Lost Ark May Update – Content overview, balance changes, more

Update: Lost Ark developer Smilegate announced via their social media channels that the upcoming May update is scheduled for 19th May 2022. The server maintenance downtimes have yet to be confirmed; however, they are rolling out a minor Weekly Update on 12th May 2022 to patch the PvP leaderboards and work on "backend improvements", which servers will be down for four hours until 12 am PT / 7 am UTC / 9 AM CEST.

5/19 update gonna be: pic.twitter.com/dHOrPZhYX1

— Lost Ark (@playlostark) May 11, 2022

Original story continues:

Lost Ark developer Smilegate has revealed a plethora of incoming content in the May update. With no official release date confirmed by the developer yet, the update nonetheless provides more in-game activities like quests, PvE and PvP modes and endgame content for the South Vern continent.

Additionally, we can expect new cosmetics and a new Warrior Advanced Class, Destroyer, bringing explosive attacks and high staggering damage. We'll be looking at all the new content included in Lost Ark's May content update, with additional changes expected to be revealed soon.

Lost Ark May Update – Content overview

Lost Ark developer Smilegate outlined the latest content in the May update; some were revealed in the April/May roadmap last month. More notably, this update is highlighted by introducing the Valtan Legion Raid for the Normal and Hard difficulties.

A glimpse into the May update!

🐐 Legion Raid Valtan
🐦 Guardian Raid Deskaluda
🔨 Destroyer

Full details below!https://t.co/Era8XNWFlNpic.twitter.com/SYZRZzshbx

— Lost Ark (@playlostark) May 6, 2022

The Valtan Legion Raid is an eight-person PvE mode which boasts unique gameplay mechanics as they progress throughout the arena to defeat the Legion Commander. The Item Level requirement for this Legion raid is a minimum of 1415 for the Normal difficulty and 1445 for Hard.

This new Legion Raid requires players to assemble into groups or teams and implement battle strategies, which in this case, counter all attacks and abilities of Valtan. Legion Raids take time to complete and are challenging to overcome; however, there are checkpoints throughout the encounter, saving valuable progress and avoiding repeating various stages.

pic.twitter.com/FsRGEN7gVZ

— Lost Ark (@playlostark) May 6, 2022

Additionally, this Legion Raid will introduce a new rarity for equipment, Relic. Relic equipment will require gear honing materials that you can earn specifically from the Valtan Legion Raid, improving its quality and increasing stat bonuses and buffs.

In the May content update, a new Guardian Raid boss will be coming soon to Arkesia who can tip the scales "toward good or evil". The Deskaluda Guardian Raid will ask for an Item Level requirement of 1415, which you can tackle with friends or random players through matchmaking.

Like the Valtan Legion Raid, you can earn gear honing materials after completing the Deskaluda Guardian Raid. These materials, as mentioned earlier, can be incredibly beneficial when upgrading your gear to the Relic rarity.

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Much like the April update introduced the Glavier Advanced Class, we will see another Advanced Class join the fray for the Warrior class. The Destroyer Advanced Class will undoubtedly bring "cataclysmic impact" not for the Warrior class but for any battlefield it finds itself on.

Wielding a massive hammer for explosive charged attacks that can launch, shove and draw enemies before unleashing a barrage of stagger damage. Its inclusion joins other Warrior Advanced Classes, including Berserker, Paladin, and Gunlancer to Lost Ark.

Lost Ark May Update – Additional content and features

Alongside the addition of the Valtan Legion Raid, Guardian Raid and the Destroyer Advanced Class, other content players can look forward to this month. A new weekly activity will be added to the Challenge Guardian Raids to test your abilities by facing three different Challenge Guardians with their Item Level requirements.

Each Guardian will be rotated weekly, and the Scale of Balance will be utilised to help adjust the Item Level requirements to the Guardian. Defeat each Guardian for unique rewards vastly different from what you'll earn from the standard Guardian Raids.

Smilegate will be adding new quests and open-world activities in the May update for various locations across Arkesia. The Wild Wings Island will be getting new quests after Crispy Golden Chickings plotted acts of revenge against the island's inhabitants.

Transform either into a chicken or beer and defeat waves of enemies before an encounter with the Chicken boss. The faster you've completed the quest, the higher the rewards, so be ready to claim your Chicken Dinner when stepping onto the shores of Wild Wings Island.

The recently added South Vern continent will finally add various endgame activities excluded from the April update. The endgame activities included are the Chaos Line Hard difficulty, Thunderwings Field Boss, South Vern Chaos Gate, South Vern Ghost ships, and South Vern Chaos Dungeat.

New PvE and PvP Guild activities will be added to Lost Ark this month to assist your authority and prove why your guild is the best in Arkesia. Compete in Island Siege and Raid Match Guild activities to earn valuable materials and improve guild rankings.

Lastly, Smilegate has planned some new cosmetic additions with new skins. Along with the monthly store refresh, the Neria's Wardrobe is limited-time items that include individual skins and pants, dresses, hats, and more.

Lost Ark May Update – Quality of life balance changes and adjustments

The May content update for Lost Ark promises to introduce several notable balance changes and adjustments to bring much-needed stability and improve the gameplay experience. Some of the changes Smilegate outlined included allowing players to view daily and weekly content from a new dedicated menu, UI updates and changes to the party finder, and party invites system.

Additionally, you'll see some improvements to the Market /Auction House system and some fun additions to its customisation options. Likewise, there will be adjustments for multiple Advanced Classes to "further define these classes' roles on the battlefield".

The developer will provide a complete overview of all the balance changes and adjustments in the May update patch notes. The adjustments to the Advanced Classes will be included alongside the release of the Destroyer Advanced Class.

With all the exciting new content arriving in the May update for Lost Ark, the developer will share their content roadmap for the Summer update and roll out patch fixes. With no release date announced as of writing, we'll continue to follow this news and provide the latest updates once they've become available.

For more fantastic game content, check out our section dedicated to Lost Ark news, updates, guides, features and more.

Featured image courtesy of Smilegate / Amazon Games.