Lost Ark: This is how housing works and that's why everyone should use it

In Lost Ark there is something called the Fortress. This is the game's housing system. However, this is not limited to just one building. Instead, you can customize an entire island to your liking. We at MeinMMO reveal what's waiting for you.

What can you do in the Lost Ark housing? Your own island offers a wide variety of content:

Your fortress works server-wide. So once you've built it with your main character, any other character can visit it as well after reaching the story milestone.

When will housing be activated? You get your own island at about level 26. To unlock it you just have to follow the main story. In the quest "Song of Home and Hearth" you will then visit your own island for the first time.

Unlocking your own stronghold costs nothing.

How does action energy work? The housing of Lost Ark relies on action energy. You have 15,000 of these at the start. The energy is consumed when you send characters on missions, research recipes or do crafting.

Upgrades improve the amount of energy and charge rate over time.

The most important features of the island explained in more detail

The most important buildings and features are already available to you when you start your own island. We reveal exactly what these are all about.

The Estate

The Estate gives you a passive bonus on the island, such as faster crafting or a higher chance of perfect rewards when crafting. Here you should choose the bonus that best suits your play style.

You can also choose an outfit there that you also wear on the island and that also gives a bonus.

The laboratory

One of the most important buildings at the start is the laboratory. There you can commission research to unlock new parts of the island or new recipes. The upgrading of existing content also runs through this laboratory.

Commissioning a research costs materials such as ore or wood, which you must collect beforehand, and also currencies such as silver or gold. In addition, each order costs labor points and some time until it is fully researched. The time depends on the content to be explored. Smaller recipes cost less than an hour, big innovations sometimes take over 8 hours.

The important thing is that you don't have to research all of the existing recipes and content to level up your island. You can safely ignore some things if they are not relevant to you.

The workshop

Crafting takes place in the workshop. However, you cannot make armor and weapons there, but above all useful gadgets, buff food and furniture.

In order to be able to use the contents of the workshop, you need items from the gathering professions, such as logging, mining, hunting, fishing and excavation. You can then develop these further in the workshop. For this you have to learn some recipes that you get from the laboratory.

The workshop is particularly suitable for the potions that you can only use in dungeons and raids. Also gadgets like a scarecrow that taunts the boss, or grenades that you can use to slow down enemies or even hold them in place.

The naval expeditions

In the station you can send NPCs on different missions. You can select these missions in your interface. They cost energy and time, but provide Stronghold Expedition experience, as well as Pirate Coins and Seals that you can use as currency.

You should use these missions every day to generate progress for your fortress. However, you have to collect the rewards of the missions manually. You can only deploy one ship at the beginning, but over time you can deploy multiple ships. For this you have to level the expedition station. By the way, you can hire more crew members with the seals.

Each mission has a chance of failure. However, a failed mission only brings fewer rewards. It doesn't happen that a mission fails completely and you get nothing at all. That's why it's worth choosing missions with a high chance of failure.

It is important, however, that you should rather ignore the special missions. Although your NPC will then be sent into Guardian Raids and Cube Dungeons, they are not very profitable when it comes to energy consumption compared to the rewards gained.

Training Grounds and Knowledge Transfer

On the Training Grounds you can level characters from your account that are on the same server. All characters who are at least level 50 and are at least two levels below the character with the highest level qualify.

The important thing is that you can still play the character, even if he is currently training.

The knowledge transfer also takes place on the island. You can also level characters from 0 to 50 and beyond. However, there are costs involved. More on that here: Lost Ark lets you level characters automatically and you don't even have to pay real money.

NPC traders on the island

In a certain corner of your island there are various NPCs with whom you can trade. A few of them are firmly established on the island and trade, for example, with the pirate tokens that you can earn through the naval missions.

Other traders only appear for a short time.

More about Lost Ark on MeinMMO:

Decoration according to your wishes

How about decorations? Another highlight of the island is the decorating. You can set up buildings and furniture as well as bring NPCs to your island.

Housing and the real money shop: Lost Ark's housing is indirectly connected to the real money shop. So you can buy different furniture and buildings for your island there. In addition, you can shorten some times, for example when exploring, with the blue crystals. These are available for Gold (ingame) or Royal Crystals (real money).

What do you think of Lost Ark's housing system? Does the content appeal to you? Where did you have trouble understanding?

All guides for Lost Ark on MeinMMO can be found here:

Lost Ark Guides: All tips, tricks and builds at a glance