Lost Ark Destroyer Guide PvE: Stats, Skills, And Builds

by | Last updated Mar 24, 2023

Welcome to our Lost Ark Destroyer PvE guide! We’ll cover everything you need to know coming into the game as the Warrior advanced class, Destroyer.

Despite a stereotype of Assassin’s being stealthy characters, Lost Ark’s Shadowhunter is anything but. The class focuses on mid-range spells and combos, as well as its special ability – a powerful transformation. It’s ideal for anyone looking for a cooldown based playstyle, as well as awesome visual effects. 

Destroyer Basic Leveling Guide

Leveling in Lost Ark is more of a tutorial for the class than anything else and you will have a fairly smooth experience doing just about anything. However, with that being said, there are a few things you can do to optimize your leveling experience. 

To maximize damage while leveling, you should focus all your skill points on the following skills: 

  • Earth Eater
  • Perfect Swing
  • Seismic Hammer
  • Jumping Smash

While these are the recommended skills, you can level up with just about anything. The most important thing for Destroyer leveling is that you pick Earth Eater as your AoE and Perfect Swing as one good single target skill, which will allow you to take down all forms of enemies quickly. 

Lost Ark Destroyer Guide Iconic Image
Lost Ark Destroyer Guide – Iconic Destroyer Image

Destroyer Gravity Training or Rage Hammer

When it comes to the Destroyer’s class engravings, you have Gravity Training or Rage Hammer to pick between. Gravity Training is all about using your Z class special ability and having it hit like a truck. While Rage Hammer is about sustaining damage from using your Gravity Release abilities. (Purple background)

So if you don’t trust yourself with good timing, then we would suggest going the Rage Hammer path. However, if you feel like you have great timing then we will suggest Gravity Training so can can see lots of big numbers in a short period.

Best Destroyer Stat Priority

Gravity Training Priority: Specialization (70%) and Crit (30%)

Rage Hammer Priority: Crit(60%), Swiftness(20%) and Specialization(20%)

Best Destroyer Engravings

The lists below are some of the best engravings to use, however depending on your playstyle will be the ideal combination for you to use. For example; if you get hit a lot, then Grudge is not ideal as you will take more damage. Additionally, it is ideal to be a bit flexible with these since RNG plays a factor in obtaining these.

Best Gravity Training Engravings

  • *Grudge
  • *Cursed Doll
  • *Keen Blunt Weapon
  • Gravity Training
  • Barricade
  • Master Brawler
  • Spirit Absorption

Best Rage Hammer Engravings

  • *Grudge
  • *Cursed Doll
  • *Keen Blunt Weapon
  • Rage Hammer
  • Super Charge
  • Barricade
  • Master Brawler
  • Spirit Absorption

* It is ideal for these engravings to be level 3 to outweigh the negative aspects of using them. Using them before level 3 would be more of a hinderance then a boon.

Lost Ark Destroyer Guide - Hypergravity Mode
Lost Ark Destroyer Guide – Destroyer in Hyper Gravity mode

Best Destroyer Tripods and Skill Builds

Destroyer has a good mix of single target and AoE abilities which are very useful in all aspects of the game. This means that as a Destroyer, you can use the same build or similar builds a lot of the content and still be effective.

We’ll highlight just some builds for each class specific engraving, which has proven to be very successful, however, feel free to experiment if you like other skills more. You should use the same Awakening skill for both builds: Big Bang.

For new players, to read these builds simply look at which skills are colored and pick the upgrades based on the small images below the names. Then, add runes to skills to upgrade them further.

Here’s how you should spend your points:

Gravity Training Builds – Skill Points

⏷Fresh Level 50 – 252 Points

Lost Ark Destroyer Guide - Gravity Training 252 Point Build
⏶Gravity Training – 252 Points⏶

⏷6 Max Tripods – 296 Points⏷

Lost Ark Destroyer Guide - Gravity Training 296 Point Build
⏶Gravity Training – 296 Points⏶

⏷7 Max Tripods – 340 Points⏷

Lost Ark Destroyer Guide - Gravity Training 340 Point Build
⏶Gravity Training – 340 Points⏶

⏷8 Max Tripods – 384 Points⏷

Lost Ark Destroyer Guide - Gravity Training 384 Point Build
⏶Gravity Training – 384 Points⏶

⏷Max Skill Points – 412 Points⏷

Lost Ark Destroyer Guide - Gravity Training 412 Point Build
⏶Gravity Training – 412 Points⏶

Rage Hammer Builds – Skill Points

⏷Fresh Level 50 – 252 Points

Lost Ark Destroyer Guide - Rage Hammer 252 Point Build
⏶Rage Hammer- 252 Points⏶

⏷6 Max Tripods – 312 Points⏷

Lost Ark Destroyer Guide - Rage Hammer 312 Point Build
⏶Rage Hammer- 312 Points⏶

⏷7 Max Tripods – 340 Points⏷

Lost Ark Destroyer Guide - Rage Hammer 340 Point Build
⏶Rage Hammer- 340 Points⏶

⏷8 Max Tripods – 384 Points⏷

Lost Ark Destroyer Guide - Rage Hammer 384 Point Build
⏶Rage Hammer- 384 Points⏶

⏷Max Skill Points – 412 Points⏷

Lost Ark Destroyer Guide - Rage Hammer 412 Point Build
⏶Rage Hammer- 412 Points⏶

Best Destroyer Runes

For fights that have a lot of debuffs, it would be ideal to use Purify on Heavy Crush. This is because this ability has the shortest cooldown, making it the most active ability to proc it.

Best Gravity Training Runes

AbilityRune
Heavy CrushQuick Recharge
Full SwingGalewind
NeutralizerOverwhelm
DreadnaughtProtection
Seismic HammerGalewind
Endure Pain*Focus, Quick Charge, Rage
Perfect SwingGalewind
Power StrikeBleed
*Only if you are having mana issues

Best Rage Hammer Runes

AbilityRune
Heavy CrushQuick Recharge
Full SwingGalewind
DreadnaughtProtection
Seismic HammerGalewind
Endure Pain*Focus, Quick Charge, Rage
Earth EaterOverwhelm
Perfect SwingGalewind
Power StrikeBleed
*Only if you are having Mana issues

Best Destroyer Gems

Attack GemsCooldown Gems
Full SwingEndure Pain
Perfect SwingDreadnaught
Seismic HammerFull Swing
*[RH]Earth EaterPerfect Swing
*[GT]NeutralizerSeismic Hammer
Power Strike
*[RH]Earth Eater
*[GT]Neutralizer
*[GT] for Gravity Training | *[RH] for Rage Hammer

Best Destroyer Card Sets

There are a few options to pick for Card Decks for the Destroyer. However, when determining what you want to pick and use, there are a few factors to keep in mind; How much effort are you willing to put into obtaining the cards and what kind of play style works best for you. With this information in mind, lets take a look at some Card Deck options;

Make sure to check out our Card Guide as well for other ideas!

Light of Salvation – Best DPS; however takes a long time to obtain due to RNG

Lostwind Cliff – Decent DPS; can be rather quick to obtain if you are fine making alts

We’ll Meet Again & Forest of Giants – Purely Defensive; great for first starting out

Best Destroyer DPS Rotation

In Lost Ark, skills combo together to create a powerful chain of moves that is much more effective than using each move individually.  As such, there will be a huge damage difference between players who know how to get the most out of their class, and those who don’t. 

That being said, most fights are very dynamic, so you won’t always be able to complete your full combo, as surviving should be the key focus. Still, here’s how a core combo looks for both builds: 

Gravity Training Rotation

Use Endure Pain if you miss any of your Core building attacks. Additionally, you will be using your Hypergravity as soon as it is up as that is your major burst of damage for this build.

  • Heavy Crush (+1 Core)
  • Power Strike (+2 Core)
  • Perfect Swing (Consume Cores)
  • Heavy Crush (+1 Core)
  • Dreadnaught (+2 Core)
  • Neutralizer (Consume Cores)
  • Heavy Crush (+1 Core)
  • Power Strike (+2 Core)
  • Seismic Hammer (Consume Cores)
  • Heavy Crush (+1 Core)
  • Dreadnaught (+2 Core)
  • Full Swing (Consume Cores)

Rage Hammer Rotation

Endure Pain if you miss any of your Core building attacks. Also hold Hypergravity when there are good chances to use it on the target since a majority of your attacks come from consuming cores.

  • Heavy Crush (+1 Core)
  • Power Strike (+2 Core)
  • Perfect Swing (Consume Cores)
  • Heavy Crush (+1 Core)
  • Dreadnaught (+2 Core)
  • Seismic Hammer (Consume Cores)
  • Heavy Crush (+1 Core)
  • Power Strike (+2 Core)
  • Earth Eater (Consume Cores)
  • Heavy Crush (+1 Core)
  • Dreadnaught (+2 Core)
  • Full Swing (Consume Cores)

Thank you for checking out our Lost Ark PvE Destroyer Guide! Now you should be ready to get the most out of your class and progress through the endgame in Lost Ark. We’ll keep this page constantly updated, should any changes happen.