Once Lost Ark players gain access to personal strongholds, the six trade skills — mining, fishing, foraging, hunting, logging, and excavating — become increasingly necessary to progress through the stronghold’s upgrade system, and to participate in crafting.
In order to keep in good supply of resources and keep up with research, Players will need a means of gathering as many production resources as possible. It’s best, then, for them to know exactly where to look.
The locations included in this guide were selected due to their easy accessibility for most players, as well as their close proximity to Luterra Castle, costing as little silver as possible when traveling through Triports.
Lakebar
While serving as the player’s introduction to trade skills, Lakebar features an abundance of copper ore rocks that, inexplicably, drop varying qualities of iron ore when mined.
These ores are used in research processes in the stronghold’s lab, allowing players to expand their crafting and exploring capabilities.
While later locations in this guide feature copper ore rocks, Lakebar features the closest density of rocks to the northeast, making this location ideal for quickly mining ore en masse.
Lakebar also represents one of the very few locations early in the game to feature fishing spots, at which players can catch fish and later cook meals once they develop their stronghold to level 10.
Bilbrin Forest
Bilbrin’s plentiful arbor trees provide varying qualities of timber.
Timber bears plenty of use in lab research, but also contributes to the process of ship building, which can allow players to complete passive daily missions from their stronghold’s station for additional rewards.
Hunting targets in the area, taking the form of spotted rabbits, can provide meat for later cooking, as well as several rare crafting materials in animal hides and leather.
Battlebound Plains
While not represented by any minimap icons or world objects, players can scan Battlebound Plains for, and excavate, underground relics. These findings act as crafting materials that can be used in much later recipes.
Medrick Monastery
Dreamwalker flowers can be foraged from the lower, northeast portion of the Monastery. These wild flowers can be used at a stronghold’s crafting workshop to manually create potions and other battle items.
