Introduction
Argos is a Tier 3 Abyss Raid that requires 1370 item level to enter. You need a party of 8 and there is a party resurrection limit of 4. Argos is similar to Guardian Raids but more difficult and far more challenging mechanics. You will not be able to see the HP of the boss, even at the end.
Argos has 3 phases in total, which are more like 3 different battles, and there is a break between each one. After clearing the first phase you can choose to move to the next phase.
This guide will only be covering the mechanics of phase 1.
Sun and Moon
Throughout the entire fight, each party will be assigned to either Sun or Moon.
Sun is yellow and Moon is purple.
There will be a circle below you to show which of the two you are and these play a big role in all of the mechanics. The general rule is, you are only safe in areas for your assigned colour.
At the end of the Tranquility mechanic, your party will swap from Sun to Moon/Moon to Sun.
Floating Orbs
Four floating orbs can appear around the boss and will start moving, after a certain amount of time, the orbs will explode in a large area. The orbs can be either yellow or purple and a party member of the same colour can walk into the orb to consume it and stop the explosion.
Each party member should take one orb each, if a player consumes 2 orbs, they will be stunned and take damage.
Stagger
When Argos becomes staggered, this is a great opportunity to deal as much damage as you can. However, when he recovers and gets up, he will do one of two counter attacks.
- If Argos’ horns are purple while he is staggered, he will do a ranged attack, so stay close to Argos to avoid it
- If Argos’ horns are yellow while he is staggered, he will do a melee attack, so move away from Argos to avoid it
Circle and Bar
Thoughout the fight, Argos may enter the Circle/Bar mechanic. There will be a huge area around him which is either yellow or purple.
Only the party with the same colour can safely enter this area.
If you enter this area as the opposite colour, a bar will appear above your head and quickly start to drain. If this bar becomes completely empty, you will die immediately. You can leave the area to refresh the bar.
Inside/Outside
Thoughout the fight, Argos will do the Inside/Outside mechanic. Argos will stomp the floor and a pattern will appear on the floor. The inside of the pattern will be either a sun (yellow) or moon (purple). Then the outside ring of the pattern will be the opposite colour.
After a very short delay, Argos will deal damage in these areas. You must stand in the correct colour to avoid damage. Each time Argos does this mechanic, the pattern colours will alternate.
Shockwave
Thoughout the fight, Argos will do the Shockwave mechanic. You will see two parrallel lines appear around Argos as a crack in the floor. Shortly afterwards, there will be an attack from these cracks and then a shockwave of attacks going outwards away from the boss. The shockwave remains parrallel to the initial lines.
There are 2 safe places you can stand to avoid the shockwave:
- Stand inside the area between the initial two lines as shown in the picture below.
- Stand outside the shockwave path.
Safe Spot
This mechanic will have a total of 3 times in is a good way to keep track of what sort of HP Argos is currently at.
Argos will move into the center and summon 4 purple safe spots and 4 yellow safe spots.
Players need to move into the correct colour and stand there. Only one player can stand in each safe spot.
After a few seconds, Argos will do an attack which will one-shot anyone standing outside the safe spots.
Argos will then enter the Tranquility mechanic directly afterwards.
Assigning Party Safe Spots:
- Safe spots are always in the same places, north, east, south and west.
- There is one of each colour at each location (eg. north will have 1 yellow spot and 1 purple spot)
- The easiest way to know which spot you should go to, is using your party number and then taking the spot depending on which colour you are.
- Party member 1 of each party should go to the north (top)
- Party member 2 of each party should go to the east (right)
- Party member 3 of each party should go to the south (bottom)
- Party member 4 of each party should go to the west (left)
Tranquility
The Tranquility mechanic always starts directly after the Safe Spot mechanic.
A bar will appear around Argos and this is a timer for how long the mechanic will last. The mechanic lasts 40 seconds in total.
This mechanic is difficult and requires co-ordination. So if you are in a pug group, you can skip the mechanic by simply not damaging the boss. When the timer runs out, you will be able to hit the boss again. At the end of the mechanic, the Sun/Moon will be swapped for each party.
At the start of the mechanic, Argos will have a neutral state.
All players will get a buff of 10 stacks for their assigned colour. Attacking Argos during this time will transfer your stacks to Argos, one at a time.
If Argos has more stacks of one colour, he will change from Neutral state to Sun or Moon state, depending on which he has the highest stacks in.
When Argos changes to Sun or Moon state, the colour and icon will appear underneath him.
- If Argos is in a neutral state when the timer runs out, he will be staggered.
- If Argos is a Sun/Moon state when the timer runs out, he will wipe the entire party with the opposite colour.
So if Argos is in the Sun state, the Sun party should stop attacking, and the Moon party should attack until he goes back to neutral, and vise versa.
Big Pizza
During the fight, Argos will roar and the big pizza mechanic starts directly afterwards.
There will be “pizza slices” all around Argos in alternating colours: yellow, purple, yellow, purple, yellow, purple, etc.
You have a very small amount of time to move and stand in the correct colour. Standing in the wrong colour will one-shot you, and you must make sure you are fully inside the slice so that the sun/moon circle under you is not touching the edge.
Argos will then do this again immediately afterwards, and on this 2nd pizza, the pattern will always change, so you just need to move to the next slice.
Sometimes Argos will do this a 3rd time, so watch out. On the 3rd pizza, the pattern can either change or stay the same, so just stand towards the edge and wait for it to appear, then move into the correct slice.
Standing outside the pizza area is also safe.
Small Pizza
This mechanic is the hardest part and can be tricky to wrap your head around. It will take some practise and I recommend trying to learn the mechanic instead of using the “cheese method” because even if you do mess it up a little, you’ll still take less damage and use less potions.
When the mechanic is starting, Argos will go into the center and start shaking his head. You will see yellow and purple “pizza slices” around Argos.
The pattern will change 5 times and you will need to remember a sequence, because when Argos lifts his head he will repeat the order. Standing in the wrong colour will deal a small amount of damage each time, but at the end on the 5th/last slice, Argos will deal enough damage to one-shot if you are not standing on the correct slice.
The good news is, the last slices are always in the same place. If you don’t remember or miss the sequence, just make sure you are standing in the correct slice at the end. Try to make sure that the circle underneath you is fully covered, if you are slightly out of the slice then you will still take damage.
If you are really struggling, you can stand in one of the safe slices and use shields, Protective Potions, or a Time Stop Potion at the very start.
No matter what happens, make sure you are standing in the safe spot at the end!
The easiest way to memorise the sequence, is to stand south of the boss, and check the first two slices at 5 o’clock and 7 o’clock. One of these will always be Yellow, and the other will be Purple. Then follow the pattern to see the safe route to the final slice.
There are only 2 patterns for the safe route, you can examples of them below, but they can go in any direction.
First Possible Pattern – 1, 2, 3, 2, 1
The starting and end slice is the same. Move 2 slices away and then move 2 slices back.
Second Possible Pattern – 1, 2, 3, 4, 3 or 1, 2, 1, 3, 4
The starting position is not the same.
