Berserker Community Guide
Table of Contents
- Overview
- How do the two builds compare?
- Mayhem Berserker’s Technique
- Berserker’s Technique
- Ark Passives
- Engravings
- Skills
- T Skill and Awakening
- Rotations
- FAQ
- Revision History
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Overview
This community guide is a comprehensive compilation of Berserker class information up to the 2025 July patch. It covers multiple build archetypes — Mayhem, Berserker’s Technique, Supersonic Breakthrough, and MP Furnace — with in-depth guidance on ark passives, engravings, core skills, T skills and awakenings, rotations, and optimization notes. It emphasizes the core identity of Berserker: a Fury-meter-based system that powers Burst Mode and Bloody Rush, the strongest skill with Push Immunity, Weak Point, and Stagger, and provides guidance on mana management, back-attack uptime, and cooldown drift strategies across builds. It also contains build-specific notes, feast recommendations, mana considerations, and QOL options to improve consistency and DPS output in various fight scenarios.
The document is a community-driven resource designed for players who want to compare two major playstyles, optimize rotation sequencing, and maximize uptime and damage through careful resource management, engravings selection, and back-attack windows. It includes detailed rules for meter gain rotations, sustainment strategies, and practical notes on how to adapt builds to different fights and gear setups. It also presents several meter-generation and damage optimization concepts, including the importance of Wind Blade, Red Dust, Mountain Crash, and Blood Slash interactions.
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How do the two builds compare?
Summary of what each build emphasizes and their tradeoffs:
- Mayhem Berserker’s Technique
- Transforms Burst Mode into an always-on Mayhem mode with sustained damage.
- Pros: Relatively mobile, straightforward rotation, easy to pick up, high Push Immunity, significantly higher damage ceiling.
- Cons: Lower raw damage ceiling than Berserker’s Technique in some contexts, relatively immobile, long animation locks, heavy reliance on hitting all skills, requires managing drifting cooldowns or more back-attack hits.
- Berserker’s Technique
- Focuses on a high-end, crit-synergy flexible path, with the idea of Back Attacks and back-end burst windows.
- Pros: Highest potential peak damage under certain conditions, strong back-attack value when crit synergies align, flexible with multiple back-attack-oriented setups.
- Cons: Requires careful resource and cooldown management, potentially less forgiving, more reliant on precision to access full DPS windows.
Notes: The guide presents configurations with three main paths: Blunt Thorn (Recommended for many), Supersonic Breakthrough, and MP Furnace builds. It emphasizes feast usage, evolution distribution between Critical and Swiftness, and strategic point movement between skills to adapt to mana constraints. The guide also discusses how to allocate skill points depending on gear, bracelets, and whether a feast is consumed, with explicit No-Feast and Event Feast swiftness targets.
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Mayhem Berserker’s Technique
Ark Passives
- Blunt Thorn (Recommended)
- Evolution Enlightenment Leap
- Specialization (30/30)
- Critical (30/30)
- Swiftness (10/30)
- Mayhem (3/3)
- Transcendent Power (x/5)
- Release Potential (x/5)
- Boundless MP (2/2)
- Illicit Spell (1/2)
- Restore Fury (3/3)
- Unleashed Power (5/5)
- Strike (1/2)
- Unlimited Magick (1/2)
- Provocation (1/5)
- Cold Fury (3/3)
- Mutilate (3/3)
- Blunt Thorn (2/2)
- Stampede (1/5)
- Dark Enhancement (3/3)
Notes
This is the strongest and most flexible build. It can be played with any amount of crit synergies. For each crit synergy you have, remove 1 point from both Strike and Boundless MP and put 1 point in both Limit Break and Unlimited Magick. However, some players might not like being capped at 80% crit, which is why the other two options exist.
Spec enough Swiftness to reach the movement/attack speed cap, then invest the rest in Critical. The amount of evolution points you invest in Critical or Swiftness will depend on your bracelet and whether you eat a feast. It is heavily recommended to eat a feast on Blunt Thorn builds to run extra Critical.
No feast: 932 Swiftness
Event feast: 641 Swiftness
Move points from Illicit Spell into Limit Break if you don’t have mana issues. This will allow the evolution damage to benefit Bleed/Poison/Awakening. However, this is a very minor optimization.
Transcendent Power should be run over either Release Potential or Unleashed Power if you do not have bracelet points to upgrade Mutilate.
Supersonic Breakthrough
- Evolution Enlightenment Leap
- Critical (15/30)
- Swiftness (25/30)
- Mayhem (3/3)
- Transcendent Power (x/5)
- Release Potential (x/5)
- Illicit Spell (2/2)
- Limit Break (1/2)
- Restore Fury (3/3)
- Unleashed Power (5/5)
- Strike (2/2)
- Provocation (1/5)
- Cold Fury (3/3)
- Mutilate (3/3)
- Supersonic Breakthrough (2/2)
- Stampede (1/5)
- Dark Enhancement (3/3)
Notes
This build is marginally weaker than Blunt Thorn even in ideal scenarios and should only be played with no crit synergies, but outshines MP Furnace builds with reasonable back attack uptime. Alternatively, it can be played with one crit synergy in fights with very low back attack uptime. However, it has the advantage of being able to always crit on back attacks, removing variance from your damage, and can also tech in the most CDR.
Spec enough Swiftness to reach the evolution damage cap of Supersonic Breakthrough, then invest the rest in Critical. The amount of evolution points you invest in Critical or Swiftness will depend on your bracelet and whether you eat a feast. It is heavily recommended to eat a feast on Supersonic Breakthrough builds to run extra Critical.
No feast: 1708 Swiftness
Event feast: 1417 Swiftness
Move points from Illicit Spell into Limit Break if you don’t have mana issues. This will allow the evolution damage to benefit Bleed/Poison/Awakening.
Transcendent Power should be run over either Release Potential or Unleashed Power if you do not have bracelet points to upgrade Mutilate.
MP Furnace Build
- Evolution Enlightenment Leap
- Critical (30/30)
- Swiftness (10/30)
- Mayhem (3/3)
- Transcendent Power (x/5)
- Release Potential (x/5)
- Illicit Spell (2/2)
- Boundless MP (1/2)
- Restore Fury (3/3)
- Unleashed Power (5/5)
- Unlimited Magick (2/2)
- Cold Fury (3/3)
- Slash (3/3)
- MP Furnace (2/2)
- Stampede (2/5)
- Dark Enhancement (3/3)
Notes
This is the strongest build if you are having a very hard time landing any back attacks and are playing with no crit synergies (<25% back attack uptime). However, it has mana issues and needs food or a competent support to maximize its effectiveness. This build can better leverage Quick Recharge runes to get more casts on Fury Method and has an extremely high crit rate even without back attacking.
Spec enough Swiftness to reach the movement/attack speed cap, then invest the rest in Critical. The amount of evolution points you invest in Critical or Swiftness will depend on your bracelet and whether you eat a feast. It is heavily recommended to eat a feast on MP Furnace builds to run extra Critical.
No feast: 932 Swiftness
Event feast: 641 Swiftness
Most node choices on the second row are fine. Limit Break, Boundless MP, and Optimized Training are all options depending on how much CDR you want for a build that favors faster cycling or more damage per cycle.
Instant Spell is a fine QOL option if you’re running out of mana in fights and don’t want to eat mana food. Remove points from Unleashed Power to allocate points in Instant Spell.
Engravings
Core Engravings Pick One
- Grudge
- Keen Blunt
- Mass Increase
- Raid Captain
- Cursed Doll
- Ambush Master
Notes
- Mass Increase is a free engraving for both builds due to Burst Mode giving a massive amount of movement and attack speed.
- Cursed Doll will likely be preferred on 1.5 cycle builds because it uses Overdrive, which has no positional modifier, as a main damage skill, and runs Finish Strike which is relatively slow to cast and backloaded.
- Ambush Master will likely be stronger on 1.0 cycle builds because nearly all the damage is coming from Bloody Rush, which has a back attack modifier and casts extremely quickly.
- As always, many engravings work at higher rarity (Adrenaline, Stabilized Status, etc.) but they are not meta and will not be supported by this guide because there are too many of them.
1.0 Cycle (Assault Blade) Build
Skills
Core Skills
- Red Dust
- Hell Blade
- Overdrive
- Wind Blade
- Tempest Slash
- Mountain Crash
- Power Break
T Skill and Awakening
- Blood Slash
- Berserk Fury
- Rage Blade
Rotations
Rules
- The Assault Blade build uses a meter gain rotation with three main damage skills in between Bloody Rush casts. The goal is to fit all skills within the 8-second Red Dust window. Mountain Crash drifts between rotations.
Meter Gain Rotation
- Wind Blade, Red Dust as starting ticks; Mountain Crash to cover any missed ticks.
T Skill Burst Rotation
- Skip a cast of Assault Blade or Mountain Crash if Bloody Slash is up.
Standard Burst Rotation
- Use the sequence that maximizes Burst off cooldown and maintains damage after stagger.
Stagger
- These are not a strict rotation; they’re prioritized when stagger checks occur. Always hold Blood Slash for stagger.
1.0 Cycle Summary
- Bloody Rush remains the highest damage skill within a 1.0 cycle framework, and Bloody Rush is a three-part burst skill requiring precise animation-cancel and synergy with other skills.
T Skill and Awakening
- Blood Slash
- Berserk Fury
- Rage Blade
Notes
- Keen Sense can be swapped for Limit Breaking when crit synergies exist.
- Physical Awakening sustains MP but can be dropped for Fury Consumption to maintain mana, with Azena’s Blessing or MP foods as alternatives. Stampede can be traded for Fury Consumption but with a QOL downgrade.
- Instant Spell is a QOL option for mana issues.
Supersonic Breakthrough Build
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Notes
- See Supersonic Breakthrough section for details on rotation dynamics and gem choice.
Engravings
- Core Engravings: Grudge, Keen Blunt, Mass Increase, Raid Captain, etc.
- Pick One: Cursed Doll or Ambush Master or MPE Increase.
1.5 Cycle (Finish Strike) Build
Core Skills
- Red Dust
- Overdrive
- Finish Strike
- Hell Blade
- Wind Blade
- Tempest Slash
- Mountain Crash
- Power Break
- Bloody Rush
T Skill and Awakening
- Blood Slash
- Fury Method
- Berserk Fury
- Rage Blade
Rotations
Rules
- Finish Strike build revolves around prioritize Wind Blade, then Red Dust, then Finish Strike with an emphasis on keeping Red Dust uptime and ensuring Blood Slash is buffered for stagger times when possible.
Meter Gain Rotation
- Wind Blade and Red Dust start the rotation; Mage interactions are configured to maximize meter gain.
Example Burst Rotation
- Skip Wind Blade if a Stimulant is used; further rotations are in progress.
Stagger
- Stagger-based damage windows; ensure DPS remains after stagger check ends.
Berserker’s Technique
Ark Passives
- Blunt Thorn (Recommended)
- Evolution Enlightenment Leap
- Specialization (30/30)
- Critical (10/30)
- Brawn (3/3)
- Unleashed Power (5/5)
- Transcendent Power (5/5)
- Keen Sense (2/2)
- Limit Breaking (1/3)
- Invigoration (3/3)
- Rage Cycle (3/3)
- Strike (2/2)
- Physical Awakening (1/5)
- Berserker Technique (3/3)
- Blunt Thorn (2/2)
- Stampede (1/5)
- Burst Enhancement (3/3)
Notes
- Keen Sense can be swapped for Limit Breaking in crit synergy scenarios.
- Physical Awakening is useful for MP sustain, but can be dropped for Fury Consumption.
- Stampede can be traded for Fury Consumption but is a QoL downgrade. Instant Spell is a QoL option.
Supersonic Breakthrough
- Evolution Enlightenment Leap
- Swiftness (10/30)
- Brawn (3/3)
- Unleashed Power (5/5)
- Transcendent Power (5/5)
- Keen Sense (2/2)
- Limit Breaking (1/3)
- Invigoration (3/3)
- Rage Cycle (3/3)
- Strike (2/2)
- Physical Awakening (1/5)
- Berserker Technique (3/3)
- Supersonic Breakthrough (2/2)
- Stampede (1/5)
- Burst Enhancement (3/3)
Notes
- Points in Keen Sense can be swapped for Limit Breaking or Swiftness given crit synergy counts.
- Physical Awakening sustains MP; may be swapped with Fury Consumption. Stampede remains a QoL option but can cause earlier runouts.
- Instant Spell remains a QoL option when mana is tight.
Engravings
Core Engravings Pick One
- Grudge
- Keen Blunt
- Mass Increase
- Raid Captain
- Cursed Doll
- Ambush Master
Notes
- Mass Increase is a free engraving for both builds due to Burst Mode speed.
- Cursed Doll is favored on 1.5-cycle builds using Overdrive; Ambush Master stronger on 1.0-cycle builds with Bloody Rush.
- Other engravings exist but are not recommended in this guide.
Engravings (continued)
- 1.0 Cycle (Assault Blade) Build See above for engraving choices reflecting 30/30 in Core Engravings and 1.0-cycle specifics.
- 1.5 Cycle (Finish Strike) Build Engravings align with a different set of core and pick-one engravings, exploring Back Attack optimization.
Notes on Engravings
- The guide provides recommended core choices and notes about how engraving sets impact mana and DPS, including tradeoffs with mana efficiency priorities and back-attack uptime.
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Core Skills
Red Dust
- Level 10+ required due to Attack Power modifiers increasing with level.
- Gates rotation; avoid casting strong skills outside its duration; gating with DoTs.
- The damage gem on Red Dust can be moved to Tempest Slash for ceiling increases in Trixion, though this is often not better in real fights.
- Stagger: 21 units
Overdrive
- Highest damage skill; does not have back-attack modifier; Stagger: 100 units
Finish Strike
- 2nd highest damage skill; Weak Point; High Stagger; Stagger: 146 units
Hell Blade
- 3rd Highest Damage Skill; Earth Flip not recommended due to CD desync; Stagger: 69 units
Sword Storm
- Main Damage Skill; Mid-High Stagger; Stagger: 58 units
Mountain Crash
- Flexible; Quick Recharge; Counter; Mid Stagger; Stagger: 71 units
Power Break
- Weak Point; Stagger: 41 units; Stagger numbers indicate rotation window usage
Shoulder Charge / Purify / Assault
- Shoulder Charge: Mobility; Purify swaps with Quick Recharge; Mana Furnace builds use Purify due to lower mana drain; Shoulder Charge often preferred for mobility
- Assault: Utility; used for Quick Recharge procs or alternate source of Poison; outside Red Dust windows to reduce Blood Slash cooldown
Quick Recharge / Poison / Tempest Slash
- Quick Recharge: Red Dust cooldown reduction; used for lower cooldown on Fury Method; Power Break interactions; supports back-attack windows
- Poison: Utility; off-hand back-up; Tempest Slash provides meter gain and weak point; Minimize back attack downtime
- Tempest Slash: Meter Gain; Weak Point; used once in Burst to reduce Bloody Rush cooldown; back-up outside Burst Window
T Skill and Awakening
- Blood Slash: Main T skill for Berserker; fury cycles boost its cooldown
- Berserk Fury: Primary hyper awakening; higher damage option
- Rage Blade: Gem Priority; DMG and CDR
T Skill and Awakening
Blood Slash: Main T skill for Berserker’s Technique; Fury Cycle reduces cooldown when entering Burst Mode.
Berserk Fury: Main hyper awakening; higher damage of the two options.
Rage Blade: Gem Priority; DMG and CDR ordering for consistent DPS.
Rotations
Standard Red Dust Rotation
- Use Overdrive, Finish Strike, Hell Blade, Sword Storm, Mountain Crash, Power Break in any order during the Red Dust window; goal is to fit all skills within 8 seconds.
- Mountain Crash drifts between rotations; most skills share the same 24s base cooldown, limiting order variation.
Filler Skills
- Cast outside Red Dust window: Blood Slash; Fury Method drift mechanics can push Fury Method to appear multiple times per rotation when downtime exists; plan to begin the rotation with Wind Blade and Red Dust.
Blood Slash Rotation
- Frontload or backload Blood Slash based on Red Dust timing; frontloading aids consistency; backloading aligns with Red Dust line-up.
Fury Method Rotation
- Fury Method drifts to the back of the third cast of Red Dust; use as soon as it is up; its cooldown returns on the sixth cast of Red Dust; can multi-drift with Quick Recharge procs.
Stagger
- Moves through stagger order if cooldowns permit; avoid using Blood Slash for stagger; try to stagger with compatible uptime to maximize post-stagger DPS.
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FAQ
Which build should I play?
- Unless the sight of white numbers really annoys you, Blunt Thorn is probably the best build.
What Elixirs should I use?
- Critical set is the best option for all builds, but Master set can be used by both Supersonic and Blunt builds.
Where is the Shoulder Charge build I see on top Uwuowo logs?
- Due to the high investment needed (lvl 10 CDR gems) to make this build viable, it will not be included in the guide at this time. Post suggestions and logs in the Lost Ark Nexus discord please!
Revision History
- Oct 2, 2023 • T4 Guide Update
- Nov 26, 2024 • Holiday Awakening Guide Update
- Feb 20, 2025 • T Skill Rotation Update
- Jul 23, 2025 • Berserker Rework Update
- Oct 6, 2025 • Edit to Blunt Thorn Mayhem optimizing for Mordum BA
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