Lost Ark Express Mission Event guide to get to Tier 3 fast

The Lost Ark Super Express Mission event is the best way to advance from item level 250 to item level 1000. You still have to complete the usual dungeons and daily tasks, but the rewards are far greater. In other words, this is your chance to skip the endgame grind.

The Express Mission event had a rocky start due to the character selection issue. If you’re looking for advice on which character to pick, or if you want to know how to change your Express Mission character, we’ll explain all of that below.

Lost Ark Express Mission requirements

The Lost Ark Super Express Mission event will automatically pop up on your screen when logging in after the April 21 update. Every Lost Ark player can select one character to participate. This character needs to be over level 50 and no higher than item level 1000.

However, be very careful when selecting your character: the Express Missions are meant for easy tier progression, so high-tier characters don’t have any use for it. The item rewards are bound to the selected character. This is explained in a Steam post, but not in the in-game event screen.

Let’s say your main character is Tier 2 and your alt has just reached level 50. In that case, much of the Express Mission rewards are lost on your main, so you should definitely use your alt. If your alt is only level 12, it depends on whether you’re planning to reach level 50 well before June 30 (when the event ends). If not, it’s probably better to use your Tier 2 main, so you can still get some of the event rewards.

How to change Lost Ark Super Express Mission character

It seems that quite a lot of players opened the game after the update, saw the pop up, and clicked on their highest-tier character. They got stuck with an item-level upgrade event for a character who already has a high item level.

Luckily, the developers fixed the issue on April 28. It’s no longer possible to select a character with an item level of 1100 or higher, and every player gets the option to change their event character. There are a few rules to keep in mind:

The Express Mission character can only be changed once.
You can only change characters if you haven’t used the honing rewards on Tier 1 or 2 items.
Players who have only honed Tier 3 gear on their Express Mission character, can still be switched.
In case you received event materials but haven’t used them, you can still switch characters. However, you won’t be able to claim those rewards again (as this would get you double rewards).

If you’re eligible for a character change, here’s how to do it: open the game, click the Super Express Mission event button (below the mini map), and then click ‘Change Event Character’. That’s it!

How to complete the Super Express Mission event

Once you’ve selected your character, you can view a list of missions by clicking on the event icon underneath the mini map. There are four mission levels (with around six missions per level) and one bonus level. The missions mostly consist of tasks such as clearing Chaos Dungeons, doing Guardian Raids, and completing Una’s Tasks.

Lost Ark Super Express Mission rewards

As you can’t see the missions and rewards for levels you haven’t reached yet, you might be wondering if the level four rewards are worth the effort. Based on the list below, the answer is likely “yes”, but you can see it for yourself. Note that every Express Mission level has a more valuable ‘Check Mission’ reward for full completion (besides the individual mission rewards).

Level one (302-460): Express Equipment Chest (full level 302 set), Uncommon Combat Engraving Recipe Chest x20, Uncommon Class Engraving Recipe Chest x20, Harmony Leapstone x15, Destruction Stone Fragment x100, Guardian Stone Fragment x300.
Level two (460-600): Rare Combat Engraving Recipe Chest x20, Rare Class Engraving Recipe Chest x20, Harmony Leapstone x30, Destruction Stone Fragment x200, Guardian Stone Fragment x600.
Level three (600-960): Epic Combat Engraving Recipe Chest x10, Epic Class Engraving Recipe Chest x10, Harmony Leapstone x30, Destruction Stone Fragment x150, Guardian Stone Fragment x450.
Level four (960-1100): Epic Combat Engraving Recipe Chest x20, Epic Class Engraving Recipe Chest x20, Life Leapstone x70, Destruction Stone Fragment x300, Guardian Stone Fragment x1500, Caldarr Fusion Material x65.
Bonus level: 1.500.000 silver, Entrance tickets to the Cube x6, Harmony Shard Pouch x40, Life Shard Pouch x60, and Rift Pieces x1000.

Most levels also reward Silver and some HP Potions, Phoenix Plumes, Bombs, and Flares. Note that the quality increases as you reach the next level (level three Destruction Stone Fragments are Tier 2, for example).

These are the Check Mission rewards for each completed level:

Level one: Uncommon Engraving Recipe Chest x20 and Uncommon Class Engraving Recipe Chest x20
Level two: Stronghold boosts with items such as a Research Acceleration Chip.
Level three: 1.000.000 silver
Level four: Super Express Complete Chest, which contains 1000 Gold, one Relic Rapport Selection chest, three Legendary Rapport Selection Chests, 3.000.000 silver, 34 Legendary Card Packs (including Epic Card Pack x10 and Rare Card Pack x20), five Unidentified Powerful Stones of Soaring, Raid/Victory/Adventure Seal (each x10.000), Sailing Coin Selection Chest x10, Epic Combat Engraving Recipe Chest x20, Epic Class Engraving Recipe Chest x20, Creation Fragment x30, Epic Accessory Chest x20, and Honour Leapstone x50.

This probably goes without saying, but the reward for completing the full Express Mission event (level four Check Mission reward) is by far the best.

Get ready for a few weeks of completing Express Missions, and see you in Tier 3!