Lost Ark: Trade Skills - information Lost Ark guide, walkthrough
On this page of the Lost Ark guide, you will read about Trade Skills, or resource extraction.
Last update: 25 March 2022
This guide page explains how to obtain materials and raw materials in Lost Ark using Trade Skills, when you unlock Trade Skills, how the energy and experience system works, what World Tree Leaves and Platinum Fields are, and whether you can earn gold with Trade Skills.
- Trade Skill - what are they?
- Energy and experience
- Exchanging raw materials for others
- World Tree Leaves
- Gaining experience faster (Leap's Essence)
- Farms in Strongholds
Trade Skill - what are they?
Trade Skills is the name for all activities related to obtaining raw materials, such as meat, wood, or iron. You will unlock this feature in Lakebar (West Lutherra) by learning about all the available activities using the tutorials in the journal.
Important tip: in Lakebar, you will start with Foraging. Open the journal (J) and go to the Guides tab. Only by completing these tutorials will you be able to use the skills you have acquired fully. In addition, you will receive a free tools in each tutorial. You will acquire further skills in the subsequent areas of this continent.
Pressing the L key, you can open the Trade Skill window to see what bonuses you'll get at the next skill level, what your current progress and additional skills are unlocked. Some key points for a start:
- Materials and raw materials have two uses: crafting battle items, meals, potions, etc., in Stronghold; trading - you can sell them on the Market for Gold.
- Each skill requires the right tools, which lose durability with time.
- All skills increase their experience level - this affects the speed and amount of materials you'll get. At levels 10-20-30 you will gain additional skills connected to activities.
- Use the L key to open the Trade Skills window.
- Trade Skills use Work Energy, which regenerates by 30 points every minute.
- You will learn all the skills before you reach Luther Castle.
- Occasionally, you can get special items: World Tree Leaves - a type of secret; Platinum Field Ticket - allows you to enter the Platinum Field arena.
- Collecting materials can be interrupted by monsters unless you have tools with the Super Armor trait.
Using Trade Skills is a side activity, not required to complete the game - especially since you can buy materials on the market. However, the lack of some special skills (e.g. having a Mining Bomb) will prevent you from completing the game in 100% (including secrets).
Energy and experience
To use Trade Skills, you need Work Energy. It is regenerated every 10 minutes(30 points) to a maximum of 10,000 points. Each activity takes a different amount of energy but also gives more or fewer experiences points. Every action you do will improve your performance - if you harvest a tree and raise your level, you will harvest it more effectively.
Exchanging raw materials for others
Some raw materials will not have high value or application to you at a given time. By using the help of the vendor in the Roster Resource Exchange in Stronghold, you will be able to turn items into powder and make other materials from it. This is obviously a unoneconomic operation. A better idea is to try to sell and buy specific materials on the market to exchange them.
World Tree Leaves
World Tree Leaves, which you can find while performing any Trade Skills activity, are a type of secret. You can view them in the Collectibles window, along with the available rewards. To get them, you have no choice but to use Trade Skills often.
Gaining experience faster (Leap's Essence)
In the game store, you can buy an item called Leap's Essence. Consuming it provides additional energy while using Trade Skills. It increases the efficiency of the activity twice: 2x more resources, 2x more experience, but also 2x more consumed Work Energy, and destroying tools 2x faster. For this reason, it is an item that will allow you to spend less time working. You can buy it with blue crystals, which you can get by exchanging gold for crystals.
Farms in Strongholds
At higher levels of the Stronghold, you will gain access to farms - areas where you can hunt and harvest. This is also where you can acquire special items with a small house icon. They are used for upgrading the Stronghold, not for crafting gear or items that can be sold on the market. Using farms is only useful if you want to get items for the Stronghold.