The Rapport system in Lost Ark allows players to build relationships with many unique NPCs in exchange for various rewards. Many of these rewards directly and indirectly help progress character strength. Let’s see how Rapport works and which rewards to aim for.
There are many side systems, otherwise known as horizontal content, in Lost Ark that players can work on outside of their main daily and weekly activities. These horizontal contents provide various perks such as Skill Points, Skill Runes, Stat Points, and Cards. Many of these systems are interwoven together, which can be quite confusing to newer players. This article will focus on the Rapport system by going through how it works, what it offers, and how it relates to other horizontal content.
Rapport in Lost Ark is essentially the players’ level of relationship with various unique NPCs in the game. As players’ Rapport increases with each NPC, they will be rewarded with perks such as Gold, Cards, Skill Runes, Stat and Vitality Increase Potions, and Collectibles. The Rapport page can be accessed through the ‘Adventure’ section or with the default key bind Alt+N. All the NPCs have four Ranks of Rapport, starting with Normal (Neutral), then Amicable, Friendly, and finally Trusted.
Currently, Ealyn and Sasha are the only two NPCs to have an additional Rank above Trusted, called Affection. Each Rank before Trusted will contain multiple levels that players must go through. The total amount of Rapport points required to reach Trusted vary drastically between NPCs, with some as low as 5900 points and others requiring over 100,000. Reaching new Ranks gives players the aforementioned rewards, as well as unlocks special dialogues and Rapport quests. NPCs with Trusted Rapport can be placed in players’ Strongholds, with some even having alternative outfits that can be purchased.
Working on Rapport can be quite a marathon considering there are over 70 NPCs in the game that players can build their trust with. The main way that players can increase Rapport is through daily ‘Song’ and ‘Emote’ performances. Each NPC will have one to two specific Songs and Emotes available for players to perform for them. Players have a total of five Songs and five Emotes that they can use per day, with an additional one for each if they have Crystalline Aura. These performances give Rapport points ranging from 250 to 400 depending on the NPC. Although they may not seem like much, these daily performances can add up quite a bit over time. Players can keep track of their daily performance count on the top left of their Rapport page (Alt + N).
Songs and Emotes are acquired through various activities such as Quests, Una’s Task Reputations, Rapport, and Islands. Players can check their Song page (F2) and Emote page (T) to find out their specific acquisition methods.
Gifting Rapport Items is another way for players to gain points and the best way to speed up the process. Rapport Items come in Epic, Legendary, and Relic rarity. Players can give a total of 99 Gifts daily and are limited to 30 of the same Gift per day. They are stored under ‘Rapport’ in the Storage tab of players’ Inventory (I).
Rapport Items come from a variety of sources, including one-time rewards from Quests, Una Reputations, Logins, in-game Store, and Adventurer’s Tome. However, the most consistent way of gathering Rapport Items is through Wandering Merchants.
Wandering Merchants are NPCs that spawn in various locations throughout the world at specific time intervals. Each Wandering Merchant will randomly have either an Epic Rapport Item or a Legendary Rapport Item for purchase. Epics costs 10,000 Silver each and Legendaries costs 80,000 Silver each. In terms of Silver costs, Epic Rapport Items are technically more efficient, as eight of them provide a baseline of 2400 points, and potentially 3600, compared to that of 2000 for a Legendary. Nonetheless, gathering Legendaries can be less time consuming and more convenient for players.
Players can use guides such as this one to find out the merchants’ multiple spawn times and locations. However, checking each location for all the NPCs every time can be quite tedious, so it is recommended to use community Discords or sites like Lost Merchants to save time.
Another way to consistently obtain Rapport Items is through Exchange Rapport Vendors in every continent. These vendors allow you to buy region specific Epic Rapport Chests for 2500 Providence Stones each. These chests contain random Epic to Legendary Rapport Items native to the specific continent that players bought them in. Items from those chests will generally be more preferable for NPCs in the same zone, yielding higher Rapport points.
Providence Stones can be gained mainly from completing dispatches in players’ Strongholds. They can also be gained from specific Una’s Tasks, quests, and killing Rares. It is recommended to farm these through dispatches and Una’s Tasks, as killing Rares yields incredibly low amounts of Providence Stones. The Una’s Tasks, ‘Unfinished Journey’ and ‘Totopia Tutor for a Day’ reward the highest amount at 900 Stones each.
Players can also exchange 1670 Pirate Coins with a Tea and Libra Guild Vessel, at any major city port, for an Epic Rapport Chest. A maximum of seven chests can be bought each week.
As briefly mentioned before, upon reaching a new Rapport rank, NPCs may provide Rapport Quests or Dialogues that players can complete for additional points. Certain quests and dialogues must be completed before players can proceed to the next Rapport level for that NPC. This will be the main hurdle for certain NPCs as many of these quests and dialogues have high Virtue Stat requirements to unlock them.
Wisdom, Courage, Charisma, and Kindness are the four Virtue Stats in Lost Ark. Players can find this information on the second tab in their Character Profile (P). Virtues are primarily used for Rapport Quest and Dialogue requirements and occasionally Collectibles, like Mokoko Seeds. In addition, some NPCs have Virtue requirements for Gifting them their favorite items (450 Points) as well. The various ways to earn Virtues Stats are:
Unfortunately, the game does not provide information regarding which quests reward Virtues, or the type of Virtues given, making it difficult to target specific stats through questing. Although time consuming, it is recommended that players complete all the quests they can find to ensure they aren’t missing out on Virtues. Completing ‘Another’ and ‘Hidden Stories’ in Adventurer’s Tome also grant decent amounts of Virtue Stats. The best method, however, is for players to go after Virtue Potions. Each of these potions increases specific Virtue Stats by 10. These potions can be obtained from a variety of sources:
Players can use the Codex (Alt + D) to check acquisition methods of these potions and keep track of the ones that have already been obtained.
The Rapport system contains a variety of rewards that directly, as well as indirectly through other horizontal content, help to strengthen players’ characters. This includes Gold, Silver, Skill Point Potions, Skill Runes, Cards, Basic Stat and Vitality Increase Potions, and Combat Stat Increase Potions.
Basic Stat and Vitality Increase Potions provide 5 increases to the respective stats while the Superior versions provide 50. Combat Stat Increase Potions (Crit, Spec, Swiftness, etc) each provide 4 for their respective stats. Although these increases may seem small, accumulating a lot of them can make quite a bit of difference. Once again, players can use the Codex to hunt down NPCs and Collectibles that reward them.
Arguably the most important among these for character progression is the Skill Point Potion, which can be found mostly from Collectibles. Many of these Collectibles require Rapport in order to obtain. Having more Skill Points not only allows players to invest deeper into Skill Trees, but also increases the base damage of the Skills. This is incredibly important as base Skill damage is what damage multipliers will affect. Here are some notable NPCs that help provide progress towards these Skill Point Potions:
Giants’ Hearts:
Omnium Stars:
Island Souls:
Progress on Adventurer’s Tome for certain continents will also provide Skill Point Potions. Although some of these can be obtained without needing Rapport, it is still recommended to do so. The reason being, Ignea Tokens require 100% completion for each continent in order to obtain. Ignea Tokens not only reward a Greater Skill Point Potion but also Superior Stat and Vitality Increase Potion, Purify Rune, and a Delain Armen Card. Collecting Ignea Tokens can take quite a long time due to the Rapport requirements. Consistent use of Wandering Merchants can definitely help speed up this process. Players can take advantage of Bifrosts on their alts to quickly travel to various Wandering Merchant spawns.
Skill Runes provide various bonus effects to the Skills that they are equipped on. Individually they may seem minor, but they are incredibly important with smoothing out the rotations of many classes. Even defensive Runes like Protection can be used in conjunction with the Barricade Engraving to boost damage. As with the other benefits in this article, Rapport plays an important part in obtaining several of these Skill Runes. Once again, players can use the Codex to target the specific Runes that they would like. Here are the ones players can obtain directly from Rapport:
Similar to the other systems, many Cards can also be obtained through Rapport rewards. Working on a good Card Set and the Book Collection helps to boost a character’s power. For more information on the Card System, feel free to check out our guide. Here are some important Cards obtained directly from Rapport:
Rapport plays an integral part in several of the systems in Lost Ark. Players are encouraged to work on Rapport as the many benefits are well worth the effort. It can take quite a while to reach many of the Rapport goals, but a few minutes a day can really make a difference. Simply performing Songs and Emotes each day and grabbing Gifts from Wandering Merchants whenever convenient can really speed up the progress.
