Lost Ark: What are the Tide, Sand, and Solar Dream Instruments used for?

Players will collect class-dependent instruments, learn songs that harness magical powers, and eventually become wandering bards at the behest of Arkesia's numerous rapport subjects not long after starting Lost Ark. Because the music system and the rapport system are so intertwined, it's a good thing that players will soon be able to choose between three instrument skins that each improve their rapport relationships.

Tide, Sand, and Solar Dreams

The cosmetic appearances and hues of the Sand, Solar, and Tide instruments differ the most at the surface level.

• Solar Dream — light blue
• Tide Dream — pink
• Sand Dream — yellow

Players will notice that when they equip any of these skins, they apply passive bonuses to one of three Virtues.

• Solar Dream — +10 to Kindness
• Tide Dream — +10 to Wisdom
• Sand Dream — +10 to Charisma

Virtues, and why to be them

Wisdom, Kindness, Charisma, and Courage are four Virtue Statistics found under the "Skins and Virtues" tab of the player's character profile window. These four qualities have no effect on fighting performance in normal dungeon crawling. Virtues do not influence plot events or results in order to advance missions, though they may occasionally provide alternate dialogue options with NPCs.

However, maintaining rapport with a specific NPC is where virtues matter. Many rapport partners will refuse to continue their specialized rapport tasks with the player until they have achieved high Virtue levels. For example, to begin Thirain's rapport quest The Bachelor, the player must have 140 in all four Virtues. He will, however, enable the player to communicate with him regardless of whether or not their Virtues match his task requirements.

In rare cases, rapport NPCs will refuse to communicate with players until they reach a specific Virtue threshold. Neria of Luterra Castle, for example, is on the lookout for captivating confidants and will avoid those who do not fulfill her requirements.

Becoming Virtuous

There are various ways for players to increase their Virtues in order to meet the rapport requirements. As previously stated, the player has a choice of one instrument skin that instantly increases a Virtue by ten points.

Characters earn Virtue levels naturally when they complete objectives. Slaying adversaries often rewards bravery, whereas resolving interpersonal conflicts through discourse occasionally awards Wisdom.

Raising the Roster level of a set of characters can grant permanent Virtue bonuses to all of the characters on the Roster. Alternatively, the Virtue potions that are occasionally offered as Adventurer's Tome completion rewards can be used to raise a single character's Virtue stats once.