really short on time, you can even use the rest bonus system to save up your double reward runs for days when you have more time to play. The rest bonus builds up when you don’t run your daily chaos dungeons and guardian raids, so you can stack up to three days of bonus rewards and run them all on the weekend if you only have time to play on Saturdays and Sundays. That means you don’t have to log in every single day to make progress on your tier 2 gear set, which is perfect for players with busy schedules.
At the end of the day, figuring out how to get tier 2 items in Lost Ark doesn’t have to be a complicated, time-consuming process. Stick to the core daily and weekly content first, claim all your free event rewards, and avoid wasting resources on unnecessary drops, and you’ll have a full, optimized tier 2 set in no time. Don’t get discouraged if you have a few bad runs with no drops—RNG balances out eventually, and the consistent daily and weekly rewards will get you to your goal even if you have bad luck for a day or two. Once you hit 960 item level, you’ll be ready to jump into tier 3 content and take on even more challenging endgame activities.