In Necromancer’s Origin, players will finally be having a showdown with Sigmund, the lore-relevant dreaded Necromancer of North Vern. This Dungeon requires more cooperation (hopefully no bots queue up), each boss has more mechanics to memorize, and it’s also the first “wipe” mechanic to get introduced as well. So, without further ado, let’s go over it all.
Quick Guide For Those In A Rush
Unlike Demon Beast Canyon, the Necromancer’s Origin stage of Ancient Elveria actually has mechanics that players can’t just brute force their way through. Even a Tier 3 player clearing this Abyssal just for the potential Card Packs still has to deal with at least one of Sigmund’s mechanics, so let’s go through the most important stuff to keep in mind and then get more in-depth further below.
Like Demon Beast Canyon, there are three sections to this Dungeon: a mob clearing section, the Reanimated Garum fight, another mob clearing section that ends with having to break a crystal, and then the Sigmund the Immortal final fight that was present in the Main Story version of this Dungeon. Reanimated Garum only has one thing to memorize: Death Mark. As soon as a player gets two marks above their head, they need to look for the yellow circle on the mini-map, go to the Gold Orb in the arena, then interact with it. Sigmund’s boss fight has the first Stagger Check seen in an Abyssal Dungeon. Look for the yellow bar and use Stagger Skills, don’t run. When his HP is drained, Sigmund lets out either a red or grey wave of energy, all players should pick a cardinal direction ahead of time, and go interact with the same color orb in their direction at this point of the fight. Sigmund revives with a portion of his health back, drain it again, do this orb mechanic again, and the fight is over.
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First Section: Clearing Out The Undead
Unlike the bombastic start to Demon Beast Canyon where players face off against Garum and fight off undead hordes, Necromancer’s Origin is a bit more tame in its first section.
Players just need to follow the linear path, clear out the Undead Corpses, defeat the Corpse Tailor and Soul Devourer, clear out the High Necromancer after going through the double doors, and they’re right at the Reanimated Garum fight.
Second Section: Reanimated Garum
Now moving on to Reanimated Garum, the gigantic dragon raised from the dead. Outside of Guardians, this is likely one of the first “gigantic” enemies players have faced, and Garum’s size can be a problem at times. This dragon has a lot of conical hit-boxes that are hard to dodge if players get stuck on the Garum’s body. Reanimated Garum also has a Death Mark mechanic that can mean a wipe for the team if players can’t see their Death Mark counter while standing under Garum’s wings or through their allies’ particle effects.
Consequently, melee Classes especially should make it a habit to take a few steps away from Garum in-between damage rotations to make sure they’re not about to pop Death Mark for the whole party or anything like that.
Death Mark
This is Garum’s one “major” mechanic and is also the first instance of a “wipe mechanic” that will become ever-present in the coming Abyssal Dungeons or any of the future content that’s on the way. The way Death Mark works is that right after the fight begins, Garum starts applying unavoidable stacks of this “Death Mark” debuff on the entire party. This is visualized by Garum roaring toward the sky and releasing a wave of red energy. Every time this happens, players should see the red orbs above their head increase by one. At five stacks of this debuff AKA at five orbs, the entire party instantly wipes, though Smilegate seems to be getting rid of more and more wipe mechanics with certain updates.
To avoid this, players need to cleanse this debuff before it reaches five stacks, and there’s only one way to do this. Every time Garum roars and applies one stack of Death Mark, it also summons a Gold Orb somewhere in the arena that can be interacted with. This gold orb is seen on the mini-map, and once a player interacts with it, it cleanses all of their Death Mark stacks and disappears.
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Because the next Gold Orb won’t appear until Garum applies another Death Mark stack, players have to be careful not to steal the Gold Orb from another party member that needs it more. Other than this mechanic, Garum is a really simple boss fight. Now, let’s go over all of this dragon’s basic attacks for those who want to master this encounter:
Third Section: Destroy The Necromancy Barrier Stone
After killing the already undead Garum, players then take a nice ride on a lift before coming face to face with the Necromancy Barrier Stone. Until they manage to smash this crystal to bits, monsters will keep spawning, so focus entirely on hitting it.
After it’s broken, players face off against an Elite called the Corpse Butcher, the Soul Devourer, and a bunch of monsters raised by Necromancy. Only after all of these mobs have been killed is the party able to access the deepest part of the Sanctum where Sigmund resides.
Final Section: Sigmund The Immortal
It’s safe to say that Sigmund the Immortal is the first “real” boss of the Abyssal Dungeons, as this is where the complex mechanics for this branch of Lost Ark’s content really start to shine. Sigmund is genuinely a pain to fight and avoids close combat at all costs, just as a mage probably should. He has a variety of teleports, both short and long range, and players are forced to chase him around in order to avoid arena-wide AoEs at times. It’s a fight that both accentuates the best and worst parts of Lost Ark’s combat. As for Sigmund’s main mechanics, he has two: his Stagger Check and his Revive system.
Stagger Check
This is the first Stagger Check that players will see in an Abyssal Dungeon, and it’s quite an easy one to pass. Essentially, Sigmund will start filling a red telegraph that covers the entire arena and a yellow bar appears underneath him. Players have until the red telegraph fills to drain this Stagger Check using their Stagger-based abilities. Failure to do so will cause Sigmund to unleash his attack that does high amounts of damage to anyone even close to the recommended Item Level.
Revive System
This is the primary mechanic of the Sigmund boss fight, and thankfully it’s a lot simpler than it first appears. Once Sigmund the Immortal runs out of HP, he’ll release a wave of energy that doesn’t deal damage, and eight energy Orbs will spawn around the arena, four red and four grey. The key here is to pay attention to the color of the wave Sigmund releases when his HP runs out.
To best combat this mechanic, the party will need to assign cardinal positions before the boss fight or even mid-fight if necessary if the matchmaking beforehand didn’t work as intended. For example, they can use the party order of 1, 2, 3, and 4 to assign north, east, south, and west. Once these are assigned, this is the direction of the Energy Orb each party member will interact with. Interact with the appropriately colored Orb, and Sigmund should revive after a few seconds. Depending on how many of the correct color of Orb was interacted with, Sigmund may have more or less health to get through.
From this point on, Sigmund does more damage, so take him out again. Once he reaches 0 HP again, he’ll do this Orb mechanic a second time. For each Orb of the wrong color picked or each Orb not interacted with in time, players will have to go through this mechanic an additional time, with Sigmund getting stronger every resurrection. If all four Orbs of the correct color were picked both times, Sigmund will die, and the Abyssal Dungeon will be cleared! And for those who want to know what other attacks Sigmund has as his disposal, here they are:
Recommended Consumables & Engravings
Last up, let’s take a look at any recommended Consumables and Engravings that players should bring or have equipped while dealing with both Reanimated Garum and Immortal Sigmund. To be honest, while Necromancer’s Origin is more complicated than the Dungeon before it, this is still the first Abyssal Dungeon overall and is part of the easier section of Lost Ark’s endgame. Things get much harder as the Abyssal Dungeons continue, and that’s where things like Engravings and Consumables really start to matter.
For now, players can just bring:
HP Potions Whirlwind Grenades for Sigmund’s Stagger Check Time Stop Potions in case they won’t make it to the safe zone during Sigmund’s arena-wide attacks. Their most optimal Class and Combat Engravings, Ability Stones with great Faceting, and Accessories.
Lost Ark was released on December 4, 2019, and is available for PC.
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