Lost Ark 2026 roadmap: Everything coming in the first four months

Lost Ark had a solid 2025, and in a recent blogpost, the first section of the 2026 roadmap has been released. They do point out though that this could change, depending on a variety of factors, so that’s something to keep in mind. It sounds like the first few months of 2026 are going to be jam-packed with content, including a new class! The Paladin was a blast, but soon enough, we’ll have something else to be excited about, in the Dragonknight.

From new items, updates to in-game activities, and more story, there’s a lot to be excited about in the first quarter of 2026, according to the Lost Ark roadmap. Here’s everything we know so far that will be added to the game.

---

Lost Ark 2026 roadmap part 1 revealed

1) January adds Nukman’s Illusion Stone, Thaemine Extreme, and a New Ark Pass, according to the Lost Ark 2026 roadmap

It sounds like January 2026 is going to start off with some excitement (Image via Smilegate)

Lost Ark will be kicking off 2026 with a bang, according to the roadmap. Nukman’s Illusion Stone is a new collectible that will allow players to acquire “valuable rewards”, and unfortunately, from a gameplay perspective, that’s all we know about them. We do know that it is a reference to the first elder of the Yoz, Nukman, who sent a crescent moon-shaped stone into the sky to give his people hope and courage.

Thaemine Extreme is going to be similar to Thaemine Hard Gate 4, but with new patterns and adjusted difficulty. However, it sounds like the Korean version might have been too extreme, because they’re looking at adjusting some of the difficulty from that version, to balance for Ark Grid and other in- game systems.

However, it does sound like this version of the Lost Ark raid will have some ways to make it less punishing. If you land Just Guards, you can buff yourself and your team, so that promises to be interesting.

Finally, there’s a new Ark Pass for Lost Ark in January 2026, which will offer awesome cosmetics, and the Day and Night Minister skins. In addition, the emotes that won the Community Emote competition will be added to the game.

---

2) February introduces the new Dragonknight Class, new Progression Events, and Activity Overhaul

The Dragonknight sounds awesome! (Image via Smilegate)

The Halberd-wielding Dragonknight class comes to Lost Ark in February 2026, according to the roadmap. It has Normal Skills that use the Halberd, Manifest Skills that use the energy granted by the Guardians, and Incarnation skills. These adjust your Manifest Skills to give them even more power than ever before. She can also transform, likely embracing her draconic bloodline. It sounds like it’s going to be a fun class, but we’ll just have to wait and see. This will also come with a suite of progression events, so players can get started and catch up easily.

Alongside the Progression Events, expect some major balance changes coming in February. We do know that the progression changes will include updates to the character creation flow, that will let players test classes, before deciding, a better milestone mission system, and much more.

Changes to Tier 3 progression are also scheduled at this time, which will remove the gold cost from Tier 3, remove gear honing, and some other useful quality-of-life features (bulk honing).

A major Activity Overhaul is coming to Lost Ark in 2026 as well, which was already announced in Korea. It’s a simplification of the content, where some content will be removed (Book of Coordination, Tower, Weekly Unas). In addition, there’s some content restructuring, some of which was revealed by the developers:

• Guardian Stones and Destruction Stones obtained from the Kurzan Front and Chaos Dungeons have been changed from tradeable items to character-bound items, and the quantity has been increased.
• Honing materials obtained from Fate Embers that appear during the Kurzan Front and Chaos Dungeons have been changed from character-bound to tradeable items, and Destiny Shards are now obtained in the form of tradeable pouches.
• Gems, Accessories, Bracelets, and Ability Stones will no longer be obtained from Kurzan Front and Chaos Dungeons.
• Instead, Guardians at Trial of Vairgrys Stage 5 and above will drop gems appropriate to the Guardian’s tier. Guardians at Purification Stage 2 and above now drop Luminous Gem Shards.
• The drop quantities of accessories, bracelets, and ability stones from Guardian Raids have been increased. Guardian Stones, Destruction Stones, and Leapstones are no longer obtainable from Guardian Raids.
• Clearing a Chaos Gate will grant character bound gold. Higher-level Chaos Gates grant a greater amount of character bound gold upon completion. The Chaos Gates below item level 1580 have been removed.
• The amount of Guardian Stones and Destruction Stones obtained from defeating the South Kurzan Field Boss Sevek Atun will be significantly increased.
• Defeating Sevek Atun will also grant tradeable Leapstones. The type of Leapstone obtained corresponds to the character’s Item Level bracket. Characters below Item Level 1580 will no longer obtain honing materials when defeating field bosses.

---

3) March begins Paradise Season 3, and a new Story Chapter

Ready for more dark, compelling storytelling? (Image via Smilegate)

The Lost Ark developers revealed they were happy with how the Paradise system has worked out, and for March 2026, the roadmap reveals the third season will begin. There will be some adjustments, based on feedback from Season 1 and Season 2 as well.

This includes how upgrading gear worked, to some of the gameplay that came from gear upgrades. The early drop rates for gear will also be adjusted. It sounds like it will be a pretty solid change, but we’ll have to see it all in action.

For those players craving more story, a new Story Chapter for Lost Ark kicks off in March 2026. They don’t explain very much to avoid spoilers, and so we won't talk about it much either. It will be the conclusion of Part 1 of the game’s story, so there will also be a Knowledge Transfer added for this. Fans of the game's storyline won't want to miss where it goes next.

---

4) April brings the first Shadow Raid to life

Behold, Serka, the Witch of Pain! (Image via Smilegate)

Lost Ark’s Shadow Raid will feature Primordial beings who can take on a variety of forms. It sounds linked to the story that’s on the way, which will be pretty dark in tone. The first raid will be against Serka, the Witch of Pain. Right now, we know that this is a 4-player raid with 2 gates, and that it has three difficulties:

• Normal: 1710
• Hard: 1730
• Nightmare: 1740

This raid will provide Ark Grid Cores, and Tier 4 gearHowever, they’re planning for there to be less time required to farm the materials to craft gear, and a new Acceleration system. The developers highlighted that the new Nightmare difficulty will be similar to harder past raids’ Hard Mode (Kazeros, Thaemine), and that Hard Mode will be somewhere between that and Normal.

As far as changes go, you will go right to the boss without HP recovery when the boss berserkers, so be prepared for that. These’s a new Brawl System which adds a unique action, and Shadow Skills. This will let you steal a skill from the boss, and be permitted to use it. All in all, it sounds interesting, and should shake up how raids are approached in Lost Ark in 2026.

---

Check out our other MMO guides and features

• How to tame Solwyn in ARK Survival Ascended Lost Colony
• Diablo 4: What to do with Unique Purified Essence
• All Guild Wars Reforged professions: What’s the best class for you?

Edited by Jason Parker