Lost Ark: How to Unlock and Beat Ghost Ship Events

Lost Ark is packed with special timed events that yield incredible rewards to those that complete them, but one of the events that puzzle new players more than any other involves the seemingly secret locations of the MMOARPG’s various Ghost Ships.

Simply put, Ghost Ships are…well…ships full of ghosts and ghouls that can be found in Lost Ark‘s open seas. They often yield tremendous rewards, but actually managing to defeat the ship’s undead crew and claim your prizes quickly proves to be one of the most frustrating challenges in the game. Of course, you’ll have to actually find these ships before you can raid them, and that part of the process is certainly proving to be half the battle.

Thankfully, we’re here to help. Here’s what you need to know about finding and fighting Ghost Ships in Lost Ark:

Lost Ark: What Are Ghost Ship Events?

Ghost Ships are spectral ships that can be found while you’re sailing Lost Ark‘s open seas. While their locations aren’t quite as random as they may initially seem (more on that in a bit), there’s a pretty good chance that most players will randomly encounter the first one that they ever board.

It’s best to think of Ghost Ships as floating special events/mini-raids. Once you find one, you’ll have the opportunity to board it and try to eliminate waves of enemies before time runs out. It’s not easy to clear these ships (their phantom crews are surprisingly tough), but the rewards are typically worth it.

On that note, please keep in mind that you can raid ghost ships whenever you happen to encounter them, but you’ll only be able to claim rewards from these raids once a week. We’ll talk a little more about that slight catch a bit later in this guide.

Lost Ark: Where Do You Find Ghost Ships?

The first thing you need to know about Ghost Ships is that they only spawn every handful of hours on the hour. That means that there will be times when you’re parked on the exact spot where a Ghost Ship will eventually spawn but won’t be able to interact with it until it actually does.

More importantly, you’ll need to clear a few progress barriers before you’re able to see those ships and participate in the events associated with them.

First, you’ll need to unlock the ability to actually sail a ship in Lost Ark. That should happen shortly after you complete the Wavestrand Port questline (which rewards you with your first ship and sends you out to sea). You’ll also need to get your character’s item level up to 460, which is a mark you won’t be able to hit until you’ve participated in a few Chaos Dungeons and raised your item level via honing.

From there, you’ll need to accept two quests from the Queen at North Vern: A New Voyage and Wall of Procyon. After accepting those quests and upgrading your ship to level 2, you should be able to reach the Rohendel continent. Once you reach Rohendel, you should start looking for Ghost Ships as they sporadically appear on the map.

The good news is that it’s usually pretty easy to tell when a Ghost Ship is “up” on the map.

Once you’ve unlocked the ability to raid them, you should be able to simply look at your map and spot mysterious “grey ship” icons that indicate when Ghost Ships have spawned on a map. There are actually three total Ghost Ships in the game, and each of them requires your character to be at a particular item level before you’re able to participate in the events associated with them. Here’s a brief rundown of the three available Ghost Ship raids in the game, what item level you unlock them at, and where to find them:

Nightmare Ghost Ship: Item Level 460, Sea of Procyon
Shadow Ghost Ship: Item Level 960, East of Feiton
Tempest Ghost Ship: Item Level 1370, Southeast of Punika

You just need to sail relatively close to the Ghost Ship in order to activate the raiding event. Just know that while you can choose to sail to these ships once you spot them, they’re located in some pretty rough waters that may either be inaccessible or incredibly tough to get to as soon as you’re technically able to trigger these events. Of course, there are other reasons why it may be best to wait a little while before you try to participate in these events…

Lost Ark: How Do You Beat Ghost Ship Events?

Ghost Ship events are tough. Not only do they ask you to work your way through a crew of surprisingly strong enemies, but you will need to defeat all of them before time runs out. High-level players should be able to eventually get the hang of them, but don’t be surprised if it takes you a few attempts to get a feel for what these events expect from you.

You can make things slightly easier on yourself by bringing a few Resurrection Feathers with you. Because regular forms of resurrection are disabled during these events, those feathers will give you an invaluable second chance to get things right. Of course, you’ll also want to bring the usual inventory of raid/Chaos Dungeon-quality items that will allow you to stay in the fight just a bit longer or enjoy that slight extra advantage during prolonged encounters.

I’ll also say that “tankier” characters and classes that excel at dealing damage to beefy single targets may fare better during these events, but it’s entirely possible to beat them with any class in the game so long as you’re incredibly careful and try to maximize your damage opportunities. Of course, you can always bring a couple of friends along for the ride, but don’t be surprised if you end up having a much easier time beating them with Berserkers and Gunlancers rather than Deadeyes and Deathblades.

Beyond that, the best thing you can do for yourself is focus on recruiting as many sailors with the Fighter: Ghost Ship ability as possible. Whether or not it’s worth stacking your crew with sailors who benefit from that ability to improve your odds in these encounters is really up to you, but given that these events are some of the most difficult you’ll encounter while sailing, there’s something to be said for prioritizing such abilities over certain alternatives. It also might be a good idea to spend some extra coins on special crew members who offer invaluable combat buffs.

Lost Ark: What Are the Rewards For Defeating Ghost Ships?

As noted above, you can fight Ghost Ship crews whenever you want (assuming that you’ve unlocked the ability to do so). However, you’ll only be able to earn rewards for clearing Ghost Ships once a week. After you’ve earned your weekly reward drop, the only reason to participate in these events is that you want to practice or that you’re simply bored.

The rewards for these events are mostly random, but the biggest reason to participate in them at least once a week is to earn Pirate Coins (which, as we noted elsewhere, are quite valuable). This event is one of your best sources for Pirate Coins once you’ve completed every Island Quest, so definitely put it on your radar once you decide to start focusing on the sailing portions of the endgame.

While some of the other rewards you unlock for completing these events are certainly valuable, they tend to be random enough that I usually recommend focusing on these events once you’re farming Pirate Coins. That way, you can still feel pretty good about your efforts even if you don’t get that particular engraving or resource that you’re looking for.