Argos is one of the Abyss Raids you and your friends will want to tackle once reaching Lost Ark‘s endgame, which you’ll unlock after completing the “Abyss Raid Unlocked!” Guide Quest. Don’t be fooled by its majestic appearance, the deer-like traitorous Guardian Argos holds a monstrous power to ruin Punika, and it is your job to stop it. To help with your endeavor, here’s an overview of the Argos Abyss Raid guide in Lost Ark.

Lost Ark – Argos Phase 1 Raid Mechanics Guide

Item Level needed: at least 1370 Item Level.

Recommended Combat Items:

  • HP Potion
  • Time Stop Potion
  • Protective Potion
  • Splendid Dark Grenade

1. Sun and Moon Group

Once the Raid begins, each of your party members will be assigned to a Sun or Moon group. Indicated by a purple Moon or a golden Sun icon/glow beneath each player’s foot. Phase 1, 2, and 3 of the Argos Raid will revolve around this particular mechanics, so keep an eye on it at all times.

2. Four Safe Spots

  • When Argos teleports to the center, it will roar and summons four Sun and Moon safe spots around it.
  • The Sun spots will always spawn further away and the Moon closer. One of each appears in one of the cardinal directions, but one spot can only protect one player.
  • Quickly get into a safe spot according to your group, because Argos is going to unleash a one-hit kill shockwave in a matter of seconds.
  • Since everyone will be assigned a number on the party interface, you might want to use the numbers to assign them to a corresponding safe spot location. For example, Player 1 goes to the top/north, Player 2 to the right/east, etcetera.

3. Tranquility Mechanic

  • Starts right after the Safe Spot summons.
  • A slowly decreasing bar appears below Argos.
  • Argos is in the Neutral group when this Phase starts. Once the bar disappears completely, depending on what your team did, this will happen:
  • If your Sun and Moon group managed to balance your damage, Argos will stay in the Neutral group. It will then get incapacitated and gives time for your team to deal massive damage.
  • If there’s an imbalance of damage dealt by either Sun or Moon group, Argos will enter one of the group and deals a one-hit kill attack at the opposite group.
  • To make sure Argos stays Neutral, you can:
  • Stop attacking until this mechanic is over. Which obviously isn’t really recommended since your team might lack damage to clear the Raid.
  • Balance out your groups’ damage by rotating DPS every time Argos changes its group. If Argos is in Sun, then Sun team should stop attacking and vice versa until it stays Neutral when the phase ends.
  • Don’t forget that your party will change Sun/Moon group once this mechanic ends.

4. Recovery Mechanic

Pay attention to Argos’ body if you manage to incapacitate it. Stay near it if it glows purple, and get away from it as soon as it starts to recuperate if it has a golden glow. Because depending on its glow, it will deal a shockwave that will damage your whole party.

  • Since everyone will be assigned a number on the party interface, you might want to use the numbers to assign them to a corresponding safe spot location. For example, Player 1 goes to the top/north, Player 2 to the right/east, etcetera.

  • If your Sun and Moon group managed to balance your damage, Argos will stay in the Neutral group. It will then get incapacitated and gives time for your team to deal massive damage.

  • If there’s an imbalance of damage dealt by either Sun or Moon group, Argos will enter one of the group and deals a one-hit kill attack at the opposite group.

  • Stop attacking until this mechanic is over. Which obviously isn’t really recommended since your team might lack damage to clear the Raid.

  • Balance out your groups’ damage by rotating DPS every time Argos changes its group. If Argos is in Sun, then Sun team should stop attacking and vice versa until it stays Neutral when the phase ends.

For concise but more details on the Phase 1 mechanics, check out YouTuber TenTen’s video below.

Lost Ark – Argos Phase 2 Raid Mechanics Guide

Item Level needed: at least 1385 Item Level.

  • HP Potion
  • Destruction Bomb (Sun group) or Whirlwind Grenade (Moon group)
  • Time Stop Potion
  • Adrophine Potion

Some phases of the fight will split your party into two; one team will keep fighting Argos, while the other team fights a mini boss. Recommended skills for these phases are Weak Point (Sun group) and Stagger Damage (Moon group).

Signal and Pattern Mechanics

  • Argos will fire a laser into the sky about 1 minute 30 seconds after the Sun group is teleported to a separate area, and a message will appear on your screen.
  • The Moon group should inform this to the Sun group ASAP.
  • Then the Sun group has to inspect the pattern that is only visible to them and communicate it to the Moon group
  • Usually, it’s on the top right/northeast of the map for the Sun Party, look over the cliff.
  • A decreasing bar will appear below Argos, indicating the time left to fulfill some conditions.
  • To avoid a one-hit party wipe, different actions are required depending on which pattern is revealed.

Arrow Pattern

  • Usually, it’s on the top right/northeast of the map for the Sun Party, look over the cliff.

If there’s a location pointed by an arrow, then the Moon group should go and stay there to survive the full-team one-hit KO when the bar below Argos disappears.

Rune Circle Patterns

  • If a huge orange rune circle shows up, it means the Moon group should be at the center of the arena.
  • If a smaller orange circle with runes inside of it shows up, then it means the Moon group needs to stay at the edge of the arena.
  • If you see a wide orange circle with an orange light in the middle of it, then this is the only pattern where the Sun group needs to react instead of the Moon group. The Sun group has to stay in the center while the Moon group communicates when the bar will deplete.

Orbs

Orbs will spawn frequently around Argos and the Moon group has to collect as many as possible.

Stacks

At 11, 1, 5, or 7 o’clock in Argos’ arena, a little circle will appear. The Moon group will need to find it, and when the circle changes from Sun to Moon symbol, they’ll need to get inside to collect Stacks. These Stacks can be stacked up to 10 times and appear on the buff icons bar. Once you’ve reached 10 stacks, go to Argos and transfer the stacks over. Repeat over and over to avoid the one-hit party wipe.

For concise but more details on the Phase 2 mechanics, check out YouTuber TenTen’s video below.

Lost Ark – Argos Phase 3 Raid Mechanics Guide

Item Level needed: at least 1400 Item Level. Nevertheless, item level is not as significant as having good Engravings and stat distribution as they provide the most DPS increase.

  • HP Potion
  • Panacea
  • Sacred Charm
  • Dark Grenade

Weather Changing Mechanics

Argos will alter the weather by teleporting to the middle and circling the arena; changing it to Day/Clear, Dawn/Rainy, or Night/Foggy. Depending on the weather, it also spawns different Seeds — Red, Green, and Blue — and some can be detrimental or beneficial.

Day/Clear

  • Weather Condition: Argos applies Slow debuffs in intervals.
  • Useful Seed: Green Seed cleanses the Slow debuff.
  • Dangerous Seed: Red Seed causes an explosion.

Dawn/Rainy

  • Weather Condition: Rain deals damage.
  • Useful Seed: Blue Seed applies a shielding buff. Also negates the rain damage for a few seconds.
  • Dangerous Seed: Green Seed imprisons players. Either wait for a few seconds or have teammates attack you to break free.

Night/Foggy

  • Weather Condition: Reduces your vision.
  • Useful Seed: Red Seed cleanses players of status effects and negates the weather effect for a few seconds.
  • Dangerous Seed: Blue Seed explodes and leaves a poisoned area in its wake. When touched you’ll receive Poison that stacks up to five times. Can be healed using Panacea or Sacred Charm.

Things to note:

  • You must stay close to a Seed for a few seconds to activate it.
  • You should look for a safe place with less harmful Seeds and kite Argos there.
  • Standing too close to the center of the arena raises the risk of triggering the surrounding unwanted Seeds.
  • Always ping before triggering any of the beneficial Seeds, as the positive effect affects adjacent players as well.

Party Wipe Attacks

There are three different one-hit kill attacks depending on the weather. Before launching them, Argos always teleports to the center.

Argos slowly drops Sun Seed randomly in the arena. Everyone has to get to that location and stay for a few seconds; even if just one player is late, Argos wipes the entire party. The Sun Seed is marked on the map with a yellow dot, so use the Tab key to find it.

Argos summons additional Blue Seeds which you need to trigger to summon a protective dome. Ping the location of the Blue Seeds, as one dome can protect more than one player.

Argos summons Night Seeds randomly, which are marked as a blue dot on the minimap. To avoid one-hit party wipe, spread out, and collect all the Seeds in time.

Sun & Moon Safespot (Only during Day or Night)

Argos marks a Sun or Moon emblem above two random players then a stationary circle emerges below each of the marked players. Each circle grants a buff to up to four players, preventing the one-shot follow-up attack. To avoid any deaths, locate the two players that have the Sun or Moon emblem and ping their locations. The remaining six players should travel to one of the circles while those two should stay stationary. Each circle should be filled with four players.

For concise but more details on the Phase 3 mechanics, check out YouTuber TenTen’s video below.

Lost Ark is now available on PC via Steam.