1. Cube Menu Screen

This is where you're adventure will begin. This screen shows you some basic information about the Cube, including:

• Gear requirements - This depends on the chosen difficulty. There are regular Cubes (Tier 1), Elite Cubes (Tier 2), and Dimensional Cubes (Tier 3). 
• Expected Rewards - These also depend on your performance. The more floors you clear, the better Cube Chest you'll receive at the end (more on rewards a bit later in the guide). 
• Restrictions - These are basically the rules imposed by the Cube. As you can see from the screenshot, you won't be allowed to use Potions, Change Gear, or Swap Skills inside of a Cube. You also have to be level 50 to enter a Cube. 
• Matchmaking Menu (bottom right) - These are your standard matchmaking options. You can either enter the cube with a pre-made group of 2-4 players, use the MM to find a group for you, or attempt to beat it all by yourself. 
• Cube Teleport Menu - Once you find a group or join solo, this window will appear. It will ask you if you want to enter and give you an option to use 3 Entrance Tickets instead of 1. 
  • Triple Ticket Cube: Using multiple Tickets will rise the stakes and allow you to obtain three times the regular loot. On the other hand, if you fail you'll three times as much. This option is great for experienced players/groups. If you're still learning, it's generally better to avoid it. 

2. Where's the Cube Entrance?

Cube Entrances are located in major cities and are marked by the Cube (dice) icon on the Minimap. 

Cube Entrance in Vern Castle
(Marked with the Purple Circle)

3. How To Enter the Cube?

Firstly, to enter the Cube you'll have to be at least Level 50 with an iLevel/Gear Score of 302 as these are the requirements of the quest that has to be completed to unlock the feature. The quest in question is "[Guide] Public Announcement: Cube] - it will introduce you to the Cubes and give you a general idea about what they are. 

Secondly, you'll have to find a Cube Entrance Ticket. These can be commonly obtained from your Daily Chaos Dungeon runs (2nd-floor Bosses drop them). Important: they won't drop if you're doing a run without Aura of Resonance! Another way of obtaining Lost Ark Cube Tickets is to purchase them from the Guild Vendor (He sells multiple different Ticket Chests that can give you different Tiers of Tickets). Your third option is to send a crew on a Special Mission via the Dispatch Station. The Chaos Dungeon Special mission can give you a Cube Ticket (you'll still have to spend your Aura of Resonance, though. Different types of Tickets will grant you entry to the different difficulties of the Cube: 

• Entrance Ticket: Cube grants you entry to the Tier 1 Cube 
• Entrance Ticket: Elite Cube grants you entry to the Tier 2 Cube 
• Entrance Ticket: Dimensional Cube grants you entry to the Tier 3 Cube 

4. Cube Rewards

Depending on your performance (the number of beaten floors*), the Cube will reward you with a different Cube Chest. If you fail to meet the requirements for the weakest Chest, you won't get rewarded at all. Chests do not upgrade gradually, instead, reaching certain floors upgrades your reward. The possible Cube Chests, their contents, and thresholds are as follows: 

• Below Floor 3** - No Rewards (especially painful if you were to use the 3x Ticket option...). 
• Floor ~3 Reached - Cube Bronze Chest that may contain all or some of the following items (chosen randomly): 
  • Silver 
• Floor ~7 Reached - Cube Silver Chest that may contain all or some of the following items (chosen randomly): 
  • Silver 
  • Honing Succes Rate Increaser of the Tier corresponding to the Cube 
  • Random Battle Engraving Recipe (Uncommon or Rare) 
• Floor ~10 Reached - Cube Gold Chest that may contain all or some of the following items (chosen randomly): 
  • Silver 
  • Honing Succes Rate Increaser of the Tier corresponding to the Cube 
  • Random Battle Engraving Recipe (Uncommon or Rare) 
  • Soul Leaf (Uncommon, Bound to Roster, used to gain Card XP) 
• Floor ~13 Reached - Cube Platinum Chest that may contain all or some of the following items (chosen randomly): 
  • Silver 
  • Honing Succes Rate Increaser of the Tier corresponding to the Cube 
  • Random Battle Engraving Recipe (Uncommon or Rare) 
  • Eternity Essence (Rare, Bound to Roster, used to gain Card XP) 
• Floor 15+ Reached (The best possible reward) - Cube Diamond Chest that may contain all or some of the following items (chosen randomly): 
  • Silver 
  • Honing Succes Rate Increaser of the Tier corresponding to the Cube 
  • Random Battle Engraving Recipe (Uncommon or Rare) 
  • Eternity Essence (Rare, Bound to Roster, used to gain Card XP) 

*The number of Floors ranges from 15 to 19. 

**Your actual progression toward better chest rewards is based on your survivor count and clear speed. In other words, clearing floors as fast as possible without anyone dying will earn you better chest rewards quicker. This also means that the floor levels mentioned next to the Chests are our estimates, not concrete levels. 

Preparation Room

After entering the Cube, you'll find yourself in a preparation room of sorts. Here, you can swap your Build for the one dedicated to Cubes, equip your Battle Items, and do anything else you might want to do before you actually start. Once you (and your team) are ready, you can enter the actual Cube where changing builds and items are disabled (!). 

Types of Cube Floors

Each Cube will consist of a randomly chosen mix of floor types that can be identified by the color of the portal that leads to them. The possible floor types, for each Cube, are: 

• Regular Floor (Indicated by the White Portal) - These floors feature waves of normal difficulty Melee and Ranged enemies, supported by an occasional Elite mob. While usually quite easy, they might get tricky if you roll some detrimental negative effects. 
• Ranged Floor (Indicated by the Green Portal) - These floors are more deadly than the Regular ones as Ranged Monsters can target and damage you from a mage larger distance (so, you'll take Damage more consistently at these floors). Stay on your toes during these, especially if you have the  Increased Damage Taken modifier active. 
• Elite Floor (Indicated by the Purple Portal) - These contain mostly waves of powerful Elite enemies. Be aware of these, especially if you have the Increased Damage Taken modifier active. 
• Survival Floor (Indicated by the Blue Portal) - These floors will feature a range of traps and exploding enemies that have to be avoided at all costs. If you fail to dodge even a single one of them, you'll die instantly. 
• Boss Floor (Indicated by the Orange Portal) - These floors are home to one or two Bosses, accompanied by a bunch of Regular enemies. They usually play out as regular boss encounters, unless you have accumulated some interesting modifiers on your way up the Cube. 
• Lucky Reward Floor (Indicated by the Gold Portal) - These are the bonus floors that can rarely spawn inside of your Cubes. You can get Silver, Honing Succes Rate Increasers (of the corresponding Tier), and Battle Engraving Recipes (Uncommon or Rare) from these. 

Cube Floor Effects

During your Cube progression, you will be given one random effect per floor. These may range from minor boosts and inconveniences to modifiers that can singlehandedly make or break your attempt. Often, you'll be forced to adjust your approach based on the modifiers you'll get. Active Modifiers will be shown in the top right corner of your screen. 

Here are some examples of the possible Floor Effects: 

Positive Effects

•  Reduced Skill Cooldowns 
•  HP Regeneration 
•  Invincibility 
•  Max HP Increase 
•  Bonus Movement and Attack Speed 
•  Increased Crit Rate 
•  Increased Damage 
•  Life Leech 
• And many, many more 

Negative Effects

•  Increased Skill Cooldowns 
•  Increased Magical and Physical Damage Taken 
•  Reduced Vision 
•  Max HP Reduction 
•  Cannot Use Items 
•  Kill Course (death upon timeout) 
•  Movement Speed Reduction 
•  Attack Power Reduction 
• And many, many more 

As you can see, some of the negative effects are very easy to deal with, some are just a little annoying, while some others can swiftly end your run: 

• Kill Course - This effect basically turns your Cube to Hard-Mode. If you run out of time when this is active, it's game over for you. 
• Increased Magical and Physical Damage Taken - With this, your mistakes will get punished even more than they already are. Bosses and Elites become extremely deadly when this is active. 
• Cannot Use Items - This is another Hard-Mode trigger, basically, as it prevents you from using HP Potions which may easily lead to your demise. 
• Movement Speed Reduction - This can be extremely annoying, depending on your chosen Class. 
• Max Health Reduction - This is not as deadly as Increased Damage Taken, but it still reduces your room for error quite considerably. 
• Attack Power Reduction - This basically makes fights take longer. 
• Increased Skill Cooldown - Depending on your Class, this might be a minor annoyance or a considerable difficulty spike. 

Progressing through a Cube

You'll have a limited time to deal with what each floor throws at you. If the time runs out before you're finished, your run won't end instantly. Instead, powerful Ghosts will start spawning and trying to prevent you from clearing the floor by dealing extremely high amounts of Damage. Finishing the floor is still possible after the Ghosts spawn, but it gets progressively more difficult - once they start to appear, it's time to activate an overdrive! Also, keep in mind that You don't need to slay the Ghosts to progress to the next floor. 

Here are some handy tips that should help you with floor cleaning: 

• If one (or more) of your teammates dies, it's not over for them so don't panic. They'll get revived once the floor is cleared by the remaining players. Once Revived, they'll have 25% of their max HP, so don't forget to put them back into fighting shape before progressing further. 
• To clear the floors quickly and efficiently, you should devise a strategy. The two most popular clearing strategies are: 
• Gather all Enemies in one place and AoE them down together. This is especially effective if your team is mobile and boasts potent AoE skills. 
• Split up by assigning 1 teammate to each of the floor corners where enemies spawn. If your team consists of a bunch of individuals, or its composition is not ideal for the AoE approach, this is the best option. 
• Try to clear floors as fast as possible, but don't take unnecessary risks as dying slows down your progression towards better rewards. 

Bard - Bard offers a solid mix of offensive and support skills that make her perfect for Cubes. She can not only support Her allies but She also pulls her own weight during the floor encounters without breaking a sweat. Her main downside is mediocre survivability, but you can easily work around it by learning encounters. If you're looking for a Class that not only is strong by itself but can also carry random teams if needed, look no further than Bard. 

• The best Bard Skills for clearing Cubes are Soundholic (For Elites/Bosses), Stigma (AoE), Dissonance (AoE), Sonic Vibration (Crowd Control), Heavenly Tune (Team Synergy), Prelude of Death (Debuff), Prelude of Storm (Crowd Control, Burst Damage), and Oratorio (Awakening). 

Gunlancer - Gunlancer is one of the tankiest classes in the game and he offers solid team synergies (including a Taunt skill that can interrupt some boss mechanics). Moreover, His damage output is actually very solid. The only thing that keeps Gunlancer in check is His rather pitiful mobility. As for builds, AoE-focused Gunlancer builds excel at clearing packs of trash mobs inside Cubes but struggle against Bosses. Because of this, you should switch to your Raiding Build when a Boss Stage (Red Portal) appears. 

• The best Gunlancer Skills for clearing Cubes are Surge Cannon (AoE), Shout of Hatred (AoE), Leap Attack (AoE), Fire Bullet (AoE, Filler Skill), Guardian's Thunderbolt (Crowd Control), Shield Bash (Debuff/Team Synergy), Shield Shock (Debuff/Team Synergy), Charged Stinger (For Elites/Bosses), Guardian's Protection (Awakening). 

Paladin - Unlike in Raids, in Cubes Paladin can take on a more offensive role while still providing His teammates with solid offensive buffs. With a Build focused on Punish Skills and supported by the more offensive of the Holy Skills, you can easily pull your weight during trash and boss encounters that await in a Cube. Also, you still have access to the Paladin's awakening that can easily save your teammates' lives. If you want to play as a DPS Paladin, you can get away with that in Cubes! 

• The best Paladin Skills for clearing Cubes are Execution of Justice (Burst Damage), Flash Thrust (For Elites/Bosses), Executor's Sword (AoE), Holy Explosion (AoE), Holy Sword (Burst), Wrath of God (Crowd Control, Team Synergy), Heavenly Blessings (AoE, Team Synergy), Charge (Mobility), and Alithanes's Judgment (Awakening). 

Destroyer - If you want to play as a juggernaut that can simply shrug off most of the incoming damage while grounding and pounding everything that moves with his devastating AoE burst skills, Destroyer has got you covered. He boasts some of the best defenses in the game and can easily clear packs of mobs but he lacks in the mobility department, so you will be forced to rely on your armor and defensive cooldowns to keep you alive. Destroyer is also a good team player thanks to his Taunt, crowd control, and synergies. 

• The best Destroyer Skills for clearing Cubes are Gravity Impact (Crowd Control), Running Crash (Crowd Control, Self Buff), Heavy Crush (Core Generator), Jumping Smash (Mobility), Earth Eater (Burst Damage), Perfect Swing (Burst Damage), Seismic Hammer (Burst Damage), Endure Pain (God Mode), and Big Bang (Awakening). 

Shadowhunter (Demonic Impulse) - Because of the sheer number of enemies inside of a Cube, Shadowhunter can fill up Her Identity Gauge very quickly. While in Demon Form, She is a powerhouse that can carry the team through combat-oriented Cube floors. If you want to obliterate hordes of enemies effortlessly, especially while in a Demon Form, the Demonic Impulse Shadowhunter is an excellent choice for you. Also, the best thing about this one is the fact that the Demonic Impulse Shadowhunter Raid build is well-suited for Cubes as well, so there's no need for creating a separate skill build. 

• The best Shadowhunter Skills for clearing Cubes are Howl (AoE), Cruel Cutter (AoE), Decimate (For Elites/Bosses), Demonic Clone (For Elites/Bosses), Thrust Impact (For Elites/Bosses), Demonic Slash (Mobility), Sharpened Cut (Mobility), and Gate of Eruption (Awakening). 
  • Once you enter the Demonic Form, just spam your AoE Demonic Skills. 

Sorceress - This ranged Class has access to multiple powerful AoE spells that can easily wipe the floor with monsters you'll encounter inside the Cubes. The amount of damage she can dish out is simply unbelievable, and she often seems to do damage effortlessly. If you want to maximize your clear speeds with a Sorceress, you should stack Swiftness and Crit on your Accessories (it's not necessary, however, so don't invest into a separate set of Accessories if Sorceress is your main and you're using a different setup). As for Class Engravings, both are fine but Reflux seems to be better suited for the content. 

• The best Sorceress Skills for clearing Cubes are Blaze (Self Buff and CC), Lightning Vortex (CC that pulls enemies closer), Punishing Strike (AoE), Seraphic Hail (AoE), Reverse Gravity (AoE), Ice Shower (AoE), Esoteric Reaction (AoE), and Eviska's Might (Awakening). 

Gunslinger - Another excellent Class choice for clearing Cubes. Gunslinger offers solid AoE, great mobility, and a very dynamic playstyle, so you should be able to adapt to the rapidly changing environment that is Cubes if you pick this Class. The main advantage of Gunslinger, when compared to most other Classes, is the fact that she relies on her mobility to avoid Damage. This makes her shrug off damage taken-related and HP-related negative Cube effects. As for Engravings, either will work perfectly fine but Peacemaker is a bit more flexible as it does not lock you out from using the Shotgun. 

• The best Gunslinger Skills for clearing Cubes are Sharpshooter (AoE), Equilibrium (AoE), Bullet Rain (AoE), Death Fire (AoE), Dexterous Shot (Gap Closer), Quick Step (Mobility/Self Buff), Focused Shot (For Elites/Bosses), Shotgun Rapid Fire (For Elites/Bosses), and High-Caliber HE Bullet (Awakening). 

Berserker - This is definitely a crowd favorite. He offers great DPS and Stagger Damage, the coverage of his AoE skills is among the best of them, and His movement speed and defense are easily good enough to keep him alive if you know your way around the encounters. As a Berserker, you should be able to power your way through Cubes, especially if your team is willing to support you. Both of the Berserker's Class Engravings are perfectly viable for Chaos Dungeons. 

• The best Berserker Skills for clearing Cubes are Whirlwind (AoE), Strike Wave (AoE), Sword Storm (AoE), Finish Strike (for Elites/Bosses), Mountain Crash (Crowd Control), Red Dust (Self Buff), Shoulder Charge (Mobility), and Chain of Vengeance (Awakening). 

END NOTE

We hope this guide has helped you familiarize yourself with the awesome end-game activity that are Lost Ark Cubes. Now that you know everything that is to know about them, it's time to start an adventure! If you've found this guide useful and informative, don't hesitate to leave a comment below, it will motivate us to continue our work. If we've missed a piece of information that is important to you, please let us know! Also, please do note that this is an early version of our guide, and we will be happy to receive constructive criticism, that will help us improve it, so leave your suggestions in the comments section below.