Lost Ark Soulfist Guide (Builds, Engravings, and Tips)

Soulfist Class Guide – Lost Ark

The Soulfist makes use of the most unique form of Martial Art, based on the natural life force every being possesses, namely Ki, a term you may be familiar with from Dragonball Z.

Similar to the main character Goku, her skills are both melee and ranged, varying from tiny Ki-Blasts as auto attacks, to a concentrated two-handed Ki-Blast that looks exactly like Kamehameha, to her Awakening skill that you might have guessed…gathers energy from surroundings while holding up both hands to the air before dropping the biggest spirit bomb in the game.

Staying on the topic of Dragonball, her identity buff is also similar to the Super-Saiyan powerup of Goku, which is called Hype, ranging from 0 to 4. The higher the Hype level, the greater the buffs and the lesser the level lasts, with Hype level 0 functioning as a recovery mode where you can’t use any skills and need to wait for full reload!

The basic playstyle of the Soulfist is to release all your damage during your Hype mode windows. You also want to position yourself in a somewhat safer space between ranged and melee classes to always ensure the right range for your skills. Being in this sort of middle ground allows you to have a very flexible playstyle.

The most important thing you need to worry about though, is your Awakening as it’s the main source of DPS that has a reeeally slow casting animation, so you kind of need to predict your target’s position before letting it loose.

Using your other skills will consume energy that depending on your class engraving, you either want to keep under 30% meter all the time or need to be careful to not use it up completely because if you use too many skills at the same time and the energy meter runs out, you’ll get punished with not being able to use any abilities until it fills up again.

However, as long as you keep an eye on the bar, it should be easily manageable as you can fill it back up immediately by entering the next Hype-stage.

So if you are looking for a flashy, fast-paced class with decent AoE, good party buffs and most importantly the strongest single target damage in the game, then the Soulfist is for you. If you’re only thinking about getting into the class, check out our Soulfist leveling guide.

Comparisons to other classes

When it comes to your advanced Martial artist classes – the biggest difference between a Soulfist and any other Martial Artists is that the Soulfist has the most range that provides ultimate flexibility.

Of course that doesn’t mean she’s a complete ranged champion like a Sorceress, since she as well has lots of melee skills that can also be used as gap closers, but having more range means almost always that you’ll deal more damage than classes that have to jump right into action like the Striker for example.

The Soulfist is also not as fast as the Wardancer or Glaivier, or as slow and heavy as the Scrapper, so she’s a little bit of every Martial Artist with the strongest Awakening ability in the game.

But being ranged and melee at the same time makes this class ultimately not the easiest to play, but with enough practice and right timings to throw the biggest explosion, it definitely will be worth it.

In order to find out how well Soulfist performs in current meta, go to our tier list.

Class Mechanics

Soulfist, just like other Martial Artists, is a burst oriented class. Your aim is to buff yourself up to your final Hype mode level 3 and then release your high damage all at once during that phase. That requires some pre-planning as you HAVE to make sure to land all your skills.

In the best case scenario, you start by using 1 or 2 movement or sub / secondary DPS skills at Hype level 1 and then jump into the next Hype mode at level 2.

Stay at this Hype mode until it almost runs out and enter your final Hype level 3. There you want to immediately activate Energy Release as an opener to buff yourself and your teammates with 25% damage reduction and 40% increased damage.

As the window of Hype level 3 doesn’t last very long, you really want to make sure your Awakening is the first active skill you want to use. It’s the hardest hitting and therefore, the most important skill in your kit that takes a looong time to cast.

Always make sure you enter this rotation when you know your target’s mechanics as you won’t be moving when casting, or else you may end up throwing that gigantic dense ball of energy into nothingness.

PvE

Soulfists have two pretty distinct playstyles and can focus more on a faster and straightforward playstyle with their Energy Overflow build that needs you to constantly use skills so that you make the most out of your damage enhancement when you keep your energy meter low.

You can also focus on your Robust Spirit build that needs you to position more frequently and time your skills better as you’ll often find yourself running around in Hype stage 0, but ultimately lets you deal the highest numbers.

Due to their good buff-kit and somewhat high mobility, you’ll spend most of your time running around, waiting for your cooldowns and Hype meter to reload while grouping up mobs to make sure you use your few burst skills on the biggest mob-group possible.

As a back attacker, you also want to use your mobility to get behind a single target like a Boss and release your harder hitting skills like Merciless Pummel from behind. Since you also want to invest in your Awakening, you’ll make sure to always have enough Awakening stones in your inventory, as you’ll always make use of it the second it runs off of cooldown to defeat single target monsters like bosses or guardians etc.

PvP

For PvP, the mid-range nature of the Soulfist wants you to stay mid-ranged. One reason for that is that you’ll have just enough space to poke your enemies with ranged skills like Force Orb, while always being in range for a team or follow up engage, to properly make use of your melee skills as well.

Another reason for you to stay in mid-range is that this way you’ll always apply the synergy buffs to your team as your buff range is limited and having you staying right in the center, between back and frontline is the best spot for that obviously.

Since your damage will all be done in your Hype level burst windows, you want to focus on that by making sure that you activate Hype level 3 if you see a perfect opportunity and you decide to fully engage.

These can be situations as if the enemy team is clustered in one place or an enemy target already used the stand up dash, making it impossible for them to escape from your full out burst combos.

Core Abilities

Flash Step

This is your main movement skill as it’ll rapidly move you to the target location. On top of that it’s also a skill you use to buff your attack damage with the second Victory Shout Tripod. Run this skill regardless of which type of Engraving you take.

Energy Release

This is your main synergy skill that provides more attack damage and 25% damage reduction for yourself and the party. Having such a buff makes you want to use it either before the engage or right after to make sure you and your team get the most out of your clashes. Run this skill regardless of which type of Engraving you take as well.

Merciless Pummel

This skill is one of the Soulfists primary DPS when it comes to normal skills. It lets you move forward, delivering a punch-kick-punch where each attack does more damage than the previous one.

Shadowbreaker

Shadowbreaker has a quick animation, making you strike the ground twice and has the best weak point and stagger built into your kit.

Heavenly Squash / Force Orb

Both these skills have flashy animations which look and feel good but more importantly are core, mid-range DPS skills you want to be using during your Hype burst windows.

Awakening Abilities

As with all classes the Soulfist has access to two Awakening abilities.

World Decimation

• This is your entire source of pride as it’s basically a Genki Dama from Dragonball Z. The Soulfist raises her hands above her head and concentrates enough energy to make it explode in a large AoE area.
• Ideally, you ONLY use this skill when you know your target won’t be moving as its animation time alone is 3 seconds long which may sound not too long in theory, but it definitely is.

Annihilating Ray

• This is your second source of pride as it’s basically Goku’s Kamhemeha. The Soulfist gathers energy here as well, but you need to release it while holding the skill. After you release the hotkey, you’ll get help from a comrade’s soul and your Ki-ray will deal increased damage.

In terms of playrate, most people use World Decimation, as it’s not a holding skill and the highest single target damage skill in the entire world of Arkesia, catapulting you to MVP in your raids (in case you hit it).

Advanced Class Engravings

Every Lost Ark class has access to engravings that will focus your playstyle in one particular direction. For Soulfist you will choose between Robust Spirit and Energy Overflow.

Most players run the Robust Spirit build, but both Engravings are similar in terms of viability so run whatever feels more fun to you:

Robust Spirit

This engraving makes your Soulfist become a burst-machine, as it lets you skip Hype level 1 and Hype level 2 whenever you use your identity to power yourself up, meaning you’ll always hover between your Hype Level 3 and the Hype recovery mode.

The playstyle with this Engraving shifts from managing your energy to more like lining up your hard hitters to release them all at once in your small window that you enter while in the highest Hype-stage.

When you choose this Engraving, you want to focus on the Specialization stat first, to increase your damage of your Awakening, decrease the downtime of recovery mode and enhance the damage during your key explosion. After that, you want to focus on Crit to try to pulverize anything that gets caught up inside your Awakening explosion.

Energy Overflow

This engraving speeds up your playstyle quite a bit, as it kinda lets you ignore your energy bar since you can’t get it to 0 anymore, allowing you to spam your skills making it a more consistent damage type of playstyle.

But it comes with the cost of disabling your additional energy recovery while in Hype, which gets balanced out again by wanting you to be focusing on trying to always spend enough energy so that you’re constantly below 30% to increase the damage of all your skills.

That being said, you want to make sure to stay at Hype 2 most of the time to deal consistent damage and then let it run out to Hype 0, so that your downtime won’t be as long. You only enter Hype-stage 3 if your Awakening skill is ready to be used, as you’ll suffer greater down time the higher the Hype Level you were in.

When you choose this engraving, you want to focus on the Swiftness stat first, since you want your cooldowns to be as low as possible, helping you rotate through your skills in a more frequent manner to keep your energy bar low at the same time. After that, Crit is your second stat to build upon.

Build

Robust Spirit Build

The Robust Spirit is the more popular and beginner friendly build that turns your Soulfist into a literal burst monster, as it’ll get rid of your lower Hype levels 1 and 2, making you enter Hype level 3 every time you activate your identity.

On top of that, your energy recovery speed doubles and you’ll get bonus damage as well, making you shift toward a full out burst damage playstyle with massive burst windows. For this reason we want to be mainly focusing on our Awakening skill, using it every time it’s up when running this build, as we want to deal the most damage within our enhanced Hype level 3 mode, and what’s better than the strongest single target skill in the game for that?

Since your Awakening is a static skill that takes a long time to cast, you should wait at the start of your fights, to get a feeling for all the mechanics to make sure you never miss.

Here are some of the skill explanations and tripods you will take (Make sure you have 4 points in every spell and then max them out in the following order:

• Shadowbreaker
  • 2-2-1
  • Shadowbreaker has a quick animation, making you strike the ground twice and has the best weak point and stagger built into your kit. Use it after you put out some damage with Merciless Pummel.
• Merciless Pummel
  • 1-3-2
  • This is your main DPS skill that makes you deliver a punch-kick-punch combo where each attack does more damage than the previous one. Make sure to land this skill as a back attack during a Hype mode immediately after Energy Release, to maximize your damage output.
• Heavenly Squash
  • 1-2-1
    Second main DPS skill with the Hard Hitter tripod that increases your energy cost by 20% but also your outgoing damage by 30%. You’ll drop 4 different palms that all deal tons of damage at the target location.
• Force Orb
  • 3-1-1
  • Part of your main DPS skills that quickly shoots 3 energy balls from your palm that’s used on both builds. Use it during a Hype mode after Merciless Pummel.
• Lightning Palm
  • 1-3-2
  • Another part of your main DPS that’s also a counter, which knocks back foes caught in its range. Use it at the end of your skill rotation.
• Energy Release
  • 3-2-1
    Main synergy skill that you want to use before any DPS skill as it buffs up your party damage by 40% while also giving you 25% damage reduction for the next 6 seconds. This is your typical rotation opener after you engaged.
• Pulverizing Palm
  • 2-2-0
  • Good synergy skill that lets you close distances by quickly dashing forward while also providing you with 25% increased attack damage over 4 seconds. Optionally it can also be used as an engage tool.
• Flash Step
  • 3-3-0
  • One of the best and primary mobility skill you can also use for engaging / rotation starter, that let’s you dash 3 times with each dash giving you attack damage buffs, so use it whenever it’s up. It’s also important to know that you should enter Hype mode the second you close the gap.

Stat Priority

• Prioritize Specialization by a lot, as the higher this stat, the less recovery Hype time, meaning it’ll allow you to spend more time during Hype level 3
• As a second stat, you want to be focusing on Crit.

Runes

• Galewind runes on your core DPS skills (Shadowbreaker, Merciless Pummel, Energy Release, Lightning Palm)
• Conviction on Force Orb and Judgment on Heavenly Squash to help with your energy meter regen.
• Bleed on Pulverizing Palm as it’s your second lowest cooldown for good bleed uptime.
• Quick Recharge on Flash Step since you have 3 casts to proc the cooldown effect.

Engraving

• Robust Spirit lvl 3 must have for the build since you want to deal as much damage as possible
• Precise Dagger helps with your lack of Crit
• Master of Ambush as your class is a back attack class but requires you to re-position often.
• Adrenaline increases your Crit as well but also your attack power, making it a good choice in general for a Soulfist
• Awakening to let you cast your Spirit Bomb World Decimation as often as possible
• Grudge and Cursed Doll lvl 3 make great skills once you are an advanced player and can slot them in

Gems

• Prioritize Damage and Cooldown on all the core damage skills.
• Cooldown on your utility skills for better buffs uptime
• Everything else is a bonus

Energy Overflow Build

The Energy Overflow Build follows the same rule of using utility skills for buffs first before using high damage DPS skills.

It is the faster paced class build as it lets you ignore the energy meter while also wanting you to keep it constantly under 30%, forcing you to spam your skills to gain increased damage.

That being said, it’s most effective with lots of cooldown tripods and during Hype level 2 and 3 so don’t bother staying at Hype level 1.

• Shadowbreaker
  • 2-2-1
  • Shadowbreaker has a quick animation, making you strike the ground twice and has the best weak point and stagger built into your kit. Use it after you put out some damage with Merciless Pummel.
• Merciless Pummel
  • 1-3-2
  • This is your main DPS skill that makes you deliver a punch-kick-punch combo where each attack does more damage than the previous one. Make sure to land this skill as a back attack during a Hype mode immediately after Energy Release, to maximize your damage output.
• Heavenly Squash
  • 1-2-1
  • Second main DPS skill with the Hard Hitter tripod that increases your energy cost by 20% but also your outgoing damage by 30%. You’ll drop 4 different palms that all deal tons of damage at the target location.
• Force Orb
  • 1-3-1
  • Part of your main DPS skills that quickly shoots 3 energy balls from your palm that’s used on both builds. Use it during a Hype mode after Merciless Pummel to keep the energy meter low.
• Tempest Blast
  • 1-2-2
  • Another part of your main DPS skills, that has good Weak Point built into. The Eradication tripod changes it to a charge skill you want to use at the end of your skill rotation.
• Energy Release
  • 2-3-1
  • Main synergy skill that you want to use before any DPS skill as it buffs up your party damage by 40% while also giving you 25% damage reduction for the next 6 seconds. This is your typical rotation opener after you engaged.
• Bolting Crash
  • 1-3-2
  • Another good skill that is your main counter with low cooldowns, which also helps buffing up yourself and your party provided by the Fighting Spirit Enhancement tripod taken here. Use it right after your Flash Step rotation opener.
• Flash Step
  • 2-3-0
  • One of the best and primary mobility skill you can also use for engaging / rotation starter, that let’s you dash 3 times with each dash giving you attack damage buffs, so use it whenever it is up.

Stat Priority

• Prioritize Swiftness by a lot as you need the cooldown reduction to cycle through your skill rotation fast enough to make use of the increased damage when keeping your energy low.
• As a second stat, you want to be focusing on Crit.

Runes

• Galewind runes on your core DPS skills (Shadowbreaker, Merciless Pummel, Energy Release, Tempest Blast)
• Conviction on Force Orb and Judgment on Heavenly Squash to help with your energy meter regen.
• Bleed on Bolting Crash as it’s your second lowest cooldown for good bleed uptime.
• Quick Recharge on Flash Step since you have 3 casts to proc the cooldown effect.

Engraving

• Energy Overflow lvl 1 is your highest priority, or else you’ll ultimately run into the downtime energy recovery issue and can’t really pull off the rest of the build
• Precise Dagger helps with your lack of Crit
• Raid Captain has a great synergy with your focus on the Swiftness stat, granting you more DPS
• Master of Ambush as your class is a back attack class but requires you to re-position often.
• Adrenaline increases your Crit as well but also your Attack power, making it a good choice in general for a Soulfist
• Grudge and Cursed Doll lvl 3 make great skills once you are an advanced player and can slot them in

Gems

• Prioritize Damage and Cooldown on all the core damage skills.
• Cooldown on your utility skills for better buffs uptime
• Everything else is a bonus

Thanks for reading! To learn more about the other classes, check out our collection of Lost Ark class guides.