Argos Phase 1 Abyss Raid Guide
Argos Phase 1 Introduction
Argos Phase 1 is a TIER 3 Abyss Raid and you need to be at least 1370 Item Level to enter this Raid. This dungeon drops Tier 3 Accessories, Ability Stones, Engraving Books, Cards and materials to craft the sets Harsh Oath Launcher and Preordained Diligence Launcher. After clearing the dungeon, you can pay gold to get additional loot. The recommended Combat Items are HP Potion, Time Stop Potion (Bound) or Protective Potion and Splendid Dark Grenade.
The first phase of Argos doesn't have a full party wipe mechanic, hence surviving and clearing this phase heavily depends on individual performance. It is less coop heavy compared to the next phases of Argos. The unique mechanic Sun & Moon Affix dictates the flow and interaction during the battle.
Disclaimer: In this guide, we will only focus on the important core mechanics and attacks of the boss. Basic attacks of the boss, which are easy to predict or deal low damage, won't be explained in detail.
This guide assumes that you are familiar with the recommended Raid Build for your class.
Special Interactions & Patterns
Sun & Moon Affix
Upon starting the battle, each party gets either a sun or moon affix assigned. This will be displayed by a purple moon icon or golden sun icon below each player's feet. It is important to always keep an eye on the affix assigned to you and your party because the mechanics in this phase will revolve around them.
Safe Spot
Argos teleports to the center, roars and summons 4 moons and 4 sun safe spots around him. The moon safe spots always spawn closer and the sun further away from the boss. One of each safe spot will always appear in one of the cardinal directions. The players need to run and stay on one of the safe spots which match the affix assigned to them. After a few seconds, Argos unleashes a shockwave which kills everyone who is not on the correct spot. Be aware, a safe spot can only protect one player. At the end of this patter, the Tranquility Phase starts.
Recommended spot allocation
Each player has a number assigned to them on the party interface. Use these numbers to assign safe spots to everyone. You may follow this method: Players of each party assigned with the number 1 go top, number 2 right, number 3 bottom and number 4 left of the boss. Since both players with the same number always have a different affix, they only need to go to their assigned cardinal direction and either move closer to the moon or further away to the sun safe spot.
Tranquility Phase
This mechanic always starts right after the Safe Spot mechanic. A slowly decreasing circular bar appears below the Boss. At the start of this phase, Argos is on the neutral affix. Hitting him will slowly move him away from that affix to either moon or sun affix, depending on the players attacking him and their affix. If there is an imbalance of attacks, for example, if the moon party members hit the boss way more often than sun party members, the boss changes his affix accordingly. Once the circular bar disappears completely, one of the 2 following things happen depending on his current affix:
- If he has the neutral affix, he gets incapacitated and gives everyone time to deal damage.
- If he either has the sun or moon affix, he wipes the party with the opposite affix.
So your goal is to make sure that the boss has the neutral affix at the end of this mechanic. To achieve that, you can either stop attacking Argos completely until this mechanic is over, or balance out the affix by paying attention to the 10 affix stacks each player has. Once a player hits the boss while having only 1 stack left, it changes the affix of the boss depending on its current affix. If the boss has currently the opposite affix, it becomes neutral. But if he is currently on a neutral state, it changes the affix of the boss to the affix of the player, who hit the boss with the last stack. One method to balance it out is to make sure that on each team, 1 player stays at 1 stack to turn back the affix to neutral state before the circular bar disappears. Support classes are perfect for this role.
The first method is the easiest one but might be a bad idea if your raid lacks damage. The second method is riskier, but at the same time guarantees a constant damage uptime.
E.g., If the boss changes to sun affix, the sun party needs to stop attacking the boss. So that the moon party can attack to change the boss back to neutral affix.
The affix assigned to each party changes at the end of this mechanic!
Recovery
In case you incapacitate Argos, pay attention to his current affix. If he has a slight purple glow, then you need to stay close to him. If he has a golden glow, then you need to move away from him as soon as he starts to recover. This important because of the shockwave he releases once he is back on his feet.
On the footage below, he glows golden which is why he deals damage to everyone close to him as soon as he recovers.
General Patterns
Small Pizza
Argos teleports to the center, follow him immediately to memorize a sequence of gold and purple slices. Try to memorize the 5 part sequence which you need to follow shortly afterward. Argos lifting his head up is the signal for you to start rerunning the sequence. The moon party needs to follow the purple tiles and the sun party the golden tiles. Every time the player stands on the wrong tile, he takes damage. But the last and 5th tile of the sequence is the most important one, the boss deals high damage to everyone who is on the wrong spot. Luckily, the last tile of this mechanic always ends on a fixed spot. You can use this knowledge to cheese the mechanic.
To sum it up:
The boss teleports to the center and shows a pattern/sequence and finishes by lifting his head. If you want to use the cheese method, you don't need to pay attention to the sequence and just move to the fixed last spot. If you want to do it the proper way, it is essential to spot and follow the first sun or moon tile depending on your affix, to track and memorize its movement.
Cheesing this mechanic:
As mentioned above, the 5th tile of the sequence is the most important one and always spawns on a fixed spot. To avoid that damage, group up at the bottom right tile as the moon party and on the bottom left tile as the sun party. Stay there and tank the minor damage of the first 4 parts of the sequence. Use shields, damage reduction abilities and/or Protective Potion to reduce or absorb the damage. The last and 5th part of the sequence won't deal any damage to you if you use this method.
- The ending point is always the same:
Sun: 1 o'clock, 7 o'clock
Moon: 11 o'clock, 5 o'clock - It always changes direction after moving 1 or 2 or 3 spaces clockwise or counterclockwise, and returns to the fixed point!
Example 1: Moving 1 time clockwise and moving 3 times counterclockwise. If the starting and ending points are different, it moves 1 or 3 times and then returns 3 or 1 times in the reversal direction. (starting at : sun: 5 o'clock, moon: 7 o'clock) -> (ending at : sun : 7 o'clock, moon : 5 o'clock)(fixed)
Example 2: Moving 2 times counterclockwise and moving 2 times clockwise. If the starting point and the ending point are the same, it unconditionally moves twice and then returns twice. (starting at : sun: 7 o'clock, moon: 5 o'clock) -> (ending at : sun : 7 o'clock, moon : 5 o'clock)(fixed)
Big Pizza
The boss roars and summons huge golden and purple slices around him. Move immediately to the slice matching the affix assigned to you to avoid taking damage. This repeats in total 2-3 times, so make sure to run to the next tile as soon as it appears. The second tile with the same affix is always at a different spot than the first one. If this mechanic is repeated 3 times, the location of the tiles are random.
Sun & Moon Ring
Argos is surrounded by a huge golden(sun) or purple(moon) area. The party matching the affix of the circle is safe and can keep dealing damage. But the party with the opposite affix needs to pay attention to the bar which appears once they enter the circle. If the bar depletes completely, you take damage and die. To refill it, simply step out of the circle.
Blink
The boss blinks away and disappears for a second. After a short delay, he reappears and charges towards a player. The charging path is highlighted, so simply dodge or move away from it.
Swirl
Argos jumps on the spot and quickly rotates 360°. Once he does that, move immediately closer to the boss or run far away from him. He will unleash a huge shock wave at the end of the animation, which deals damage to everyone in mid-range around him.
Floating Orbs
Four floating sun or moon orbs appear around the boss and rotate on a fixed path. After a while, each remaining orb disappears and summons a huge circle, which explodes after a short delay. To prevent this, a player with the matching affix need to touch the orb and consume it. Ideally, each member of the party takes one orb. If the same player touches a second orb, he takes damage and is stunned. The stun can be avoided by using “Spacebar” and dodging through the orb.
Double Shockwave
Argos summon 2 lines, either left & right or in front & behind him. After a short delay, multiple shockwaves appear from the line and spread outwards. This skill has a long animation, use this to move to one of the 2 spots without a line and deal uninterrupted damage.
E.g., if the lines are in front & behind him, stay left or right of him and deal damage.
Sun & Moon Circles
Throughout the entire battle, the boss summons often huge purple or golden circles and areas, which explode and deal damage to the party with the opposite affix after a short delay. So if you affix matches the affix of the circles and areas, keep dealing damage to the boss, since you won't take any damage from the explosion.
Guide Video
Gameplay Video
Gameplay with Shot Calls
Credits
Written by Perciculum
Reviewed by Starlast